Your bulletin of current news involving adolescents

Monday, June 29, 2009 — Students Create Video Games.  ZACHARY, LA: Instead of merely playing computer video games during the past week, 24 Zachary Community School District students spent lots of time learning the fine points of creating such games. The middle- and high-school students, along with a similar group in Lafayette, participated in a “Digital Workforce Intensive” presented by a non-profit company, 3D Squared, that is working to educate young people for 21st century work-force careers. Students working together at the Zachary and Lafayette sites communicated via Internet-based audio and video connections. “Our job is to make educational games that are also fun,” said Collin Shelton, an eighth-grader at Zachary’s Northwestern Middle School. Shelton’s team created a game that was not only fun to play but delved into the serious issue of finding sources of “clean” energy. Zachary teacher Margaret Atkinson took 12 students to a similar conference in Lafayette in April. It was their first entry into an intense environment for learning digital media concepts. Students confronted three problem areas for Louisiana: coastal erosion, obesity and problems in state education. Whac-A-Nutria was one of their games, because nutria are known to contribute to coastal erosion. When the students presented their idea to video-game professionals, they had to argue against suggestions of copyright infringement because of the similarity to “Whac-A-Mole.” Atkinson said the experience was “life changing” for her students: “They learned to problem-solve on the spot and work as a team.” The initiative also benefited students who have creative ideas but are easily frustrated if an idea does not soon pan out. Atkinson also saw socially awkward students “burst out of their shells.” Eighth-grader Biannca Pierre said she was scared to speak before a group until she began working with her team members in Lafayette. “This is good for people to come to if they’re on the shy side,” Pierre said. The students presented their games to professionals on Saturday, and Zachary High sophomore Charlie Flanders said their objective was not to have a finished product, but the basic layout or prototype for a game. “For the presentation, it’s as if we’re at the last brick in the building,” Shelton added.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Advocate, 6/29/09
www.2theadvocate.com/news/suburban/49395412.html
 

Tuesday, June 23, 2009 — High school Students Get Ahead of the Curve During Summer Engineering Program.  PHOENIX, AZ: Most high school students are out riding roller coasters during the summer, but about a dozen Valley teenagers are actually building them. A group of high school students had the chance to think like roller coaster engineers as part of the Collegiate Scholars Summer Enrichment program at Arizona State University. Through the ASU CSP summer enrichment, select high school students are given the opportunity to work on university-level curriculum in non-credit workshops to get an overview of different areas of study. Teenage students from around the Valley participated in the four-day pilot program sponsored by the Department of Engineering in the College of Technology and Innovation at the Polytechnic campus and the University Student Initiatives Office. Before they started building, students had to do their research. They looked at the world roller coaster market, current roller coaster features, and new roller coasters. Once that task was completed, students were given the design challenge of building a model roller coaster that has to work on the first try. To guide them, faculty mentored the students on the math and physics behind roller coasters. Students also had the chance to build what they think would be the ultimate roller coaster, as well as design computer-simulated roller coasters.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Arizona State University News, 6/22/09
asunews.asu.edu/20090622_collegiatescholars
 

