 |
|---|
PROVIDENCE, RI -“Katrina Survivors in High School Study Climate Change.” “Boston Students Offer Ideas on Stopping Dropouts.” “Seattle High School Students March Against Iraq War.” “San Diego Students Organize Week of Consciousness, Raising Aid for Uganda.”
For young people around the country, and the world, 2007 was another year of serious activism, creativity, and smashing stereotypes. They created their own media, reporting on their communities as well as international issues. They raised crucial funds for those in need, even when the recipients of their generosity were in refugee camps on other continents. They did scientific research to help move us toward energy independence. And those are just a few of the multitude of examples garnering media attention.
The young people in these stories are astute. They are not just causing trouble, ditching class, or putting on their iPods and tuning out. As these Kids on the Wire bulletins demonstrate, young people in the United States, perhaps more than ever, are aware of their social responsibility in a time of globalization, and in a world plagued by war, disease, pollution and poverty.
At WKCD, we stay on top of this ongoing social activism among our nation's youth. Every day, WKCD researcher Montana Miller scans newspapers nationwide for stories that testify to the dynamism and invaluable contributions of teenagers across the country—and puts them on our front page.
Click below for a collection of articles from our 2007 Kids on the Wire.
Citizenship and voice
Community action and service
Environment
Health, science, and technology
Media and arts
New York Students on Model City Council Vote on Cell Phone Ban Issue.
The New York Times reports that students confronted Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg Saturday about his controversial ban on carrying cell phones into the city’s public schools. Along with their children, many parents oppose the ban... --12/10/2007
Soy Un Lider Conference Encourages Hispanic Students to Apply to College.
The "Soy un Lider" ("I am a Leader") conference, held on Nov. 17, brought together 100 Hispanic high school students from 13 local high schools. The conference educated them about the college application process... --12/1/2007
Boston Students Offer Ideas on Stopping Dropouts.
Teachers should expose students to college and graduate school opportunities as early as middle school and help students one on one more often. High schools should offer internships and job training... --11/30/2007
New Debate League Has Hip Hop Appeal.
High school debate teams aren’t just for honor-roll kids in sweater vests anymore. The Tacoma Urban Debate League shakes up debate with spoken word poetry and hip hop. The group is organizing after-school... --11/29/2007
Seattle High School Students March Against Iraq War.
Several hundred students walked out of classes to create their own civics lesson Friday in downtown Seattle, protesting the war in Iraq and apparently prompting a military recruiting station to close ... --11/19/2007
Students Protest Harsh Punishment for Protesting War.
A school superintendent’s decision to suspend, and perhaps expel, about two dozen students who took part in a protest against the Iraq war at a suburban high school drew criticism Tuesday from the students and their parents... --11/7/2007
Youth Attend Students for Barack Obama National High School Summit.
Matthew Connolly of North Brunswick Township High School dreams of being a political journalist, and as the New Jersey high school state coordinator he helps build a system of chapters at local high schools... --11/6/2007
Stockton, CA Students Protest Athletic Sanctions.
After a stressful week spent watching grown-ups holding news conferences, waging court battles and calling emergency school board meetings, the students finally had their say Friday at Franklin High School... --11/3/2007
Election Officials Recruit Teenage Volunteers to Help at the Polls.
In Julie Danko's senior government class at Otsego High School, she teaches her students about the importance of voting and the process of elections. This year, some of her students will have the opportunity... --10/15/2007
Colorado Students Walk Out Over Pledge of Allegiance.
About 50 Boulder High School students walked out of class Thursday to protest the daily reading of the Pledge of Allegiance and recited their own version, omitting "one nation, under God." The students say the phrase... --9/27/2007
High School, College Students Join Thousands Rallying to Support Jena Six in Civil Rights Protest.
Amid the media coverage of the protest march in Jena, LA, where thousands of civil rights activists rallied in support of six black high school students who were charged with beating a white classmate... --9/21/2007
Jewish, African-American Students Expand Horizons Through Cultural Leadership Journey.
