United States citizens have seen President Trump put his many executive orders into play, and young people are looking into the impact they will have on their lives and futures. The weight of Trump’s orders goes beyond political debate; these executive orders put topics surrounding identity, education, and community under careful examination from both the government and the American people.

When one turns on the news, they are likely to hear about Trump’s many executive orders. However, the term is vague and unfamiliar to many. An executive order is defined by The American Bar Association as a written and signed directive from the President of the United States that manages operations of the federal government. On the day of President Donald Trump’s inauguration, he signed 26 executive orders, giving him the record of most signed on the first day in office. The previous record held by former President Joe Biden was nine. This demonstration of authority worries junior Echo Dayton: “I do not know if this is common, just to start passing all these rules … I think it is an abuse of power,” she said.

These orders require no approval from the House of Representatives or Congress.

These new policies all have important influences on everyday life. For ninth-grader Pete Hovan, the executive order titled: ‘Defending Women From Gender Ideology Extremism and Restoring Biological Truth to the Federal Government‘ has been on zis mind the most. This order states that the United States will only recognize that ‘women are biologically female, and men are biologically male’, and that ‘these genders are not changeable’, meaning that the gender one is assigned at birth is the only gender that the government will recognize as their own. Additionally, this order removes federal funding to ‘promote gender ideology,’ It takes away federal resources regarding gender, such as: ‘U.S. Department of Education Supporting LGBTQI+ Youth and Families in School,’ ‘The White House Toolkit on Transgender Equality,’ and ‘Supporting Transgender Youth in School.’ Hovan addresses how ze believes this will impact ze and zis peers: “Not only will this impact the non-binary community, but it will also impact the trans community at SPA because they won’t be seen as the gender they really are,”

The executive order regarding the rescission of DEI programs criminalizes diversity programs on a federal level, but each state is left to make their own decision surrounding DEI programs.

Dayton is evaluating how these policies will affect her future as a student: “[Trump’s] leaving … many decisions up to the states. So I’m paying more attention to the states of colleges I’m looking at and … their specific politics”. Because of these decisions being left up to the states, politics is becoming more critical when high school students consider life outside of their school and far into the future. The difference between states may become exaggerated with such an impactful change in policy, leading to more challenging decisions.

Sophomore Florence Barrera has the recent executive order about birthright citizenship on her mind: “We’ve seen in the news recently […] a lot of especially Hispanic communities, are just being completely decimated by this,” referring to the new executive order that aims to remove citizenship for children whose parents are ‘unlawfully present in the United States’ or ‘lawful but temporary.’ Barrera regards this order as one that will have a profound impact on families across the country. The termination of birthright citizenship order is only one of the many executive orders regarding immigrants and their place in the nation, all of which will have tremendous impacts on the safety and stability of families around the country.

This executive order comes into conflict with the 14th Amendment, which states that “All persons born in the United States […] are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States.” Trump’s executive order clashing with a constitutional amendment is sparking numerous ongoing legal challenges while raising inquiries about Trump’s regard to the Constitution.

Dayton said: “It’s hard to come to school and focus on, my history paper when [the] world is crumbling outside.” Like Dayton, Hovan, and Barrera, young people across the nation are considering how navigating a rapidly changing political environment will affect their futures. These executive orders are changing SPA students’ everyday lives while pushing them to consider the impacts on the lives of others.

Updated 2/26 to correct a pronoun error.