Saturday, June 20, 2009 — Yeshiva Students Make Arabic a Cultural Bridge.  RIVERDALE, NY: The New York Times reports that several years ago, six teenagers at the SAR yeshiva high school in Riverdale came to the principal with a request: They wanted to study Arabic. It was an unusual appeal in this heavily Orthodox neighborhood in the Bronx, with at least a half dozen congregations. Among the kosher butcher shops, restaurants, bakeries and delis, the talk on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is usually supportive of the settlers on the West Bank, many of whom are transplanted Orthodox Jewish Americans, not Arabic speakers. Still, the students, all of whom had spent time in Israel — some had visited every year of their lives — were eager, and the principal decided to add Arabic to the foreign language offerings of Spanish and Latin. This year, the fifth year of the Arabic program, 40 students are studying Arabic in four grades, though their reasons vary: Some want to understand those they regard as enemies, but many more seem to want to build bridges. “The Arab-Israel conflict is a huge part of our lives, and understanding the culture and language helps us to relate to the other side,” said Jonah Eidman, an 11th grader taking Arabic for a third year. Sarah Samuels, one of 14 ninth graders who just completed their first year, said a schoolmate had questioned her commitment to study Arabic, saying, “It’s the language of terrorists.” But Sarah shrugged the student off. “You can’t define a whole people by certain members of the language-speaking population,” she said. Adin Goldstein, another ninth grader, added: “Not everybody who speaks Arabic is a bad person. Most are good people.” “I feel like lots of people have misconceptions about Arabs and Palestinians,” chimed in Ariel Mintz, “and if I speak Arabic I can better understand the culture and understand what is really going on.” Only eight public high schools and one middle school in New York City offer Arabic. Some of the Riverdale students said they were looking forward to reading signs in three languages on their next trips to Israel: Hebrew, Arabic and English. Others, like Adina Israel, a ninth grader, said, “We’re all hoping for peace, and it’s easier to establish peace if you’re able to talk in their terms.”
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the New York Times, 6/20/09
www.nytimes.com/2009/06/20/nyregion/20metjournal.html?em
 

Tuesday, June 09, 2009 — Squash Courts Put Youths on Road to College.  NEW YORK, NY: The New York Times reports on StreetSquash, an intensive program that combines athletics and academics. Joshua Gary, Jamel Key, and Jennifer Moses are three seniors from Thurgood Marshall Academy, friends since junior high, who dodge and glide and get in all the shots they can before heading to college, where none of them will play squash for their school. “Squash is the vehicle,” said George Polsky, the executive director of StreetSquash, which after nearly 10 years of borrowing courts around Manhattan will graduate its first class from a spacious new home in Harlem this week. “It means more to me to help them figure out a math problem than how to hit a serve.” While StreetSquash has no entrance requirements, each potential student is evaluated during a monthlong trial where attendance is paramount. The four-day-a-week commitment is substantial: two days of homework and squash, one day of SAT prep (for high school students) or literacy education (for sixth to eighth graders), and Saturday, which is reserved for squash. “It’s been nothing but beneficial,” said Diosmiry Rodriguez, 17, who started playing squash in the seventh grade and will graduate next year from Thurgood Marshall. “When they came to my school to talk about it, I didn’t know what squash was; I thought it was a vegetable.” At first, she was interested in homework help, she said, but grew to enjoy playing: “I didn’t try, but now I try.” Using squash as a tool for academic advancement in urban settings occupies a small but growing niche, said Greg H. Zaff, creator of Boston’s SquashBusters, one of the first such programs in the country. With Mr. Polsky and the directors of CitySquash in the Bronx and SquashSmarts in Philadelphia, Mr. Zaff began a national organization three years ago to support nascent programs, each with rigorous standards of commitment. “This isn’t about just rounding up kids and putting them on a squash court on Saturdays,” he said. The organization, the National Urban Squash and Education Association, counts nine programs as members, with the most recent, in Baltimore, joining Thursday. A few others, including programs in Cleveland, San Francisco and Toronto, are in the works.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the New York Times, 6/8/09
www.nytimes.com/2009/06/08/nyregion/08squash.html?emc=eta1
 

