Your bulletin of current news involving adolescents

Wednesday, May 22, 2013 — High School Students Build Electric Car Powered by Social Media.  KANSAS CITY, MO: High school students have turned a 1967 Volkswagen Karmann Ghia into an all-electric car that is powered by tweets, shares, posts and likes. Turning tweets into watts will take the at-risk students from Kansas City to Washington, D.C. to “drive change in education.” “We want to make the statement to students everywhere that they can participate in [shaping] their education,” says Steve Rees, CEO of Minddrive, “that students can have a voice.” The nonprofit accepts 30 students per year from five KC-area schools who are “slipping through the cracks of the ‘traditional’ educational system.” The experiential learning atmosphere started in 2010 with a conversion of a junked 2000 Lola Indy race car into an electrified eco-cruiser that got 440 mpge at the Bridgestone proving ground in Texas. In the 2011-12 academic year, Minddrive students converted a Lotus Esprit to a plug-in electric. “They work shoulder-to-shoulder with engineers and successful adults as role models and go back to school and recognize the value of getting a diploma,” says Rees, a retired architect who volunteered to teach a hands-on course at an alternative urban school. “In a short period of time they’re reversed their situation in high school and many of them move on to college.” The program has evolved through the demands of the students, much like the raw vehicle they start with at the beginning of their program. The 2,300-point Ghia was stripped down and adapted to support an electrical propulsion system powered by lithium-ion batteries. It has been sanded, painted, clear-coated and road tested as an urban-use car. The Ghia, which seats two, will be driven in shifts by any of the 20 students who have a legal license. The 12-city educational tour from KC to DC culminates on June 6, when the Ghia and its proud creators will have a briefing at the capital with congressmen and other representatives interested in STEM-related (science, tech, engineering and mathematics) education. The “social fuel” needed to complete the trip has been assessed at 71,040 watts. An Arduino computer connects the drive train to the cloud and registers in live time the wattage of a Twitter follow, for instance, with a value of 5 watts. A Facebook like is worth only 1 watt.The social media values are based on “scientific prognostication on the watts we’ll need to make the trip,” Rees says.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Chicago Tribune, 5/22/13
cars.chicagotribune.com/fuel-efficient/news/chi-electri
c-car-fueled-by-social-media-20130522
 

Monday, May 13, 2013 — High School Baseball Team Lifts Car Off Pinned Student, Saves Her Life.  SACRAMENTO, CA: A group of high school baseball players came to a teen girl's recue on Wednesday after she was hit by a car in their school's parking lot. She was pinned under the vehicle, and the students rushed over from their nearby practice to lift off the car. The girl's own mother was driving the vehicle, ABC reports, and she panicked after hitting another car in the lot of Sacramento's Valley High School. She then began reversing without realizing that her daughter was behind the car, and the girl, whose name is not disclosed, became trapped underneath. Valley's varsity and junior varsity baseball teams were at their last practice of the season on a nearby field when they heard screams for help. "It was like, a reaction -- you had to do what you had to do to save someone's life," one of the baseball players, Chas Roberts, said. Co-head coach Brett Sawyer was in the team locker room when he heard the commotion and saw "the entire team sprinting to the parking lot, jumping over fences." Around a dozen of the baseball players helped lift the four-door sedan off of the girl, the news source reports. The teams' assistant coach was then able to pull her out from underneath. She is expected to recover. "To be honest, we might not have the best baseball team around, but we sure do have a great group of guys," Sawyer said.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Huffington Post, 5/9/13
www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/09/baseball-team-lifts-c
ar-saves-life_n_3248973.html
 

Tuesday, May 07, 2013 — Transgender Students Gain Admission to Sports Teams.  LOS ANGELES, CA: The New York Times reports that now, high schools are beginning to take on the issue of a small but growing number students who identify themselves as transgender and have begun demanding access to the same school activities, like interscholastic sports, that other students enjoy. More than half a dozen states, from Washington to Massachusetts, have adopted rules to allow transgender students to compete on teams that correspond with their gender identities rather than the sex listed on their school records. Half a dozen more states are considering similar regulations. And a bill in the Legislature would make California the first to specifically guarantee by law that transgender students are allowed to play school sports. The NCAA requires male-to-female transgender athletes to complete a year of hormone therapy before they may compete on a women’s team. Regulations for transgender high schoolers are far less stringent. No state requires students to undergo surgery or hormone therapy before they are allowed to compete. In some states, including California, where the state interscholastic federation adopted a new policy about transgender students in February, students (or their parents) need only submit a letter to the school asserting their gender identity and the case will be reviewed. Thus far, only a handful of transgender students have sought to play high school sports, according to officials from several states, all without major controversy, in part because most have been biological females who wanted to play on boys’ teams — often a less controversial transition that ignites fewer fears about a student’s gaining competitive advantages. Transgender rights advocates and school administrators have said that fears that male students will pose as transgender so they can play on girls’ teams are far overblown. Rhonda Blanford-Green, executive director of the Nebraska School Activities Association, said the policy in her state offered transgender students — who are frequently targets of bullying and have elevated rates of depression and suicide — a fair opportunity to participate in school activities. “Do you know the stigma and psychological trauma most of these kids probably go through just to come out?” Ms. Blanford-Green said. “No kid is going to put himself in that situation as a joke.” Although California law already prohibits discrimination against transgender people, policies vary from school to school, and some students do not know which teams they are allowed to play on. Sponsors of the California bill say it would ensure that transgender students all over the state were able to play school sports on teams where they felt safe and comfortable.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the New York Times, 5/7/13
www.nytimes.com/2013/05/07/us/transgender-high-school-s
tudents-gain-admission-to-sports-teams.html?_r=0
 

