Students and administrators in a local school district are engaged in a game of digital WHAC-A-MOLE.

And, as with the popular arcade game of carnivals and pizza parlors, no matter how hard administrators hit the mole, new ones keep popping up.

� at’s the dilemma in the North East Independent School Dis-trict, which has taken strict measures to ensure safety of its students by blocking social networking sites and Internet addresses catego-rized as harmful, distracting and inappropriate to the learning en-vironment.

“I understand there are Web sites students shouldn’t be on dur-ing school, but the way the district is coming down (on Internet us-age) is crazy,” said Jonathan Hermosillo, 17, a recent Roosevelt High School graduate.

In 2005, North East began blocking such sites when two former female students of Lee High School reported being raped by men they met on MySpace. Since then, however, students have turned to proxy sites to bypass the district server to get to appropriate and inappropriate sites.

A proxy is a Web site connected to an outside server that acts as a portal for anyone to get onto blocked sites. It e� ectively distracts the district’s � ltering system so� ware by making the Internet address look like a legitimate, unblocked site.

“Everyone uses proxies,” said Ximena Garcia, 17. “I even knew teachers asking for proxies from students.”

Hermosillo and Garcia are graduates of DATA, the Design and

Technology Academy, a Roosevelt magnet school that combines engineering, architecture, graphic arts and gaming design in a col-lege-prep curriculum preparation. Nearly all aspects of the program depend on computer access.

“We are assigned projects and stu� where we need images, but we can’t get them because Google images are blocked, so we use proxies to do our assignments,” Garcia said.

“You could access Google images and search for things, but the pictures could not be seen or used, and if they were, they were very bad, pretty much impossible to use,” Hermosillo said.

Hermosillo said that while his use of proxy sites was limited, he witnessed extensive use of the sites by many DATA students.

“I always saw kids using or asking for proxies to get on MySpace and Facebook,” he said, “and most teachers just weren’t aware of what was going on.”

Stacia FitzSimon, director of DATA, said she was not aware of widespread use of the sites because students “don’t really need the Internet.”

“Everything (DATA) students produce is created by the students and for other students,” she said. “We have been very fortunate not to have problems with proxies; students know they aren’t supposed to use them.”

Garcia and Hermosillo would disagree.“Everyone used proxies; they were everywhere,” Garcia said, not-

By Jackie FernandezCornerstone Christian Schools

Newly elected San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro believes San Antonio’s future could be improved by focusing on empowering youth.

Castro’s goals: “To increase the high school graduation rate, decrease the teenage pregnan-cy rate and get youth more involved in civic a� airs.”

While he respects his predecessor Mayor Phil Hardberger’s e� orts to target challenges with the city’s youth, Castro says he has a few new ideas to o� er.

“We just had a very successful Youth Sum-mit. I’d like to make that even stronger next year,” Castro said.

At the � rst Youth Summit on May 21, Cas-tro shared what he would like to see happen in the future with youth. � e summit allows youth to speak out and discuss issues with peers and with their community leaders.

McCollum senior Roy Augillon, who at-tended the summit, said he was pleased that Castro had taken the time to attend.

“He brought a level of legitimacy to the summit. It was amazing to see happen,” Augil-lon, 17, said. “He really tried to reach out to teens.”

Castro, 34, said he plans to focus on de-creasing the number of teenage pregnancy and high school dropouts.

In a study done by Project Worth and Met-ro Health, Bexar County’s teen birth rate is almost twice the national rate with 39 births per 1,000 girls ages 15-17 in 2005 compared to the national rate of 21 births per 1,000.

� e city has an $11 million budget de� cit so it will be di� cult to create new programs, Castro said. But he plans to build a mentor-ship programs for young girls.

“I support e� orts to fund a campaign to lower teenage pregnancy, including start-ing mentorship programs for young girls by mothers who have experienced teenage preg-

June 26, 2009 Vol. 25, No. 1 www.theranger.org

A new wrinkle The economic downturn has teens hitting thrift stores for fashion bargains.

Keri ClarkXimena Garcia started creating and using proxies in 2005 to access blocked Web sites to complete her projects in the DATA program.

Empowered youths top Castro’s list

Internet proxies pop up as schools hammer down

Mayor plans to decrease teen pregnancy and dropout rates

See MAYOR, Page 11See PROXY, Page 11

Page 4

By Krystal BarcenezMcCollum High School

‘Everyone uses proxies. I even knew teachers asking for proxies from students.’

Ximena Garciagraduate of the Design and Technology Academy magnet at Roosevelt High School

YOU The newspaper of the 2009Urban Journalism Workshopat San Antonio College

Mariel PachecanoSan Antonio Mayor Julián Castro speaks about his plans for the youth of the city during an inter-view June 17 in City Council chambers.

Whack-A-Proxy

June 26, 2009 Vol. 25, No. 1 www.theranger.org

The newspaper of the 2009Urban Journalism Workshopat San Antonio CollegeYOU

2 YOU S.A. June 26, 2009

Adobe • Dr. Fred and Charlene Blevens • Chick-fil-A • Charles Cima • EZ’s Brick Oven Grille • Friends of Journalism at San Antonio College • Golden Star Cafe • H-E-B • Tina Hultgren • Chet Hunt • Laura Jesse • Main Street Pizza & Pasta • Alicia Morse • Poynter Institute • Quizno’s • Clay Reeves • Joe Ruiz of KSAT • San Antonio Association of Black Journalists • San Antonio Association of Hispanic Journalists • Society of Professional Journalists • Sea Island • Starbucks • Connie McCoy of Subway • Target • Thai Dee • Jennifer Rodriguez and Adrian Zamarron • Dr. Robert Zeigler • Paul Zoeller

� e sta� Krystal BarcenezBernice BarreraKaren BecerraJustin Chesnut

Brent HarrisKeri Clark

Jackie FernandezTyler Johnson

Linda ManzanaresKatherine Sánchez

Maribel MolinaMariel Pachecano

Alena RamirezFernando Rios Jr.

