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)

Durham Hillside H.S. presents “Willy Wonka”

(CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE – photos by wjzo.com)

Durham Hillside High School Theater Department presents “Willy Wonka: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory”

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)

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Durham ‘Black Nativity’ at Hillside High Theater

(click images to enlarge – photos by wjzo.com, see www.blacknativitydurham.com for more info)

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

(∆) Raleigh native gets Broadway lead – John Arthur Greene has taken over the role of Riff, the leader of the Jets gang in the Tony-winning Broadway revival of “West Side Story.” “I grew up doing North Carolina Theatre,” he said. “I did every single one of their shows. They gave me a place to really develop this art and figure out how characters are formed, how to sing and dance, and how to put your heart and soul into a performance.” (News & Observer)

6 Alternative fuels cars built by teens – Five kids from West Philly’s high school auto shop class, ex-gang members and high school dropouts built this soybean-powered race car. The car gets 50+ mpg and goes from 0 to 60 in just 4 seconds. (Matter Network)

Texas public schools required to teach Bible – “The purpose of a course like this isn’t even really to get kids to believe it, per se, it is just to appreciate the profound impact that it has had on our history and on our government.” (KLTV.com)

Smashing Pumpkins hires teen drummer – After original drummer quit, Pumpkins screened 1,000 drummers in open auditions before choosing 19-year-old Mike Byrne. “I’m super excited to be playing with the band. Dream come true, man.”

Teens protest proposed tanning ban – Suffolk County in NY wants to ban teens under 18 from tanning salons. John Overstreet, the executive director of the Indoor Tanning Association, said it “defied common sense” that lawmakers would bar teens from tanning indoors while posing no restrictions on them at the county’s beaches. (Newsday)

Teen sees people’s auras – Part of a 20/20 series on children with psychic powers. Heather compares looking inside bodies to using an X-ray or microscope. Her vision, she says, changes “from one power to the next, and it just goes deeper and deeper, and you can see that. Sometimes, you don’t want to know that about everybody, so you don’t want to look and you’re just like, you’re afraid of what you’ll find.” (ABC)

The dangers of pitching as a youth – Dr. James Andrews deems the number of Tommy John surgeries needed for teen pitchers as an “epidemic.” In-depth article by the NY Times about how pitching can destroy arms. (NY Times)

Buried teen saved on NC beach – A 16-year-old from New Jersey was buried neck-deep while sitting cross-legged in wet sand at Bald Head Island when the tide came in over his head. A bystander gave him a snorkel to breath through until he was dug out.  (Philly.com)