Thursday, July 17, 2008 — Texas Students Perform 'RENT' Despite District's Opposition.  AUSTIN, TX: At McCallum High School Fine Arts Academy's theater, students from high schools across the city have dedicated their entire summer to being the first high school in Texas to perform the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical "RENT." In May, after auditions were held and rehearsals were underway, the cast was dealt a seemingly devastating blow: The school district revoked permission to perform the show, citing its potentially controversial material, even though the script had been revised for high schools. Instead of choosing a different show, McCallum principal Mike Garrison decided to host the production at his campus, forgoing district funding and support. "RENT" playwright Jonathan Larson died on the night before the first performance in 1995 and would never know how popular the show became. Most of the revenue from "RENT" went to a foundation Larson's family created in his name. Al Larson, Jonathan Larson's father, sent a letter on behalf of his family: "The show is about community as much as anything - about individuals banding together with love and understanding...our thanks for capturing the spirit of 'RENT' so meaningfully and so heroically." "The letter from Larson's father has made this entire process worthwhile," said McCallum junior Madeline Newchurch. "His approval and encouragement absolves any doubt that we should continue with the show. There has been so much publicity surrounding the controversy, I feel like people are losing sight of the show itself. This has brought the focus back to us and away from the possibility of scandalizing viewers." The actors are individually grateful to the program for different reasons, including a professional atmosphere, diversity, confidence and close friendships. Carl Romines, a freshman who was cast as the narrator, Mark, said, "The cast is so tight-knit and positive. Creative energy is always bouncing around between us," Romines said. "We have so much fun, and the energy and friendship will be evident to the audience." Cast members hope the love and hard work they've dedicated to the project this summer will leave the audience with an appreciation for the message of the show, regardless of the controversial content. "The cast has grown to be like a family, so it's fitting that the message of our show is love," said Zoe Lustri, who plays Maureen Johnson. "Love and acceptance for all people."
 
For FULL STORY, go to: The Daily Texan, 7/17/08
media.www.dailytexanonline.com/media/storage/paper410/n
ews/2008/07/17/DtWeekend/High-School.Students.To.Perform.rent.Des
 

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 — Detroit High School Students Work to Beautify City.  DETROIT, MI: Some Detroit high school students hope to flip the old adage, "The grass is always greener on the other side" by beautifying their own communities. The Detroit Conservation Leadership Corps program launched on Tuesday morning at a park on Jefferson Avenue. The summer job program, run by The Greening of Detroit, gives about 90 students from several city high schools the opportunity to earn money while improving local parks and neighborhoods. "We all have a responsibility to leave our communities in better shape than they were in before," said Samuel Moore, 17. The Greening of Detroit has sponsored summer programs for youth for the past 11 years, but this year marks the first partnership with Johnson Controls, Inc. and the Student Conservation Association. Through the partnership, the program has doubled the number of students, which results in the cleaning and greening of more communities. "There's a lot of work to be done in Detroit," said Rebecca Witt, president of the Greening of Detroit. "The work capacity these kids have is huge. It makes a really vibrant program." The students get paid $7.50 per hour daily. About 800 students applied in May, and that number was eventually whittled down after a series of tryouts and volunteer work. Students have already planted 350 trees along the streets of Detroit. "When you have the idea to optimize your resources, things start to look a lot brighter," Witt said.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Detroit News, 7/15/08
www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080715/MET
RO/807150421/1361
 

Saturday, July 12, 2008 — LAUSD High School Songwriters Collaborate with Professionals.  LOS ANGELES, CA: Luis Sempe didn't know what ideas would make it onto paper when he tried writing a song for the first time. But after being instructed to mine his own experiences for material, Sempe, 19, was surprised how quickly his song, "Daniel," came together. It was about becoming a father when he was 17 and was named after his son. "The song is about how he made me feel before and after he was born," said Sempe, who recently graduated from North Hollywood High School. Sempe was one of 15 teens chosen from more than 1,000 Los Angeles Unified School District high school students to collaborate with prominent songwriters and composers in a program sponsored by the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. The idea was to educate students about the craft of songwriting as a means of personal expression, and on Wednesday, the group gathered in a rehearsal space in Burbank to hear the finished versions of their songs for the first time and meet songwriters. A medley of the songs was performed Friday night at the Ford Amphitheatre in Hollywood in a program titled "Free Style." Sempe was paired with composer and conductor Eric Whitacre, who wrote songs for the musical "Paradise Lost." Songwriter Stephen Bray, who has written songs for Madonna, heard 17-year-old Nemesis Tagalag's song, "You're the One" and was struck by the originality of the lyrics: "I wish I was your tear / Born in your eye." "A good lyric has pictures in it," Bray said. Though Nemesis, a student at San Pedro Narbonne High School, said he was just playing with words when he wrote "You're the One," he did enjoy the creativity it spurred in him. "It's pretty fun expressing emotion on a piece of paper."
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Los Angeles Times, 7/11/08
www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-ascap11-2008jul11,0
,4442672.story
 