Our sponsors

By Karen BecerraWarren High School

Encouraging students to pursue a career in journalism, the Urban Journalism Workshop at San Antonio College, funded by Dow Jones, is celebrating its 25th year.

Since 1985, the UJW team has devoted two weeks every summer to the future of journalism by recruiting high school stu-dents from San Antonio and neighboring counties.

“We are serving San Antonio’s youth,” UJW director Irene Abrego said. “Our intent is to give young people an opportunity to ex-perience the possibilities in this � eld.”

� e recruiting process is based on an in-terview that requires writing samples, teacher recommendations and an interest in the jour-nalism � eld.

“I want bright, thinking, creative young peo-ple in this � eld,” Abrego said. “It’s so important for society, for democracy, for open govern-ment,” which is why she continues to devote her summer time to the program.

When Kym Fox, instructor of journalism at Texas State University, started working with the workshop, students would visit her at the Express-News as a reporter.

A� er taking a teaching position at Texas State University, Fox began working at the workshop full-time every summer.

“It’s been interesting to see the workshop mature,” Fox said. “And it’s amazing to see how well some of the students have gone on to do in their profession.”

� e idea of the program is for students to develop skills that will facilitate them in the future.

“Being media literate is vital to being a good citizen. So pick-ing up the writing skills is important, understanding the media is important,” Fox said. “All of that is going to help you in high school, in college and in your life a� er that.”

Dee Dixon, reporter at the Beaumont Enterprise, and for-mer UJW student, helped by giving students tips on how to write a story and easing their ability to get sources.

“If you don’t know how to go out and get the news, there’s nothing to report,” Dixon said.

Dow Jones serves not only as the workshop’s funding, but also awards $1,000 scholarships in a writing competi-tion and a photo competition to a student.

Each of the 28 workshops across the nation is eligible to enter one student in each competition.

In a quarter century, UJW students have earned 10 writing competi-tion scholarships and two photo competition scholarships.

“For me, winning the scholarship kind of gave me some con� dence,” former workshopper Adrian Zamarron said. “If professionals and schol-arship committee people think I’m good enough for the scholarship,

then I might be good enough to do this for a living.”Zamarron designs for the Austin American Statesmen

and has been there since May 1992. He attended the 1989 workshop, when the program was only � ve years old.

“It was an eye-opener experience,” Zamarron said.� e workshop demands students work at college levels,

the hard curriculum preparing students for the lifestyle that will be demanded of them in the future.

“If it weren’t (hard), we wouldn’t be preparing people, young people, for what they face,” Abrego said.

� e workshop also recruits for the journalism pro-gram at San Antonio College with the advisers encour-aging students to enroll.

“I hadn’t planned on coming here, but it was too good a program to pass up,” Zamarron said. “I wanted to just keep learning, and it seemed like the perfect place to do it.”

Despite declining newspaper readership, San An-tonio Express-News writer Vince Davis is optimistic about the news industry.

“I think that it will be going on for some time in the future,” Davis said. “Maybe not like this, but in

some way, it’ll live long. It’s too good to die.”

Davis has been on loan from the Express to work full-time with the

workshop for four years, though in previous years, the former San

Antonio College student gave an a� ernoon or morning to work with

students.“I didn’t give it a thought when they

asked if I wanted to help out,” Davis said. “Because they had done so much

for me, so it was time for me to help others that are coming up the ranks.”

Dixon thinks the skills taught at the workshop will carry through whatever

happens with the newspaper industry. “� ere is a heavy focus with newspa-

pers having some sort of a strong online presence,” Dixon said. “But you can’t have

a strong online (presence) if you don’t have the skills that you need to provide people

with information they’re going to want.”

Pressing onThe 14 participants in the 25th annual Urban Journalism Workshop at San Antonio College after a field trip to the San Antonio Express-News

‘I hadn’t planned on coming here, but it was too good a program to pass up.’Adrian Zamarron

1989 workshop participant and current counselor

Urban Journalism Workshop still opening doors for teens a� er quarter of a century

Tricia Buchhorn

“I want bright, thinking, creative young peo-ple in this � eld,” Abrego said. “It’s so important for society, for democracy, for open govern-ment,” which is why she continues to devote her

When Kym Fox, instructor of journalism at Texas State University, started working with the workshop, students would visit her at the

A� er taking a teaching position at Texas State

Zamarron designs for the Austin American Statesmen and has been there since May 1992. He attended the 1989 workshop, when the program was only � ve years old.

“It was an eye-opener experience,” Zamarron said.� e workshop demands students work at college levels,

the hard curriculum preparing students for the lifestyle that will be demanded of them in the future.

“If it weren’t (hard), we wouldn’t be preparing people, young people, for what they face,” Abrego said.

gram at San Antonio College with the advisers encour-aging students to enroll.

good a program to pass up,” Zamarron said. “I wanted to just keep learning, and it seemed like the perfect place to do it.”

