Start With What You Have

Abdul Rehman Saboor came to his first PCE Annual Convention in 2023 because a friend invited him along. He didn't expect much from one education convention. But he ended up staying involved for the next three years.

Something about the room caught him. It wasn't only the speakers or the agenda; it was that young people were actually being asked what they thought, and listened to when they answered. For someone who believed his generation had a real part to play, but rarely saw it treated that way, that landed.

So he kept coming back. He became a part of PCE's youth network, and over the next few years he joined workshop after workshop and a string of other engagements with the coalition, one of them a three-day session he still talks about. The turning point came at the 2025 Convention, when he was asked to speak on the youth panel. He'd spent enough time in the audience; sitting up front with a mic, facing all the adult decision-makers and speaking for his generation, was something else entirely. "It was one of the most memorable opportunities I've received," he says. "It strengthened my confidence and inspired me to contribute even more to my community."

He talks now like someone who has tested the idea and found it holds: that young people really can change things, and that it often takes just one of them stepping up for the rest to follow. In his own circles, he's usually the one handing out the invitations these days, telling friends to get involved, to volunteer, to stop waiting around.

Ask him what he'd tell another young person hoping to make a difference in education, and it comes straight out:

"Don't wait for the perfect opportunity. Start with what you have. Stay curious, keep learning, and never underestimate the impact of small actions. Consistency, collaboration, and a genuine desire to serve others can create lasting change."

Abdul Rehman started with a friend's invitation and a willingness to say yes, and three years on, he hasn't stopped. Now Abdul Rehman is 18, a dental student with a side of climate activism, already running his own initiative, Go Green Pakistan, and volunteering wherever there is room for him. And the guest who once came along to a single convention now represents and co-leads PCE's youth work himself.

Find more about Abdul Rehman's work here: https://linktr.ee/abdulrehmansaboor