Tuesday, June 02, 2009 — High School Students Make Microfinance Loans to Grow Small Businesses Around the Globe.  LAS VEGAS, NV: Microloans allow entrepreneurs who lack the collateral needed for traditional financing to borrow small amounts to expand their enterprise. American teens are beginning to see microlending as an opportunity to make a big difference through small loans. Justin Blau, a senior at Las Vegas's Meadows School, founded the Meadows School MicroBank, one of the first microlending initiatives based at a high school. Under his leadership, students have raised $27,000 to invest in businesses in the developing world. Blau learned of microlending two years ago. Around the same time, a program got under way in the Seattle area: Bellevue High School's Microfinance Club has now made more than 1,100 loans in the Caribbean region. Its assets exceed $125,000, says founder Scott Bennett, a senior. The schools' microlending programs differ, but they share a purpose: to support developing economies while giving students a powerful experience with philanthropy. "It's real money and real people we're lending to," says Blau. "That's why we're so motivated." The Meadows School MicroBank raised its capital through microfinance supporters' donations, along with sandwich sales and other fundraisers. A student-run loan committee carefully evaluates the merits of prospective borrowers and keeps statistics on repayments. Meadows administers its loans through well-established microfinance organizations handpicked by students. They chose Kiva, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization, because its Web site allows for direct, personal impact. But the young bankers believe in diversifying their investments, so they also invest elsewhere. Bellevue students raised $125,000 in corporate donations to jump-start their efforts. They studied online resources and sought advice from business experts before approaching large businesses in the area. Microsoft was their first pitch. "We went in with our PowerPoint. We were shaking. But when we got a big yes, we were so motivated," Bennett recalls. "We figured, if it's this easy to raise money, why not do as much as we can to make the biggest possible difference?" Last summer, 25 members of the Bellevue club traveled to the Dominican Republic to meet some of their borrowers. The trip gave students their first exposure to extreme poverty. "We could see just how these loans are improving the quality of their lives," Bennett says. In Las Vegas, Meadows students are considering more ways to make a difference in the regions where they make loans. "We're talking about financing an eyeglasses campaign," Blau says, to help women who earn their living making handcrafts.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: Edutopia, 6/2/09
www.edutopia.org/microlending-global-philanthropy-fundr
aising-entrepreneurs
 

Saturday, May 30, 2009 — Rhode Island Students Rebut Hate Message.  PROVIDENCE, RI: Hundreds of Rhode Islanders turned out on street corners Friday in opposition to the anti-gay, anti-Jewish message of a tiny group of demonstrators from Kansas. More than 300 students from East Providence High School crammed one corner of the city’s busiest intersection, at Taunton and Pawtucket avenues, as school let out. Some gripped neon-color signs supporting homosexuals. During the school day, students also wore yarmulkes to support their Jewish classmates. At another corner, an estimated 100 people, including high school alumni, gathered, holding signs such as “Teach Love, Not Hate” and “Our Giant Signs are Better than Yours.” On a third corner, five members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., carried epithet-laden picket signs, denouncing homosexuality and declaring, “America is doomed” for tolerating gays and Jews. Various counter-protesters chanted — “Go Home” or “Gay is the Way.” “I know a lot of gay people in my family,” freshman Jayden DeCosta said. “It’s anybody’s right to do what they want.” A heavy police presence kept the groups on their respective corners. No incidents were reported and the Kansas group left 40 minutes after it arrived. School Supt. Mario Cirillo said he was proud of his students’ “peaceful and responsible response” although he and other school officials had asked the nearly 2,000 students to walk by the protesters silently.“This is what I spent 42 years in the military to protect — their right and the kids’ right to demonstrate,” said Lonnie Barham, a retired Army colonel and the school district’s chief operating officer. “I’m very proud of our students.” Several Rhode Island organizations responded to the picketing plans of the Westboro group by holding an Internet fundraiser for the Gay Straight Alliances at local high schools and colleges. Youth Pride Inc. executive director James Robinson said www.Phelps-a-thon.com “demonstrates that the forces of hatred can be denied and converted to good.”
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Providence Journal, 5/30/09
www.projo.com/news/content/ANTI_HATE_PROTEST_05-30-09_M
REHK31_v123.3e91dd1.html
 

