3/30/2010 Local teen news

Teens face dismal summer job market – Competing against unemployed workers, teens face a summer job shortage but might have luck in the malls or in stores that are coming soon.  “These jobs are in high demand as we all know with unemployment where it is,” Kane said. “I would be out looking right now for June or May.” (MyNC)

FDA might ban tanning beds for teens - A FDA panel is considering banning artificial tanning for teens after a study demonstrates the deadliest form of skin cancer increases 75 percent in people who use tanning beds in their teens and 20s. Between 40 and 60 percent of teenage girls surveyed went artificial tanning in the prior year, despite awareness of cancer risks, according to studies cited by the FDA. (N&O)

Teen smoking rates way down - A 2009 survey shows that teen smoking rates in North Carolina are at an all-time low of 16% as compared to 32% in 1999. Survey officials attribute the drop to comprehensive tobacco prevention with students. But smokeless tobacco and cigar use in teens remain areas of concern for trust fund officials.(News 14)

Wake make-up day sees many absences – Instead of the first day of Spring Break, a make-up snow day on Monday saw three times as many student absences as a normal Monday and 1,000 teacher absences. Despite the empty desks, “we teach all our classes just as we would if all the students were here,” said Perry, who expressed surprise at the number of student absences. (N&O)

Wednesday’s Teen News – local(∆) and national

(∆) Durham h.s. students tutoring students to read – Trinity High School students are taking a class to learn the Orton-Gillingham system of reading then using the knowledge to tutor low-income students at a local elementary school. “It sounds really cool,” said James, a varsity basketball player. “I love working with little kids. I’ve done basketball camps and worked at a Spanish camp. … So I love working with little kids. I love seeing how they learn. It seems like a great thing to do. I really hope we help a lot of people doing this.” (Durham Herald-Sun)

Feds outlaw flavored cigs to deter youth - FDA banned flavored cigarettes (chocolate, vanilla, clove, etc.) because they claim it encourages youth and teens to start smoking. In 2004, 17-year-old smokers were more than three times as likely as those over the age of 25 to smoke flavored cigarettes, and they viewed flavored cigarettes as safer. (NY Times)

Tyra Show hosts gay exorcist – Clips from Tyra Show with 16-year-old boy who claims his minister cured him of homosexuality, as seen in the exorcism that was posted on YouTube.  Tyra interview his minister, who says the boy will go to hell as long as he possesses any gay tendencies.  (Jezebel)

Tanning salon sting produces mixed results – College students posed as 15-year-old girls to see if tanning salons were following laws requiring teens under the age of 16 to obtain parental permission.  Most tanning salons followed regulations except allowing girls to tan every day when the law only allows six times per week.  (LA Times)

Teen sues Abercrombie & Fitch for discrimination – Muslim teen claims store refused to hire her because she wears a hijab.  Ambercromie says they hire models and therefore do not have to hire anyone who is not considered a model. (Daily Collegian)

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

Teen heads to law school – Feature on 19-year-old Kate McLaughlin who skipped six grades, entered community college at 12, graduated from UC San Diego at 17,and will now be attending Northwestern Law School. McLauhglin says her path has been difficult because she is constantly bored in school and has trouble relating with her peers. McLaughlin is not sure yet what she wants to do with her law degree, but hopes it will help her to be more effective in lobbying for the social causes she feels passionately about – feminism, combatting racism, equal rights for gays and lesbians, and international humanitarianism. Also here is a blog posting about her in the NY Times. (OC Register) photo by Mark Rightmire

Teens buying good grades at summer school – Students from public schools are paying to attend private schools in the summer to obtain an easy A, a trend known as ‘buying a credit.’“There was only seven people in the class, the teachers focus on you, and basically, there was no way I could do bad,” said Sean Donoahue, 17, who paid $2,000 for a 20-day course in Grade 12 English.”That’s what sold me, was that I couldn’t get a bad mark in summer school. There was no way I’d get below an 80.”

