By Merritt Frey, Executive Director

I wanted to share a quick reminder that our Speech Up! Video Contest for U.S. high school students is still open for submissions and provide a little inspiration from Malala Yousafzai, author of I Am Malala: How One Girl Stood Up for Education and Changed the World.

If you are considering submitting a video for the contest, don’t get yourself too overwhelmed with statistics — consider drilling down on the fundamental human right to an education. These quotes should get your wheels turning about what an education is really about and what it is really for.

• “When someone takes away your pens you realise quite how important education is.”

• “Education is education. We should learn everything and then choose which path to follow. Education is neither Eastern nor Western, it is human.”

• “We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced.”

• “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.”

• “The Taliban could take our pens and books, but they couldn’t stop our minds from thinking.”

• “Let us pick up our books and our pens, they are the most powerful weapons.”

• “I don't want to be thought of as the 'girl who was shot by the Taliban' but the 'girl who fought for education'. This is the cause to which I want to devote my life.”

• “We liked to be known as the clever girls. When we decorated our hands with henna for holidays and weddings, we drew calculus and chemical formulae instead of flowers and butterflies.”

• “There are two powers in the world; one is the sword and the other is the pen. There is a third power stronger than both, that of women.”

• “If people were silent nothing would change.”

• “Life isn't just about taking in oxygen and giving out carbon dioxide.”

Inspired? Learn more about the Speech Up! Video Contest and get your submission in by March 31!