Below, organized by categories, is an annotated list of WKCD feature stories, generated since WKCD’s start in 2001. Many of the stories cross categories, but for the purposes of this directory, we have assigned them to a single category. Within categories, we have grouped like-stories rather than list them alphabetically or by date.
Be advised: Any of the following articles written before April 2007 were brought over from our previous website. Some of the stories now have broken links within. Feel free to contact us with any problems you may be experiencing with these archived stories, as we will be happy to correct them quickly for you.
Community service and action
Global youth voices
Kids on the Wire annual highlights
Media and arts
School reform
Small schools
Science, environment, and technology
Straight talk and first-person accounts
Written and spoken word
Youth and politics
Youth for a Change: Audio Slideshow (May 2008)
At this year’s annual National Service Learning Conference in Minneapolis, WKCD teamed up with students to document the festivities, workshops, and plenary sessions. The students roamed the 3-day event with cameras and tape recorders, as did WKCD. We then wove the photos and audio into a 7-minute montage of images and voices. Conference highlights ranged from Archbishop Desmond Tutu and youth-adult workshops to an exhibit hall that rocked with food, music, books, and hands-on activities.
What can Jena teach us? (October 2007)
Most teachers believe their schools are free of ethnic or racial bias, yet studies indicate that one in four students are victims of racial or ethnic incidents during the course of the school year. A growing movement of educators believes that a good education should teach youth—particularly low-income youth and youth of color—to understand and challenge the injustices their communities face.
Young Asians with Power unite for summer dose of writing and political awareness (September 2007)
You might hear the YAWPers before you see them in the back room of Chicago’s Japanese American Citizens League on a summer afternoon. At the end of every meeting of Young Asians with Power (YAWP!), a writing workshop for Asian American youth, participants stand in a circle and holler as loud as they can: “YAAWWPP!!!” The yell is both a battle cry and an exercise in silliness.
California teens fight carcinogens in beauty products (May 2007)
The average teen is exposed to about 200 chemicals a day through personal cosmetic products like eye shadow, shampoo, and deodorant. Many of these chemicals are potentially carcinogenic. Several years ago, high school students in Marin County, California began a campaign for “safe” cosmetics, spurred on by the high cancer rate in their famously wealthy community. They have even taken their fight to the California State Legislature—and won important legislation.
The Next Generation: Miner County, South Dakota (May 2007)
The inaugural edition of WKCD.org (July 2001) included a feature story called “Small Towns: Big Dreams,” which documented community revitalization efforts by young people in three rural towns. Five years later, WKCD brings news from one of these towns, Howard, South Dakota. Howard’s high school students remain a big part of this rural town’s renewal.
Katrina As a Classroom (September 2006)
In the early sunlight in muggy New Orleans, twenty-three kids from New York City’s Urban Academy don white chemical-protection suits and facemasks. They are doing research in a whole new way: putting their bodies to work in a disaster zone, while also investigating the racial and political landscape that created it. They have a hypothesis: that individuals can—and must—build a better society.
Deaf Students Teach Restaurants to Serve with Respect (November 2005)
At Minnesota North Star Academy in St. Paul, Minnesota, a bilingual school with instruction in English and American Sign Language, a group of three student researchers have set their sites on the goal of making restaurants more deaf friendly. Having completed in-depth surveys with deaf customers and with a training guide for restaurant workers on the way, these students aim to make a nation-wide impact with their research.
Denver Teenagers Take Action for Social Change (September 2004)
“This is the best kind of class, way better than sitting in a chair staring at the ceiling,” high school sophomore Barbara muses. At Millennium Quest High School, students conducted an environmental impact survey of a proposed highway expansion through their own inner-city neighborhood, and held a press conference to present their alternative proposals. At Skyland Community High School, students surveyed their peers to determine the emotional reasons why kids drop out or stay in school.
A Mission of Fellowship (May 2004)
High school students in suburban Barrington, Rhode Island spend their school vacation on a church mission to Johns Island, South Carolina, where they repair houses along the dirt roads of this rural, African American community.
Learning How to Live: Hospice Teen Volunteers Receive More Than They Give (December 2004)
Eighty-four years and a video camera separate Max, 101, and Dustin, 17. But there is not a moment's rest in their conversation. Dustin is just one of 300 young volunteers at Suncoast Hospice in Tampa, Florida, who spend their free time working with people getting ready to die, including capturing their stories on video.
Dragon Slayers, the Sequel (November 2005)
In 2003, Connect for Kids (CFK) profiled on their website an all-girl firefighting and emergency medical team in Aniak, Alaska, called the "Dragon Slayers." Since then, the Aniak girls have been growing up, and so has the program. CFK's reporter Holly St. Lifer recently revisited the group; here we present her sequel.
Angels in the Snow (March 2003)
For most teens, the decision to run into a burning building could be a costly one—but not for the Dragon Slayers, an all-girl firefighting and emergency medical team in Aniak, Alaska.
Making the Dollars Matter: Young Philanthropists Take Up the Business of Change (November 2002) PDF version
Two California groups—the Youth Leadership Institute and the California Fund for Youth Organizing—help a new generation of grant-seekers and grant-makers effect lasting change.
Making Peace, Restoring Justice (February 2002)
Three programs—Harlem’s Youth Court, City at Peace in Washington, DC, and Navajo peacekeeping circles—bring young people into dialogue with each other and their communities, resolving conflicts peacefully.
Because We Make a Difference: Youth Take Action During the Summer (September 2005)
Over 600 young people gathered this summer at the National Youth Summit in Washington, DC to sharpen their leadership skills. But these were not the only teens that took action during the summer months.
Sweat Equity: Youth Spend Summer Investing in America, Despite Wall Street Woes (September 2002)
In contrast to this summer’s dismal financial news, the nation’s young people built classroom computers, tested safety features in public housing developments, assisted scientists with earthquake predictions, and in myriad other ways cleaned up, helped out, and invested in their communities.