June 26, 2009 YOU S.A. 3

Who we are

Aside from participating in many organiza-tions such as the Red Cross Club, PALs, photojournalism and meeting the Blue Man Group, Johnson High School graduate Alena Ramirez finds that helping people is what makes her life meaningful.

“I like working with younger kids,” Ramirez said. “I like to see what their aspects in life are and I like hearing their opinions.”

In high school, Ramirez also was a member of other clubs. Ramirez was the historian of the Artorgraphy Club, an organiza-tion for artists and photographers. She also is a member of Key Club and Friends, a service organi-zation to improve the school.

“I sat with a boy named Jacob everyday at lunch because nobody else did, and he would always tell me about his problems,” Ramirez said.

Jacob, a fresh-man, was not a participant of the PAL program, but a special educa-tion student at her school.

“I sat with Jacob since the second week of school because in PALs, we were made aware of students who weren’t able to communicate as fast or as easy with others, and by being aware of that there were kids at lunch who would sit and eat by themselves,” she said.

Ramirez’s plans to study photojournalism at San Antonio College and major in special educa-tion at Texas State University.

“I love the thought of being able to help people progress their levels of education in life.”

— Krystal Barcenez

By Alena RamirezJohnson High School

Kristin Richardson tanned for the first time when she was 16.

The Johnson High School graduate loved her golden complexion.

And spending up to three 15–minute ses-sions a week in a warm tanning bed with a fan was more relaxing than sunning for hours in the Texas heat.

But since Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed House Bill 1310 giving Texas the strictest guidelines for tanning, teens who want a tan have no choice but to suffer in the sun’s rays.

The law, which will go into effect Sept. 1, allows users under the age of 16 ½ only with a doctor’s note and a parent present. For ages 16 ½ to 18, a parent must be present to tan in tanning salons.

The American Academy of Dermatology calls it the most restrictive law in the country.

At least 29 states and four counties regulate minors’ use of tanning salons, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

In 2005, the World Health Organization said 8.7 percent of teens worldwide 14-17 used indoor tanning devices.

The organization WHO supports legisla-tion to limit teens’ access to tanning salons to prevent melanoma skin cancer, which claims 20 lives each day, according to the Skin Can-cer Foundation.

“One blistering sunburn in childhood or adolescence more than doubles a person’s chances of developing melanoma later in life,” according to the foundation’s Web site at http://www.skincancer.org.

The risks of teens tanning is comparable to teens who smoke, said Dr. John Browning, pediatric dermatologist at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

“I think the law is a good law. There are too many teens who are making hasty decisions to tan. The problem is if you start tanning when you’re young, there’s a higher risk of

prolonged ultraviolet radiation exposure and skin cancer. The skin will also look wrinkled and older much sooner.”

He estimated that less than 5 percent of his patients are being treated for melanoma.

Browning has one message for indoor tan-ning teens — stop.

Thirty million people tan indoors in the U.S. every year; 2.3 million of them are teens, according to the Skin Cancer Foundation.

Another Johnson graduate, Jessica Carson, 17, works at Shades of Tan, 21711 Stone Oak Parkway. She said about 30 percent of patrons at the salon are teenagers younger than 18.

Carson said the salon features tanning beds that allow customers to experience a variety of skin shades.

“The bulbs have certain wattages,” she said. “Our strongest bed is 160-watt bulbs on top and bottom, and the lowest bed has 100-watts on top and bottom.”

Carson disagrees with the new law requir-

ing teens to have parental consent.“I think that you should get the choice, not

that the government should control it,” Car-son said. “I think if your parents are OK with it, it shouldn’t matter. I know they’re trying to look out for us, but a 17-year-old can make a decision whether or not they want to tan, but I think it’s different if they were 13 or 14.”

Finger scanners make it difficult for teen customers to lie to salon workers about their age.

Once customers provide a driver’s license as proof of identification, the salon keeps track of the information. The state restricts custom-ers to tanning only once every 24 hours.

Richardson, now 18, said she understands and agrees with the new legislation: “Al-though I would have hated to have to wait until 18, and it does seem like an unfair law, it’s reasonable due to the fact that everything else you do under 18 for the most part needs parental consent.”

Tyler JohnsonJessica Carson, 17, a receptionist at Shades of Tan, explains June 19 how the lights in the tanning bed are designed to be less damaging to the face.

State Legislature draws a line in tans

Who we are

From child-hood games that involved digging a trench in the dirt and filling it up with water, to a day at scout camp when a herd of deer made its way through the tents, 17-year-old Tyler Johnson, a senior at Stevens High School, has always had a love of the outdoors.

“I don’t like to be confined in a building. I love the sun,” Johnson said.

Since the age of 8, Johnson has enjoyed the outdoors as a Boy Scout, trying to reach the highest position of an Eagle Scout.

“When you let people know you’re an Eagle Scout, it shows them you have a lot of determina-tion,” Johnson said.

His love for the outdoors has even caused him to set up a tent and camp out in his backyard.

“Kids in the neighborhood would come by and stay in the tent with me. We were all really good friends, so we’d go out and roast marshmal-lows,” Johnson said.

But his favorite activ-ity is swimming. Though the apart-ment or kiddy pool doesn’t cut it.

“Pools have chlorine and they’re very still with only a certain amount of space to move around in. I like how rivers and lakes are more open with fish and plants,” Johnson said.

Johnson doesn’t like a few outdoor pests, such as bees, spiders and scor-pions, but he’d still rather be outside.

“If I could choose whether to live indoors or outdoors, I’d rather live outside,” Johnson said.

— LindaManzanares

By Tyler L. JohnsonStevens High School

The laws for teenage drivers are getting tougher.