Forty-two years after Bloody Sunday, students from the St. Louis program Cultural Leadership walked across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Ala., in the footsteps of some of the Civil Rights Movement... --7/11/2007
New Jersey High School Students Protest Alleged Unfair Policies at Wal-Mart.
Eleven high school students who have been reading about claims about Wal-Mart's unfair labor and trade policies picketed at the Wal-Mart in Mansfield Township on Saturday. The students from Long Valley, Chester, and elsewhere... --5/10/2007
Georgia School Holds Official Prom After Decades of Separate Dances.
In the uncomfortable aftermath of desegregation, the students at Turner County High continued to go their separate ways when it came to the annual prom. White students went to their own unofficial prom... --4/10/2007
Philadelphia Students Decry Culture of Disrespect, Call for New School Building and Return to Learning.
A small but earnest group of student leaders at West Philadelphia High School spoke out yesterday, calling for an end to "an overall culture of disrespect" at their embattled school. At a news conference... --3/21/2007
High School Students, Suspended for Saying V Word at Forum, Receive Support from Peers and Author.
The New York Times reports that three junior girls at John Jay High School, warned not to utter the word "vagina," chose to say it anyway in unison at a high school forum, and now their case has become... --3/9/2007
Oklahoma High School Students Work to Tighten Seatbelt Laws through Project Ignition.
A leadership class from Ada High School is working to tighten seatbelt laws in Oklahoma. The students have proposed a bill that would raise the fines for not wearing a seatbelt, a move they say would ... --2/22/2007
San Diego Students Organize Week of Consciousness, Raising Aid for Uganda.
A Morse High School senior turned a summer trip to Uganda into a “Week of Consciousness” at his campus to focus on worldwide crises. The schoolwide effort organized by Jon Yturralde, 18, runs through ... --11/15/2007
Teens Take the Wheel in Capitol for National Teen Driver Safety Week.
As part of the first-ever National Teen Driver Safety Week, Oct. 15-19, 100 teens from coast to coast are convening in Washington, D.C. today for a State Farm student-led youth summit to talk about real solutions... --10/17/2007
High School Students Hailed as Heroes in Bus Crash.
The quick thinking of several Osceola County high school students on a busy roadway this morning turned a potentially dangerous school bus accident into a heroic rescue. A handful of brave students steered their out of control... --10/12/2007
UW Program Exposes Native American High School Students to Legal Profession.
A pilot project headed by the University of Washington is attempting to increase the population of Native American students in higher education by exposing them to a possible career alternative, the legal profession... --10/3/2007
Teenagers' Charity Fights Malaria
In the darkened gym at Holy Trinity Episcopal Academy, 200 teenagers gathered in one pulsing cluster, stomping, sliding and twisting to the "Cha Cha Slide." They weren't merely having fun -- they were... --9/2/2007
Operation Smile, Children’s Medical Charity, Helps Young People Learn Service, Leadership and Education.
Operation Smile, launched 25 years ago to help children born with devastating facial deformities, has provided free surgeries that have changed the lives of more than 100,000 children around the globe... --7/24/2007
Detroit Teenagers Look to Make School Menu Healthier
Jennifer Xu, along with some friends she enlisted, is embarking on a project to research school lunches and provide the district's food service director with recommendations for healthier meal options... --5/20/2007
High School Students Raise Awareness, $300K in 'Dollars for Darfur' Challenge.
Students from more than 2,000 U.S. high schools raised their voices and over $300,000 to urge an end to ongoing genocide in Darfur, as part of the national Dollars for Darfur competition sponsored by ... --5/16/2007
Student Activists Raise Awareness for Uganda at Chicago ‘Displace Me’ Event.
About 42 Prior Lake High School students went to Chicago this weekend to join thousands of activists in a national demonstration called “Displace Me,” which simulates the poor living conditions of Uganda... --4/27/2007
Connecticut High School Students Study Day Laborers in Effort to Address Their Needs.
