Recent posts

In Age of Bullying, Special Needs Student Elected Prom King

Scott Shaver and Katie Buell were crowned prom king and queen last week at Westview High School. Katie is an all-American girl, class president, champion in girls basketball, and an absolute sweetheart, according to her teachers. Yet, it seems every student, no matter their ability, is accepted here and treasured. Scotty, as the kids call him, is a HUGE personality at the school, brought out of his shell over four years by the nurturing attention given, not only by specialized staff who have tutored him as a special needs student with autism, but by the accepting student body.

25 May 102 Views

15-Year-old Wins National Prize for Creating Pancreatic Cancer Test

There has been a breakthrough in the fight against pancreatic cancer, and it's all thanks to a 15-year-old Maryland County teen and his mom, who drove him to Johns Hopkins University every night after school to test his theory in a lab. Jack Andraka won a $75,000 grand prize in this year's Intel International Science and Engineering Fair for his new way to test for early-stage pancreatic cancer. The test also detects ovarian and lung cancer.

26 May 93 Views

Boy, 9, Wins Disney Trip and Donates it to Fallen Soldier's Family

Inspired by a man who traded a red paper clip to get a house using Craig's List, Brendan Haas hatched a scheme to earn a trip to Disney World. But instead of vacationing himself, the Massachusetts boy gave the all-expenses paid trip to the family of a soldier killed in Afghanistan. It only took four months of trading, beginning with Brendan offering his toy soldier on a webpage.

30 May 129 Views

Teen Invents Land Mine Detector Inspired by Piano Playing

A 17-year-old has invented a mine-sweeping device that can detect land mines based on sound waves, similar to the way piano strings create vibrations in nearby guitars. Both of Marian Bechtel's parents are geologists involved in developing a holographic device for detecting land mines, but her own idea was inspired by her time spent at the piano.

09 April 148 Views

All Graduates of Chicago Urban HS Accepted into 4-Year Colleges for 3rd Year in a Row

For the third consecutive year, 100 percent of the graduating seniors from the Urban Prep Academy, the nation's first all-boys public charter high school, have accomplished what some thought impossible - every single one of these 85 students has been accepted to a four-year college or university.

12 April 164 Views

Teaching Kindergartners About Emotions: The Latest Brain Science Goes to School

Brain science is being used in planning school lessons for 200 students in kindergarten through third grade at the the progressive Blue School in New York. The school has become a kind of national laboratory for integrating cognitive neuroscience and cutting-edge educational theory into curriculum, professional development and school design.

16 April 159 Views

9-Year-old's Cardboard Arcade Becomes Internet Sensation, With $165K Raised for a College Fund

Thanks to a short film, a 9-year-old boy, who built an elaborate cardboard arcade inside his dad's used auto parts store, was treated to the best day of his life when dozens of people surprised him with a flashmob to play his games. The imaginative boy entrepreneur, Caine Monroy, became an internet sensation when the video, called Caine's Arcade, went viral (with 2.1 million views to date).

16 April 161 Views

First-Grader With No Hands Wins National Handwriting Award

7-year-old Annie Clark has just won a national handwriting award, even though she has no hands. The Pennsylvania first-grader was born without hands but took home the trophy and $1,000.

20 April 171 Views

Teen Wins $100K Intel Science Search for His Breast Cancer Research

A 17 year-old Michigan teen won the top award and $100,000 in the Intel Science Talent Search for his research on breast cancer, which could lead to more direct, targeted, and less toxic treatments.

15 March 164 Views

One-Armed High School Basketball Phenom, Landus Anderson, Soars

High school basketball player Landus Anderson is one of the top players in the state of Florida averaging an impressive 19 points-per-game. And he does it all with the use of only one arm. His parents placed a basketball in his hand when he was only three, and saw the determination that would show up in all areas of his life -- academics, community service, and sports.

09 March 140 Views

What's Good In the Hood: Teens Start Good News Paper, Thwarting City's Image as "Godforsaken"

Since Boston Magazine published an article naming Lawrence, Massachusetts the City of the Dammed" and calling the residents godforsaken, an outraged community has been working to prove there are more positive things in the city than the label Nation's Stolen Car Capital would suggest. Taking matters into their own hands, a group of high school students have printed five issues of a newsletter, called What's Good In the Hood?, hand-delivering the positive news stories around town.

27 March 126 Views

10-year-old Stumbles Upon New Molecule, Gets Published

A 10-year-old girl was experimenting with a molecule-building set in her Montessori school when she created an unusual-looking specimen. Clara Lazen randomly arranged a unique combination of oxygen, nitrogen and carbon atoms, with the result being a molecule her teacher had never seen before. Intrigued, he photographed it and sent it to a chemistry professor at Humboldt State University in California, who discovered that not only was Lazen's molecule unique, it had the potential to store energy.

04 February 143 Views