Thursday, July 10, 2008 — Teens Play Big Role in Blood Drives.  PHOENIX, AZ: When the first drops of Courtney Taylor's blood dripped into the donor bag last week, the 18-year-old from Mesa joined the largest single age group of blood donors in Arizona: teenagers. The American Red Cross said only 38 percent of Americans are eligible to donate blood and that of that group, only 6 percent do so. Teenagers make up a quarter of blood donors in the U.S., and Arizona reflects those numbers. That number might increase now that 16-year-olds in Arizona are eligible to donate with parental consent. During the 2007-08 school year, United Blood Services collected more than 18,550 donations from 148 schools across Arizona - a 15 percent increase over the previous year. Some schools offer community-service hours to students who donate, but many do it for altruistic reasons, said Sue Thew of United Blood Services. "It empowers them. High-school students don't have much money to give to charity, but they can donate their time to organize a blood drive and they can donate blood to save lives." Also, high-school students are less likely to have the medication, illness or travel issues that restrict many older people from giving blood. And they're less likely to have body piercings or tattoos, both of which require a yearlong wait before donating blood. Taylor said she tried to donate several months ago during a Dobson High School drive, but couldn't because she didn't reach the 110-pound weight limit. "At the time I was relieved because I'm scared of needles. I'm a big wimp," she said. "But my friends gave, and they were glad."
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Arizona Republic, 7/10/08
www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/arizonaliving/article
s/2008/07/10/20080710blood0710.html
 

Tuesday, July 08, 2008 — High School Students Start Fuel-Saving Campaign Urging 55 on Freeway.  CARLSBAD, CA: A group of Carlsbad High School students are reducing their highway speed to 55 mph and driving in the right lane after getting a lesson about the benefits in French and German language class. After learning about how their counterparts in Europe deal with high fuel costs, many of the roughly 150 juniors and seniors in the foreign language classes have started a campaign to “slow down and save gas.” That initiative includes bumper stickers and hand signals on the freeway to let drivers behind them know that they’re taking their time and saving gas. “It’s taking responsibility for my own actions,” said Naomi Tirronen, who graduated last month. “I do need to save gas and money. If everyone didn’t buy gas as often, maybe demand would be lower and prices wouldn’t go up so high.” Junior Marianna Silva said the students learned that by slowing down, they could save tremendously on gas. “A lot of students are juniors and seniors and are going to be applying to college,” Marianna said. “We can’t be spending all of our money on gas. We need to save up money.” Because some drivers can become irritated by people driving slowly on the freeways, the students devised a hand signal to let other drivers know that they were driving at a reduced speed: the left hand out the window with all five fingers extended and repeatedly moving downward to communicate the idea of calming down. “There have been a mixture of reactions,” Marianna said. “Some pass by and honk or give rude gestures. But some will just fall in behind me. They’re in no hurry, so they slow down too.” Naomi said the bigger resistance has come from friends, but she answers them by telling them to pay for gas if they want her to drive faster. “Some of my friends say, ‘We’re never going to get there,’ ” Naomi said. “But just 20 minutes extra time isn’t going to kill you. Besides, we’re just teens. We don’t need to be stressed. It’s a little hard to change driving habits. But it’s more psychological than anything.”
 
For FULL STORY, go to: Today’s Local News, CA, 7/9/08
www.todayslocalnews.com/?sect=tln&p=5458
 

Friday, July 04, 2008 — Students Build Life-Changing Robots.  BURLINGTON, VT: High school students from around the world are in Burlington this week--helping create robots that can do just about anything. It's all part of UVM's 18th annual Engineering Institute. "This is our project, which is a self-driving car. It'll sense the object before it hits it and should stop," said student Ben Chamberlain of Otter Valley Union High School. The robots at the institute may only be made of Legos, but they may one day help change the world. "It's pretty cool because it makes you think something you're working on could be used later on in the future. You could expand on this," said student Tom Tarter of Essex. More than 120 students from as far away as Korea and China are in Burlington for the week-long event. The students were told to create and design a robot that could help someone. "They think about real issues that affect real people," said project coordinator Joe Chase. In addition to Legos, the kids also used sensors and sonar object detectors. One of the robots-- called the I-BOT-- is essentially a Seeing Eye dog. "It goes and if it sees something it can see the distances on the sides and it can turn and go around," said Chamberlain. Others’ robots are more complex. The "Surveill-oh-bot" can send voice alerts of intruders to homeowners. “So it starts of like that and if it sees something and hits it it sets off an alarm," said student Jason Rol. "That's what drives them. It's not really a toy. It's an idea that they came up with and they want to show the world it can work," said Chase. It may be only a matter of years until robots like these are used in the real world. Some, like the self-navigating car, may take more time to develop. "It has to react like a human would. It has to be able to stop before it hits something and know general traffic rules, which is sort of hard to program into something," said Chamberlain.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: WCAX-TV News, 7/4/08
www.wcax.com/Global/story.asp?S=8621175&nav=menu183_15_6
 