Sunday, May 05, 2013 — Unlocking Independence: Students Create Robotic Locker Opener for Disabled Classmate.  HOWELL, MI: Muscular dystrophy robbed Nick Torrance of his ability to walk, open his locker and do other everyday tasks many take for granted. Starting this year, the Pinckney Community High School junior took a step toward being just like any other student. He can open his own locker. Two Pinckney seniors, Micah Stuhldreher and Wyatt Smrcka, used their robotics ingenuity and created an automatic locker opener. Sitting in his wheelchair, Torrance slightly moves his hand over a sensor and his locker pops open. He moves his hand again, and the locker closes. Torrance, who is shy, said he likes the locker opener. “The device is amazing,” Amy Uphouse said. She’s an occupational therapist for the Livingston Educational Service Agency and helps Torrance become more independent. Uphouse wants the device to be duplicated so it can help other disabled students in the district. When she first thought about this idea, Uphouse figured there must be a device to do this, and she searched the Internet for one, but couldn’t find one. She asked Pinckney Community High School robotics teacher Sean Hickman if he thought this could be a student project. “Absolutely,” was his response, and he knew exactly who should take it on; two students who took first place in the SkillsUSA national robotics competition in 2012 and are returning to the national competition this year. “It’s good to see it works,” Stuhldreher said as Torrance tested the device. Stuhldreher and Smrcka have been working on the device all year, improving it through trial and error. “Just the fact that he can be able to do it on his own,” Smrcka said, makes him feel good. The two students said they were told to tear off a locker door and figure out a way to open and close it. They originally installed a relay inside the locker, but it took up too much space, so they switched to a computer. They originally used a key fob to activate the robotic device, which opened the locker, but they said Torrance wasn’t strong enough to press the button. So they switched to a sensor. They have won a $1,500 minigrant from the Society of American Military Engineers so other devices can be made. Both plan to pursue robotics as a career.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Livingston Daily, 5/5/13
www.livingstondaily.com/article/20130505/NEWS01/3050500
12/Unlocking-independence-Students-create-robotic-locker-opener-c
 

Thursday, May 02, 2013 — Peace First Prize Will Go to Young Movers with Passion for Change.  BOSTON, MA: The New York Times reports on the inaugural Peace First Prize — a new award, introduced by a Boston-based organization, to recognize young people the group identifies as “peacemakers”: people in the United States from the ages of 8 to 22 who engage in courageous, compassionate and collaborative actions to make their communities stronger, safer and better over the long term. The announcement of the winners, who will each be awarded $50,000, won’t happen until the fall. But the application round has recently closed and there were 658 entrants from 47 states and the District of Columbia. These young peacemakers challenge the standard notions many adults have about people their age. “We tend to look at young people in one of two ways: they’re either victims or potential victims we need to protect, or they’re perpetrators we need to punish. That’s our narrative. That’s our public policy,” said Eric Dawson, Peace First’s founder. “The idea behind the Peace First Prize is to offer a different narrative. That young people are peacemakers — powerful change makers.” Participants include Emily-Anne Rigal, from Virginia, who, at 16, turned her talents for videography and social media into a lively online platform, WeStopHate, that is attacking bullying at its roots, providing a space where hundreds of thousands of teenagers exchange views and insights about self-image. 11-year-old Gerry Orz, from Los Angeles, is part of an organization, Kids Resource, teaching young people how to prevent or respond to bullying. Gerry and his friends have made two short films that dramatize bullying: Day of Silence and Born to Bully; they’ve put together a public service announcement, and they are busy at work on other films. “I have gay parents and I am Jewish so people had two things to bully me about,” Gerry said. “I didn’t want to see any other child go through this.” Amit Dodani, 15, from California, struggled with a speech impediment for many years. So he established My Name, My Story, offering a space for young people to exchange stories and start clubs that aim to build empathy.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: The New York Times, 5/1/13
opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/01/young-peacemak
ers/?emc=eta1
 

