Monday, May 16, 2011
ACT is practically synonymous with "tutor" these days. But is that a good thing?
Getting past the sweaty hands, the blank stares and the No. 2 pencils that seem to break every time the slightest bit of pressure is applied, what do you think of when you hear that (dreaded) acronym, ACT? Probably tutors. “So who’s your tutor?” “Oh you don’t have a tutor...” Awkward. I hate to say it, but it appears to have become a cultural norm here. The word "tutors" accompanies the word "ACT," and if Glenview had its own dictionary, I guarantee those words would be side by side. And although I’ve jumped along the tutor bandwagon myself, I still question the real meaning behind it. Of course, I want to get a good ACT score so that I can get into a great college, live a happy life, and yada yada yada. We’ve painted that picture in our …
Monday, February 21, 2011
Why parents condoning teen drinking creates such a moral quandary.
Not too long ago, two parents and 37 teenagers showed up in the police blotter after the parents provided alcohol to more than 30 teenagers at a party—resulting in citations for the parents and tickets for the teen drinkers. Sure, there haven’t been any parties like that in the police report for weeks. But those parents and teens are just the people who got caught. It’s no secret that some teenagers drink. It’s not like I’m just letting the cat out of the bag here, and if this is a surprise for you, then, I don’t even know what to tell you. Have you been living under a rock for the last 50 years? Yet what happens when parents condone drinking in their house? All of a sudden, what’s right is less clear. We are taught in school not to drink…
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Exploring girls' dependence on make-up in high school.
Back in October, my mom called me into her room, engrossed in a story she saw pop up as she went to check her e-mail. The title read: “Colleyville Heritage Girls Give Up Makeup for Beauty's Sake.” At first I was annoyed that my mom had interrupted me as I was finally figuring out the one math equation I couldn’t grasp. That soon turned into interest though, as she continued reading and I learned about a group of high school girls who has decided not to wear makeup on a specific day of the week. I remember thinking, “Wow, those girls have guts.” It made me realize that many girls—including myself— feel dependent on make-up to feel beautiful. So much so that a story about teenage girls not wearing any is newsworthy! It got me thinking. …
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Letters from Glenbrook Confidential readers.
I wanted to dedicate this column to all of you Glenbrook Confidential readers out there. I cannot thank you enough for supporting me through this writing experience--whether its sending me personal e-mails on how my columns have affected you or just simply tuning in to read them every other week. I have received such remarkable feedback from readers, making me realize that the love I have for writing is not only helping me grow but impacting others in the community. So from the bottom of my heart, I just wanted to thank all of you so much. Along with that, I want to share a few snippets of responses that I have received from readers that have truly touched me. "I was always the designated driver when we went out as kids and there were …
Monday, December 6, 2010
Patch's teen columnist admits that, yes, the incredibly awkward sex talk is worth it.
So we've all gone through that awkward sex talk. Whether it was with your parents or during the sex education unit at school, somehow the subject has cropped up. And, as incredibly awkward as it can be, there's a reason adults bring it up— if it weren't a real issue among teens, the sex talk wouldn't be necessary in the first place. But guess what? It is. Teens today don't look at sex the same way as their grandparents, or even parents did. If something doesn't go according to plan, many teens assume that the morning-after pill will solve it, or there's always an abortion. While I've heard rumors of abortions at school, I wouldn't say that sex is a huge issue in our community. It's uncommon to see pregnant teens strolling the streets or …
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Expectations and entitlement abound for some local teens.
We all know them. They're like the young starlets running around New York City in Prada pumps.They're the ones always adding to the long list of "look what Daddy bought me." They're spoiled kids. A few weeks ago, I wrote a column about the economy's affect on teens and how many of us have found part-time jobs to help our families out a bit and make some of our own money. Now for the other end of the spectrum. In all fairness, I'd say we're all at least a little bit spoiled living where we live. But for the majority of us, I think it's mostly about being fortunate more than actually being spoiled. But there are those kids—the ones that live in a bubble and brag about everything—and some of it just blows my mind. Sophomore year is when …
Thursday, November 4, 2010
Studies show that more than one-third of all teens text and drive, a distraction responsible for one-fifth of every fatal car crash involving drivers ages 16-19.
There's the sex talk. The drug and alcohol talk. And now the texting while driving talk has been unofficially added to the list of "important talks" many parents feel mandated to have with their teens. It may not be quite as horrifying as talking about sex with your parents— you know, the discussion when the walls appear to be closing in because it's just so awkward— but for many of us, it is a talk of the in-one-ear-out-the-other variety. It shouldn't be. In my family, the big speech came March 29 of last year. I remember it distinctly because it was one day after my birthday but mostly because it's the day I got my license (which, by the way, I wanted to get on my actual birthday and not the day after—did you know the DMV is closed on …
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Local students look for work to supplement spending
Unless you've been living under a rock, you know about the changes that have been happening in this economy. While prices skyrocket, jobs are being lost. Families are starting to cut back on those things that aren't really necessities, and in the world of teens, many of us have started pitching in to help out as well. One of the benefits of 16-year-old status is that I can now be legally employed. Hello, part-time job. Alongside many of my friends and classmates, I've been taking advantage of this. It's not like my parents told me I had to get a job; it never even camp up. But, when I started working this summer as a camp counselor at The Glenview Park District and writing for Patch, I loved the feeling of bringing in my own money. I didn'…
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
High school columnist Britni Berg shares her thoughts on Facebook, social networking and their relevance to today’s teenagers.
"How do you not have a Facebook? Like, how do you survive? What do you do when you get home?" Within a sea of high school hallway chitchat, this was an exact phrase I overheard the other day as I breezed by lockers between classes. Two freshman girls still giddy with the idea of being in high school walked in front of me as one precisely planned which pictures she would put on Facebook from school that day. Perhaps most importantly, she assured the other that she would tag her in photos. I wasn't deliberately eavesdropping, I promise. But c'mon— is not being tagged in a picture really the biggest catastrophe known to mankind? What made this exchange so interesting is that the other girl—the one who was listening eagerly to promises of …
Saturday, October 9, 2010
High school junior Britni Berg shares an inside look at Homecoming Dance festivities— From getting a date to dancing the night away.
The football game is really just the beginning. Since Homecoming dance is tonight, I thought I'd give readers a little taste of what my night— and the nights of hundreds of local students— will be like. The excitement of everything is just like a dream. Really, it's a fairytale. What other night are guys spending more than a hundred dollars on entertaining their date and a group of friends for a special evening? Well, maybe if you're in your 20's living in Manhattan this is a normal thing for you, but were just 16-year-old kids on the North Shore. First, it's getting asked to the dance. This happens about two or three weeks in advance. It's not only pressure for the guy to ask their desired date before someone else gets to her, but can you…
Matt
4:49 pm on Tuesday, February 22, 2011
As someone who was born and raised in Wisconsin, I can tell you that WI law allows a minor to drink at the age of 12 so long as they are in the presence of their legal gaurdian. So, relatively speaking, it all depends how you were raised. and no, that age is not a joke. you can drink at 12 in WI more ›