Moving to the Head of the Class (September 2001) PDF version
High-school aged teachers at Providence’s Summerbridge, the Algebra Project, and a summer camp in Warren, North Carolina provide powerful role models for younger kids—and a potential teacher corps for the future.
Rich In Pride: Taylor, Nebraska Youth Carry Community into the Future (September 2004)
For students in Taylor, Nebraska, summer is no time for relaxing. Instead of lying around the pool or watching TV, these students are determined to turn back the bad rap their town received in the past. Working full-time jobs, doing their share of chores around the house, and supporting the local community comprise the daily routines for these rural youths.
Sunflower Freedom Fellows Reach for the Sky in Washington, DC (September 2002)
Teens from rural Sunflower, Mississippi worked at Washington institutions like the U.S. Supreme Court, Common Cause, and The Children’s Defense Fund as part of a summer internship program sponsored by the Sunflower County Freedom Project.
Small Towns, Big Dreams (July 2001) PDF version
In Edcouch, TX, Howard, SD, and Lubec, ME, young people breathe new life—and bring new money—into their struggling rural communities.
Common Ground (October 2001) PDF version
Two disparate Boston communities grow and distribute food—and understanding—with The Food Project.
Burmese youth voices (October 2007)
In March 2007 a team of eight young American researchers traveled to Thailand to meet with sixteen youth-oriented organizations operating along the Thai-Burma border. They interviewed many exiled Burmese youth as part of their research and wrote a remarkable report that gives voice to the hardship and yearning for freedom these youth experience every day.
Education in a Small East African Village (November 2006)
For the past two years, WKCD has worked with students in a small village in Tanzania to document everyday life there, through photographs, interviews and, most recently, video. Perched above the Rift Valley and near the legendary Mt. Kilimanjaro, Kambi ya Simba’s 5,000 residents eke out a living off the land, with no electricity or running water. See their short videos of their school.
Taking Globalization to Heart: Youth in Action Around the World (April 2005)
While international meetings like the G8 Summit grab the headlines, another big story belongs on the front page: a global explosion in communication and action among world youth. Informal or formal, provocative or affirming, this youthful embrace of globalization pulses with vitality.
"We Hereby Call Upon...": Youth Take Charge at Model U.N. (December 2005)
The Model United Nations conference in San Antonio (MUNSA) is the largest high school student-run event west of the Mississippi. Now celebrating its tenth anniversary, this year's MUNSA conference attracted eight hundred students who gathered to wrestle with some of the world's most pressing concerns: globalization, religious fundamentalism, and the spread of AIDS, just to name a few.
Creating A World Fit For Us: Youth Take the Global Stage (January 2004)
As part of a new global "youth movement," young people are attending international gatherings in record numbers. The Internet provides these and other socially conscious youth a virtual daily meeting place, allowing the exchange of opinions, ideas, hopes, and dreams. WKCD offers here student commentary, speeches, and photographs, plus results from a recent survey of 1,400 youth worldwide.
Kids on the World Wire (December 2004)
American youth are not alone in their activism. Across the globe, teenagers are breaking new ground with international dialogue, service, artistic and athletic endeavors, and social protest. Here we present a selection of stories from the international press.
Living in the First Person: Peace Corps Volunteers Share Experiences and Themselves (April 2005)
Peace Corps Volunteers can be found in nearly every corner of the globe, and the jobs they're involved with are just as varied as the communities they serve—from teaching chemistry in a Ghanaian high school or promoting HIV/AIDS awareness in Malawi. Here we present several first-hand accounts of life in the Peace Corps, where cultural immersion is only the beginning.
As the Wells Run Dry, Tanzanian Youth Help Summon Political Will (December 2005)
In rural Tanzania, East Africa, where everyone is a farmer, the effects of global warming are unavoidable. Here we present a sample of responses from teenagers in the village of Kambi ya Simba, when asked what steps should be taken to reduce the impacts of global warming.
Taking Charge: Young Social Entrepreneurs in Tanzania, East Africa (April 2005)
"Most people in developing countries are undereducated and don't understand the need for conservation," says Khamis Ali Pandu, 23. In his home village in Zanzibar, Khamis has started an organization to preserve the fragile coral reefs offshore while also supporting the fisherman and tour operators who depend on the reefs for their livelihood. In the Tanzanian town of Karatu, Regina Kalwa has started a vocational school for teenaged girls in the barest of circumstances.
Making Waves: Highlights from Kids on the Wire 2007 (December 2007)
For young people around the country, 2007 was another year of activism, creativity, and breaking stereotypes, They are not just putting on their iPods and tuning out. As this year-end review of WKCD’s 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.
A New Generation of Social Activists: Highlights from Kids on the Wire 2005 (December 2005)
In the four years since September 11th, American volunteers have been put to the test. But rather than shy away, teenagers are taking responsibility with the zeal of missionaries and the executive skills of seasoned philanthropists. Here we present a digest of teenagers who made headlines in 2005, pulled from our daily Kids on the Wire feature.
Turning Up the Volume: Highlights from Kids on the Wire 2004 (December 2004)
Every day, WKCD scans newspapers nationwide for stories that underscore the dynamism and contributions of teenagers. These highlights from Kids on the Wire in 2004 show America's teenagers turning up the volume all over the map: from fighting for equal opportunity in schools to preserving the environment, from producing documentary films to managing the polls during the Presidential election.
Youth Accomplishments in Black and White: Highlights from WKCD’s Kids on the Wire 2003 (January 2004)
WKCD’s Kids on the Wire feature scans the country’s newspapers daily for stories about young people—articles we all need to read. The headlines and stories captured here remind us of the energy and idealism, the accomplishments and contributions of our youth.