Tobacco sales to minors at all-time low – The national rate of tobacco sales to minors for fiscal 2008 was 9.9%, down from 40.1% in 1997. (USA Today)

(∆) Teen musician taught self on Guitar Hero – 13-year-old Matt Plourde of Garner mastered every song but one on Guitar Hero, then parlayed his interest into real music. He opens for the Towne Players Teens’ musical “Seussical Jr.” this weekend at the Garner Historic Auditorium. (Garner Citizen)

(∆) Chatham Co. H.S. students to get laptops – Thanks to a $800,000 grant from the Golden LEAF Foundation, every student at Northwood High, Chatham Central and SAGE Academy will get to take home lap tops.  There is no cost to families unless the lap top is completely broken. (MyNC)

Teens’ counterfeit bills still hitting NC – Union County sheriffs arrested two teens last month for creating hundreds of fake hundreds, but their work is still in circulation, still fooling business owners.  They bleached five dollar bills, then reprinted them as hundreds so that the original paper was still marked as real when checked by a decoder pen.  (NBC Washington)

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

John Hughes, Bard of teen angst, has died – His credits included: Sixteen Candles, The Breakfast Club, Pretty in Pink, Planes Trains and Automobiles, Vacation, Home Alone, Weird Science, Some Kind of Wonderful, She’s Having a Baby, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off.  He walked away from the industry in 1991 and moved to Wisconsin, Kevin Smith compared him to the reclusive JD Salinger.”I stumbled into this business, I didn’t train for it,” Hughes told Entertainment Weekly in 1994. (Eonline!)

Profile of Lil Wayne – He is everywhere and never sleeps, performing at Walnut Creek Saturday night.  (N&O)

Rapper twitters Chicago students to attend school – Some parents are upset because Jeremih’s most popular song “Birthday Sex” includes the lyrics ‘Don’t need candles and cake/Just need your body to make good/Birthday sex’’ and “We grindin’ with passion ‘cause it’s your birthday/Been at it for hours, I know you thirsty.’ The chief of schools disagreed,“He had 70 million hits on his MySpace page. For us to be naïve and believe that this is not what our students are listening to would be not living in the world where our students are. He’s a great role model for our kids. He graduated from high school. He went on to school for engineering. He’s staying in school. That’s the message.” Here is a link to the protest. (Chicago Sun-Times)

Teacher makes teen smoke 42 cigarettes – The teacher was upset when she found a model student, 16-year-old Mohamad Alif Arifin, had a cigarette and lighter in his locker in the school in the northern island of Langkawi. (MSNBC)

Colin Powell, foot soldiers battle dropout ‘catastrophe’ – Only 52% of students in the nation’s 50 largest cities graduate from high school. (CNN)

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

Parents: Bullying led to son’s suicide – His family and friends say the bullying followed 15-year-old Iain Steele from junior high to high school — from hallways, where one tormentor shoved him into lockers, to cyberspace, where another posted a video on Facebook making fun of his taste for heavy metal music. “At one point, [a bully] had told [Iain] he wished he would kill himself,” said Matt Sikora, Iain’s close friend. A school spokeswoman said she did not believe Iain was bullied. (Chicago Tribune) photo by Chuck Berman

Teen wins $6,000 Carnegie hero award – 17-year-old Tom Foust pulled an elderly woman from her car seconds before it was crushed by an oncoming train.  (Sun-Times)

(∆)Soccer players face school/club decision – The area’s elite female soccer players will have to choose between playing for their school teams or their club team’s next year.  The Capital Area Soccer League has decided to run their program next spring in direct competition to the high school season.  Coaches say it will be impossible for girls to compete for both teams during the same season.  (N&O)

(∆)Computer lab addresses digital divide – Chapel Hill-Carrboro School System has opened a computer lab for students living in or near Carolina Apartments; planning to open 17 more locations in the next year. (My NC) photo by wjzo.com

L.A. columnist profiles gay teen – Luis Penate changed his immigrant parents’ opinion of Prop 8 and homosexuality when he came out as gay. “It was coming out or suicide,” he wrote. “I couldn’t go on living with who I was pretending to be; it’s like living with your worst enemy, except you share one body.” (LA Times) photo by Irfan Khan

Study: Movie characters sway teens to smoke – Dartmouth researchers conclude that smoking by ‘bad guy” characters are just as likely to influence teens to smoke as “good guy” characters. (Science Daily)

Teen fronts counterfeit ring – 18-year-old Arthur Williams sold fake $100 bills for $20, serial numbers match $113,000 of fake cash nationwide.  (WQAD)