4/28/10 Local Teen News

 Preview of CHHS ‘The Wiz” – 100 students are participating in Chapel Hill High School’s spring musical “The Wiz,” which will be be adapted from the musical and  not the movie. “They run every aspect of the show, for the most part,” Drago said. “This is educational theater. This is the best possible learning experience the students can have, actually doing the show themselves.” (Chapel Hill News)

 College select summer reading for frosh – UNC has selected Picking Cotton, Duke will be reading Everything Matters, Peace College will read The Blue Sweater and both NC State and Meredith will read Half The Sky by Nicholas Krisof and Sheryl WuDunn.  Half the Sky explores issues faced by women around the world, and it offers ways readers can help make a difference. The book’s title refers to a Chinese saying, “Women hold up half the sky.” “This is one of the hardest books I’ve had to read,” said Roger Callanan, an assistant undergraduate dean at NCSU. “This is not pleasurable. But it’s important. We’re talking about real brutality and grotesque abuse. But if you persist, at the end it is hopeful, and it is challenging. Now that you know, what are you going to do?” (N&O)

 Profile of student activist – Dismayed by a single piece of litter at age 6, Morehead scholar Adam Meyer has devoted himself to environmental education and activism, including the opening of HOPE Gardens, a community garden north of UNC that will offer transitional employment to homeless people.  “I always felt a connection to the environment and being outdoors,” he said. “My parents used to have to pull me inside, kicking and screaming.” (Daily Tar Heel)

 Durham Riverside no-hits Northern – Sophomore Dusty Tatum tossed a no-hitter as Riverside beat Northern 2-0 to remain undefeated in the Pac-6.  “He’s been getting better as the season has gone on,” Blowe said of Tatum’s performance. “He’s got great stuff. He’s got four pitches, and he had command of all four of them tonight. He did a great job with both sides of the plate and working from ahead for the most part.” (Herald-Sun)

3/25/10 Local Teen News

Students critical of suspension rates – Northwood High School student article weighs the pros and cons of the increased suspension rate as of late at the high school.  “I got ISS for being late three days,” said student Sara Billman. “I think that’s kind of ridiculous because it puts us farther behind than we would be normally, and suspending someone from school is kind of counterproductive.” OR “Truthfully the rules themselves haven’t really changed,” said teacher Pat Thornhill. “I think the difference is that the rules are being enforced more consistently than they have been in the past, and some students may perceive that as being stricter, when in fact it’s just more consistent in following the policies we’ve always had.” (Omniscent)

Profile of DSA ultimate frisbee team - Student profile of the sport, the history of the support and the success of the Durham School of the Arts ultimate frisbee team. Senior Nathan Sanders agrees. “I mean it’s competitive, but it’s not like a hardcore competitive league, so it’s more fun.” (The Gallery)

Enloe students wary of changes – Enloe High Schools students have been among the most vocal in protesting the recent Wake County School Board decision to end the diversity policy. “In the neighborhood over here it’s going to be predominantly black students, so I don’t feel it’s fair because when you go to school it’s about meeting new people,” said Enloe student Janikqua Outlaw. (MyNC)

7 books that changed my life - Written by a Duke student: “Blood Meridian” by Cormac McCarthy: This one is so cold it will leave you shivering. The absolute brutality and gore of McCarthy’s Western novel is too much for most readers, but continue on and you’ll witness the experiences of an unnamed character after he joins a gang on the search for Native American scalps. What does one do when confronted with pure evil? Best Line: “When the lambs is lost in the mountain, he said. They is cry. Sometime come the mother. Sometime the wolf.” (Duke Chronicle)

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)

2/10/09 Teen news: local(∆) and national

Teen cellphone novelist earns $600,000 – 15-year-old ‘Bunny’ has sold over 100,000 copies of her three volume novel ‘Wolf Boy x Natural Girl,’ which she wrote on her cellphone.  Over the course of several months, Bunny tapped away in her bedroom, in between homework assignments. “Wolf Boy” ended up as a high-school love story between shy, pretty Miku and tall, handsome Shun, who is generally a gentlemen except when Miku is around (thus the name “Wolf Boy”).(LA TIMES)

(∆)Duke student lives in a van - Ken Ilgunas explains why and how he lived an entire year in a van while attending classes at Duke University.Living on the cheap wasn’t merely a way to save money and stave off debt; I wanted to live adventurously. I wanted to test my limits. I wanted to find the line between my wants and my needs. I wanted, as Thoreau put it, “to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life … to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.” (Salon)

Teen sneaks into Super Bowl – Despite $6 million in security, a Miami teen snuck into and watched the Super Bowl.  He has also successfully snuck into: ’09 BCS National Championship Game, Three Orange Bowls, ’10 Pro Bowl, March Madness, Sony Ericsson Open, Over 50 Miami Heat, Florida Marlins, Florida Panthers, and Miami Dolphins’ games, Dave Matthews Band Concert, and a Smashing Pumpkins Concert. (Bleacher Report)

Middle school collects jeans for Haiti – After reading about the Teens for Jeans campaign on the dosomething.org website, students and teachers began collecting jeans for Haiti.  Every donor gets 25% off new jeans at Aeropostale.  ”Blue jeans are really good, because they hold up,” said Mazie Sullivan, 13-year-old president of the Builders Club. “It helps other people, and that’s what our club’s about.” (FayObserver)

U.S. History class could change in NC (WRAL), Durham schools get $1.25 million to close achievement gap (N&O)

2/03/10 Teen news

Study: Abstinence-only education delays sex – Only 1/3 of middle-school students who attended an abstinence-only education class had sex within 24 months versus half of students assigned to a general health class that taught safer sex. “This new study is game-changing,” said Sarah Brown of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, in a statement. “For the first time, there is strong evidence that an abstinence-only intervention can help very young teens delay sex and reduce their recent sexual activity as well. Importantly, the study also shows that this particular abstinence-only program did not reduce condom use among the young teens who did have sex.” (NYT)

The appeal of MTV’s ‘Teen Mom’ – MTV’s popular show replaces Hills at the top of the line-up. “This show really hits people hard. In ‘Juno’ or ‘The Secret Life of An American Teenager,’ things are kind of glossed over and they don’t really show the hardships,” said Bookout, who recently split up with Edwards. “On ‘Teen Mom,’ there are girls from different parts of the country with different backgrounds. On every other MTV show, like ‘The Hills’ and ‘The City’ and ‘The Real World,’ it’s just for entertainment. Our show is really educational and good for audiences who want to get a different mindset on teen pregnancy.” (LA Times)

Hip-Hop’s obsession with “Clockwork Orange” – From Three6Mafia to Eminem, Stanley Kubrick’s 1972 masterpiece looms large. Before Em was a household name, he was beefing with fellow talented honkey Cage. In an effort to embarrass the NY rapper, Shady posed on the cover of Stress magazine dressed as the lead character Alex from Clockwork, Cage’s alias at the time. He also opened his verse on D12’sDevils Night with this line, “Lock your doors, drop to the floors, get your shotguns drawn—here comes another Clockwork Orange.”(XXL)

“If These Halls Could Talk” - An editorial by Garner High School student Sarah Gibson on the stresses of high school. The second stress during this time of year is exams. Teenagers all over the county are dreading them as much as I am. No one, not even the teachers, likes these exams. Even for classes like dance, the final exams are difficult and challenging. (Garner Citizen)

Survey: Wake parents like school calendar – Only 28% of parents responded, 81% said they were satisfied with their children’s school calendar.  100 school district employees to be laid off. (N&O)