Video
Immigrant Students in the Bronx Debate Early Marriage and Pregnancy (May 2008)
“It’s heartbreaking to see my friends give up their future for early marriage,” says college freshman Aminata Seck, a young female from Senegal starting life anew in the U.S. Two years ago, Amina and Mariam Dagnoko, then Bronx high school seniors, decided to create a documentary video about the struggle they and other immigrant teens face with family traditions that push young motherhood.
The Immigrant’s Song: Monologues of Loss and Hope (February 2008)
At San Francisco’s City Arts and Tech High School, project-based learning and exhibitions are the norm. For two nights last November, eleventh-graders presented a stunning collection of monologues, created from interviews with immigrants they met or knew intimately (sometimes, a parent). Woven together, they form an “Immigrant’s Song.”
School As Subject (July 2006)
In this collection of WKCD student-produced films, students turn their lens on a subject close at hand: school. They document stark inequalities between urban and suburban schools. They share the struggles that come with breaking large high schools into smaller schools. They examine the obstacles immigrant students face on the path to college.
Beyond Borders (July 2006)
What do youth truly fear? How do they build security in their lives? Recently ListenUp!, an international network of young filmmakers, invited teens from Guatemala, Ukraine, United Kingdom, South Korea, India, Colombia, Jordan, Sierra Leone and the United States to tackle these questions on film. The results are startling.
Media That Matters (July 2006)
For six years, Arts Engine and its Media That Matters Film Festival have provided a juried showcase for independent filmmakers, including young people. They tell hard stories about stereotyping and bullying, systems that don't serve youth well, finding strength in family and friends.
Still Standing (July 2006)
In this documentary, youth producers from the Educational Video Center (EVC) put a human face to the stories of corruption and incompetence that jeopardize the lives and well being of Hurricane Katrina survivors six months after the storm—whether still living in New Orleans or relocated to New York City.
A Beautiful Brotherhood (September 2006)
Within a baseball’s throw of Boston’s Fenway Park, an ensemble of young men of color stares downs their demons. They discuss sex, racism, fathers, anger, guns, and drug addiction. This is Soul Element, a theater project created by thirteen high school students to address the violence and fatalism that besiege their communities and their peers. They do so by laying themselves bare onstage.
Young Filmmakers Turn Their Cameras on Their Schools (August 2004)
What makes a teacher worth paying attention to? What makes a school worth going to? Listen Up!, a network of 60 youth media organizations nationwide, invited ten youth production teams to answer these questions. See clips from their films.
Student Video Celebrates San Francisco History, Challenges High-Rise Development Plan (September 2005)
"I am going to leave my own impact on this city," says David, a student at the new Build San Francisco Institute. This spring, David and other BSFI students created a full-length video that uncovers critical information about a San Francisco real estate plan.
Zooming in on Social Justice (July 2001)
Focusing on the controversial International Criminal Court, young filmmakers at New York City’s Educational Video Center hope to awaken the activism of their peers.
Radio
Straight from the Heart (March 2003) PDF version
Whatever the subject, New York City’s Radio Rookies don’t sugarcoat it. Meet and hear the latest group of teens, from public radio station WNYC’s award-winning youth journalism program, tell true stories about themselves, their families, their communities, and the world.
Music
Close Harmony: Teens and Music (December 2003) PDF version
Four exceptional youth music programs—Community MusicWorks in Providence, RI, Cappies, From the Top, and Santa Monica (CA) High School’s music offerings—speak to the power of music-making to transform young lives.
Sharing Stories on the Musical Stage, Teens Dissolve Racial Barriers (February 2002) PDF version
Three dozen teenagers in Washington DC’s City at Peace rehearsal room take their stories and secrets to the stage.
Visual arts
HOME?: Teen Refugees and Immigrants Explore Their Tucson (February 2008)
Last spring, ESL students at Catalina Magnet High School in Tucson, Arizona received an unusual assignment. They were asked to explore the concept of “Home,” through photography and writing. A book of the students’ work will debut this April, and an exhibit of their photos and essays may hang in the U.S. Senate this June.
Teens Transform Boston as Urban Arts Entrepreneurs (February 2006)
For the hundreds of public high school students who work at Artists for Humanity (AFH), art careers are becoming a thrilling reality. The non-profit's mission is to create meaningful employment for urban youth through creative arts. AFH is a study in attainable dreams: about what happens when high expectations for performance, discipline, and creativity meet the raw energy and eager of youth.
A New York City Sketchbook: Students Rebuild Hope Through Art (September 2002) PDF version
This July, New York City teenagers exhibited works in the visual arts and gave performances in drama, dance, and music, as part of a summer arts program to help them work through the 9/11 attack on their home.
'That's My Painting': A Collection of Youth Murals (October 2003)
When young people work alongside adult artists to paint murals, the results are not just eye-catching but breathe new life into public art. Youth mural programs in Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, San Francisco, and Atlanta, plus two international efforts, are doing just that.
Summer in the City: Photos by Providence Summerbridge Students (September 2004)
“I think I know what I want to be when I grow up,” 12-year-old Cortney, who has never held a camera before, tells the Brown University student who’s accompanying her. “I want to be a photographer.” On a humid summer afternoon, students from Providence’s Summerbridge program took to the streets with What Kids Can Do to capture some of the scenes and faces that make the city special.
Photographs from Boston's Artists for Humanity (September 2003)
"With Artists for Humanity, we always go out to take pictures. It was a hot summer day and we had just been walking around the North End for three hours. While we were waiting for the train the ladies collapsed on a bench in a row, all with the same posture. Then I saw the shot." - Shawn McLaughlin, 18.
Turning Wood Blocks into Calendars at Two Chicago Schools (September 2003)
To raise money for summer travel abroad and in the U.S., students at two small high schools in Chicago created their own wood block prints, capturing their "journeys as scholars," and turned them into a calendar.