Friday, May 29, 2009 — Los Angeles High School Chooses Male Prom Queen.  HOLLYWOOD, CA: Sergio Garcia, 18, spent most of his years at Fairfax High School openly gay and wanted to be part of the Los Angeles school's prom court -- but not as prom king. He felt that vying for prom queen would better suit his personality, so he ran against a handful of female classmates. He said it started out as a bit of a stunt and challenge -- but his campaign for queen ended up being serious and sparking dialogue about gender roles on campus. A few days before the dance and election, the contenders gave short speeches on why they deserved the crown. "At one time, prom may have been a big popularity contest where the best-looking guy or girl were crowned king and queen. Things have changed and it's no longer just about who has the most friends or who wears the coolest clothes," Garcia told the crowd of seniors. "Sure, I'm not your typical prom queen candidate. There's more to me than meets the eye." The audience erupted in applause, and a group of his female friends spent the rest of the week wearing pink crowns and campaigning for him. On Saturday night at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, he was named prom queen. He's among the first male students in Southern California to take the title. "It just shows how open-minded our class is," said Vanessa Lo, 18, the senior class president. Lo said she had initially been against the idea of Garcia running for prom queen. But she said he "spoke with complete confidence" and carried himself in a way that made students believe he was serious, not a class clown or joker just trying to get attention. "His speech was great," recalled Unique Payne, 17, a senior who said she voted for Garcia. "I did it because I support the gay community," she said. Fairfax High has often been at the forefront of the gay rights struggle. It has a Gay-Straight Alliance student group on campus, and Project 10, an on-site support program for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youth, was started there in 1984. The program has since been expanded to encompass the entire Los Angeles Unified School District. Project 10's founder, Virginia Uribe, said she was encouraged by news of Garcia's crowning. She said that in the last two years, there have been similar elections to prom and homecoming courts in high schools and colleges around the nation. "I think that indicates where our society is right now. That the young people, they are not involved in this whole argument about gay rights. They think this whole fight is silly. They just accept people for who they are," Uribe said. "Gender-bending is just kind of in," she said.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Los Angeles Times, 5/28/09
www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-prom-queen28-2009may28
,0,2700821.story
 

Sunday, May 03, 2009 — Galveston Students Produce Documentary Film about Hurricane Ike and Recovery.  GALVESTON, TX: A month after Hurricane Ike, Austin Almanza felt as though the world outside Galveston had forgotten about the terrible pounding his hometown had suffered from Hurricane Ike. “I heard nothing on the national news,” said Almanza, 17, a junior at Ball High School. “After hurricanes like Katrina you heard about it months after it happened.” So Austin, along with the 7 other students who showed up on the first day of school after the hurricane for Robert Weiss’ advanced media technology class, readily agreed to make a documentary about Galveston’s recovery. The students, who are still putting the finishing touches on “Ike: A Documentary,” set to premiere May 21 at the 1894 Grand Opera House, put together a press kit and plan on showing their work at film festivals around the country. The documentary has changed the way they look at the world. Jennifer Willcut, a junior, said interviewing storm victims has helped put her own loss in perspective. Before the storm, she was worried about new, striped bed sheets she had been forced to leave behind when her family evacuated. “I don’t feel that way any more,” Jennifer said. “I’ve interviewed people who have absolutely nothing left.” William Gomez, a junior, recalls how affected he was by a woman who had lost her home. “It was really hard to keep it together,” William said. “It just hit me really hard.” It all began on the first day of school after the hurricane as students sat together in the advanced media technology class and talked about their storm experiences. Some had lost everything. Austin’s family lost their house. William got separated from his family and spent the storm at the high school, which became an emergency shelter. There was some hesitation over doing the documentary; some were trying to forget about the most traumatic experience of their young lives. Weiss told them it would be a difficult project. But the vote was unanimous and they launched immediately into the project. Weiss conducted the first interview to teach his students, then gave them camera instructions. After that, the students took over, working long hours after school on the documentary. “These students are pulling it together, making it happen,” Weiss said. The entire project will cost $25,000, most of the money coming from business sponsors and fundraisers.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Houston Chronicle, 5/2/09
www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6405091.html
 

