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)

3/2/2010 Teen News: (∆) local and national

(∆)H.S. JROTC finding new success – 100 schools are on the waiting list to add JROTC programs, which supporters say is a leadership training program rather than an Army recruiting mechanism.  95-99% of JROTC members graduate on time and 30-50% of members nationally join the military after graduation. “It has really taught me how to be a better person,” said Chad May, 15, a sophomore. “My grades have improved drastically since joining.” (N&O)

Cheerleader fined $27K for file sharing – A federal court decided that Whitney Harper couldn’t use her ignorance of the law as a defense for file sharing 37 songs with her friends in high school.  “I knew I was listening to music. I didn’t have an understanding of file sharing,” she said. “Harper cannot rely on her purported legal naivety [sic] to defeat the … bar to her innocent infringer defense,” the New Orleans-based appeals court ruled unanimously, 3-0. (WIRED)

(∆)Teen archer hopes for Olympics - 13-year -old Miles Heyman, who has won several state and national archery contests for his age group, enjoys the discipline and social aspects of the sport.  “There’s more drive for perfection in archery than any other sport I’ve tried,” he said. “He understands that luck is not part of the equation,” Kristoff said. “The top archers exhibit type-B personalities. They’re analytical, they’re process driven.” (N&O)

Times’ story on Wake County schools – The New York Times summarizes the recent controversy over the diversity plan in Wake County schools. Across the country, research shows that students of all races and backgrounds perform better in diverse schools, said Roslyn Arlin Mickelson, a sociologist at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte. Diversified schools typically have higher graduation rates, more college acceptances and fewer students in the criminal justice system.  But the new board members cite other statistics: a countywide graduation rate that has fallen over the past five years, rising suspensions and a widening performance gap between poor and wealthy students. (NYT)

2/9/10 Teen news: local(∆) and national

(∆)NCSSM senior is finalist in Intel Search – Lanair Lett is the only NC student to reach the final round of the 2010 Intel Science Talent Search and has already won a $30,000 scholarship from the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology.  “Lanair’s a very hard worker,” said Jeffery Tessem, a post-doctoral fellow at Duke who supervised Lett’s summer research. “I think that’s one of his best qualities. He’s extremely smart, I don’t want to take away from his intelligence, but I think he shows a high level of dedication that you don’t always see in people his age group.” (Durham Herald)

(∆)Parents sue over CHHS player’s death – The family of Chapel Hill High School football player Atlas Fraley is suing Orange County for alleged negligence in not providing proper care that could have saved the life of the 17-year-old. “Atlas was only 17 years old when he called 911 desperately trying to get the emergency medical care that he needed,” Donald Strickland, the lawyer for the Fraley family, said on Saturday. “He got an EMS worker to his house, but he received no medical care and was left home alone to die alone.” (N&O)

(∆)Raleigh ad company wins Doritos contest – 5 Point Productions earned $650,000 for their 30-second ‘Underdog’ Superbowl ad, the second time this company of young producers has won this contest.  MSNBC also lists their best and worst Superbowl commercials.  (WRAL)

LA student sent home for Colts jersey - A Louisiana high school student who moved from Indiana three years ago was sent home for wearing a Colts jersey on a day the principal encouraged students to wear Saints jerseys.  “If they tell other students to support their team, why can’t I support mine?” Brandon Frost, 17, told The Associated Press. “I thought I remember him saying, ‘If you like Indiana so much, why don’t you go back?”‘ (CBS Evening News)

Friday’s teen news -local(∆) and national

(∆) Profile of Durham teen filmmaker - 17-year-old Kelley Katzenmeyer received her first camera as part of a club at her elementary school, now she attends NC School of the Arts and is one 143 teens selected to participate in the Young Arts festival in Miami.“Because I love filmmaking,” she said when asked why she applied to YoungArts. “It’s just a form of communication that you don’t necessarily need words for. … There are some films that we could both watch together and still understand what was happening without needing to speak the same language.” (Herald Sun)

Auditioning for the NYC high schools of the arts - 24 high schools require auditions.“We see a combination of kids who heard that Alicia Keys went here and want to be like her and then we will see kids who live, eat, sleep and breathe performing,” said Chuck Vasallo, an assistant principal of Professional Performing Arts High School. “Every application represents a person with a dream, and it’s in our hands if they’re accepted. If not, your life might go in another direction. That’s something we take very seriously. It’s a little scary, even for us.” (photo by Michael Agins)

Review of MTV show ‘Teen Mom” – Teen Mom picks up where 16 and Pregnant left off: the series follows the same young women featured on the latter, demonstrating how the pain of childbirth is nothing compared to the difficultie of young motherhood. VIDEO (Jezebel)

Should students be protected by 4th Amendment? – Police are conducting random searches at a violence-plagued high school in Detroit.  Should this be allowed? (Time Magazine)

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

(∆) Raleigh Charter tops high school list – Raleigh Charter School was the only triangle school to finish in the US News’ annual ranking of the top 100 American high schools.  Next came Athens Drive High in Raleigh, Cary High, Green Hope High in Cary, Jordan-Matthews High in Siler City and Sanderson High in Raleigh, which were among the 461 schools nationally to receive “silver medal” recognition. (N&O)

Teen fashion blogger faces backlash – 13-year-old Tavi Gevinson’s fashion blog ‘Style Rookie’ has been featured in the New York Times Fashion Magazine and led to a column in Harpar’s Bazaar.  Now however, her older competitors are beginning to challenge and criticize her work.  “Will she end up on morning shows? Yes she will,” Blume says. “I don’t think she’s a fashion sage, I think she’s a novelty and I think she’s going to be used as a marketing device as a novelty.” Slowey doubts she writes her own work at all. “She’s either a tween savant or she’s got a Tavi team,” notes the editor. (Jezebel)

New Moon director aids woman accused of piracy - Chris Weitz has come to the defense of a Chicago woman facing felony charges for illegally videotaping part of New Moon.  The woman claims she was videotaping her sister’s birthday party inside the theater. “There is, needless to say, a difference between trying to protect the copyright of a film and making an unfair example of someone who clearly seems not to have any intentions towards video piracy,” Weitz wrote. (Chicago Sun Times)

Military children suffer through deployments - A new study by the RAND Corporation shows that military children suffer a higher rate of anxiety than the larger population and that their difficulties increase in proportion to the length of the deployment. The study found that girls tended to have more problems than boys during reintegration, and that older children struggled more during and after deployments than younger children. (NYTimes)