Youth United for Change and Philadelphia’s public schools (May 2007)
On a recent afternoon, 35 students from the small schools housed in Kensington High School in north Philadelphia gather around a table in their meager school library. Most came because they saw a flier advertising free pizza at a meeting of an organization called Youth United for Change. But it soon becomes clear that this meeting is about much more than an after-school snack—it’s about tackling inequality in their city’s public schools.
Michigan special needs students find their stride (June 2007)
Between finding your way to your locker, passing your classes, and avoiding those intimidating upperclassmen, freshman year of high school is tough for almost everyone. Add special needs or disabilities to that equation and the difficulties can grow exponentially. But for special needs students at Haslett High School, a program called Freshman Focus is giving them a leg up.
School As Subject
In this collection of WKCD student-produced films, students turn their lens on a subject close at hand: school. They document stark inequalities between urban and suburban schools. They share the struggles that come with breaking large high schools into smaller schools. They examine the obstacles immigrant students face on the path to college. (July 2006)
Hear Us Out: Advice from Students for School Leaders
If you are a high school principal, your students want to have a word with you. Last year, WKCD spent six months collecting perspectives on school leadership from 65 high school students nationwide. In a new book, Sent to the Principal: Students Talk About Making High Schools Better, teenagers shares their insights on a range of issues. (November 2005)
Students as Allies in Improving Their Schools
What if teachers and students became steady allies rather than frequent adversaries in their daily classroom encounters? What would it take for students to become stakeholders not just in their own success but also in that of their teachers and schools? (October 2004)
Restoring Hope Where It's All but Gone
Students enrolled in Indianapolis public high schools face hard truths everyday. Indianapolis has the fifth worst graduation rate in the country; only 25 percent of black males earn a high school diploma. Student research teams at all five of the city's high schools have studied the problems and are adding their voice to the district's redesign effort. (September 2005)
We Are Change
With a video camera to her eye, Alice Giaccone, 18, moves through a buzzing high school hallway at lunchtime. She poses the same question to each person she stops: “What do you think of high school redesign?” Alice, along with seven other “youth mobilizers,” spent the past year documenting what young people want—and don’t want—from their high schools in Austin, TX. (September 2006)
Reflections on What Works: A Group of Teenage Classroom Observers Raises the Bar for Teachers
At Lexington High School, a large suburban high school outside Boston, a dedicated crew of teenaged students is visiting classrooms with an innovative vision of student-teacher dialogue. They go into classrooms not to learn what is being taught, but to look at how it is being taught, and to create a dialogue about effective teaching and learning. (February 2006)
The Color of Learning: Youth Researchers Tackle the Legacy of Brown
For three years, one hundred inner city and suburban youth researchers and their adult partners at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York have studied how race influences learning in schools across America. Here we present some of the fruits of their extraordinary work. (May 2004)
The Color of Teaching: In a Small Black School, Students Fight for Their Faculty
Nationally, urban schools struggle to recruit minority teachers. In the rural, African-American community of Camp Hill, Alabama, students struggle with a county decision to replace a third of their school’s black teachers with white teachers. (May 2004)
Youth Organizers Mobilize to Change their World, Starting with School
This special collection features two experienced youth organizing groups—East Los Angeles’ Youth Organizing Communities and the Bronx's Sistas and Brothas United—working to improve their schools, an interview with a veteran youth activist, and an annotated directory of student groups involved in school reform. (June 2003) PDF version
Redesigning High Schools: Student Perspectives
When the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and The Education Alliance at Brown University hosted a "Practitioners Forum for High School Redesign," a dozen students from high schools throughout the Northeast were among the 120 in attendance. Read students' comments about redesigning high schools, student-teacher relationships, and what makes quality schools. (October 2003)
Students Push for Equity in School Funding
Nationwide, schools face drastic reductions in programs, teachers, and services. Here we capture the triumphs, defeats, and voices of Alabama students fighting to save their small school from consolidation, Ohio students rallying at their state’s capitol against funding inequities, and a government class in Poughkeepsie, NY throwing itself into that district’s school budget deliberations. (June 2003) PDF version
Small Schools Show Big Results
Amid the current reform effort to create smaller high schools, the “Met” School in Providence, RI and Chicago’s Best Practice High School show the student
engagement and high achievement small schools can produce. (May 2002)
Connectivity at San Diego’s High Tech High
With the lively tone of a high-tech workplace, San Diego’s High Tech High (HTH) aims to know its students well, forge strong connections between their academic work and the outside world, and hold the entire enterprise to a common intellectual mission. (June 2003) PDF version
Forging Habits of Inquiry at Urban Academy
Whether the subject is international relations or trigonometry, teachers at New York City’s Urban Academy pack challenging questions and problem solving into each lesson. In one of the school’s signature courses, “Looking for An Argument?,” students learn to debate both sides of controversial issues. (March 2003) PDF version
Raising Self-reliant Learners at the Minnesota New Country School
Minnesota New Country School is a teacher-owned, public charter school in rural Henderson, MN. Students in grades 7-12 travel as many as 100 miles roundtrip to attend this unconventional one-room, 17,000-square-foot “schoolhouse.” (January 2003) PDF version
A Close Look at Student Work in Small Schools
Detailed work portfolios document how students in two small schools pursue senior projects and school-wide, year-opening activities. (March 2002)
Youth meets Web 2.0 (October 2007)
Wikis, blogs, social networking, podcasts … welcome to what the tech-savvy call “Web 2.0.” Who are its biggest users? Teens. “Teens know that ordinary citizens can be publishers, movie makers, artists, song creators, and storytellers,” writes researcher Mary Madden. WKCD has compiled a list of resources for adults and youth wanting to ride the Web 2.0 wave.
Chemistry students put school baqthrooms under the microscope
(May 2007)
Ever wonder what kind of bacteria is festering in public bathrooms? So did a group of high school students on Creedmoor, North Carolina. And while the average high school students stared at textbooks or memorized formulas, students at South Granville School of Health and Life Sciences embarked on an action research project to find out just how contaminated the bathrooms in their public school were. They also did their own rating of cleaning products.