Wednesday, May 01, 2013 — Providence High School Student Group to Protest NECAP Requirements.  PROVIDENCE, RI: On Tuesday afternoon, high school students with theProvidence Student Union (PSU) will deliver the first annual "State of the Student Address" in front of the State House -- and call into question the role of standardized testing in the new state graduation requirements. "The makers of the NECAP (New England Common Assessment Program) have said that the test results shouldn't be used for graduation requirements," said Hector Perea, a junior at Hope High School. "It's supposed to be a test to show if you're not proficient on some areas, you need extra help there. It's not designed to show what you've learned." According to a press release sent out this week by PSU, speakers "intend to offer recommendations for the changes our state's young people need to achieve high standards in high school and beyond, with topics including teaching and learning, curriculum, school repairs, assessment and high-stakes testing." The PSU was started in the spring of 2010 at Hope High School when students "joined together to protect their school's popular block schedule from being dismantled," according to its website. PSU stated, "Students are the ones who actually experience the "State of Education" every day, so PSU has decided to take this opportunity to share our vision for the schools Rhode Island's students deserved." GoLocalProv spoke with Perea over the weekend about his involvement with the group. "Hope High School is the fourth school I've been to in three years," said Perea. He began his work with the group last fall, and said the PSU was recently involved with the "Occupy the Department of Education" effort in Washington, D.C. "What we plan to talk about in the State of the Student address are a number of concerns to high school students, such as curriculum changes, and buildings and transportation issues," said Perea. "One of our main focus areas though will be on graduation requirements. We feel that Rhode Island should have an alternative, performance-based requirements like they have currently in NY…We just testified up at the State House against NECAPs. Not only are they not a good measure of a student's abilities, studies have shown that the test isn't fair to students with disabilities and ILPs (Individual Learning Plans), and discriminates against students of color." Perea noted that ideally, he'd like to see senior projects -- rather than portfolios -- as a basis for graduation requirements. "The way that portfolios make you apply specific examples from all your classes really hinders what you can do. It's limiting."
 
For FULL STORY, go to: GoLocalProv.com, 4/30/13
www.golocalprov.com/news/providence-high-school-student
-group-to-protest-NECAP-requirements/
 

Monday, April 29, 2013 — Stove Project Sparks Global Youth Action.   MANCHESTER, MA: Separated by thousands of miles, middle-school students in suburban Massachusetts are teaming up with peers in Brazil, Africa, and India on a project with lifesaving potential. By designing and building efficient cook stoves, students are learning about energy and humanitarian engineering. They're also learning about the serious health hazards faced by some 3 billion people around the world who routinely cook with wood or charcoal. "This started as a small idea," says Rich Lehrer, eighth-grade science teacher at Brookwood School in Manchester, Massachusetts, "but it's really taking off." In less than two years, the Global Efficient Cook Stove Education Project has expanded to schools in six countries. Lehrer taught at international schools in Venezuela and Brazil before coming to Brookwood School six years ago. His former school in São Paulo was located next to large favela, or slum, which naturally opened classroom conversations about issues of poverty and social justice. At Brookwood, he was looking for a way to generate similar discussions in his science classroom, and started thinking about designing efficient cook stoves as a way to focus students' inquiry. Two summers ago, Lehrer traveled to Rwanda as recipient of a fellowship from the Seven Fund. He joined a cohort of teachers investigating the role of education in alleviating poverty. Lehrer reached out to the D-Lab at MIT, which works with communities around the world to devise low-cost, low-tech solutions to improve the lives of those living in poverty. Lehrer fired off an email to the D-Lab "on a whim," and was surprised to hear back immediately. "It turns out they were looking for ways to scale their work to high school and middle school audiences," he says. Returning to Massachusetts, Lehrer connected with FAWE Girls School in Kigali, Rwanda. The two schools began planning person-to-person exchanges and setting up opportunities for their students to get acquainted via Skype by comparing their science education programs. Lehrer's students consulted via Skype with an engineer working in Rwanda, "and got a real appreciation for what it's like to be in charge of acquiring and using your own energy. My students were exhausted and smelling like smoke," he says, "but their conversations were amazing." Their next challenge was to build a large biomass stove for their own campus. Engineers working in Honduras provided technical insights. They also sent them a "plancha," or grill, which serves as the cooking surface. Lehrer can see the finished masonry stove from his classroom. It has become the focal point for an outdoor classroom and gathering place, where students cook hot chocolate and pancakes for special events. "It's a symbol of the work we do," Lehrer says.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: Edutopia.com, 4/29/13
www.edutopia.org/blog/stove-project-global-youth-action
-suzie-boss
 

Wednesday, April 24, 2013 — Teens Raising Money for Water Well.   MT. LAUREL, NJ: Sports, the latest updates on Facebook, Twitter followers, final examinations and summer activities might be what most 12 to 14 year olds have on their plates. For Mt. Laurel resident Matt Buchan and his friends Zach Spuler (Marlton), Jonmarc Rayesky (Medford) and Connor Hunt (Haddon Heights), raising $10,000 to drill a water well in Nepal changed their views of the outside world. Their group, Strength in Numbers, has raised more than $2,000 toward drilling a well. The boys have until June 11 to raise $8,000. They are working with Charity: Water – a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing countries. Matt said this is the first time he has ever worked on a fundraising or volunteer project. “I think this is really cool, what we are going,” Matt said, adding he would like to get involved in more projects after the Strength in Numbers project is complete. Matt said this project opened his eyes to take advantage of simple necessities. “The water they have now is filled with bacteria,” Matt said. Disease, brought on by unsafe water, kills more people than violence ever year. Improving sanitation, hygiene and water supply can prevent more than 3.6 percent of global disease, according to World Health Organization. The project would not only provide drinking water to the community in Nepal, it would provide some with jobs monitoring and helping dig the well. The boys are trying to raise money through car washes, a community yard sale and Chick-fil-A fundraisers. They have also received donations from local businesses. They have received some results by using Facebook and other social media sites. They are trying to reach out as far as they can. Matt said there would be a car wash at the Sovereign Grace Church to help raise money for the organization. Some of the kids from the church’s youth group will also be there to help with Strength in Numbers’ initiative. “I think it’s really helped me be more confident. It’s made me really think about other people in other nations. Usually, I think about my day-to-day,” Matt said.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the South Jersey Sun, 4/24/13
sj.sunne.ws/2013/04/24/teens-raising-money-for-water-well/
 