Drivers younger than 18 are banned from using cell phones while driving and must spend twice as long practicing driving before getting a license, according to a new law that goes into effect Sept. 1. The law applies to teens getting a license on or after that date.

“A 16-year-old on a cell phone’s reaction time is that of a 70-year-old,” said Brett Arter-burn, chief of police in Pottsboro, north of Dallas.

Arterburn worked with a Pottsboro com-munity group, Less Tears … More Years, to get the teen driving law revised after two teens in his community died in traffic accidents. Arterburn said he was disturbed when he found that high school football players prac-tice more before a game than teens practice driving before they can earn a license.

It is vital that new drivers minimize distrac-tions as they are gaining experience on the road, said Becky Rendon, director of health services for the North East Independent School District. Rendon, whose 16-year-old daughter recently got her license, said she considers cell phone use while driving a major public health problem for all drivers.

“You have to have your eyes on the road at all times,” Rendon said.

Car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A survey

by Allstate Insurance Company showed 88 percent of teens talk or text on their phone while driving and 33 percent have gotten in a car accident during the first year they have their license. The survey also said that summer is the deadliest time of the year for teens when an average of about 15 teens die per day.

Eighteen-year-old Celina Quilantan, who recently graduated from Warren High School, nearly ended up as another statistic last year.

“I had my first car accident when I was 17 because a man was on his cell phone and wasn’t paying attention,” Quilantan said. She was driving on the highway when a middle-aged man talking on a phone hit her car. She spun across the highway into the shoulder of the other lane into oncoming traffic.

“It was horrible, the worst experience of my life,” Quilantan said.

The revised teen driving law, which is known as “The Less Tears, More Years Act” af-ter Arterburn’s group, aims to arm teens with the knowledge and training they will need to help prevent accidents such as Quilantan’s by increasing the requirements to get a license, Arterburn said.

The law more than doubles the number of in-car training hours from 14 to 34. Driv-ing at night will be required for at least 10 of those hours.

It also extends the restriction for teens driv-ing with passengers. For the first year, teens may have only one passenger under age 21 who is not a family member. The previous re-striction had been six months.

Jarred DeSalme, 15, was at the DPS office on Babcock Road this week getting his driv-ing permit. DeSalme and his mother, Syndie,

were unaware of the changes in the law.

Syndie DeSalme said she was hoping her son would be able to help her drive people around.

“The only thing I don’t like about it is hav-ing to wait a full year,” Syndie DeSalme said. “He’s been driving since he was 12.”

Jarred DeSalme said it “probably won’t be as fun to drive for the first full year,” but “it will probably give me a better experience.” He agreed with the banning of cell phones saying, he “wouldn’t have as much

distractions to begin with.”Arterburn said he hopes the changes will

help prevent teen deaths like those in his community. In May 2007, 16-year-old Shelby “Johnson” Dunn, died in a car accident while on her way to school in Pottsboro. Thirty days later another Pottsboro teen, Jordan Onstott, lost her life in a fatal car crash.

Phil Johnson, Dunn’s stepfather worked with Arterburn to form Less Tears, More Years.

New law prevents underage tanning come September 1

Texas tightens teen driving laws

Jarred DeSalme

Celina Quilantan

New law bans cell phones, increases driver training hours

‘A 16-year-old on a cell phone’s reaction time is that of a 70-year-old.’

Brett ArterburnPottsboro chief of police

By Mariel PachecanoStevens High School

Four teens drive up to the front of Santikos Silverado movie theater in Northwest San Antonio with hard rock blaring from the ste-reo.

To the amazement of theater-goers wait-ing in line, three of the teens throw open the doors and start dancing wildly to the beat.

When the song ends, they jump back into their car and speed away.

This scene, which took place about four months ago and is an example of a flash mob, an event organized by a group of people who meet at an appointed time and place to per-form predetermined actions that are typically meant to confuse and amuse spectators.

Stevens High School graduate Christian Ortega, 18, was one of the dancers at the movie theater.

“My friends blasted the music, and we all jumped out (of the vehicle) and started mosh-ing,” Ortega said.

“When the breakdown was over, we drove away.”

The teen dancers didn’t know they had participated in a flash mob. Unaware their ac-tions had a name, the teens were just trying to have a good time.

While flash mobs are usually silly pranks, Gloria Pimentel, chair of the sociology de-partment at San Antonio College, thinks they can be used for positive purposes as well.

“There are so many positive things we could do other than hit each other with pillows,” Pimentel said, referring to a flash mob pillow fight this year in Taiwan.

When a student at Roosevelt High School died in May, Roosevelt graduate Malina Colon found herself in the middle of a flash mob organized by the late Nick Berry’s close friends and classmates.

“I got a text that said to wear red and black the next day to remember him by. I guess those were his colors,” Colon said.

“The next day a lot of people were wearing red and black, so I figured the text must have gotten around.”

Flash mobs can be organized through text message or social networking Web sites such as MySpace, Facebook, YouTube or Twitter.

The trend started with Improv Everywhere, an organization based in New York whose mission is to “cause scenes of chaos and joy in public places” through flash mobs.

The mob is infamous for organizing more than 80 pranks since 2001, including send-ing 111 shirtless men into an Abercrombie & Fitch and a large group of agents into a Best Buy dressed in blue polo shirts and khaki pants reminiscent of an employee uniform, according to the group’s Web site at www.im-proveverywhere.com.