Zuni teens build an edible schoolyard (June 2007)
For students at Twins Butte High School in Zuni, NM, school lunch —sometimes their only hot meal of the day—not only tastes bad, but defies Zuni customs. Vegetables and fruit fill the traditional Zuni diet. Spurred on by their science teacher, the students are building an organic greenhouse that promises to change more than just school lunch. “Your plant is like your baby. We say to the plants, grow, grow, grow” explains Elaine, 16.
Bringing Up Scientists: A Top Teaching Hospital Trains Youth from Its New York Neighborhood
On a Saturday morning at one of the world's most eminent teaching hospitals, a dozen seventh graders from northern Manhattan are picking up their scalpels to cut into the cold, gelatinous brain of a sheep. These students are part of the Lang Youth Medical Program, a six-year science enrichment and internship program at New York-Presbyterian Hospital and Columbia University Medical Center. (February 2006)
Making a Guide to Their Bay, San Diego Students Explore Deeper Perspectives
"If you wanted to do a similar biodiversity study in the real scientific community, this is how you would do it," says one High Tech High student researcher. In expeditions to sites around the nearby bay, the team of students made close observations that they brought together as a striking and useful field guide. (September 2005)
From Raw Data to Rich Description: Young Naturalists Produce Award-winning Science Essays
The Young Naturalist Award, an annual essay contest sponsored by the American Museum of Natural History, celebrates student researchers who turn months of science investigation into superb prose. The student winners are as different as the research subjects they invent. They use the written word to take the reader along expeditions, and create a sensory world where research springs to life. (April 2006)
The Power We Need: Students Tackle Childhood Obesity with Science and Teamwork
Taking as their challenge an issue that has troubled the nation's top health experts, a group of Carrabec High School athletes in rural Maine has set out to reverse the trend toward early obesity among their peers. Armed with electronic body composition monitors and an unstoppable drive, these teens gather before sunrise for a weightlifting program that is anything but conventional. (February 2005)
Outside is Our School: Youth Embrace Subsistence Education and Renew Survival for a Yupik Eskimo Community
Along the Yukon River in Russian Mission, Alaska (pop. 307), Kenny Vaska and his brother Carl have caught six king salmon so far. Like their classmates, they are becoming skilled hunters and fisherman in the Yupik Eskimo tradition, supplying their families and elders with food that can’t be found at the village’s one grocery store. They also know how to calculate the geometric design needed to build a salmon drying rack and how to conduct statistical research into the village’s eating habits. (September 2004)
Los Angeles’ River School: At the Confluence of Water, Floods, and Urban Planning
At the River School, students assess water quality and habitats, then clean up the LA River—once the city’s sole source of water but now a massive flood control system. (November 2002)
Water Works: Youth Protect A Precious Resource
Students across the country reclaim watersheds in their own backyard. See also student artwork and poetry from "River of Words," plus online water resources. (November 2002) PDF version ???
Recycling Bounty
In innovative efforts across the country, young people are practicing new and different ways of living green. At Temple Isaiah in the San Francisco Bay area, for instance, seventh graders recycle an unusual commodity—cold, hard cash—and in the process turning the gift-giving associated with bar and bat mitzvahs on its head. Read more about this and other unusual recycling efforts. (December 2003)
Online Activists
Combining computer savvy with activism, young people in the U.S. and Canada develop web sites that champion the causes they care about most. (February 2002)
The Big Score: Chicago High School Students Debate College Admission Tests (March 2008)
For students at Chicago’s Oak Park and River Forest High School (OPRF), the buzz surrounding college preparation is intense. The school sends almost 90 percent of its graduates to college. In January 2008, WKCD sat down with five OPRF students to talk about how they judge intelligence, and their experiences with standardized tests.
My Dreams Are Not A Secret (February 2008)
Recently WKCD joined forces with the University of Michigan-based “Youth Dialogues on Race and Ethnicity in Metropolitan Detroit” to produce a small book of reflective writing by thirteen of the program’s participants. “Can you see my elegant raiment and unique swag? Can you see my faith, talents, . . . dreams, or insecurities?”
We’re Here and We’re Talking: Children of Incarcerated Parents Speak Up (February 2008)
Zoe Wilmott was just four years old when her mom went to prison. De’Mel Bullock was five the first time his father went to jail. Riri Wilson was 14. Though research on the topic is sparse, these youth know all too well the difficulties children face when one or both parents are incarcerated. Through San Francisco’s Project WHAT! (We’re Here And Talking), Zoe and other teens have come together with a common set of demands and concerns.
SAT Bronx: what we know that you don’t know (October 2007)
An upcoming book by a group of students and teachers at Bronx Leadership Academy 2 brings educators new perspectives about the culture of minority youth in urban schools. And students who read it may realize just how much “insider knowledge” they have at their fingertips. Here we present a sneak peek at one section of SAT Bronx, which will be available from Next Generation Press in winter 2008, with support from Adobe Youth Voices.
Just another way to judge us? (October 2007)
In the crucial middle school years, what do students make of the assessments they receive concerning their academic progress—from teachers directly, or via standardized tests? What encourages them to take the risks involved in real learning, and what holds them back? Here, as part of our Voices in the Middle Grades Series, we present students’ own words on what helps them grown into confident learners.
Pass it on: youth interview mentors that matter (September 2007)
Who are the significant adults in the lives of teenagers, beyond the home and classroom? How do they reach out to youth, and why? In the first six months of 2007, youth across the nation gave their answers, as they interviewed, photographed, and publicly honored “Mentors That Matter” in four cities (Chicago, Providence, San Francisco, and Tampa). They nominated people from all walks of life—artists, coaches, public officials, even a school bus driver and a hair stylist—who show that they care about “other people’s children.”
