Because their futures are at stake, young Americans need to be engaged in the national dialogue about the rapidly growing federal debt and large unfunded liabilities the U.S. government has for programs like Social Security and Medicare.

T.J Leach and Alex Hall, high school students in Naples, Maine, have set a good example. They are encouraging this dialogue through a new video that features interviews with people in their area about the debt and the country’s related fiscal and economic challenges.

The idea of making the video grew out of an economics class. Alex explains that “we wanted to do something that would actually make more people aware of how this crisis affects all of us.”