Some flash mob stunts have ended with the police being called by confused store manag-

ers or concerned bystanders. Improv Everywhere’s Web site states

that the group “may break store policies or park regula-

tions from time to time, but we do not break the law.”

The founder, Charlie Todd, wrote “Caus-ing a Scene: Extraordinary Pranks in Ordi-nary Places with Improv Everywhere” that was released May 19 by William Morrow. The book traces the group’s antics and gives tips for readers to stage their own.

“It can be fun as long as they don’t break any laws or harm anyone,” Pimentel said. “I’d rather have this than people going out and taking all kinds of drugs. If you’re having fun, go for it.”

Austin and Dallas have a large Improv Ev-erywhere fan base on the Urban Prankster Network, where fans can set up their own bases in their hometowns. These mini mob groups can then set up their own flash mob events around the city.

“Just be careful about who you are meeting and what is going on,” Pimentel said.

In San Antonio, only 20.2 percent of 84 students surveyed by the Urban Journal-ism Workshop have received texts notifying them of flash mob activities, such as a food

fight or senior prank. And some of the pranks didn’t pan out.

“The week before I graduated, there was a mass text sent out telling seniors to bring a roll of toilet paper to school, so that we

could toilet paper a portion of the school,” Colon said.

Pimentel believes that using flash mobs for good could be the next

step for the flash mob trend in San Antonio.

She suggests meeting at a nursing home and reading or talking to the

residents, or surprising a family who is not so well-off with a basket of grocer-ies.

Pimentel refers to ideas like these as “random acts of kindness.”

“You could target college students, go to an elementary school, blow whistles

and tell them, ‘We are SAC students and we love you’ and run away,” Pimentel said. “It’s still random. I would join that one.”

Who we are

Mariel Pachecano, 17, editor of The Talon at Stevens High School, dreams of having an enchanted wedding at Disney World in Orlando, Fla.

She dreams of being mar-ried in one of the bridal dresses from the Princess Col-lection of either Jasmine or Belle available at http://disney-bridal.com.

She’s in love with everything that deals with Disney, from Dis-ney pens, cups and stuffed ani-mals to Disney bridal gowns.

She applied to work at the Disney Store in Ingram Mall in January.

“I wanted to listen to Disney music all day and get discounts on the sippy cups,” Pachecano said.

Unfortu-nately, the store wasn’t hiring un-til February, and when February came around, Pachecano was working at Carino’s Italian Restaurant.

Pachecano fell in love with all things Disney at age 10 when her 20-year-old sister returned from Disney World with tales of the fun she’d had there.

The younger Pachecano had visited the theme park when she was 8, but she became home-sick and was frightened of the Haunted Man-sion.

Her older sister’s sto-ries inspired Pachecano to return to the Magic Kingdom, but she didn’t make the trip until this year.

“It’s a magical place,” she said. “If you don’t love Disney World, you’re dead on the inside.”

— Fernando Rios Jr.

By Fernando RiosMcCollum High School

Leslie Corona, 16, exits the heat into a converted World War I-era Air Force hangar with no real plan, just a goal.

Corona looks around the fa-cility, going past a row of regis-ters, into a sea of garments and accessories. She heads toward the women’s department clad in jeans, purple print flats, a blue tank top, a half sweater and feath-er earrings.

She’s seeking what works with her interests: looking good and saving a dollar.

She has a classy blouse in hand and heads toward the fitting room. The store where she shops is very well-known. It’s not Guess, Abercrombie & Fitch or even American Eagle Outfitters.

The store is Goodwill.Located at 3401 Fredericks-

burg Road at Vance Jackson, the store known for helping rehabili-tate lives is now helping teens re-think their shopping choices.

A growing number of teens are choosing to go to places like Goodwill and Salvation Army and other thrift shops.

Corona did not just pick up this new trend; she has been a thrift store shopper since her childhood.

Her parents taught her and her older siblings how much Good-will has to offer.

She goes shopping once every

two months and pays $15-$20 on every visit.

Today, she has agreed to take a reporter along on a thrift store-shopping excursion where she planned to put together an out-fit.

Goodwill leader Milton Grant said people go to the store to pur-chase clothing not only for wear-ing but to resell at flea markets.

“Goodwill is the store of op-portunity,” Grant said.

Grant has seen an increasing number of younger customers. These new customers are mostly 17- and 18-year-olds who come to buy blouses for $4.89, jackets for $10.99 and jeans for $4.89.

Eighteen-year-old Sara Acosta

is a thrift shopper. She seeks cheaper prices, once taking home three pairs of jeans and four shirts for under $30.

Acosta said more teens go to thrift stores to create their own individual looks for less.

Picking and pulling from the racks, Corona drapes more gar-ments over her forearm. This is how she not only looks laid-back but also saves money.

Though some teens look down on wearing used and inexpensive clothing, that doesn’t bother Co-rona.

Ironically, Michael Quinta-nilla, fashion writer for the San Antonio Express-News, who has covered fashion for 11 years, en-

joys shopping at the Salvation Army, where he finds quality clothing for a good value.

“Fashion is whatever one wants it to be,” he said in an e-mail.

“It can be a costume, it can be offensive, it can be rebellious, ro-mantic, repulsive, retro, relaxed. It should be all those things and more.

“Thrift stores, poetically speak-ing, offer clothes with histo-ry: suits from the 1930s, dresses from the ‘40s, coats from the ‘50s, minis from the ‘60s, polyester from the ‘70s, big padded shoul-ders from the ‘80s.”

Quintanilla said he shops at thrift shops “for the thrill of find-ing a designer label at a throw-away price.