The parent next door (September 2007)
Stop for a moment and count up the teenagers you know who aren’t actually your own kids. When is the last time you spoke with one of them, and what did you talk about? For teenagers, your answer matters a lot. Adults who aren’t their parents, they say, often influence them just as strongly as their mother or father—or even more. As 16-year-old Dan reminds us, “If you can go to someone who isn’t required to talk about stuff with you, but who just likes you and your company, then you’re going to feel better about yourself. “
Students Who Blazed a College Path Now Counsel Others to Follow
It’s tough to set one’s sights on higher education if other members of the family have not traveled that path. For two years, WKCD has interviewed and gathered advice from 16 diverse college students nationwide who were the first in their families to successfully go to college. Here, we offer many tips from these path makers, for high school students following in their footsteps. (November 2006)
If We Can Do It, So Can You! First-generation College Students Tell How They Made It Happen
For the past year, WKCD has interviewed first-generation students enrolled at colleges across the country. In a new book, First in the Family: Advice About College from First-Generation Students, we offer their challenges and insights, to help students following in their footsteps—and the teachers, counselors, and other adults whose support means so much. (April 2005)
Voices from the Middle Grades (September 2006)
What do students in the middle grades most need from their teachers? WKCD offers their answers in a sequel to our groundbreaking book Fires in the Bathroom—this time, listening to the voices of early adolescents.
“You Got a C?” (November 2006)
Teachers are used to giving out grades to kids. But what do those grades mean when they land on the desk of a student in grades 6, 7, and 8? Do they illuminate how students are doing, or humiliate them for daring to try? Do they inspire or destroy their motivation? Do they communicate with parents, or cause misunderstandings?
Who Says Who’s Smart? (November 2006)
How can you tell if a person is smart? Interesting answers are coming from students at Bronx Leadership Academy 2, a small public high school in New York City, who have launched a yearlong project to highlight their “insider knowledge” as urban youth. Listen to their audio clips.
Our Turn to Speak (November 2006)
If you turn on the car radio these days while driving through the Adirondack region of New York State, you’re likely to hear a local teenager giving parents some advice. Whether the subject is curfews, grades, friendship, or divorce, kids here are using local media to speak from the heart, telling adults what adolescents need from them at this critical time in their lives. Hear some of their PSA's.
We Watch You. We Worry About You. (June 2005)
When writing our new book What We Can't Tell You: Teenagers Talk to the Adults in their Lives (Next Generation Press, May 2005), we were surprised to learn how much teenagers watch and worry about the adults close to them. We figured that most of the worrying went the other direction.
What We Can’t Tell You: Teenagers Talk to the Adults in Their Lives
How much do parents and other adults really know about the adolescents they care about? What do teenagers need from adults—if only they could say so? A forthcoming book by WKCD’s Kathleen Cushman and 75 youth collaborators offers some compelling answers. Click here for early excerpts. (August 2004)
Youth as Evaluators: Race and Ethnicity in Metropolitan Detroit Through the Eyes of Its Youth
On a summer afternoon in the nation's most segregated metropolitan area, 75 young people who usually gather in groups divided by race and ethnicity are coming together to confront the stereotypes that color their lives. Schools and organizations across greater Detroit have sent them, invited to join an interracial dialogue organized by the University of Michigan's Program for Youth and Community. (April 2006)
Two New Orleans Teenagers Tell Their Story of Survival and Loss
Here, WKCD writer Abe Louise Young interviews two teenagers evacuated from New Orleans to Austin, Texas. Abe Louise Young grew up, herself, in New Orleans and now lives in Austin. She has started a national project called Alive in Truth that is documenting the stories of Katrina's survivors. (September 2005)
Tough Talk about Student Responsibility: Growing Student Leaders in Oakland, CA
Several years ago at Oakland Tech High School Darrick Smith began a program called TryUMF (for Try and Uplift My Folks), a leadership class any student can take and re-take. Smith makes fierce academic and social demands on students, but they pay off. Recently WKCD interviewed Smith and his students about their push for responsibility. (October 2004)
We Need A Space to Be Honest: Students Examine the Power of Peer Education
In January of 2004, twelve teens in Bellingham, WA decided to see if they could shift the perspectives of an entire grade at their suburban high school, in order to prevent their peers— and themselves— from developing negative body In the process, they discovered the intense need teens have to discuss all sorts of important life issues with other teens, in a structured setting. They recently talked with WKCD about their experience. (August 2004)
From: High School Students To: The Next President
Dear Future President: I am nineteen years old and I have lived in Harlem all my life. This past year, I got my G.E.D., and I’m about to start college at Cooper Union in New York City. I work several jobs to raise the money I’ll need to live on. I can talk like an educated person, and I can talk like the kids on the street. You would probably point to me as a success story. But you wouldn’t have much idea of what got me here. Maybe you should....Read letters by two WKCD student authors on what we can do about the real crisis in public education—part of a new book published by Teachers College Press. (March 2004)
E.A.9.11 (Everything After: A 9.11 Youth Circle)
In online discussion groups, youth from the U.S. and 20 other countries exchange their views on terrorism, patriotism, and religion. (May 2002)
Not Yet 20
Despite an unusually tight job market for teens in summer '03, three 19-year olds took on distinctly adult responsibilities, including serving as a firefighter. Read WKCD's interviews with these three impressive teens. (September 2003)
Possible Selves’: Girls and Their Mothers Research Own Lives
With Girls Incorporated in Holyoke, Massachusetts, teams of mothers and daughters compared their personal histories for a research project that eventually landed them at an international conference in London. (May 2002)
Take Us Seriously
Straight talk from activist students in small communities nationwide. (September 2001)
We Are the Titans: A Profile of Diversity at One American High School (May 2008)
T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Virginia is best known as the setting for the 2000 film Remember the Titans (with Denzel Washington) about a tough coach who unites a football team—and a community—divided along racial lines. In 2007, a group of T.C. Williams seniors in teacher Taki Sidley’s Photography and Documentary Studies class set out to illustrate that same diversity in a 112-page, duotone book of photography. The result is stunning.