Friday, April 19, 2013 — Middle School Students Develop App to Help Lake Thrive.  LAKE HOPATCONG, NJ: An app developed by middle school students in Jefferson could one day help make Lake Hopatcong a more healthy place to swim and boat. The eighth grade students hope their Invase Erase app will teach area residents about invasive species like Eurasian milfoil and water chestnuts, weeds which form into thick mats that choke out native plants and can get caught up in boat motors. “We want our app to be a springboard for people to take action,” said 13-year-old Daniel Zhao, one of eight students in the gifted and talented program at Jefferson Middle School working on the app. Jefferson Middle School was selected as one of 10 finalists in the Verizon Innovative App Challenge, a program administered through the Technology Student Association which challenged students to create a mobile application to address a problem in the community. As part of the prize, the school, selected from a pool of 470 schools nationwide, received $10,000 to use for STEM-related activities at the school, one-on-one training from a member of the MIT App Inventor Training Corps and individual Samsung Galaxy Note tablets. In December, seven students from the Jefferson school’s GATEways advanced program, led by Nancy Harris, signed up to work on the challenge. They discussed ideas when they returned from winter break, and had two weeks to prepare their proposal, an essay and a video. “The kids thought about what’s unique to our community and were instantly drawn to Lake Hopatcong,” Harris said, adding that students adapted what they learned from their oceans lesson last year and applied it to the lake. Invase Erase is designed to reduce, or at least contain, the amount of invasive species that cause environmental harm in Lake Hopatcong. If a person sees something at the lake, they can use the app to identify it and determine if it’s invasive. The school was notified in February the students’ app was voted best in the state, and in mid-March a Verizon documentary crew surprised the class in person, notifying them they were one of the best in the nation. The first step to building the Invase Erase app began earlier this month, when students spent two days working with Kelly Powers, a member of the MIT App Inventor Training Corps. The goal of the training was to teach the students how to use the App Inventor program so they can build Invase Erase on their own after she leaves. Mackenzie Thumser, 14, said the trial and error of using the App Inventor with Powers allowed the group to learn from their mistakes and expand their ideas for Invase Erase. The students hope to have the app available on Google Play by the summer.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Daily Record, 4/18/2013
www.dailyrecord.com/article/20130418/GRASSROOTS/3041800
04/?gcheck=1&nclick_check=1
 

Wednesday, April 17, 2013 — California Students Teach English via Skype to Foreign Students.  CARLSBAD, CA: Some Pacific Ridge School students spend their Friday nights Skyping with students in China, Taiwan and Korea. These high school students participate in the Service Learning program Lingo Online, which forges personal connections, develops friendships and promotes cultural understanding through teaching English to students across the globe. Lingo Online was created two years ago, when several Pacific Ridge students were inspired by their English teacher’s stories about his experiences teaching in South Korea. Founding members of the group researched methods of teaching English, made contacts near South Korea, and launched their weekly Skype lessons with high school students in Seoul. Starting this year, Lingo Online will also teach Korean college students and elementary school children. The group’s reach has been expanded by connections made with students at Pacific Ridge’s sister school in China, Shidong Shanghai High School. In January, a dozen Chinese students from Shidong Shanghai visited San Diego, staying with Pacific Ridge host families. During their time at Pacific Ridge, the Chinese students met Lingo Online members and immediately expressed interest in ongoing English lessons. Lingo Online is also developing contacts in Taiwan, and working with an exchange student from Denmark to expand the program into a Danish high school. Pacific Ridge students involved with Lingo Online spend their Service Learning class periods at school developing lesson plans and emailing contacts in other countries to continue to expand the reach of the program. Students are also creating educational videos to both simplify and personalize the English lessons. Friday nights are generally spent on the computer: teaching, sharing cultures and making friends. While most of Lingo Online’s work involves online lessons, some students are taking their passion for teaching language on the road. As part of Pacific Ridge’s global travel program, they are designing a trip to South Korea next year to visit their students and take their teaching off Skype and into the classroom.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Carlsbad Patch, 4/17/13
carlsbad.patch.com/articles/pacific-ridge-students-teac
h-english-via-skype-to-foreign-students
 