For a shopper, there’s nothing more thrilling than finding a bar-gain.”

After about a 30-minute shop-ping trip, Corona turns the knob of the door on the dressing room, slowly opening it to show off a garment she selected from the racks of Goodwill.

After trying on five garments, she chooses to model for observ-ers a sleeveless banana-yellow hoodie.

She struts in front of the dress-ing room looking fierce and con-fident in her selection, which was priced under $5.

She didn’t buy the item because she did not have money on her, but she plans to go back soon to add to her wardrobe.

4 YOU S.A. June 26, 2009

Who we are

McCollum High School graduate Fer-nando Rios Jr., 18, loves pricey name-brand clothes.

“I think that if it’s not expen-sive, it’s not worth buying,” Rios said.

Rios loves the feel and look of fabric, adores a Victoria’s Secret lotion and enjoys shopping at stores such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Guess and Armani Exchange.

“It feels good (to wear) something that not many people own,” he said.

Rios’ high-maintenance spending began his sophomore year when he got his first job.

Rios said his sense of style gives him confi-dence.

“My friends tell me that I look good or ask me for my opinion on how they look,” he said. “If I’m not dressed sensibly, they ask if anything is wrong.”

With college approaching, Rios realizes he has to rein in his spending.

“I’ll become a smart shopper and start looking for reasonably priced clothing at the mall,” Rios said.

Rios also plans to start shopping at thrift stores.

“I find it a challenge because I have to find something that fits and looks good,” he said. “I’ll still be wearing name -brand.”

Rios will at-tend San Antonio College to study journalism and hopes for a career designing or writing about clothes.

— Mariel Pachecano

Teens turn to bins for fashion mends

Tyler JohnsonLeslie Corona, 16, compares two polka-dot shirts at a Goodwill store on June 18. Corona said she sometimes has to dig to find something good.

Flash mobs: seriously silly or seriously positive?

June 26, 2009 YOU S.A. 5

Who we are

Jefferson High School senior Bernice Barrera, 17, loves escap-ing into the world of books.

“My friends call me the hu-man dictionary,” Barrera said.

“I made a resolution to read 100 books before the year ends,” she said.

Barrera already has finished many books this year, making sure to hit many of the classics, including “Pride and Prejudice.” Barrera said her favorite genre of writing is sci-ence fiction.

Taking her reading to an-other level, she used to post a book review on her blog telling her opinion on each story.

“I would read a book during the week, then the following Monday, I would post a review about it,” she said

Barrera spends most of her free time in her high school library, where her friends always know she’ll be.

“My friends know I love to read,” Barrera said.

Barrera has attended many parties celebrat-ing books.

“I went to a ‘Breaking Dawn’ book release party,” she said. “I wore a Team Edward shirt and my little sister wore a Team Jacob shirt.”

Barrera added that she also has attended a sign-ing party with George Lopez for his book “Why Are You Crying?”

Aside from reading, Barrera is very close to her family — especially her grandparents.

“They believe in me when I sometimes don’t believe in my-self,” she said.

— Justin Chesnut

Photos by Brent HarrisJesse Tarin, back, follows wife Maggie and daughter Jasmine, 7, after having a final family meal before another journey back to work in Arkansas.

By Bernice BarreraJefferson High School

After being laid off in February, Jesse Tarin started searching for work closer to home.

His former employer, CUNA Mu-tual Insurance, was headquartered in Madison, Wis., but he had been posted as a CUNA risk manager in San Anto-nio, where he lived with his wife and three daughters.

“Competing with 20 other people who got laid off, I couldn’t find any-thing in San Antonio,” Tarin said.

While he wasn’t able to find work in town, work found him elsewhere.

“I was offered an opportu-nity to work (as an auditor) for the government,” he said, a job that immediately relocat-ed him to Little Rock, Ark., where he now works for the National Credit Union Ad-ministration.

Tarin, who is one of thousands of San Antonians coping with the worst national economy since the Great De-pression, said the most difficult thing about the new job is not being able to spend time with his family.

“I get to see them once a month, if I get lucky,” Tarin said.

Tarin’s eldest daughter, Chelsae Tarin, said it’s difficult economically and emo-tionally without a father around.

“We need our dad to talk to, to toughen us up and protect us,” she said.

Chelsae, 17, and her sisters have made quite a few adjustments, eating out less and going straight home from school.

“We have to watch what we spend now,” she said.

Going out for a morning jog was Jes-se Tarin’s daily routine. His youngest daughter, 7-year-old Jasmine, usually tagged along.

“Even though he’s gone, she still gets up early every morning,” Chelsae said.

To make living arrangements easier, the family has considered moving clos-er to Tarin’s business.

“We’re thinking about waiting an-other year if my dad can’t find a job in San Antonio,” Chelsae said.

But Chelsae has her heart set on graduating from Health Careers High School in the Class of 2011.

“San Antonio’s my home and I can’t imagine leaving it,” she said.

When she’s old enough, Chelsae says she wants to get a part-time job on the week-ends to help her parents.

The Tarins are not alone. Many San Antonians are worried about losing their

homes and even real estate agents are worried about losing their jobs.

“You worry about not having enough clients,” said Debbie Leffler, a broker owner at The Mark of Real Es-tate agency.

The number of foreclosures is increas-ing dramatically and Leffler believes that’s being caused by a combination of economic problems.

“Nobody means to get behind (on mortgage payments), but they just do,” Leffler said about people who are at risk of losing their homes.

