Politics

By Mariah Davis

On April 14, while most students in the state of Minnesota were fretting about their MCAs, the students at Arlington Senior High in St. Paul were distraught over news the district wanted to shut down their school.

By Minnesota teens

This spring, the government will attempt to count every single person living in the United States in the 2010 Census. ThreeSixty, the St. Paul Pioneer Press and Minneapolis Star Tribune asked teenagers how they count to America. Their essays were published in both papers, and online on April 1. Check them out!

By Mariah Davis

In the middle of ninth grade, my family moved from suburban Shoreview to St. Paul. I transferred to Arlington High School, a school with significantly fewer white kids, and more black and mixed-raced kids than I’d known before. The kids would make fun of me for things harder to change than my hair – my light skin, my suburban accent, my mostly Asian and white friends, and my punk style. They thought I acted like a white kid.

My parents had taught me all my life that I was black, but now, I was white.

By Mariah Davis

In 1990, Robert Lilligren had to choose whether to check American Indian or white on the census form. Even though he is both, the census form only allowed him to choose one.

By Ka Bao Yang

By Youth Communication, reporting, and Meleck Davis, graphic, of Triangle Park Creative

The 2010 census is the shortest in its 220 year history, said Minnesota State Demographer Tom Gillaspy. It only asks 10 questions this decade.

By Grace Pastoor

The census, first required in 1790, is — as Minnesota State Demographer Tom Gillaspy says — “the very core of being American.” When we were fighting the Revolutionary War, we were fighting for representation, and that’s exactly what the census has set out to do – represent us by counting us.

By Lisa Fan and Lisa Fan

If you are a teenager and are considering applying for a credit card, you should think fast, because it won’t be so easy thanks to a recent change in federal law.

By Karen Romero

Almost two months have passed since President Obama gave his speech to American students and Antonio Jenkins doesn’t remember anything about it. “I was in the theater of my school that day, but wasn’t putting to much attention to his words,” Jenkins said.

Jenkins, 18, is an African-American student at El Colegio Charter School in Minneapolis and, although he admires Barack Obama, he didn’t care about the speech that challenged students to let nothing get in the way of doing well in school.

By Zoe Hoaglund, Kelsey Johnson and Vicky Coronado of Fairbault High School

Congratulations to Vicky Coronado, Kelsey Johnson and Zoe Hoaglund, all of Faribault High School, for winning the September YourTurn contest! Their essays on President Barack Obama’s speech to students show what truly motivates teens today to do well in school.