Monday, April 15, 2013 — High School Students Across Country Do Taxes for Low Income Community Members.  WACO, TX: High schools across the country are turning students as young as freshmen into IRS-certified tax preparers and having them do free tax returns for low-income community members in partnership with the IRS' Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA). In a time where education reform is the subject of national conversation, and President Obama says he expects high schools to be able to graduate kids into the workforce, these programs are teaching kids real-life skills using real-life experience. Many eventually become accounting majors and professional tax-preparers. What's more, the 16,000 or so returns prepared per year through the program and its companion program, Tax Counseling for the Elderly, endear the 77 schools providing free tax preparation to their surrounding communities. The programs together scored a total of $3.8 billion in tax refunds last year. "We hear a lot about students who are getting in trouble. They make the front page of the paper, but we have students who are doing a lot of positive things," says Wanda Brown, director of academies at A.J. Moore Academy in Waco, Texas, which was rated by the IRS as the No. 1 student VITA program in the nation. Over eight years, A.J. Moore students have prepared over 10,000 tax returns, and as a result people received more than $15.4 million in refunds. The students do such a good job that some folks come from over 100 miles away to have their taxes prepared, says Angela Reiher, academies dean who helped start the program at A.J. Moore. Angelo Ochoa, who teaches income tax accounting at the school, says he usually gets 70-100 students certified as tax preparers a year, and that last year they did more than 1,800 tax returns. The kids, he says, get nothing in return for working after school three days a week, sometimes until 11:30 p.m. But they do get free dinner, work experience and plenty of community service. "We have some students who have over 100 hours of community service. They're going to school all day and doing taxes all night," Ochoa says. "The work ethic is just tremendous." David Moore, program chief of the National Academy Foundation, which partners with high schools to help them run career-focused programs, says the kids are "going to finish high school with a leg up," because they're working directly with communities and seeing a real-life application of what they've learned in school. The National Academy Foundation helps eight of its schools run their free tax-preparation programs. Other schools work with charities, community agencies and local businesses for administrative help and funding.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: USA Today, 4/14/13
www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2013/04/14
/high-school-kids-doing-your-taxes/2070823/
 

Sunday, April 14, 2013 — Medomak Valley High School Students Suspended After ‘Sit-in’ to Support Teacher Negotiations.  WALDOBORO, ME: Approximately 90 Medomak Valley High School students joined an early-morning “sit-in” in the school’s cafeteria Friday in support of Regional School Unit 40 teachers who have worked since August 2012 without a new contract. According to high school junior Will Blodgett, 30 students who refused to return to class were suspended for the remainder of the day by Principal Harold Wilson. The suspension extended by one day the students’ April vacation. Blodgett said he and some 90 students initially gathered in the cafeteria about 7:30 a.m. Friday, joined by a few teachers, Wilson, police officers and Waldoboro Police Chief William Labombarde. Then, “The principal tried to tell us to go to a school board meeting [to express our opinions], but students went to last night’s meeting and were told they would receive an email back,” he said. “It was like an insult. It was like, ‘We’re not going to address you right now, we’re not going to listen to students.’” On Thursday, Blodgett said students had been told they faced a five-day suspension if they participated in any type of action such as a sit-in. On Friday, he said about 60 students left the cafeteria and headed to class after Principal Harold Wilson gave them three minutes to leave or face unnamed “consequences.” Blodgett said those that remained were suspended for the remainder of the day. “We’re not trying to be disrespectful or cause a problem,” Blodgett said. “We’re trying to bring light to an issue that obviously needs to be discussed. It’s important that they get a contract because if they don’t know they have a job next year or have health insurance, for example … this just shows the students are involved.”
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Bangor Daily News, 4/13/13
bangordailynews.com/2013/04/13/news/medomak-valley-high
-school-students-suspended-after-sit-in-to-support-teacher-negoti
 

Thursday, April 04, 2013 — Georgia Students Fight Segregated Prom.  ROCHELLE, GA: They share the classroom, the football field, and the baseball diamond, but the school is still holding on to a vestige of this country's darkest days of segregation. "We're embarrassed, it's embarrassing," exclaimed Stephanie Sinnot, Mareshia Rucker, Quanesha Wallace, and Keela Bloodworth. The group has been friends since the 4th grade and they say they do everything together, except prom night. "We are all friends," said Stephanie. "That's just kind of not right that we can't go to prom together." Stephanie and Keela are white and Mareshia and Quanesha are black. They're seniors at Wilcox County High School, a school that has never held an integrated prom during its existence. "There's a white prom and there's an integrated prom," said Keela. The rule is strictly enforced, any race other than Caucasian wouldn't dare to attend the white prom. "They would probably have the police come out there and escort them off the premises," said Keela. That was the case just last year as a biracial student was turned away by police. It's been that way for as long as anyone can remember and it doesn't stop at prom. Homecoming is also segregated. Normally, there would be a court for each race, but for the first time the school decided to elect only one homecoming court, Quanesha won. But there were still two separate dances. "I felt like there had to be a change," said Quanesha. "For me to be a black person and the king to be a white person, I felt like why can't we come together." Quanesha wasn't invited to the white homecoming. In fact, the pair took separate pictures for the school yearbook. "When people around here are set in their ways, they are not to adamant to change," said Marishia. So the girls are taking matters into their own hands. "If we don't change it nobody else will," said Keela. They're part of a group of students organizing a prom for everyone to attend, called the "Integrated Prom," but not everyone is fond of the idea. "I put up posters for the "Integrated Prom" and we've had people ripping them down at the school," said Keela. The group says they will continue to make progress even though there doesn't seem to be much motivation to change. There will still be two proms this year. Neither proms are financed by or allowed to take place at Wilcox County High School. The students said that when they pushed for one prom, the school offered a resolution to permit an integrated prom that would allow all students to attend but not stop segregated proms. The group also has a Facebook page named "Integrated Prom" to gain support and are also hosting several fund-raising events to pay for the prom.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: WSAV, Channel 3, Georgia
www.wsav.com/story/21866654/macon-students-fight-segreg
ated-prom
 

