3/31/10 National teens news

H.S. junior owns dj company, develops tv shows - 17-year-old entrepreneur Oliver Bogner balances school with promoting parties for his dj company, producing and hosting a teen dating show for television and pitching other reality shows to national tv networks.  “When he walked through the door, I was like, ‘What is this?’ He’s a kid,” said Jenny Daly, a producer with Target Entertainment Group. “He was 16. He’s doing what people in the industry coming to me have been doing for 10 years. (LA Times)

A teen jury of peers – 17 teen courts throughout the nation hear cases and decide punishments for first-time juvenile offenders, with the idea that teen jurors would better know what questions to ask and the punishment that may be most effective.  Timothy Williams, a senior who last year sat in the defendant’s chair for fighting and petty theft, said his trial before other students was intimidating and more than a little embarrassing — but effective.”They pretty much understood where I was coming from,” recalled the 17-year-old, who was back in court — this time as a juror. After he was sentenced to curfew, tutoring, community service and meeting minimum grade requirements, he has been doing better in school and hasn’t been in trouble since, he said. (LATimes)

Students still prefer school food to chef’s - After working with a West Virginia school as part of “Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution,” most students still preferred the school’s nuggets and pizzas to the chef’s healthier menu.  And when denied the food they were used to, many stopped buying the school lunch. (Salon)

Why girls outperform boys in school? - NYT columnist Nicholas Kristof examines why girls are outperforming boys in almost every single academic category. Mr. Whitmire argues that the basic problem is an increased emphasis on verbal skills, often taught in sedate ways that bore boys. “The world has gotten more verbal,” he writes. “Boys haven’t.” (NYTimes)

3/3/10 Local Teen News

Wake Co. school board changes policy – Following a tense meeting, the school board voted 5-4 to end the long-standing diversity policy in favor of assigning students to neighborhood schools.  Dawn Bartlett, a parent, said neighborhood schools will be better for families.”I’m completely in favor of neighborhood and community schools,” Bartlett said. “It will allow me to volunteer in a school that’s not 20 miles away.” VS. “In the words of George Wallace, do you want your legacy to be segregation now, segregation forever?” said Samuel Greene, a retired Wake principal. Barber said, “Your plan is wrong. It’s wayward. It will make things worse and you know it. Data doesn’t support it. Morality doesn’t support it.” (N&O)

Hillside grad tells story of Emmett Till – Kevin Wilson wrote the play as a 15-year-old sophomore at Durham Hillside, then decided to revive the production when some of his fellow college students didn’t know of Emmett Till. “It’s bigger than us,” Wilson said. “We have a message to tell. I really want people to hear the story, not just in Greensboro and not just in Durham. It’s an important, forgotten story.” (Herald-Sun)

How teens earn money - Students at Riverside High School discuss how they make money through allowance, jobs, or entrepreneurship. Garrett Dahms and his brother have operated a dog boarding facility of 200 clinets for over eight years: “My brother and I started doing it during the summers so that people could leave their dogs in a more family friendly environment.  We started out doing it just for friends as a favor since we had the space.”  (Pirate’s Hook)

Profile of scientist Chelsea Sumner - Working with Project SEED, Knightdale H.S. student Chelsea Summer won a science competition for her project on hydrogen and alcohol addiction and will now travel to China to present her project.  “I really hope to learn something so that I can bring my experiences back and share them with other people, especially to encourage other students so that they know they can achieve what I achieve-that it’s not impossible.” (Knightdale News)

N&O preview of high school soccer - ESPN has ranked Leesville Road High School the #1 soccer team in the nation and last year’s player of the year Mollie Pathman returns for her senior year at Durham Academy.  (N&O)

“

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)

2/15/10 Teen News: Local and National

Teen skaters ready for 2014 Olympics – 15-year-old Miles Addison of Enloe High School, who has been skating since he was 3, wakes up everyday at 4:45 a.m. to train with his partner Kay Bergdolt of Cary Academy for 90 minutes before school and two hours after school.  The pair won bronze in this year’s Junior National Championships. “You always have bad days and it’s always hard to get back up and fight through those. But whenever you have a good day and you land a new jump, it’s so exciting and you just want to do it again and again,” said Kay. (VIDEO by MYNC.com)

Cary finishes 2nd in wrestling championships - 30-0 Cary Imps, who had won the three previous 4-A state championship fell 38-14 in the state finals to Parkland High, who had won the three previous 3-A state championships before moving up a division this year.  “Any time you beat a team with 20 state championships, you’ve done something pretty great,” Parkland coach Ronnie Sigmon, still dripping from the Gatorade shower his team had just given him, said. “And this victory demonstrates that 3A wrestling in this state is just as good as 4A.”  (SWWake News)

Parents sue over suspended children - Two Beaufort County families are suing the school system after the school suspended their children for fighting but did not offer educational options during the long-term suspension. “It affected the family drastically,” Harvey-Barrow said. “It also threw her behind. She was working toward going to a university. By her missing the whole semester, her GPA fell. She had to struggle with that.” (N&O)

Who is the creator of ChatRoulette? - A 17-year-old high school student from Russia. I created this project for fun. Initially, I had no business goals with it. I created this project recently. I was and still am a teenager myself, that is why I had a certain feeling of what other teenagers would want to see on the Internet. I myself enjoyed talking to friends with Skype using a microphone and webcam. But we got tired of talking to each other eventually. So I decided to create a little site for me and my friends where we could connect randomly with other people. (NYT)

Tuesday’s teen news – local(∆) and national

NYC teacher suspended for assigning ‘Guts’ – The popular teacher did not allow the graphic story about masterbation to leave the classroom but his students babbled about the lesson, leading to the teacher’s reassignment and subsequent protest. “We’re not little kids. We are in high school,” said 15-year-old junior Omar Caminero. “It’s not like we’ve never read anything like that — we have.” (NY Post)

Documentary features teen entrepreneurs – Film follows several low-income teens who are among the 25,000 that enter the national teen entrepreneur contest.“I think every kid needs to have a mentor or an adult (supporting them) in some way, shape or fashion,” Mazzio said. “They are all remarkable kids, all they need is a little bit of water and they are going to flourish.” (Boston Herald)

(∆) NCCU to march in 2011 Rose Bowl -”This puts our name and our presence before millions of people,” said Chancellor Charlie Nelms. “It’s a terrific recruiting tool, reaching so many students who are thinking about college. It also speaks directly to those who are interested in music. And it will attract donors to get involved with the university.” The band now needs to raise $400,000. (Herald-Sun)

Precious in the ‘Age of Obama’ – Black reviewer says black audiences need to see this realistic movie about a low-income girl who will probably never leave the ghetto. ‘Precious is a fully realized character but also a metaphor representing blacks at our lowest psychological ebb, a place we’ve always feared because we know it has the potential to swallow us whole.’ (Salon)