Thursday, July 03, 2008 — High School Students’ Voter Registration Drive on the Run.  LAS VEGAS, NV: With the November election just a few months away, a group of high school students is traveling across the country registering people to vote. They're hitting 48 states before the election. Tuesday they were in Las Vegas. They're not even old enough to vote but they are politically active. Four high school students from North Carolina are showing their commitment to democracy in a powerful way. "It's kind of their way to be able to influence the 2008 election," said Run to Vote sponsor Jonathan Williams. High school teacher Jonathan Williams says, for every person they register to vote, he and his students will run a quarter of a mile in their honor. The cross-country tour is called Run to Vote and just looking at the number of new voters they've signed up, that's quickly adding up to a lot of miles. Kylee Warburton signed up Tuesday. The Cheyenne High School graduate is ready to voice her choice during this year's presidential election, "I'm concerned with gas prices because I have to drive back and forth from Utah a lot." Bo Ellsworth will also be a first time voter. He's concerned about Iraq: "I think the situation is very complicated and some of the candidates running seem to have a drastic idea of how simple it will be to handle things." "It affects everybody's future and how we're going to live for the rest of our lives," said Run to Vote student Stephanie Sutherland. The group leaves Las Vegas Wednesday morning and will head to Santa Monica, California. From there, it's off to the northwest. The finish line is in Washington D.C.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: Las Vegas Now, 7/2/08
www.lasvegasnow.com/Global/story.asp?S=8588997&nav=menu
102_2
 

Tuesday, July 01, 2008 — Aspiring Student Entrepreneurs Get Help Starting Businesses.  SAN FRANCISCO, CA: The National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship helps youngsters from low-income communities to build skills and unlock their entrepreneurial talent. In San Francisco, aspiring entrepreneurs took part in a competition to prepare a business plan. High school student Vivian Chau, like most Asian American youngsters, loves a drink called boba, a sweet milk tea with jellied tapioca balls. Boba can be found in cafes around San Francisco, but it is not sold in supermarkets. So she came up with the idea of a company called Jelly It! to make a ready-to drink bottled tea mixed with jelly. Chau was a finalist in a recent competition in which students prepared plans for actual businesses. Finalist Ugo Ugamba makes flashy fitted caps - baseball caps with flashing logos powered by batteries. He also places flashing logos on people's own hats. The competition winner, Huong Cheng, plans to create a company that will send volunteers from school clubs to help retirees. The students will take the senior citizens for a stroll, read them a book or help them with shopping. The retirees will pay a small fee to the visiting students, and school clubs and Cheng's company will share the fees. She got the idea when she visited a retirement home. "And it did not seem like there are many volunteers there all the time. And I have noticed that all the clubs at my school, they are always fundraising. So I tried to connect the two, and I thought of this service business," she said. Financial advisor Neville Richardson worked with the students on their business plans, and was impressed with their enthusiasm and talent. "These kids are amazing. Whatever you teach them, they will learn. If you expose them to the right things, they will carry it as far as you help them carry it. We have custom guitar makers. We had custom golf club makers. We had so many different ideas - dance studios - so many different ideas that they are already actually operating on some level," he said. Richardson said the students hone their problem-solving skills as they come up with a detailed plan for a product or service.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Voice of America, 6/30/08
www.voanews.com/english/2008-06-30-voa77.cfm
 

Sunday, June 29, 2008 — Colorado Students Travel to Zambia and Teach at Village School.  STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, CO: At first, their parents rolled their eyes when a group of middle school students said they wanted to travel to Africa to work at a school for three weeks. But now that the students have finished their freshman year of high school and raised $6,000, they have won over their parents and are ready to pack their bags for Zambia. They leave July 13. The six students, who have created the trip with no official sponsorship from schools, churches or other organizations, will travel to a village just outside the Chimfunchi chimpanzee sanctuary on Zambia’s north-central border. Accompanied by two leaders in their mid-20s, the Steamboat Springs High School students will work in the local school and volunteer at the sanctuary for three weeks. One of the sponsors, 24-year-old Lennae Jenkins, has spent 10 months at the village and helped build the school where the students will be assisting. The idea for the trip was sparked when several of the students were on an eighth-grade student council trip to the PeaceJam conference in Denver. There, students listened to 12 Nobel Peace Prize winners, including Desmond Tutu and the 14th Dalai Lama, and decided they needed to do something big. The students going on the trip all have traveled outside the U.S. before and, despite school fundraisers and bake sales, they will be funding the bulk of the $4,000-a-person expense through their families. The students will teach at the school during the week, assisting in English and math instruction, and volunteer at the sanctuary during the weekend. They also will sponsor another school to visit the sanctuary and make donations to a local women’s club while they are there.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Steamboat Pilot & Today, 6/29/08
www.steamboatpilot.com/news/2008/jun/29/students_travel
_zambia_and_teach_village_school/
 

Wednesday, June 25, 2008 — High School Students Build Enclosed Electric Motorcycle.  MENDOTA HEIGHTS, MN: BMW once came up with the idea to enclose a scooter and add some safety equipment to it. Crash tests showed surprisingly favorable results, but the idea never seemed to catch on and the C1 is no longer for sale. The fact that it already proved unsuccessful on the commercial market once hasn't stopped others from considering the idea. One such group is the Saint Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, Minnesota. A group of students at this high school has created an enclosed electric motorcycle which uses sixty volts worth of lithium phosphate batteries powering a Briggs and Stratton ETEK pancake-style permanent magnet electric motor. The current configuration is said to be good for a top speed of 60 miles per hour and a range of 40 miles. The chassis is constructed from chromoly tubing. The body is made from a carbon fiber and Kevlar composite and should therefore prove very strong. The full seat even features a seatbelt. It is not certain that anything quite like this will ever be available for purchase again, but it exists in concept form at least. The project was to design a highly efficient, environmentally friendly commuter bike with safety features above and beyond what is found on typical motorcycles. It’s been a year in the making, with 19 students starting the project last summer.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: AutoblogGreen, 6/21/08
www.autobloggreen.com/2008/06/21/high-school-students-b
uild-enclosed-electric-motorcycle/
 