Sunday, March 24, 2013 — Providence Boy's Testimony that Moms Should Marry Getting National Attention.  PROVIDENCE, RI: Just days before the U.S. Supreme Court will confront two distinct gay marriage cases, a video of a Providence boy's State House testimony that his moms should be able to legally marry has been receiving tens of thousands of views on several websites, including YouTube. Wheeler School sixth grader Matthew Lannon, 12, may have been the youngest of the hundreds to testify during an unprecedented 12-hour marathon hearing before the state's Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday in favor of a bill sponsored by his aunt, state Sen. Donna Nesselbush, that would legalize gay marriage in the Ocean State. In his statement, Lannon urged committee members to support his aunt's bill: "My parents, [Maryellen Butke and Josephine O'Connell] and all the other gay and lesbian people here just want to be happy. Just like you, all they want is to be treated fairly. But unlike most of you, they have to come here again, year after year, and explain over and over why their love is equal to yours. This year, you have the opportunity to change that. I say, choose love." The video by Journal photographer Kris Craig was picked up by the Huffington Post and Salon, and was featured on AOL's homepage and elsewhere across the web. As of Saturday afternoon, the video had received tens of thousands of views. Scores of the thousands of comments across the web commend Lannon, and speak to the quality of parenting in families like his.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Providence Journal, 3/23/13
news.providencejournal.com/breaking-news/2013/03/provid
ence-boys-testimony-that-his-moms-should-be-able-to-marry-resonat
 

Monday, March 18, 2013 — Nashua Students Try Composting for Battery Power.  NASHUA, NH: A team of Nashua High School students is trying to create a bacteria-powered battery that runs off a composter. The team is one of 16 around the country that received up to 10-thousand-dollars in seed money from the Lemelson-MIT Program. The idea is that students will work on inventions that help under-served communities. But the projects will also help students prepare to work in a high-tech economy. The team of six high school students is scooping soil into a large container that previously stored pretzels. This makeshift composter lined with aluminum foil is a mini prototype of a power generator. The students are leveraging a basic scientific principal: that bacterium in the organic soil produces electrons as it decomposes. The idea is to someday be able to harvest those electrons into electrical power that could be used to light homes in rural villages. To do that, the students are experimenting with how to wire a cheap and portable generator. Senior Priyanka Satpute is the project’s technical lead. She says right now they’re working with different mixtures of soil. "We’re also seeing if even we can find sources of even manure – I know that sounds icky, but our main goal of this whole project is to help lesser developed countries have simple things such as lighting in their houses. Because one of the major roadblocks to education is the lack of electrification. Children cannot study at night if there is no light." As Satpute speaks, it’s easy to forget that she’s a high school student. In fact, the spunk, altruism and smarts of the team’s six members more closely resemble that of a group of scientists at a start-up firm. As with any real-world situation, the students are learning to monitor a budget and meet a project deadline. Priyanka Satpute admits there’s stress, but also fun: "At the end of the day, we’re just a bunch of nerds. And I love saying that because we just love the whole problem-solving process. We love getting our hands dirty and building things and testing things and looking at numbers." In June, the Nashua High School North team will showcase their invention at the EurekaFest at MIT in Cambridge.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: New Hampshire Public Radio, 3/19/13
www.nhpr.org/post/nashua-students-try-composting-batter
y-power
 