In the past year, Leffler has dealt with about seven or eight homes that are at risk of foreclosure. Most home foreclo-sures are resolved by what are known as short sales in which the mortgage com-

pany usually sells the homes at drasti-cally reduced prices.

Though the seller loses money, short sales help dispose of houses more quick-ly than usual.

In June 2008, 928 houses were fore-closed in Bexar County, and only 354 of them were actually sold at auction. In June 2009, 1,266 homes were fore-closed, with only 317 sold at auction.

Auctions take place on the San Anto-nio County Courthouse steps the first Tuesday of every month.

“With the new president (Barack Obama), it was supposed to be easier, but I haven’t found it to be,” Leffler said about federal initiatives to help strug-

gling mortgage holders.Kathy Aberthal, a real estate agent

at Exit Realty North West, says the purchase of cheaper foreclosed homes helps keep the market active.

Even so, she said, “There seems to be more people renting than buying.”

Part of Aberthal’s job is to find rental homes for foreclosure victims.

“When you have foreclosures, it’s sad because they don’t have money to pay bills,” she said. “It gets very stressful.”

In hard times, Aberthal tries to sup-port and encourage people in grief.

“It’s not the end of the world,” she said. “It’s a time for opportunity to learn and grow … to reinvent themselves.”

The Tarin family has brief weekend reunions, usually once a month. Family members hope Jesse can find another job near home so they, as a family, do not need to relocate to Arkansas.

Economy splits family between two statesDad’s layoff and long-distance commute are symptoms of a sluggish market riddled by foreclosures

‘I get to see them once a month, if I get lucky.’ Jesse Tarin

father of Chelsae Tarin

Debbie Leffler

By Linda ManzanaresLee High School

Cinderella had to be in by midnight, but for San Antonio youths the magic wears off at 11 p.m.

Thanks to a recent change in the city’s cur-few laws, beginning this week, youths ages

10-17 must be home by 11 p.m. or risk being cited for a curfew violation.

“They should have let us know more about it,” Jay Arredondo, 15, said as he waited for his parents to pick him up from a late movie about 11 p.m. “But I guess we’ll learn our lessons the hard way.”

The hard way could mean a Class C misdemeanor carrying a fine of $50-$500 for parents and a trip to munici-pal court for the youth. City prosecu-tor Eric Burns was in court this week handling cases before Municipal Court Judge Dan Kassahn. Burns said he is tough on juvenile offenders because he wants to set them on the right path.

“I’m pretty rough with them,” Burns said. “I’m not their teachers, I’m not their parents, and I’m not their friends. I’m the prosecutor.”

Burns said he made mistakes when he was a teen, so he tries to teach from experience.

In court Tuesday, he talked to a 16-year-old Highlands High School student caught at the mall during the day when she was supposed to be in school. The curfew ordi-nance also includes a daytime curfew provision, requir-ing students to be in school between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

on school days. The teen said she was bored with school, so she took a bus to the mall.

“I am being honest with you,” he told her. “You never want to see me again. This is a place you never want to come back to. It’s your personal hell. Keep yourself in school.”

Burns said he usually asks the court to sentence the teens to community service and life skills classes.

The objective of the law is to keep teenagers safe, said Detective Donna Willborn, who handles curfew viola-tions for the San Antonio Police De-partment.

“We don’t want them to be victims of crime,” Willborn said. “And so the best thing we can do is if we prevent them from being victims of crime, we benefit everybody.”

The previous curfew law said youths ages 13-16 must be home before 10:30 p.m. Sunday through Thurs-day and before midnight Friday and Saturday. The new ordinance sets the same curfew time – 11 p.m. – seven days a week.

Bexar County also has a curfew, which covers the unincorporated areas. County commissioners voted Tuesday to eliminate the daytime cur-

few, 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, when school is not in session. The commissioners also decided to keep the previous night curfew as it was: 10:30 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and before midnight Friday and Saturday.

Both the city’s and Bexar County’s curfews make ex-ceptions for school, government and religious activities,

emergency errands, or if the minor is coming from work or some type of volunteer work. Youths also may be out if accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Suzy Peters is a single mother who works at the White Rabbit entertainment venue near St. Mary’s Street and East Ashby Place. Graffiti paintings light up the dark walls where people of all ages hang around to get their daily dose of live music and maybe even eat some pizza.

“Some ways it (the changes to the curfew law) makes sense, but it also doesn’t,” Peters said. “They got it right the first time. There are a lot of emancipated 15-year-olds now, and they should not have to be harassed. It was a bad compromise.”

Although parents drop off their children at venues like the White Rabbit, they don’t necessarily know about the change in the curfew, Peters said.

“Most kids and parents don’t even know, and we are going to assume they are allowed to be here,” Peters said. “Parents drop them off and pick them up, so they are aware where they are.”

Priscilla Fuentes, 17, was at the White Rabbit for a late-night concert. She said she expects to see an increase in curfew violations because the time is so early.

“Kids aren’t the problem. Adults break laws all the time, too,” Fuentes said. “But teens want to break the laws. They’ll probably do it even more now.”

Councilman Justin Rodriguez, who advocated chang-ing the ordinance, said that an increase in property crimes, such as graffiti, also added to the need for a change in the curfew. He said the council wanted to figure out if there was a connection with teens wandering out late at night because the city spends about $2 million in graffiti cleanup per year.

Rodriguez also said he doesn’t believe graffiti is cre-ated by only teens and that the law was not written to get them into a lot of trouble.

“Our goal is not to write a lot of citations for teens,” Rodriguez said. “It’s just to keep them safe.”