Tuesday, June 17, 2008 — Young American Indians Find Their Voice in Poetry.  SANTA FE, NM: The New York Times reports on this summer’s upcoming Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam Festival in Washington, D.C. Students at the Santa Fe Indian School are part of a growing program that has won a slew of local and regional poetry slams and twice earned an invitation to the festival, which pits teams of the country’s top young spoken word poets against one another. The Santa Fe team is drawing national attention for its decidedly American Indian take on an art form that has grown increasingly popular with young people over the last decade. Teachers and administrators at the Indian School say the program counters any perception that Indian students cannot excel in English and writing. Students on the Santa Fe team often wrap their poems in the pulsing staccato of Indian words. “For the kids, spoken word is a reconnection with the oral tradition, a return to the origin of language, its sound, its music,” said Tim McLaughlin, a creative writing teacher at the school and the team’s coach. Mr. McLaughlin said that as the students grew emboldened by their work, themes began to emerge — the loss of language, the legacy of the reservation and pueblo and, especially, their relationship with their grandparents. The poems impressed James Kass, executive director of Youth Speaks, which produces the festival. Mr. Kass recalled seeing the students mesmerize a packed crowd at a San Francisco slam last year. “They did a good portion of their poems in their native languages, which was amazing,” he said. “They weren’t trying to mimic poets from New York or Chicago.” After failing to advance past the quarterfinal round last year, the Santa Fe team is poised for a stronger showing next month. They will be the only exclusively American Indian team among the 44 competing. An HBO camera crew has been following the students as they prepare and will be there to record the final competition as part of a documentary.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the New York Times, 6/17/08
www.nytimes.com/2008/06/17/us/17slam.html?ei=5070&en=77
923995951d89ea&ex=1214366400&adxnnl=1&emc=eta1&adxnnlx=1213725786
 

Thursday, June 12, 2008 — Teens Help Out Detroit's Tough Economy: More Volunteer Labor for Summer.  DETROIT, MI: In a down economy, hospitals and other agencies in metro Detroit need teen and young adult volunteers more than ever -- and the tough summer job market is one reason they are increasingly answering the call. "It gives kids exposure to different career paths," said Beth Frydlewicz, volunteer director at Beaumont Hospital in Troy, which will have approximately 500 student volunteers this summer. "For many of them, it's their first time out in the real world, and it gives them some exposure to other cultures and the protocol of a corporation, the culture and dress codes that are so important." The volunteer rate among metro Detroiters ages 16 to 24 is 29.6%, 31st among the 50 largest metropolitan areas in the nation and slightly above the national average of 23.4%. The national numbers are more than double what they were in 1989. Agencies often put limits on teen volunteers. For example, most hospitals do not allow teens to work with patients. But there are many other jobs, from pulling weeds to delivering hospital gifts, that teens can do. Agencies such as the Michigan Humane Society realize the value of volunteers. Rachel Forche, 14, helped organize her Girl Scout troop to make kitty forts for the Humane Society. "A lot of the girls in our troop were very interested in animals," she said. "We went to the Humane Society and there were limited things we could do, because of our ages. We found this project." She's now planning another volunteer project this summer, involving health and fitness for younger children. Carla Miller, student coordinator for Beaumont Hospital in Troy, is so enthusiastic about teen volunteers, she can tell numerous stories about her young helpers. "I think that we are shortchanging the nation when we do not utilize our high school students in this type of capacity, when we don't offer them the opportunity to not only give back to the community but explore future career options," Miller said.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Detroit Free Press, 6/12/08
www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080612/NEWS0
5/806120419&imw=Y
 

Tuesday, June 10, 2008 — Students Rebuild Model T for Centennial.  RICHMOND, IN: A group of Richmond High School students has painstakingly rebuilt a 1918 Ford Model T that arrived at their school as a worn-out shell of a car. They began working on it in 2006. Their handiwork turned out so well it will be featured in a centennial salute to the Model T that Richmond will host next month. When the car arrived at the school, it was little more than a simple frame; it didn't come with instructions or even all of the needed parts. Students took the transmission apart four times, said junior Nathan Beach. "These old motors don't have a lot of specs to go by." The students' work advanced with donations from automotive suppliers located in Richmond and across the nation. Beach said he and his classmates have put in about three hours per week on the automobile. The class will put personal touches on the car before the upcoming Model T centennial event, painting it red and white — Richmond High's colors — and adding school decals. When the Model T was introduced by Ford Motor Co. in 1908 it marked the automobile's entry into popular usage as a relatively low-cost, reliable form of transportation. From July 21-26, thousands of spectators and close to 1,000 Model Ts and their owners will converge on the Richmond area for the "2008 Centennial T-Party." The guest list includes Ford executives and Model T enthusiasts from 43 states and seven countries. Visitors will be able to be take rides in the students' Model T and be photographed in it. A partnership with two museums will help preserve the car as part of an exhibit.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Associated Press, 6/8/08
www.mlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf?/base/news-54/1212964
450325720.xml&storylist=newsmichigan
 