Wednesday, March 13, 2013 — New Jersey Students Discover Two Previously Unknown Viruses.   PENNINGTON, NJ: Four Pennington School students have discovered two previously unknown viruses. Working as a team every day in the laboratory, the students took more than four months to isolate and purify the viruses from local soil samples. The four are students in an innovative honors research course, Advanced Research in Molecular Biology, launched at the school in 2011 by David Hauser. The students are seniors Theodore Darenkov and Anna Gregg, and juniors Tess McGuinness and Rodrigo Gonzalez-Gomez. As part of the research, the students have naming rights for the viruses; they have chosen the names Taurus (Latin for “bull”) and Gadost (Russian for “filth”). The Pennington course is based upon the PHIRE program, a unique education platform in which undergraduates and high School students participate in authentic scientific research. The DNA for the new viruses has been extracted by the University of Pittsburgh; the next step is to have the DNA sequenced and analyzed by the students in the coming term. Once the DNA sequences are received, students in Hauser’s class will use computer programs and their knowledge of viral genetics to “annotate” the viral genomes, figuring out where each gene starts and ends. The annotated sequence will then be submitted to an international database, called the GenBank, for use by scientists all over the world. The PHIRE program has been implemented in a number of high schools and colleges in the U.S. However, The Pennington School is one of only a handful of high schools that follow the program for an entire year. Hauser sees the program as transformative. “Imagine trying to learn how to play the piano without ever actually sitting down at a piano. That is the way we have been teaching science for the last hundred years: telling students all about science, but not actually teaching them to do science. This program changes that paradigm completely.” He adds, “There is a perception out there that motivated high school students cannot do authentic scientific research. This is simply not true.”
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Hunterdon County Democrat, 3/13/13
www.nj.com/hunterdon-county-democrat/index.ssf/2013/03/
four_pennington_school_student.html
 

Tuesday, March 12, 2013 — Minneapolis Students Walk Out After Town Event on Racial Tensions.   MINNEAPOLIS, MN: Many South High School students walked out of school on Monday following a discussion of cultural awareness and programming at the school in the wake of a lunch room brawl last month. The fighting is finished, but students say it's still important to discuss the racial tensions on campus. Administrators say the students who walked out wished to show solidarity and accepted that their absences will not be excused. Nevertheless, school administrators insist that those students will be welcomed back on Tuesday, and they acknowledge that students had informed them a walkout may be possible at the end of last week. Students and staff members worked together to hold the student-focused event in the commons, with several hundred students rallying in the same lunch room that saw a food fight evolve into a melee. The event, organized by students from the All Nations program, was peaceful and consisted of a round dance, the lighting of sage and student speakers. A town hall followed the commons event, and all students and community members were invited to observe and participate. The event was also streamed live on the televisions in the school. During that town hall, students raised concerns about the lack of diverse perspective in the school's curriculum and questioned whether their cultural and academic needs are being met. The students acknowledged the accommodations the school was willing to make, and they also challenged one another to make an effort to reach out. The school campus was closed for lunch on Monday, and a telephone message explaining the situation was sent to parents.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: Fox 9 News, 3/12/13
www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/21578559/south-high-stude
nts-walk-out-after-town-hall-event-on-racial-tensions
 

Sunday, March 10, 2013 — California Students Spread Vermicomposting Message.   SACRAMENTO, CA: One year after this unusual student project went public, Woodcreek's worms are wiggling into schools throughout the Sacramento area. "I'm surrounded by worm bins right now," said senior Ricky Jones, who helped launch the vermicomposting program at Woodcreek High School in Roseville. "We're concentrating on elementary schools in our area, so kids can learn about worms at an early age." Jones and other Woodcreek students have made composting a crusade, one worm bin at a time. "We're still in the early stages of this process," Jones said. "We ordered 20,000 worms – and they're gone. Now, we're ordering more. We'll give them all away." Learning about nature's cycles while helping their own school gardens, younger students have grabbed up the "Timberworms" from the home of the Timberwolves. "We're making new worm bins and sending them out to schools," Jones said. "We have about 50 schools participating so far." At Woodcreek, the Timberworms have become a schoolwide project. Besides Jones, the student worm team includes Molly Maupin, Andrew Nadeau, Manmeet Bains and Annie Baker. Woodcreek's student government, Earth Club and Key Club have helped with the worm work, too. Now the students are taking their worms off campus and making them available to the public at cost. An 18-gallon bin (complete with 500 starter worms and bedding) costs $25. Gardeners of all ages are gravitating toward worms. Vermicomposting will be one of the featured topics next Saturday at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center during a workshop led by Sacramento County's master gardeners. In their pilot project, the Woodcreek students used on-campus worm bins to compost waste from the school cafeteria. The red wigglers digested tons of banana peels, apple cores and wilted lettuce while making high-grade compost. Vermicomposting reduces the amount of trash in landfills and possible groundwater contamination, said science teacher Kendra Grinsell. Her original suggestion prompted the students to become composting experts and worm advocates. "She told us to study up and become experts on it so we could eventually teach people about it," said Jones, now 18. "I sure learned a lot about composting, but I think the real lesson was the skills I learned working with other people. Putting together ideas, how to get the ball rolling, communication and other skills that I can use for future jobs." And besides, vermicomposting is fun. Said Jones, "Most of all, I like playing with the worms."
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Sacramento Bee, 3/9/13
www.sacbee.com/2013/03/09/5239078/seeds-woodcreek-high-
students.html
 

