3/24/10 Local teen news

Wake schools end diversity policy - By a 5-4 vote, the Wake school board voted to end three decades of having race or socioeconomic status as a factor in student assignment of schools, instead deciding to create neighborhood community schools.  “This gives us our direction now,” said John Tedesco. “We’re now going to community schools. This will give parents more stability.” During a public comment period, police removed more than 20 people, mostly in their teens and early 20s, who sat in the hallway outside the meeting room and pierced the proceedings with loud chanting: “No resegregation in our town! Shut it down!” (N&O)

Apex robotics team reaches finals – Apex H.S. robotics team will compete against 23 countries in the FTC World Championships next month in Atlanta and which will be televised on ESPN.“They like this club because they actually get to do something,” said the team’s coach, Faith Starr, a teacher at Apex High School and herself a robot builder when she was a student at Southeast Raleigh High School. “They have to figure out how to design angles that will put the balls on target. They’re using trigonometry, not just learning it in a book.” (Cary News)

A.P. credits on rise with UNC students - Arriving with college credits allows students more schedule flexibility or the ability to graduate early, but some professors are worried that the quality of education is decreased by so many students receiving college credits for high school classes.  “I think it has hurt the quality of the degree for our best students,” said economics professor Ralph Byrns. He said he thinks the University’s emphasis on producing graduates encourages them to award credit to students that could decreases the value of student degrees if they graduate too quickly. (Daily Tar Heel)

Auto class now popular at Durham Tech – Due to the economy, a new co-op program and the Toyota effect, enrollment has doubled in the Automative Systems Technology class at Durham Tech.  “All these Toyota recalls have convinced people — they need a lot of training to work on cars,” Smith said. “They’re a lot more complicated than they used to be.” (Herald-Sun)

2/24/10 Teen News: (∆)Local and National

(∆)NCSSM senior gets circus audition – Andrew Hicks said he is willing to put his free ride to UNC on hold if he is offered an opportunity to join Ringling Brothers after a Thursday try-out.  “Yes sir, I’d certainly love to run away with the circus,” he said.”Ringling Brothers clowns are the best in the world. And so to be able to perform alongside the greatest is just a dream come true for any clown.” (MyNC)

(∆)Blind wrestler honored at Apex High – Mauled by a tiger at age three, Tyler Forsythe is determined to live a normal teenage life, including 80 career wins in four years of high school wrestling.  “Other blind people I know lean on people,” Tyler says. “I want to be independent.”(N&O)

(∆)Interview with teen game innovator - Athens Drive freshman Tommy Evanoff is responsible for the idea to add a three point shooting matt to Sportcraft’s home basketball game. Q: How did you pitch your idea to the company? I e-mailed them in September (2008). The product manager responded pretty quickly. He said it sounded good, and wanted me to sign a nondisclosure agreement. I signed it and returned it to him. He wanted me to describe the game to him. (Cary News)

(∆) Student refused to do devil assignment – Tieanna Trough, an A-B honor roll student at Gray’s Creek High School, refused to write a creative story about making a deal with the devil in relation to Washington Irving’s short story “The Devil and Tom Walker. ” “We can’t allow God into the classrooms, but yet they are going to allow the Devil in the classroom, that’s the way I felt,” Trough’s mother Monice McLean said. “They were told if they didn’t do it they would get a zero.” (WTVD)