Neelanjana Banerjee, 30, is editor of YO! Youth Outlook Media.

I remember sitting in journalism class in college and hearing the professor say, “It’s about giving a voice to the voiceless.” I never forgot it, because it seemed to me to be the purest way to describe the power of the press. Neela Banerjee is putting the idea into action as the editor of YO!

YO! stands for Youth Outlook. It’s a magazine that’s part of a non-profit media group in San Francisco. YO! content is generated mostly by young people who are coming out of “the system”- incarceration, foster care, rehabilitation facilities. “They take cameras into their neighborhoods and show us what their life is like. They are able to show some of the complexity of communities around the bay area that often gets lost in main stream media,” Neela says.

Neela compensates all journalists the same, no matter age or socio-economic background. Sometimes, though, she works with youngsters whose literacy is below par to get them to a point where they can effectively communicate their story. “Everyone one can be the media. Everyone is a journalist. We all have access to the tools to tell stories that happen around us and luckily I’m here to distribute it.”

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Jordan Foxworthy, 17, started the Bite Back campaign.

Her dad is the funny man, but Jordan Foxworthy is dealing with some serious issues. Jordan’s trip to Kenya when she was 14 years old inspired her to do what she could as a teen to fight malaria halfway across the world. After a trip to Kibera, Jordan teamed up with Compassion International to develop the Bite Back Campaign, an initiative that raises money and awareness for the disease.

Jordan, now 17, has raised $500,000 for the cause. She’s used Facebook and other social networking tools to challenge teens to donate $10 to purchase a mosquito net. Jordan encourages her peers “bite back” against the bug that kills more African children than HIV/AIDS.

On her famous father, Jeff Foxworthy, Jordan says, “He totally supports me and what I do with bite back but he doesn't try to take over. He lets it be my thing.”

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Elena Hight, 19, is an Olympic snowboarder.

I didn’t know what a “backside 900” was before I started reading about how Elena Hight became the first female to land one in the 2007 Winter X-Games. Apparently, it’s trick where a snowboarder rotates 2½ times in the air with their back facing down the mountain. It’s probably one of the most difficult things in the sport, but when I saw Elena do it, it looked easy, like she was dancing or something.

Elena grew up in Hawaii, far away from any semblance of snow, much less a snowboard. When her family moved to Idaho, her dad got her one of the first snowboards for kids when she was 6 years old. She was one of the only girls doing it, but she was hooked.

“Making a career out of it is fairly recent thing,” Elena says of a sport that’s been around since the '70s. Elena has done it though, with big-name sponsors and competing as the youngest member in her event in the 2006 Winter Olympics. As she looks to new, well, heights, she knows more people are watching the sport. “It’s a much bigger deal. A lot more pressure. But, I’ll be ready.”

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Zach Bonner, 11, is walking to the White House to raise awareness of homless children in the U.S.

It all started during Hurricane Charlie. Zach Bonner, then just 6 years old, took his little red wagon door to door in his neighborhood to collect clean water for the victims. After four months, Zach had collected 27 truck loads of supplies.

“Some boys like football or baseball, Zach likes doing charity work,” his mom says. He liked it so much by the time hurricanes Katrina and Rita hit, Zach’s family needed to set up a foundation because of the amount of monetary donations he was taking in. They named it Little Red Wagon Foundation, after the moniker he received around town during Charlie.

His latest mission doesn’t include the wagon, just his feet, and a 1,225-mile journey of the “My House to the White House” project. This is the last walk he is doing to raise money and awareness for the 1.3 million homeless kids in the United States. The money is going to setting up apartments for them. “It's really hard not to help. Once you've met them and heard their stories, it's hard not to want to help,” Zach, now 11, tells us.

Update: Watch the CNN.com Live interview