Thursday, June 05, 2008 — Los Angeles Students Rally to Support Terminated Teacher.  LOS ANGELES, CA: At Jordan High School in Los Angeles, CA, a Latina English Teacher is threatened with termination for being too "Afro-centric" in her teaching. Karen Salazar has had a dynamic impact on the Jordan High School campus by connecting readings to the real lives and struggles that students go through. Her English class has become a favorite among students on campus, where they read and analyze work by people of color to whom the students can relate. However, Salazar's success has also led to constant harassment by administration. Salazar has been visited and "observed" by the administration over 15 times in the past year. During one of the visits, an administrator criticized her for having students read The Autobiography of Malcom X, a LAUSD approved text. She was told that her teachings were too "Afro-centric," and that the school would not renew her teaching contract. "The school knows that Ms. Salazar is a very passionate and good teacher, and yet they want to fire her. It is not fair because there are many other teachers who don't teach anything, and they never get fired," said one of the Jordan High School Students at a youth-led meeting to discuss the firing. At the meeting, many Jordan students expressed anger and frustration over the situation. After two hours of discussion, it was agreed that the students would form the Students 4 Salazar coalition and demand that Ms. Salazar continue to teach at Jordan for the upcoming school year. Students also decided that they had no other recourse but to take direct action to save their teacher. A protest rally was planned for after school on Thursday, June 5th. A video of the meeting is available at the link below.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: YouTube.com
www.youtube.com/v/0yxwUFPokuQ
 

Monday, June 02, 2008 — Young Artists and Curators Develop Skills through Art Shows.  ROANOKE COUNTY, VA: The art programs at both southwest Roanoke County public high schools produce talented students, some of whom go on to study the arts in college or exhibit as professionals. The annual student art show at Cave Spring High School allowed student artists to show off a dazzling array of talents: paintings, sculptures, photography, videos and other forms of art. Other arts students from Cave Spring and Hidden Valley took part in the Young Curators program this past year. The Art Museum of Western Virginia program brings together high school students from all over the valley, who put together a show every spring after calling for entries and then vetting the artists. Erin Wommick, curator at the Art Museum of Western Virginia, said this year’s batch of Young Curators, mostly artists themselves, were chosen by peers at their respective schools. “They actually go out into the [Art Museum] gallery and do an exercise where they talk about artwork,” said Wommick of the application process. Those students who have been in the Young Curators program for several years also help choose new members for the program. “A lot of them are very curious about artists in the community,” said Wommick. “It gives them a chance to work with [local] artists.” Students went through a vetting process that included a critique of a work at the Art Museum. After selection they put out the call for artists and looked for works that would fit with the show’s theme. Tyler Wilson is in AP art student at Hidden Valley: “We chose pieces that we felt fit with the [urban art] theme. It turned out that many were local artists. For the most part the pieces that we got really hit the mark.” Shannon Johnson is in her third year with the Young Curators program. “This really was really hard because we had to decide what was legitimate art,” said the Cave Spring senior. Johnson said the local urban art scene “is coming up…its getting better.” Fellow student Kristen Kyle said the whole experience of picking an art show theme, calling for artist submissions and then choosing the best entries for a show “in a more professional environment than a school or class,” was helpful. “These are local artists… they have a lot to offer.” Someday soon, entries from Cave Spring and Hidden Valley alumni will be chosen for a themed Young Curators show, selected by current high school students, as the program comes full circle.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: OurValley.org, VA, 6/2/08
ourvalley.org/news.php?viewStory=2746
 

Friday, May 30, 2008 — High School Team Develops Door Alarm for Blind.  GEORGETOWN, MA: Rob Dunton, who is blind, could never tell if the creaking from his back door was caused by the wind or someone breaking into his house. Now he doesn’t have to worry, thanks to an open door alert system designed and created by a team of local high school students: senior Chris Pinto, junior Nathan Brudnick, senior Darwin Fabian and junior Neil Patel. The student-developed door alarm was created after technology education teacher Larry Urbanski approached the four students with a challenging problem from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell called the Assistive Technology Design Fair. This design event is for high school students who over the course of five months design and build a device for a client. The fair is a non-competitive event in which students have to solve a design problem that includes assistive technology — the use of technology to help people with disabilities or special needs. Each team had to create the prototype, a PowerPoint presentation and a poster presenting their client, design problem, process and solution. On May 10, Urbanski and the students attended the final design fair in which some 35 groups displayed their own projects. Brudnick and Fabian were responsible for the fabrication of the alarm system, while Patel and Pinto created the PowerPoint presentation and computer drawings of the prototype. The alarm looks like a small plastic box with a keypad on it. It sounds if the door is opened with a chiming “ding-dong” sound and can also be set to a loud alarm mode that blasts a “beep, beep, beep.”
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Georgetown Record, 5/29/08
www.wickedlocal.com/georgetown/news/education/x18708780
74/High-school-team-develops-door-alarm-for-blind-resident
 