Thursday, April 30, 2009 — Maryland Students Pilot Oratory Theater Program.  CAPITOL HEIGHTS, MD: Central High School students spoke — rather than wrote — a page in their school's history Monday night just beneath a notable historical site: the balcony where John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln. Ten students who gave original speeches and memorized others from Lincoln, abolitionist Frederick Douglass and President Barack Obama at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., are members of the first school to pilot an oratory class through the theater's education program. About 30 other classmates recited their favorite quotes from figures such as John F. Kennedy and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Students were coached on proper diction, using rhetorical questions and paying attention to volume. The class also watched Obama's speeches, had a Frederick Douglass impersonator visit and participated in oratorical competitions. Student Paige Telesford's speech, "We The People," called on people to stop senseless violence in her community and asked what her generation will contribute to society. Paige, 15, testified how her brother, 16, was caught in the "wrong place at the wrong time" when he was shot and killed in 1999. Videos were presented Monday showing students and instructors critiquing speeches and student testimonies about how their speech skills improved. Regina Williams, 17, said Schmidt taught her the importance of eye contact, body language and diction. She constantly rewrote her speech and practiced about 10 times in front of her classmates. Regina's original speech, "Is the NAACP Still Relevant," told why she thought more organization was still necessary to promote racial harmony despite the recent election of a black president. Regina cited a school fight that broke out between Latino students and black students and the Jena 6 incident in Jena, La., in 2006. "I feel as though when you write a strong speech and you give a good delivery, you accomplish something," she said.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Gazette, 4/30/09
www.gazette.net/stories/04302009/prinsch184138_32533.shtml
 

Friday, April 24, 2009 — Student Asks State Supreme Court to Intervene in Budget Lawsuit.  COLUMBIA, SC: Casey Edwards, an 18-year-old senior at Chapin High School in Columbia, asked the State Supreme Court to allow the Legislature to bypass Governor Mark Sanford and take $700 million in budget aid from the federal government's stimulus package. Edwards said she wanted to make sure every student in South Carolina receives the same quality of education she has received, and wanted to wade into the stimulus fight to make sure that happens. She is represented by attorneys Dwight Drake, a partner at Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP, and former state Democratic Party Chairman Dick Harpootlian. "I think our schools really do need that money," Edwards said. She is deciding between a number of full academic scholarships that she has been offered. Sanford said he will accept $700 million in federal stimulus money only if the Legislature applies an equal amount of state cash toward debt. In a statement, he dismissed the lawsuit as without merit and as the work of longtime political insiders who, he said, have made millions at taxpayer expense. The $700 million is a portion of the $2.8 billion in stimulus cash that South Carolina stands to gain, and the only portion in dispute.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Charleston Post and Courier, 4/17/09
www.postandcourier.com/news/2009/apr/17/justices_asked_
intervene79015/
 