Day laborers huddled along the Lowe Street bridge in Norwalk early yesterday, waiting for work, as they do every morning. Then a green car pulled up, and Brien McMahon High School students piled out. ... --4/6/2007
Arizona High School Students Raise Support to Rebuild School in Northern Uganda.
A group of Mesquite High School students wants help to rebuild a high school in Northern Uganda. Members of Mesquite's Up and Coming Voters club have joined with the Schools for Schools program of Invisible Children... --2/19/2007
Houston County High Students Set Up Jobs Board on Internet.
Some Houston County High School students have devised a way to mix a little bit of old-fashioned community service with today's Internet to extend a helping hand to teenage job-seekers. A Web site the... --1/29/2007
Arizona Teens Implement Ideas on Tearing Down Stereotypes in High Schools.
Poor attendance. A lack of communication between staff and students. Stereotypes that stop teenagers from ever getting to know one other. These are some of the problems high school students across Southern Arizona... --1/21/2007
New York City's School Students Spend Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Volunteering.
"I have a dream for, like, white people and black people to unite," said student Joanan Sanchez. "I know it was really special because it worked then and now we are doing the same." Sanchez, along with... --1/16/2007
Maine High School Students Plan Working Vacation in Guatemala, with Safe Passage.
In Guatemala City, in a massive garbage dump, a community of the poorest lives with nowhere else to go. Families forage daily in an all-consuming search for trash that can be sold. A world where life... --1/6/2007
Students on the Front Line of Efforts to Help Lobsters.
Through the morning fog, Colleen Giannini spotted two white buoys swaying atop the waters in Fishers Island Sound. Giannini, a lobster biologist for the state Department of Environmental Protection, explained that... --10/29/2007
High School Students to Create National Public Service Announcements about the Environment.
Forecast Earth Summit participants, a group of 20 high school “eco-ambassadors” to be chosen by The Weather Channel in early November, will showcase their passion for helping the environment on a national... --10/25/2007
Crab Study Turns Students Into Scientists.
Like Gold Rush prospectors, the 76 students in Sir Francis Drake High School's Galileo program sift through the muddy waters of South Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands. Instead of gold, however, the freshmen and sophomores ... --10/9/2007
Katrina Survivors in High School Study Climate Change.
World Wildlife Fund and the Allianz Foundation have announced a new opportunity for high school students displaced by Katrina to assess the climate change vulnerability of the southeastern U.S. "As these displaced students... --9/8/2007
High School Students Study E. coli Strains Through Summer Grant.
Eight scientifically inclined high-school students got the chance of a lifetime this past summer. Debra Wohl, a Biology professor at Elizabethtown received a grant that funded a summer research project... --9/1/2007
Expedition to Ice-Choked Arctic Waters Thrills Students.
As she ended a once-in-a-lifetime cruise through the ice-choked Arctic, the excitement of 16-year-old Bali Symenuk swept right through the phone line. "I've always been interested in conservation... --8/18/2007
High School Students Graduate from Baltimore's First Conservation Leadership Corps.
Students from Baltimore high schools graduated today from Baltimore's Conservation Leadership Corps after spending the past six weeks restoring city parks and learning about environmental conservation... --8/9/2007
Hundreds of North American High School Students to Compete at Annual Envirothon.
More than 260 teenagers from 43 U.S. states and nine Canadian provinces will descend upon Hobart & William Smith College in Geneva, N.Y., July 29th-August 4th, to participate as finalists in the 2007 ... --7/25/2007
Students Swim in Knowledge of Aqua Biology Summer Project.
The high school students in Paul du Vair's aqua biology summer school course have learned to be extraordinarily game as they explore and record scientific data about Lake Mendota and its Six Mile Creek... --7/16/2007
No Child Left Inside: City Kids Head Into the Wilderness to Connect with Nature.