Lessons from our grandparents (September 2007)
“I am used to the differences of my two grandmothers,” writes Nicole in an essay in her high school literary magazine. “They are two women, two worlds apart, who share the same role.” In this collection of essays, high school students reflect on the lessons they have learned from visits with their grandparents, nearby and far away.
Young Asians with Power unite for a summer dose of writing and politics (July 2007)
You might hear the YAWPers before you see them in the back room of Chicago’s Japanese American Citizens League on a summer afternoon. At the end of every meeting of Young Asians with Power (YAWP!), a writing workshop for Asian American youth, participants stand in a circle and holler as loud as they can: “YAAAWWWWPPPPP!!!!” The yell is both a battle cry and an exercise in silliness.
Young journalists take charge (May 2007)
At 14, Jonathan Gainer already has a few major notches on his journalist’s belt, including interviewing a former U.S. president and reporting from West Africa. Along with 120 other teenagers from metro Indianapolis, he is part of Y-Press. Reporting with a youth angle on subjects of their own choosing, Y-Press journalists see their work published in the state’s largest newspaper every two weeks, as well as online and in other media outlets.
Maine students document the human rights stories of local immigrants (June 2007)
For students in Susan Cray's tenth grade humanities class at Casco Bay High School, the community has become their classroom. For the past year, her students have interviewed and photographed immigrants who fled from war-torn countries like Somalia, Cambodia, Bosnia to start a new life in Portland, Maine. The students' photo essays bring home the struggle for human rights across the globe.
Making Writing Essential to Teens' Lives
Literacy is a key factor in determining whether students fail or succeed academically, and our nation's teachers are painfully aware of the crisis point that students now occupy. When students are alienated from academic subject matter, and poor test scores have sapped their spirit, how might we draw them in to writing as a space to grow and shine, and to communicate? (April 2006)
Hip Deep: Opinion, Essays, and Vision from American Teenagers
When WKCD and Next Generation Press set out a year ago to gather and create an anthology of compelling social commentary by adolescents across the country, we were unprepared for the diversity and depth of the voices we found. The more than fifty young writers featured in Hip Deep come from villages in Alaska and slums in Alabama, suburbs in Baltimore and high-rises in Los Angeles. (April 2006)
Half My Heart Is in Iraq: Students with Deployed Parents Write Their Lives
The war is everywhere in Killeen, TX, but its presence is felt in with particular poignancy in public schools like Killeen High. KHS stands in the shadow of Fort Hood, the nation's largest military base, and roughly half of the 1800 students have parents who are active military employees. Assistant Principal Helen Miller dreamed up a Writing Week as a way to give all students a creative space before the grueling stress of standardized tests—and to help them feel good about their writing. (April 2006)
Our Stories, Told by Us: New Orleans Teens Write Books About Lively Neighborhoods Now Lost
Just weeks before levee breaches flooded New Orleans in 2005, six African-American teenagers organized three block parties. The music, speeches, and dancing in the streets celebrated a victory few in their neighborhoods had claimed before: book publication. The young authors documented the people and places that had raised them, through thick and thin, in New Orleans' poorest neighborhoods; the books became best sellers in the city overnight. (April 2006)
Young Writers Define the Katrina Experience
Before Hurricane Katrina, a tight web of teenage writers was bringing a literary renaissance to New Orleans public schools. They came from Students at the Center, a program that trains New Orleans youth to write, publish, and be community leaders. After Katrina, the students found themselves spread in schools around the country. They continued their work through personal memoirs. (September 2006)
Honoring Two Worlds: Teaching Young Writers as They Learn English
Eric, whose family immigrated from China six months ago, casts his eyes down in painful shyness, filling pages of a notebook with pencil sketches of the world in his head. Scenes like this occur every day, in schools with large numbers of students new to this country. And, even when the students share the same language—perhaps Spanish or Chinese—the differences among their situations can be breathtaking. (April 2006)
Youth Speaks Out on War and Peace
Young people in the United States and around the globe are adding their voices to the world debate about war, peace, and Iraq. This collection of essays, speeches, articles, and editorial cartoons gives a sense of what is on their minds and in their hearts. (March-April 2003)
Baltimore's Urban Debaters Prove the Word is Mightier than the Sword
At 8 a.m. on a cold Saturday morning, most of Chris and Dayvon's friends are at home asleep. But these seniors from Baltimore's struggling Forest Park High School have set up shop in the cafeteria of a rival high school and are hunched over stacks of newspapers and outlines of arguments. They are meticulously planning their strategy for the day's debate. (February 2005)
Poetry and Art from Students Along the Gulf Coast
Since 1995, the California-based nonprofit River of Words (ROW) has helped young people connect nature exploration with poetry and art. Now, in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, ROW has released a collection of some of the best poems and drawings it has received over the years from youth along the Gulf Coast. (November 2005)
Youth Poetry Goes Public
Robert Frost once said, “Poetry is a way of taking life by the throat,” and youth culture has claimed this opportunity as its own. Whether in after-school workshops, national competitions, or local gathering spots, performance poetry is attracting a new generation of youthful enthusiasts. (January 2003) PDF version
WKCD Student Essays: Writing As Revelation
Some of the most compelling youth writing reveals something about its author. Whether by plumbing a new experience or putting on paper what may be too painful to voice, the writing that results makes for inspiring reading. Don’t miss these six extraordinary personal essays. (January 2004)
Mix It Up at Lunch Lessons in Tolerance
“Hunt or be hunted: the world of teenagers,” writes ninth grader Jane Brendlinger. “Like wild beasts roaming the plains of Africa, the weaklings are soon picked off and devoured. The socially advantaged have a sixth sense for singling out those with especially low self-esteem.” For five years, tolerance.org has been challenging students around the country to “mix it up” at lunch and to write about their experiences with fitting in and exclusion. (November 2006)
Everyone Is Different
This collection of essays brings together strong young voices that detail the personal experience of many kinds of difference: physical difference, difference in the way we learn, think, speak, here, walk, and dress. The authors speak for self-acceptance, and acceptance of others. Their essays greet difference, celebrate it, and provide a map for a more inclusive society. (November 2005)
"I Did It Myself": New York Teenagers Find Their Voice
New York City's Youth Communications seeks to provide teenagers with the information they need to make thoughtful decisions about their lives. By helping them develop skills in reading, writing, and thinking, this organization provides a meaningful space for student voice to take the stage. Here we present three wonderful essays by these NYC youth. (February 2005)
Beyond Words: Practicing Tolerance
Practicing tolerance is much harder than preaching it. Through personal essays and videos, young people from around the world chronicle their struggles with tolerance and prejudice, whether on the world stage, on city streets, or in their school cafeteria. (October 2003)
Rural Voices Radio: Writing About the Places Called Home
A project of the National Writing Project, Rural Voices Radio is a 13-part series of half-hour radio programs, in which students and their teachers read original writings and put their own stamp on the place they call home. Read selections by teachers and students in Kentucky, Texas, North Dakota, and Nevada. (October 2003)
Roots: Looking Back, Leaning Forward
Youth explore the complex subject of roots—defying media portrayals of a distant homeland, sometimes locked in violence—in written commentaries and a photo-essay. (November 2002)
Who Am I?
