4/26/10 Local college news

 Barrel Monster creator gains commissions – NC State student Joe Carnevale, first famous for his barrel monsters, has recently become an unofficial artist-in-residence in Raleigh, including his latest piece Sir-Trash-A-Lot.  One of his other big passions is what he calls urban adventure, which, he said in an interview last year, involves things such as climbing tall stuff he really shouldn’t. Indeed, he has a Web site about this passion, which features pictures and stories of surreptitious expeditions into construction sites, the tops of bridges and whatever lies beneath manhole covers. (N&O)

 Want better grades? Go to private college - A recent study shows that average GPA’s has increase 0.1 per decade from 2.52. in the 1950s to 3.11 now, with the majority of grade inflation coming from private colleges. The authors suggest that these laxer grading standards may help explain why private school students are over-represented in top medical, business and law schools and certain Ph.D. programs: Admissions officers are fooled by private school students’ especially inflated grades. (NYTimes)

 Student designers show, critique work – NC State textile program has changed their senior class to include two critiques and a final fashion show of a six-piece collection. Kristen DePalmo’s collection revolves around resort wear and uses braids and knots as embellishments. She began gathering inspiration and sketching over Christmas break.“I wanted to make a line that would simplify packing,” DePalmo says, citing her personal inability to pack light. “It’s elegant and mix-and-match. You can slip on a long dress that would also double as a cover-up.” (Indy)

 Why do h.s. students want to go to Duke? - As written by a Duke student.  My roommate, on the other hand, said she preferred the Fiske Guide to Colleges when she was school searching, and it sings similar praises. “What fun to be a Dukie—face painted blue, rocking Cameron Indoor Stadium as the Blue Devils score again. Duke is the most prestigious private university in the South—similar to Rice in selectivity and academically competitive with the Ivies and Stanford.” It does mention that, “Students say language development is weak” and that “Students of different ethnicities and races tend to ‘self-segregate,’ students say, producing little tension but also little interaction.” (Duke Chronicle)

4/16/10 Teen Prom News

 Prom on a school night - In an effort to reduce post-prom drinking and partying, several schools now schedule prom on a school night and any student who is late to school the following day can not make-up work or play in an athletic event.  “Honestly, it just seems pointless,” said Bridget Mathis, 16, who planned to skip her junior prom, scheduled for Wednesday. “When you’re thinking about having a good time, you’re not thinking of going out on a Wednesday night.” (NYTimes)

 How to ask out a prom date on YouTube – Following the lead of the Colorado teen who successfully asked a Maxim model to prom via YouTube, more students are utilizing technology to ask the question.  When it came time to ask his girlfriend to the senior prom, 17-year-old Adrian Newcomb of Simi Valley, Calif., took a particularly creative approach. With help from a friend, he spent six hours stringing 625 digital photographs into an “underwater” stop-motion proposal video.”The girl that I’m asking, she really likes sea horses,” he said. “I wanted to somehow incorporate those into how I ask. I knew I couldn’t get a real one so I figured I’d animate my own.” (ABC News)

 Student makes prom dress out of gum wrappers – An Iowa high school student has been chewing ‘Five’ gum since August to collect enough wrappers to create a blue and white homemade prom dress.  Dawn Rasmuson said, ”I think it’s really admirable for her I mean she’s a junior in high school and in today’s world a lot of the girls are worried about fitting in; they don’t want to stand out for wrong reason so it’s really cool and so unique.” (KIMT)

 MS teen banned from prom will lead NYC gay parade – After her school district cancelled her prom rather than allow her to bring a lesbian date to prom, Constance McMillan has won a $30,000 scholarship from the Ellen DeGeneres show and will now be the grand marshall for the gay pride parade in NYC. (NYDN)

 Seventeen Magazine’s 17 best prom scenes of all time

4/13/10 Teen news: Local(∆) and national

(∆)Gears of War 3 ready for 2011 – Cary-based Epic Games announced a 2011 release for the final chapter of the trilogy that has already 12 million games to date.  Epic is also releasing a first-person shooter game Bulletstorm next year as well.  Epic’s design director, Cliff Bleszinski, was scheduled to discuss “Gears of War 3″ Monday night on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon.” The trailer for the game that Bleszinski planned to unveil on the show, called “Ashes to Ashes,” also is set to debut today at www.gearsofwar.xbox.com. (N&O)

 New queen of fashion is TN teen – Blair Fowler’s beauty and fashion videos have attracted 61 million views and she is able to direct record number of viewers to other fashion and clothing websites.  The crossover between saleswoman and internet friend isn’t just blurred, it’s completely unimportant: her audience may be aware that they’re being pitched to, but they don’t really care, as long as the pitch is coming from someone they feel they can trust. (Jezebel)

(∆)Wake Tech students’ culinary contest - As the local jobless rate continues to climb, a record number of students have enrolled in the Wake Tech culinary program, which is hosting a pastry contest today in Raleigh.  ”If I had to do it all again and choose between getting my bachelor’s or going to culinary school, I would go to culinary school,” he said. “It fits what I like to do.” (N&O)

 Oregon school district may go to 4 days – In order to save money, the Klamath Falls school district is considering expanding the school day to 5pm and eliminating Friday from the school week.  Imagine having every Friday off, thus making Thursday night the new Friday night, forever?? So what if you’re in school until five. What are you doing until five anyway? (Gawker)

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)

3/11/10 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)