Thirty-six New York City high school students left Manhattan on July 9th to participate in The Nature Conservancy’s Internship Program for City Youth, a unique program that gives urban youths the opportunity.. --7/10/2007
Pittsburgh Students Seek
Daniela Valdes kicked off her summer break with a petition drive that gathered 700 signatures calling for Pittsburgh's planned arena and casino to be built as environmentally friendly buildings. Valdes, 16, is a member of the Sierra Club... --6/11/2007
Vermont High School Students Show Lawmakers Fuel Idea to Combat Global Warming.
A group of high school students has an idea to combat global warming: replace home heating fuel with switchgrass. Students from the Mount Abraham Union High School in Bristol presented their model at the Statehouse... --4/30/2007
Local High School Students Cooking Up Biodiesel in San Diego.
The KPBS radio series "A Matter of Degrees: Climate Change in San Diego" visited the San Diego High Educational Complex, where students are cooking up batches of biodiesel. On the edge of the campus at San Diego High School... --4/17/2007
High School Students Promote Conservation in Aspen through Light Bulb Efficiency Program. Teams of high school students are knocking on doors around the city of Aspen offering energy-efficient light bulbs in a program to encourage conservation. The city's electric utility is trying to get ... --1/2/2007
Health, science, and technology
Girls Make History by Sweeping Top Honors at a Science Contest. The New York Times reports that girls won top honors for the first time in the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology, one of the nation’s most coveted student science awards, which were ... --12/4/2007
NYC Students Push to Mandate Sex Education.
Public schools aren't required to offer sex education, but a group of students is calling on the city to mandate such courses as early as middle school. "It's as important as our other classes," said ... --11/27/2007
West Virginia High School Students Protest School's Response to Staph Infections.
Students at Buffalo High School are taking a drastic approach to raise awareness to MRSA and other staph infections. A large group of students have been protesting all day in front of the school, refusing... --10/22/2007
CA Teens Educating Peers about Hepatitis B Virus.
Hepatitis B is known as the silent killer because an infected individual doesn't show any symptoms. In fact, an individual can appear perfectly healthy, says Jameson Lam, 20, who is a summer intern at Stanford’s Asian Liver Center... --8/29/2007
Summer Lab Rats: High School Students Experience Active Chemistry Work Over Summer.
Some high school students get summer jobs washing dishes. Christina Gates spends hers washing protein chains out of lysozomes. Along with Big Sky High School classmates, Gates is working in a research laboratory at the University of Montana…-8/14/2007
Baton Rouge Students Build Supercomputers from Bits and Pieces.
Twenty-five Baton Rouge-area students arrived last Monday at LSU for a week of High-Performance Computing Boot Camp, to learn new computing languages and build their own supercomputing clusters of high... --8/7/2007
Prescription for Success: Program Introduces Latino Students to Health Care Field.
For Naomy Davila, a 15-year-old Southeast High sophomore, the question, "What do you want to be when you grow up?" is simple: she plans to be a paramedic. The chance for community service the job offers... --7/31/2007
Program Links Students to Military Mentors, Developing Technology for Navy.
Robotic submersibles, mines, diving equipment and bomb disposal suits were on display last week in a sort of military-grade science fair. The 18 students involved in the presentations are a part of... --7/30/2007
California Students Raise Sheep in Prize-Winning Competition.
A small group of students and their mentors divvied up tasks as they sheared, inspected and gave medicine to sheep on the school farm. One ran the clippers, another swept wool, and others did other... --7/6/2007
Florida Students Stage Mock Funeral March to Highlight Dangers of Chewing Tobacco.
In a mock funeral procession, about 50 North Florida high-school students marched to the steps of the Old Capitol, grieving those who have died as a result of using chewing tobacco. The students sought... --6/3/2007
Global Challenge Contest Links High School Students Worldwide in Science and Technology.
Chris Fitzhugh spent spring break building a copper and PVC-pipe model to show how temperature differences in the ocean can be used to generate electricity. The junior from Peacham and his teammates... --5/21/2007
Student Boating Contest Draws Power from the Sun.
