Category Archives: Youth

Valedictorian Speech From The Odyssey Project

Good Afternoon Friends, Family and Faculty. Thank you for taking time to celebrate with the 2010 Graduating class of the Odyssey Project. About 2-years ago I saw the Odyssey Program advertised in the News Gazette paper and I thought WOW, … Continue reading

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Youth Making History at Home

”Our youth are not failing the system; the system is failing our youth. Ironically, the very youth who are being treated the worst are the young people who are going to lead us out of this nightmare.”—Rachel Jackson The Peer … Continue reading

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Aramark™ Makes Horrible Lunches, and Kids Do Something About It

I go to Leal Elementary School in Urbana, and our school lunches suck. Most of the kids in my class think the school lunches are unhealthy, and should not be served at our school, or any other elementary school. For … Continue reading

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Access to Abortion and EC for Teens in Illinois

Obtaining proper reproductive healthcare and education about sexuality and sexual health is essential to keeping teens in our area healthy. In Illinois, teens are lucky to have some access to contraceptives, abortion services and other reproductive care. However, activist groups … Continue reading

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Guard Your Girls From Gardasil: What every woman and parent should know before considering the HPV vaccine.

Recently, the media has been saturated with ads promoting Gardasil, the Human Papillomavirus vaccine created by Merck. The overwhelming tone of this campaign is that cervical cancer is a growing epidemic and that the best preventative measure is to inoculate … Continue reading

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Consent Decree 101: The Mis-education of Champaign’s Black Students

More than 50 years after the landmark case of Brown v. Topeka Board of Education (1954), this country still has not fulfilled the dream of desegregation. In fact, there are many indications that the country is seeing a trend toward … Continue reading

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The Legacy of GirlZone

 ’      . Dragged to a GirlZone skateboarding workshop by her mother, Chloe had no real intention of learning to skate. A half hour later, though, she was swooshing down the ramps, seated, on her … Continue reading

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