In poems, essays, and interview excerpts, racial and language minority adolescents reveal the unique difficulties they face. (March 2002)
Hear Us Out
Urban youth of color write of their hopes and concerns, of school and society. (October 2001) PDF version
Our America
Youth writings and actions in response to September 11. (September 2001)
Youth Publications that Serve a Public Purpose
This collection of 11 "public-minded" publications features youth writing remarkable by any count. (July 2002)
Tell Us How It Was
When elders share their life stories with students, the resulting oral histories can change the way we all look at the past. (July 2001)
Picky Readers for a Reason: Teens and Summer Reading
Teens have strong feelings about summer reading. Some love it, and some would rather slip in quicksand than crack a book. Yet whether they are avid readers or reluctant ones, it seems that teens want to have a say in the books they read during the summertime.(June 2005)
The Coffee House Depot Book Club: Local Teenagers Take Summer Reading to Heart
A new kind of summer school? Not exactly. But a group of 17-year-old students in Warren, Rhode Island, have found one of the best recipes for passing the summer months: read, discuss, schmooze...it’s that simple. Joined by two teachers, dog-eared copies of East of Eden and Siddhartha, and plenty of java, these students are tipping the balance away from the Internet and TV, and back to books. (September 2004)
Summer Search, Summer Journeys
Climbing mountains, traveling to foreign lands-usually only privileged kids enjoy these summer riches. The Summer Search Foundation makes them available to other high school students, too. In these essays, students recount their experiences. (September 2003)
Young Writers: Summer Trips
Student essays-one fictional, one real-about expansive summer travels. (October 2001)
Myrta's View: From Peach Trees to the Ivy League
Now a student at Brown University, this daughter of migrant laborers recounts her family's summertime travels from their South Texas home to the peach orchards of Oregon. (July 2002)
Writing Up a Storm
On November 10, 2002 a tornado touched down in three Tennessee mountain communities uprooting everything in its path. Students at Central High School record their experiences searching for missing relatives and helping those in need. (December 2002)
Class of 2005 Graduation Speeches
Over the last four years, What Kids Can Do has posted remarkable graduation speeches from youth around the country, with messages as diverse as the students who write them. This year's submissions are no exception. (June 2005)
Graduation Speeches
Exceptional graduation speeches from the Classes of 2004, 2003, and 2000. (June 2004)
Ohio students testify for school funding (September 2007)
Many students in Ohio have felt the pinch of decreasing funding for their schools. "Several years ago our school had to cut five teachers because of lack of funds," explains Megan Huttleston, a senior at a small high school school north of Columbus. "We lost the choir and shop, too." Recently, 17 students from rural schools across Ohio took their fight to the state capitol.
Still on the Trail
With the presidential race at full throttle, more teenagers than ever have hit the campaign trail. High school students canvass door to door, staff phone banks, stuff envelopes, and engage in debates in and out of school. Here, in their own voices, are some of their tales from the trail. (October 2004)
Kids on the Trail: High School Students Make Their Marks in the Democratic Primary Campaigns
They may not yet have voting rights or driver’s licenses, but high school students have blazed the campaign trails alongside adults as the Democratic Presidential primaries unfolded across America this winter. WKCD recently tracked down several dozen of these teenaged activists—most doing their footwork for John Edwards, John Kerry, or Howard Dean—and through phone interviews and email exchanges gathered their stories. (March 2004)
Storming the Polls
The number of organizations focused on mobilizing young voters, especially around the 2004 presidential election, seems unprecedented. WireTap Magazine, the youth arm of AlterNet and the Independent Media Institute, has created a special section on its website dedicated to articles, resources, and announcements about youth and voting. Here we share a recent article about youth in office. (August 2004)
Online Writing: Young Political Essayists Share Their Views
For socially conscious youth wanting to write about politics, there are few outlets. The online journal Wiretap helps fill this void. Read two thoughtful essays about the appeal of the Republican Party in rural America and about voting versus activism. (March 2004)
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“There’s a radical—and wonderful—new idea here… that all children could and should be inventors of their own theories, critics of other people’s ideas, analyzers of evidence, and makers of their own personal marks on the world.”
– Deborah Meier, educator