The high school teams that focus their ingenuity and time on building solar-powered boats for the annual Solar Cup competition at Lake Skinner in Temecula usually improve with experience, participants... --5/18/2007
PA High School Students to Launch Rocket for NASA Initiative.
Four Yough High School students will reach new heights when they blast off their 11-foot-long rocket in front of NASA engineers at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, this week.... --4/24/2007
Bay Area High School Students Make Major Political Impact with Hepatitis B Awareness Week. The Jade Ribbon Youth Council are not your average high school students; the 13 members are addressing a major health crisis by establishing the first Hepatitis B Awareness Week in nine cities: Fremont... --3/15/2007
NYC Students Perform Rite of Passage with Dance Project.
The New York Times Arts section reports that the British choreographer Royston Maldoom bringing the now canonical “Rite of Spring” to the United Palace Theater in Washington Heights next weekend as part... --11/11/2007
Generation PRX Creates a Youth Radio Network Across the Country.
Above the sound of running water and dishes being cleaned, Elizabeth Pliego explains the plight of her Tia Ophelia. Elizabeth’s voice is soft but clear, and the piece, “To My Aunt, Who Crossed the Border... --9/17/2007
A Child’s War: NYC High School Students Expose Child Soldiers and International Justice in New Film.
A diverse group of New York City public high school students have produced an important animated new film that focuses on the issue of child soldiers. The film, A Child’s War, will be presented September... --9/4/2007
Native Youth Team Up on HIV Film Project in San Diego.
Fanny Garvey, a grant specialist for the San Diego American Indian Health Center, garnered a $15,000 grant to spearhead a Native youth filmmaking project on the dangers of HIV/AIDS. The project began... --7/23/2007
Students Focus on Cultural Identity Through Photography Program at Museum.
"Puerto Rico is in my veins," Janioris Diaz said. Yet in her photography class, Diaz has worked nearly exclusively with black and white, avoiding photos that reveal any hint of her colorful homeland. ... --7/2/2007
Unwelcome at Home, Student Play on Iraq Is a Hit in New York.
The New York Times reports that Connecticut high school students are performing “Voices in Conflict,” a show that caused months of controversy. The result is a kind of victory march through prestigious... --6/14/2007
Immigrant Students Become Poets Through Innovative Program in Austin, Texas.
Johnston High School seniors met twice a week after school in the room of English teacher Camille DePrang and wrote poetry. These poets are struggling with the same obstacles that face urban immigrant... --6/8/2007
Casco Bay High School Students Exhibit Work at Gallery
Students from Casco Bay High School displayed their photographs and writings in a show entitled “The Human Face of Human Rights” last week at The SALT Gallery in Portland. The tenth graders spent six ... --5/1/2007
Canceled by Principal, Student Play Heads to Off Broadway.
The New York Times reports that high school students whose principal canceled a play they were preparing on the Iraq war are now planning to perform the work in June in New York, at the Public Theater... --4/12/2007
Multi-cultural Play About Urban High School Experience Premieres in New York.
The Vineyard Theatre and Queens Theatre in the Park will present the New York premiere of History of the Word - a multi-cultural play about the urban high school experience, featuring the poetry/spoke... --2/8/2007
High School Jazz Students to Perform at International Conference in New York City.
Twenty-one high school students are heading to New York City next week, to play their jazz music with the best. The Crescent Super Band will perform at the 34th Annual International Association for Jazz... --1/8/2007
Alabama High School Students Cross Boundaries and Unite to Perform Play Addressing Racism.
A play based on Harper Lee's classic "To Kill a Mockingbird" brought together black and white high school students to tell the classic story of racial injustice--and even drew out the novel's reclusive... --1/15/2007
High School Artists Turn Trash Into Treasures, Creating Artwork From Junk. Students from Suncoast High in Riviera Beach were given an unusual assignment: Make art out of junk. Using hardware, vintage lampshades from the attic and old paintbrushes, they created junk sculpture... --1/5/2007
