4/9/10 Local Teen News

 Hillside students aiming for MIT – Students at the New Tech school have been working on creating affordable, environmentally friendly roof gardens and are trying to raise money to show their work at the M.I.T. Eurekafest.  ”I talk about this more than I talk about school,” said Zenik Hite, a junior. “It’s just what we did — what we did to the roof today, what new ideas we came up with.” Added Hite: “It’s pretty much the most exciting part of my day.” (Herald-Sun)

 J.Cole headlines first NY show – NC native and Jay-Z protegee sold-out his first NY show as a headliner.  “Jay told me, ‘It’s your first sold-out show in New York, so take a second after the first song,’ ” Cole told the crowd after breezing through a medley of “Dollar and a Dream II” and “World Is Empty.” “And step back and share it with y’all. So that’s what I’m doing.” (MTV)

 Duke newspaper analyzes admission process – First in a three part series investigates the admissions process to Duke University, where only 14% of applicants are accepted.  But reading applications is not an entirely qualitative process. Both readers assigned to an application rate an applicant on a five-point scale in each of six categories: curriculum, achievement, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities and personal qualities, essay and standardized testing. “The typical Duke matriculant is a smart, very smart, talented, engaged person,” Guttentag said. “Not fives across the board.” (Chronicle)

 Profile of hooper Emanuel Chapman - Enloe High School point guard Emmanuel Chapman will play next year at NCCU for Coach LeVelle Moton, who idolized Champman’s father growing up.  “He was my idol when I was growing up,” Moton said. “I had never seen anyone handle the ball and pass the way he did.” (N&O)

4/5/2010 Local Teen News

Study: 11% of NC h.s. grads earn college diploma in 4 years - New study by Complete College America shows that only 1 in 10 high school graduates will earn a college diploma in 4 years and only 3% will earn a two-year associate’s degree.  Ralls says many of the community colleges’ students are struggling to maintain jobs, raise families and earn degrees, and those stresses often lead to students dropping out. Also, a greater push is being made at the high school level to better prepare students for college. (Triangle Business Journal)

Profile of 2 Raleigh fashion designers – Hannah Goff’s line for the upcoming Art To Wear fashion show is inspired by the novel Frankenstein while Kirk Smith is inspired by what college students eat and drink.  “Vita and the A2W jurors suggested [that I make] a wedding dress to challenge [myself],” Smith said. He’ll also include paraphernalia from college diet mainstays Cookout, Starbucks and Krispy Kreme. He plans on showing at least six looks, two of which will be menswear. (INDY)

Profile of Trinity High School robotics team – Trinity’s team ‘Artificial Stupidity’ has won two state championships in two years and will be competing next week in the televised national championships in Atlanta.  School administrators are thrilled that Trinity has a program that emphasizes science and engineering, especially since four of the 17 robotics team members are female. They credit the Butlers — Mark, a volunteer teacher-coach at Trinity, has training as a physician and engineer, while Reilly expects to attend an engineering-oriented college next year — with building the hybrid class-club. (Herald-Sun)

Durham man guides at-risk youth – Malcolm Reed, a former college basketball player,  founded the D3 Community Outreach mentoring program to help pay back the mentors who helped him get on the right path as a youth.  ”He can act like a father sometimes and like a brother sometimes,” Lewis says. “He took me under his wing. I wouldn’t be in school if it wasn’t for him. He just wants to see his people, people in his community, do well.’ (News and Observer)

3/18/10 Teen News

Johnston Co. Teen of the Year - 14-year-old LaMale Williams is a preacher, organist, choir director and tutor at the Boys & Girls Club.  Since his father is in prison, he turns to religious leaders for mentorship, although they credit his work ethic for his young success.  “I like being different; I’m not that much of a follower,” Williams said. “What people do around me does not affect me. I do what I want to do.”  (Herald)

Fewer teen jobs this summer – Due to the recession in industry and the government, the city of Durham expects to offer teens fewer jobs than past years, which may lead to more problems related to poverty. “For some of them, it’s a very black and white choice,” said Olson-Getty, internship coordinator for YO: Durham, which serves at-risk youth.”On one hand they can get a job in a legitimate economy. but barring that they’re gong to make their money some other way. And the pull of the street is very strong.” (Durham News)

NCSSM seeks world record food drive - This Saturday, the NC School of Science and Math will seek to break the single day record for food collection of 509,000 pounds.  Additionally, they have already raised close to $25,000 for food banks in NC. “It’s been really great to see people back us like they have,” Lewis stated. “And like I’ve said, record or not, it’s all going for a good cause. And if we beat the record, that’s great, because that means even more food that we got for the Food Bank. But if not, we’re [getting] in one day a lot of food that will go to help a lot of people.” (Herald-Sun)

Basketball team unites gangs – At the same juvenile facility that served as the inspiration for the movie ‘Gridiron Gang” starring The Rock, this year’s basketball team of rival gang members has reached the state playoffs in basketball.  ”We have kids who in the past would rather shoot at each other than pass the basketball to each other,”the head coach said. “I’ve never had a kid for two seasons, and we don’t want to.” (LA Times)

NC H.S. State Championships (Green Hope v. Butler, Kinston v. West Caldwell & Terry Sanford v. Lake Norman)

(To see more photos from the state 4-A championship game between Green Hope High School and Charlotte Butler High School, please see highschoolot.com.) photos by wjzo.com

To see more photos from the state 2-A championship game between Kinston High School and West Caldwell High School, please see highschoolot.com. 

To see more photos of the 4-A championship game between Terry Sanford and Lake Norman, please see highschoolot.com.

3/11/10 National Teen News

Ludacris, Foxx join HIV campaign – The two entertainers have joined CDC’s social media campaign to use Twitter and Facebook to draw black teens into a conversation about HIV.  The AIDS virus continues to spread widely among African Americans, who represent just 14% of Americans ages 13-29 but account for half of new infections in that group, the CDC reports.Yet the number of young blacks who say they’re concerned about HIV declined from 50% to 40% from 1997 to 2009. (USA Today)

H. Barnes named Player of Year – UNC recruit Harrison Barnes honored with 2010 Morgan Wotten Award. When he’s not playing basketball, Barnes is involved in DECA (Marketing, Management, Entrepreneurship Club) and Students Helping Eliminate Poverty and Hunger (SHEPH). “I am humbled and honored to be the recipient of the prestigious Morgan Wootten Award as the 2010 McDonald’s National High School Player of the Year,” said Barnes. “I feel blessed that my name will be linked with everything this award embodies.” (Scout)

Teen cake decorator wins awards - 14-year-old Natalie New of Kansas City is a self-taught cake decorator whose designs take up to 61 hours and have won multiple contests. “I took the actual calculation of the full-sized Eiffel Tower in France and reduced them down to a size that would fit on a cake so that it would have the correct slope,” she said. “Then, to make the form that the pastillage would dry on, I had to reverse the slope.” (N&O)

Madonna, Lourdes get clothing label – 13-year-old Lourdes and her mother will be designing the teen fashion label Material Girl for Macy’s this fall.  “Joining forces with Iconix to bring my fashion ideas to consumers is very exciting for me,” the material girl said in a statement, adding that she “looks forward to working closely” with Iconix “to create and translate my vision and ideas for MG Icon.” (NY Post)

Seventeen Magazine releases prom issue - Spider tights and ugly floral prints? (Jezebel)