Wednesday, March 06, 2013 — Holocaust Survivors, High School Students Share a Vow.  MIAMI, FL: Holocaust survivors and high school students joined hands around lit candles in a packed Barry University auditorium Tuesday, all making the same pledge. They talked about prejudice on different scales — the Holocaust survivors struggled at times to describe horrific concentration camp conditions, and the students shared stories of bullying — but they all took a vow: to never remain silent while others are persecuted. More than 500 students from Miami-Dade high schools discussed the Holocaust and its impact on modern society with the 55 survivors present in small roundtable discussions, as part of the Holocaust Documentation & Education Center’s Miami-Dade County Student Awareness Day. At one table, Olga Issenberg-Gros, who spent seven weeks at Auschwitz when she was 16, told students about the first shower she took at the camp. After she and the other prisoners, who were so tightly packed they could barely move, heard the doors of the shower lock, they did not expect to survive. When the shower was over, she could not believe they’d been drenched in water and not gassed. Jadae Sterling, a 14-year-old freshman at Phyl’s Academy Preparatory School, said after sitting next to Issenberg-Gros and hearing her speak, she believes her generation should take the Holocaust more seriously. “This is what they’ve been through,” she said. “If you don’t treat others well, we’ve seen that the result is bullying, cyber-bullying and it can even lead to suicide.” In addition to speaking with Holocaust survivors, the students listened to presentations from Broward County native Angela King, who spoke about her former life of “organized extremism” as a “skin head” and subsequent change of heart, Broward County public defender Howard Finkelstein, who discussed equality as an American ideal, and Florida Marlins president David Samson who shared thoughts about community and having a strong moral compass. Rositta Ehrlich Kenigsberg, the president of the Holocaust Documentation & Education Center, Inc., said the awareness day is so important, as students are being “bombarded by hate” in music, online and on social media. “Everyone is searching for a sense of belonging,” she said. “We want to bring that message home.”
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Miami Herald, 3/5/13
www.miamiherald.com/2013/03/05/3268691/holocaust-surviv
ors-high-school.html
 

Sunday, March 03, 2013 — Santa Fe High Students Talk and Rap on 'Dream School' Reform.   SANTA FE, NM: If students could design their own education plan, how would it look? That question served as the heart of a multimedia, student-driven forum on the topic of high school reform, presented Thursday afternoon by Santa Fe High School students in the school’s performing-arts theater. About two dozen students — many from journalism teacher Tamela Harkins’ class, which initiated the project — participated in the forum, which attracted about 150 students, teachers and school administrators. The students in charge set up the forum as a combination of discussion, monologues and poetry-slam readings. Some of them created a short video presentation that relayed facts on the state and city’s graduation rates (about 62 percent for Santa Fe Public Schools) and displayed some of the challenges facing teens who are striving to earn a degree. Many of the elements the students said they want to see in school seem to be culled from a dream list. Less testing, most of the kids emphasized. Less homework and more time to do it in, one girl said. Extra time scheduled into the day so their teachers can get to know them as individuals, several students pleaded. Two said they still want to learn and stay current in class even while they are serving out long-term suspensions. The students want bullying to end, because it contributes to the dropout rate and to thoughts of suicide. Spanish-speaking students would like the online e2020 instructional videos offered in Spanish as well as English. And it would help if students transferring in from another country get some sort of translation help in class, so they know what the heck is going on around them. And, in many cases, the students want to learn what they feel they need to learn. Why not set up a music academy where musically inclined students can compose and play all day long, and offer an academy “where mathematicians can solve problems all freaking day,” one student said. “Dream school? What if we were allowed to dream in school?” student Ernesto Prada rapped in poetry-slam style. The students’ input offered a snapshot of the individual challenges they face in trying to stay motivated in school. Superintendent Joel Boyd, who attended the forum, said afterward that students have the best insight into what is and what is not working within the schools. “This was a powerful message from students for whom school is not working well,” he said. He emphasized there is no quick fix when it comes to educational reform, but he said the students’ viewpoints can be incorporated into what he calls “a blueprint for expanding options.”
 
For FULL STORY, go to: The New Mexican, 03/02/13
www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/03032013sfhigh#.
UTOX1qUZ7Bw
 

Tuesday, February 26, 2013 — High School Students Learn Toothpick Engineering.  DULUTH, MN: Students from 17 high schools gathered at the University of Minnesota, Duluth for the 20th Annual Toothpick Bridge Competition. It's put together by the American Society of Civil Engineers and it's meant to inspire students. "We've got students from the North Shore to the Iron Range, all the way to Bayfield, Wisconsin," said UMD's Mark Robert, who is with the Engineering Department. "We're always interested in showing younger people the possibilities that exist within engineering." The competition tested 180 toothpick bridges by filling up buckets of sand beneath each bridge. Once the bridge broke, the bucket was weighed and and it's load capacity was recorded. Many students spent hours putting together their bridges and watching them break was sometimes difficult. "I'm kind of really sad right now," Hermantown ninth grade student Jacki Jonas said. "I feel like I'm going to cry." While each toothpick bridge eventually broke, the reason behind the competition got stronger with every scoop of sand. "I've always thought about being an architect," ninth-grader Damin Pilon said. "Seeing something you wrote down on paper come to life, I just think that's kind of cool." The strongest bridge Tuesday held about 120 pounds. Over the last 20 years of the contest, 268 pounds is the record amount of weight. Tuesday's event saw the most students and bridges in the competition's history.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: WDIO.com, 2/26/13
www.wdio.com/article/stories/S2944752.shtml?cat=10335