Wednesday, May 28, 2008 — High School Students Learn by Organizing Documentary Film Festival.  SAN FRANCISCO, CA: Benjamin Ajak was 5 in 1987, when rebel soldiers raided his Sudanese village and shot and killed his parents. In a day, he went from a happy child to one of an estimated 27,000 "Lost Boys of Sudan," civil war orphans who trekked thousands of miles, battling starvation, crocodiles and gunmen to make it to Kenyan refugee camps and hope for the best. Ajak, now 26, was one of the 3,800 Lost Boys chosen to resettle in the United States in 2001. Ajak is now a full-time public speaker. He and his cousins have appeared on "60 Minutes" and have written a critically acclaimed book together about their experiences, "They Poured Fire on Us From the Sky." Ajak will tell his story at Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco today as part of a human rights film festival organized by the students. Every year at Lick-Wilmerding, students spend the last two weeks of class in a project putting what they've learned to real-world use. Some students are mentoring, others are building solar lanterns, and one group organized four documentaries into a human rights film festival. The first film in the series will be the documentary "Lost Boys of Sudan," about the journey of two Lost Boys from Africa to America. Other films screened this week include "Strange Culture," "Election Day," and "Lumo." The film festival is free and open to the public.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the San Francisco Chronicle, 5/28/08
www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/05/28/BA
S110U6KK.DTL
 

Saturday, May 24, 2008 — Junior Docents Boost New York Museums.  NEW YORK, NY: The New York Times reports that at the Bruce Museum here, a group of high school students take children from a neighborhood after-school center on a tour of two exhibitions. The students, called junior educators, have a mission: to engage the children in learning about the museum and guide them in interacting with the works on display. At the Hudson River Museum in Yonkers, middle school students gathered around a framed lithograph by Red Grooms, as Jazmine Viviana Ortiz, a Yonkers middle school student herself, faced the group. Junior docents, as they are generally known, work as volunteers and paid helpers in museums nationwide. Teenagers from 13 to 18 can be a valuable asset to heavily pressed museum staffs facing crowds of visiting school groups and community centers every day. While training these young people to work with the public — often the youngest members of the public — museums are also helping to shape their own futures. The 17 junior educators at the Bruce Museum, who all attend Greenwich High School, receive nurturing, personal guidance and exposure to a host of new experiences. In return, they help younger children enjoy the museum’s offerings. All the students are paid: wages range from $7 to attend a meeting to $15 for a teaching session after a year in the program. Many of the students are from a lower economic background. Interacting with children, said Youstina Youssef, 15, a 10th grader in the Bruce program, “helps with public speaking roles — I’ll be using these skills.” Students are selected for the coveted positions each year — 60 applied to fill 20 openings last fall — mostly on the basis of their enthusiasm. The program is demanding: it includes meetings, field trips, tours with curators and poring through packets of written materials to prepare tours. Evaluation by more advanced junior curators is part of the process. Junior docents are required to work one weekend day a month leading tours and running family-oriented workshops related to the exhibitions; they also run the museum’s summer camp and lead activities during school holidays. By several measures, the program has been a success. Students stay in it for an average of five years, and some return to become interns at the museum. The 200 students who have graduated from the program since it began in 1995 have gone on to college.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the New York Times, 5/25/08
www.nytimes.com/2008/05/25/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/25
docentsct.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
 

Thursday, May 22, 2008 — Youth Producer Challenges Media's Voter Analysis.  KY: It's been hard to ignore all the election coverage lately that is quick to dismiss Appalachian voters as bigots and hillbillies.  Appalachian Media Institute youth producer Ada Smith is concerned that all the name-calling and stereotypes is just going to make it harder to talk about racism and actually begin to address it. "I think we may be scared to admit that more Americans than just Appalachians have a race problem.  Instead of questioning how we're going to deal with racism as a country, it's easier to make Appalachia the scapegoat, carrying the load." Ada is challenging the analysis of pundits and calling for a real dialogue about race in Appalachia and America in election coverage, one that isn't based on prejudice or hillbilly stereotypes. Her commentary, produced in collaboration with Youth Radio, can be heard on National Public Radio's website.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: National Public Radio, 5/21/08
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=90694386&
sc=emaf
 