Tuesday, April 21, 2009 — High School Newspapers Chart New Course in Tumbling Economy.  CHICAGO, IL: As newspapers reinvent themselves, high school newsrooms are locked in their own transition amid the economic tumult that has jolted the industry. Several school newspapers in Illinois now publish online only, while others are turning to the Internet to post stories edged out of a shrinking newspaper. These days, the pressures of tighter budgets, thinner papers and slumping ad sales are as central to the lessons of journalism as beat reporting and editing, educators said. Antioch Community High School's paper, The Tom Tom, now publishes a 12-page paper every month, down from 24 pages a year ago. Every student is urged to sell three ads plus sweets in a monthly bake sale to close the gap. With space shrinking, only the most compelling stories make it into print. "Even if we can't run a lot of pages ... we definitely know we are putting our best work in," said Chris Terzic, 17, next year's sports editor. Some schools are adding a digital element simply to stay relevant. Mt. Carmel High School published its first online-only edition this year. "If the money is there, I prefer to have that paper in your hands, but maybe I'm getting to be a dinosaur," said journalism teacher John Gonczy. Despite the tumult, students are not shying away from journalism. "The kids who are committed, who want to write or shoot, they still are excited. Their parents might be worried they are not going to have a job when they graduate. But students are still passionate," said Sally Turner, director of the Illinois Journalism Education Association. Julie Fine, 16, has gone door to door in Antioch selling ads for the school paper, baked cookies for bake sales, and come in on Sunday mornings to lay out the paper—all while watching the newspaper get thinner and the debt get bigger. Yet Fine, the next editor in chief, said she can't imagine doing anything else. She hopes to study journalism at Indiana University and then find a job at whatever publication—online or printed—is hiring. "This is what I do, and I love newspapers," Fine said. "But will I have a future in it? I just don't know."
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Chicago Tribune, 4/21/09
www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-school-papers-21-
apr21,0,1646608.story
 

Friday, April 10, 2009 — San Jose Students March for Teachers' Jobs.  SAN JOSE, CA: Shouting "teachers are cool, keep them in school" and "no more budget cuts," dozens of Overfelt High School students rallied and marched in San Jose on Friday to protest state reductions in education funding. Students in Natalia Baldwin's classes organized a "teach-out," where about 20 fifth-period teachers took desks, chairs and lessons outside to show that "a lot goes on in the classroom," said Baldwin, who teaches history. She was one of 20 Overfelt teachers who received notice last month that because of budget cuts they might not be rehired next year, along with 100 other teachers in the East Side Union High School District. Students finding out about the notices decided to take action. Gabriela Urena, a sophomore, got upset and then got angry. "I love all my teachers. They're so supportive," she said. Three of her seven teachers in AVID, a college-preparatory program, got pink slips. "That's not fair," she said. After the noon teach-out, students staged a campus rally during lunch, all with the school district's permission. For Overfelt's 1,670 students, school was dismissed early Friday for the protest. About 100 students and teachers then marched, chanting and waving placards, for 4.9 miles to the district offices, as motorists honked their support. "It was fantastic," said Principal Vito Chiala, who marched with the students. "It was amazing that these kids embraced this idea that their education was in jeopardy and they needed to stand up for it." At the district offices, students spoke and heard from Superintendent Bob Nuñez and trustees. One of the student speakers, Adriana Silva, said she felt that the district officials listened. "Overfelt is a family," she said. "We shouldn't break it apart."
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the San Jose Mercury News, 4/10/2009
www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_12118189
 

Monday, April 06, 2009 — Chicago High School Prom Committee Takes a Stand for Striking Hotel Workers.  CHICAGO, IL: Students who serve on their school’s prom committee are in high gear to finalize their plans. When it comes to finding a venue for the dance, students typically look for some elegance at the right price. But a prom committee at one Chicago school is taking another factor into account. The students have canceled their reservation for the ballroom of a certain hotel downtown and forfeited a $3,000 deposit. The dance’s location was the Congress Plaza Hotel. Workers there have been striking almost six years for wages on par with what other downtown hotels pay. Senior Sam Hamer says he found out about the strike from a Jewish social-justice group that’s helped picket the hotel. At an emergency meeting of the prom committee, Hamer made his case for canceling the hotel reservation. He started off the presentation with an interesting video of then-Senator Barack Obama picketing in front of the Congress during his campaign for the presidency. The students cancelled the reservation and found another hotel ballroom. That lifted spirits among strikers meeting at the headquarters of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 1. The students don’t want to hike the price of the prom’s tickets. So they’re hoping to come up with the $3,000 by, among other things, selling pizzas and washing cars. Hamer says those efforts mean more chances to spread the word about the Congress strike.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: Chicago Public Radio, 4/6/09
www.wbez.org/Content.aspx?audioID=33295