I started out like most any young person would, unsure of what to write about. As I continued going to our bi-weekly meetings, I got more comfortable with the group as they accepted me for who I am. By them not judging me or neglecting me, I felt I had a voice. It felt good. I wanted every young person to share in my experience, so I started out by writing my first article about my childhood.
Having substitute teachers can create confusion for students, and it happens frequently. According to a 2012 study conducted by the Center for American Progress, 36 percent of teachers nationally were absent more than 10 days during the 2009-10 school year. The findings are based on an analysis of 56,837 elementary, middle and high schools.
Bullying isn’t impossible to stop -- it just takes education and effort. I hope one day we can all close our eyes for a second and not judge the person next to us by how they look, but instead judge them by who they are. Not their chains or snapbacks or their expensive clothes, but their hearts and souls. We are all unique and beautiful in our own special way.
Local music brings us closer together and creates bonds as a community. For youth like me, shows are places where we can let it all out and make memories with each other. Shows provide a place for youth to do something better with our time than being bored at home or running the streets in mischief. Merced has a rich music history with many great all-ages venues, such as The Mainzer and Fatty Mocha.
To me, El Nido is a pretty cool place to live, even though it is super small and unknown by many people. It continues to be funny to me that people don’t know El Nido exists, because our school actually gets involved with the more known schools in Merced, though sporting and other events. Hopefully people will become more aware that this place they’re always driving by, with a few houses and a lot of farmland, is actually El Nido!
Navigating my life as a young diabetic once felt like a tre flip off a nine-stair. And even though it will never again be like an ollie off a two-stair, as long as I’m in control and on my feet, doing what I need to do to land on my board, I’ll be okay.
Coco took a piece of my heart with her to the grave, but I am thankful for the memories I have of my times with her. They help fill the void of her absence. Happiness is what she has brought me and I’ll always be happy when I think of her. As always a best friend would want another to be happy alive or not.
California is really the engine for the United States, and in some respects for the world. And the University of California is a big engine for the state. The demographics of California are changing … 45 percent of [UC] students are now first generation [immigrants]; 30 percent are from historically underrepresented groups; we have more people receiving financial aid at four of our campuses than the whole Ivy League combined.
In 2009, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act increased Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits – commonly known as food stamps -- by 13.6 percent, as a way to bring relief to struggling Americans during the economic recession. But on November 1 of this year the increase expired, returning SNAP benefits to to pre-recession levels. The program cut will affect roughly 4 million Californians, many of them young people. We’Ced members discussed the importance of food assistance programs in their own lives, and how they foresee the change affecting their families.