Saturday, May 17, 2008 — International Culinary Schools at The Art Institutes Names Best Teen Chef 2008.  LAS VEGAS, NV: A Georgia teen turned up the heat in the kitchen today, emerging as "Best Teen Chef 2008." Jonathan Miller of Savannah, Ga. won the Best Teen Chef Final Round Competition, sponsored by The International Culinary Schools at The Art Institutes, becoming the ninth winner to lay claim to the title since 2000. Miller won a full tuition scholarship worth more than $40,000 to study Culinary Arts at The International Culinary School at The Art Institute of Atlanta and the opportunity to serve as "Intern for a Day" at the Food Network Kitchens. Aldo Sandoval of Emporia, Kan. and Joaquin Gaytan of Mesa, Ariz. earned second- and third-place honors, also receiving full scholarships to one of The International Culinary Schools at The Art Institutes. 31 high school seniors from across North America converged in Las Vegas to slice, dice, and saute their way through the grueling two-hour competition in pursuit of more than $250,000 in scholarships and the title of Best Teen Chef 2008. Competitors were given two hours to prepare three dishes from an Italian inspired menu of Braciole Calabresi - Stuffed Pork Bundles; Peperonata - Peppers Sauteed with Olive Oil and Capers; and Orechietti con Carciofl - Orechietti Pasta with Artichokes. The teens were judged on cleanliness, taste and presentation and more by the program's chef educators. Chef Michael Nenes, Assistant Vice President of Culinary Arts for The Art Institutes, said, "Each year, the caliber and talent of the students who compete for the title of Best Teen Chef becomes more impressive. Training, focus and determination--all qualities of the most successful chefs--are paramount."
 
For FULL STORY, go to: PR Newswire, 5/17/08
sev.prnewswire.com/education/20080517/NESA00717052008-1
.html
 

Wednesday, May 14, 2008 — Students Recognize World Water Day Through Voyage and Video Conference.  HAMMONTON, NJ: In recognition of World Water Day, the Global Studies Group at St. Joseph High School participated in a distance video conference on May 6 with Abington High School, Colegio Carol Baur in Mexico, and Eastview Middle School. The goal of the DVC was to develop a greater understanding of issues involving water and sanitation and was presented by Global Education Motivators and the Fairmount Water Works Interpretive Center in Philadelphia. Each school gave a presentation on how its school is helping to promote an understanding of the water crisis. Students representing St. Joseph High School detailed their voyage to the Delaware Estuary, which provides drinking water to more than 9 million people in the watershed and more than 6 million people outside, and provides protection for endangered species. In October, St. Joseph students went aboard the A.J. Meerwald and set sail from Port Norris as part of the Bayshore Discovery Project. Students helped raise the sails, collected various species, tested water qualities, learned how to protect and conserve the environment and learned about the dangers of harmful substances. Different stations around the ship tested the water in the estuary for salinity levels, pH levels, and clarity. Students learned of the various impacts that pollution is having on the environment, particularly the estuaries and the Delaware Bay. Besides measuring the salinity, pH, and plankton in the water, students found levels of petroleum, which could be potentially dangerous to marine life. Through a scaled down model, they observed how runoff water can pollute the bay. Students also learned of the efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency and the Division of Environment Protection to preserve the environment and how they can do their part in this task. One of the main goals of the Global Studies Group is to identify and raise the awareness of basic human rights--the rights of each person on the planet to health, education, shelter and security.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Hammonton News, 5/14/08
www.thehammontonnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200
80514/LIFESTYLE/805140316/1024
 

Monday, May 12, 2008 — Students Saving the World Through Activism.  NEW YORK, NY: In the May 11 New York Times, columnist Nicholas Kristof writes about high school activists and philanthropists: Two high school students in Massachusetts, Ana Slavin and Nick Anderson, started a nationwide high school campaign, Dollars for Darfur, that has raised $420,000 for the people of Darfur from 440 schools. Today’s young social entrepreneurs are constructive and more savvy about how to accomplish their goals cost-effectively. Climate change has particularly galvanized high school students. A 16-year-old in San Francisco, Taylor Francis, has been speaking to groups around the country about global warming; after some training by Al Gore, he has set up his own Web site and is heading to China in June to give a dozen lectures there. As a 16-year-old in Melbourne, Fla., Allyson Brown organized a Valentine’s dance at her high school, with the proceeds going to fight malaria in Africa. That dance grew into Stayin’ Alive, a campaign that has attracted more than 100 schools in 31 states to raise money to buy mosquito bed nets that cost $10 each and protect a family from malaria. The aim of Stayin’ Alive, which is run by a group called Malaria No More, is to buy enough bed nets to protect two million children. Allyson, who remains very involved in the program, will have saved more lives as a student than many doctors save in a lifetime. “A lot of people say that teenagers aren’t thinking about the greater good,” Allyson said. “But when you give teens a chance to help, and they know their contributions will make a difference, then they help a lot.”
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the New York Times, 5/11/08
www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/opinion/11kristof.html?ex=12
11083200&en=3d319aac6cc10fc6&ei=5070&emc=eta1
 

Friday, May 09, 2008 — Blogging Helps Encourage Teen Writing, Survey Reveals.  A new survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project explores the intersection between teens, technology, and writing. For most media outlets that reported on an important new survey measuring the impact of technology on teens' writing skills, the big news from the survey was that emoticons and text-messaging abbreviations are creeping into students' formal writing assignments. Buried beneath the alarm of writing "purists," however, was a promising finding with equally important implications for schools: Blogging is helping many teens become more prolific writers. Teens who communicate frequently with their friends, and those who own more technology tools such as computers or cell phones, do not write more often for school or for themselves than less communicative and less gadget-rich teens, according to the study, released April 24. Teen bloggers, however, write more frequently both online and offline, the study says. Forty-seven percent of teen bloggers write outside of school for personal reasons several times a week or more, compared with 33 percent of teens without blogs. Sixty-five percent of teen bloggers believe that writing is essential to later success in life; 53 percent of non-bloggers say the same thing. Teens write for a variety of reasons, the report notes: as part of a school assignment, to stay in touch with friends, to share their artistic creations with others, or simply to record their thoughts. Teens say they're more motivated to write when they can choose topics that are relevant to their lives and interests, and they report greater enjoyment of school writing when they have the chance to write creatively. Teens also report that writing for an audience motivates them to write well and more frequently--and blogs are one way of providing this type of audience.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: Eschool News, 4/30/08
www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=53663;_hbguid=e0da
166a-2d66-434d-9c7c-01286ec3b126
 

Friday, May 09, 2008 — Blogging Helps Encourage Teen Writing, Survey Reveals.  A new survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project explores the intersection between teens, technology, and writing. For most media outlets that reported on an important new survey measuring the impact of technology on teens' writing skills, the big news from the survey was that emoticons and text-messaging abbreviations are creeping into students' formal writing assignments. Buried beneath the alarm of writing "purists," however, was a promising finding with equally important implications for schools: Blogging is helping many teens become more prolific writers. Teens who communicate frequently with their friends, and those who own more technology tools such as computers or cell phones, do not write more often for school or for themselves than less communicative and less gadget-rich teens, according to the study, released April 24. Teen bloggers, however, write more frequently both online and offline, the study says. Forty-seven percent of teen bloggers write outside of school for personal reasons several times a week or more, compared with 33 percent of teens without blogs. Sixty-five percent of teen bloggers believe that writing is essential to later success in life; 53 percent of non-bloggers say the same thing. Teens write for a variety of reasons, the report notes: as part of a school assignment, to stay in touch with friends, to share their artistic creations with others, or simply to record their thoughts. Teens say they're more motivated to write when they can choose topics that are relevant to their lives and interests, and they report greater enjoyment of school writing when they have the chance to write creatively. Teens also report that writing for an audience motivates them to write well and more frequently--and blogs are one way of providing this type of audience.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: Eschool News, 4/30/08
www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=53663;_hbguid=e0da
166a-2d66-434d-9c7c-01286ec3b126
 

Friday, May 09, 2008 — Blogging Helps Encourage Teen Writing, Survey Reveals.  A new survey from the Pew Internet & American Life Project explores the intersection between teens, technology, and writing. For most media outlets that reported on an important new survey measuring the impact of technology on teens' writing skills, the big news from the survey was that emoticons and text-messaging abbreviations are creeping into students' formal writing assignments. Buried beneath the alarm of writing "purists," however, was a promising finding with equally important implications for schools: Blogging is helping many teens become more prolific writers. Teens who communicate frequently with their friends, and those who own more technology tools such as computers or cell phones, do not write more often for school or for themselves than less communicative and less gadget-rich teens, according to the study, released April 24. Teen bloggers, however, write more frequently both online and offline, the study says. Forty-seven percent of teen bloggers write outside of school for personal reasons several times a week or more, compared with 33 percent of teens without blogs. Sixty-five percent of teen bloggers believe that writing is essential to later success in life; 53 percent of non-bloggers say the same thing. Teens write for a variety of reasons, the report notes: as part of a school assignment, to stay in touch with friends, to share their artistic creations with others, or simply to record their thoughts. Teens say they're more motivated to write when they can choose topics that are relevant to their lives and interests, and they report greater enjoyment of school writing when they have the chance to write creatively. Teens also report that writing for an audience motivates them to write well and more frequently--and blogs are one way of providing this type of audience.
 
For FULL STORY, go to: Eschool News, 4/30/08
www.eschoolnews.com/news/top-news/?i=53663;_hbguid=e0da
166a-2d66-434d-9c7c-01286ec3b126
 

Wednesday, May 07, 2008 — High School Students Happy with Hand-made Hard Drives.  KILGORE, TX: Though it took five tries, Chase Anglin said it was an amazing feeling when the computer he helped to build turned on. "When the computer finally starts up it's like 'Yes!'" said Anglin, a sophomore at Harleton High School. Anglin and two of his classmates, senior Nick Brown and junior Matt Vollmer, attended a student workshop Tuesday at the Region VII Education Service Center in Kilgore to learn to build their own computer. Students from school districts in the region built a computer from the ground up with supplies provided by Region VII. The workshop has been offered for three years, and this is the second year for Harleton students to attend. At the beginning of the day, the students were given a box with the bare essentials to build a computer. A malfunctioned motherboard caused the students to rebuild the computer five times. The motherboard is the main circuit board inside a computer that delivers power, data and instructions to the computer's components. "I learned that computers are more complicated than I thought," Vollmer said. This was Brown's second time to attend the workshop, and he said learning from his errors will help him when he attends college as a computer science major. "You should make sure that things work the first time," he said. The students took their finished computer back to Harleton to be used in their career and technology education classes. It will be used for such things as making presentations, doing research and writing resumes. By the end of the day, all three students said they felt like they could build a computer again. "I realized that I don't need to pay some guy $100 to fix my computer," Vollmer said. "I can do it myself."
 
For FULL STORY, go to: the Texas News Journal, 5/7/08
www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/stories/2008/05/
07/05072008_Harleton_Computer.html