Anyone caught by police after curfew will be taken to Youth Services, where they can stay up to six hours while police try to contact their parents or a guardian to pick them up. After six hours, the young people will be taken to the Roy Maas’ Youth Alternative shelter.

Matthew Brown, 15, who went to the movies at Re-gal Alamo Quarry Stadium 16 with Jay Arredondo, said it doesn’t make sense that they could be picked up for a curfew violation just because of a late movie.

“It’s stupid,” Matthew Brown said after finding out po-lice can take him to Youth Services. “It’s not like we’re out here on purpose.”

But Brown also said that the curfew time probably wouldn’t affect or bother him.

“I think it’s a reasonable time,” Brown said. “Every-thing closes around or before that time anyway.”

6-7 June 26, 2009YOU S.A.

CoMpLianCe CoMpLaints

By Justin ChesnutBandera High School

It’s a place no teen wants to be: surrounded by the unforgiving walls of a courtroom. But it’s a place Wag-ner High School sophomore Zack Harriss knows well.

After skipping class repeatedly, he found himself standing in front of Bexar County Justice of the Peace Linda Penn, who this past school year ordered Har-riss and 52 other students into a program called At-tendance Improvement Management. The students attended schools in the Judson and San Antonio school dis-tricts.

Under Penn’s or-der, Harriss had to add a new accessory to his wardrobe and a step to his morning routine.

Each day, the 16-year-old clipped a GPS tracking de-vice to his belt and pushed a button on the tracker four times throughout the day: when he got on the bus, once he arrived at school, again after school and at his daily curfew of 9 p.m.

“I was pretty angry about doing the pro-gram,” Harriss said June 22 at the first AIM commencement ceremony in Penn’s JP Precinct 4 court.

Attendance Improvement Management is a Dallas-based program that targets teens who find themselves in court because of too many unexcused absences.

“Too many students were standing before me with absences,” Penn said.

For Travis Knox, CEO of AIM, addressing the issue of truancy is more than a business.

“Everyone has their passion and for me it’s helping troubled kids,” Knox said.

So he and AIM co-founder Paul Pottinger devel-oped a program that pairs GPS technology with old–fashioned mentoring and positive reinforcement. Penn is the only justice of the peace in Bexar County to use GPS tracking for her truancy cases.

For six weeks, students carry a handheld device that tells officials where they are every five minutes. Stu-

dents in the program receive phone calls from AIM coaches every day. Harriss remembers his first phone call from Knox.

“It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be,” he said, adding that it was nice to have someone he could con-tact at any time.

Knox said the reaction among teens carrying GPS tracking devices is generally mixed.

“I refused,” said Kelley Harriss, Zack’s mother. “I was not going to pay $400 for something he might lose.”

Knox assures parents that only 20 percent of the pro-gram is tracking and the remaining 80 percent is coach-ing and mentoring.

“After the first week, they (the family) realize we’re here to help,” Knox said.

Kelley Harriss came to like the program so much she wants Zach to continue with it in the next school year.

“I wanted to send Judge Penn an e-mail telling her I was sorry,” she said.

Statistics show the program is effective.“We saw a 98 percent increase in attendance from 70

students at Judson and SAISD,” Penn said. Aside from the improvement in attendance, Penn

said many also have shown positive growth in their lives.

“They became interested in themselves and further-ing their education,” Penn said.

Knox said next school year, the program will expand to more cities, including Los Angeles and Houston.

The hope, Knox said, is that more teens like Zack Harriss will turn around.

“He dealt with it wonderfully,” Kelley Harriss said of her son. “He became more grown up and more ma-ture.”

Matthew Brown, left, and Jay Arredondo wait for their ride home outside of the Alamo Quarry theater June 18.

Photos by Katherine Sanchez

Photos by Maribel Molina

Electronic monitors curb teen skipping

Changes in curfew law leave teens, officials at odds

‘I’m pretty rough with them. I’m not their teachers, I’m not their parents, and I’m not their friends. I’m the prosecutor.’

Eric Burnscity prosecutor

On June 18, the White Rabbit hosted Summer Slaughter which began at 1:30 p.m and ended at 11 p.m. The city of San Antonio enacted a new curfew that requires youths ages 10-17 to be home at 11 p.m.

Kelley Harriss sits with her son, Zachary Harriss, 16, June 22 awaiting his graduation from the AIM program in Jus-tice of the Peace Linda Penn’s courtroom. Attendance Improvement Management is designed to help students with truancy problems.

Linda Penn, left, congratulates Kelley Harriss, after the AIM graduation ceremony. Initally refusing to pay for the monitioring device for Zack, Harriss came to appreciate the program so much she wanted her son to continue with it.

Program shows positive effects on students’ attendance and lives

Who we are

Since she was 6 years old, Linda Manzanares has loved Tim Burton’s films.

The film that would affect the rest of her life was “The Night-mare Before Christmas,” which she said was extremely scary at the time.

After a while, she eventually went from being scared by the movie to being amazed by it. She has since bought a copy and has seen it in 3-D at the movie theater.

She also owns “The Nightmare Before Christmas” posters, slippers and a comforter.

“Nightmare before Christmas” is not the only Burton film she loves.

“I own almost all of Tim Burton’s movies,” Man-zanares said.

She also is a fan of the movies “Sweeny Todd,” “Corpse Bride” and the short film “Vincent.”

Writing is also something that Manzanares enjoys. She has written short stories, which she said were inspired by the dark films Burton creates.

The fact that the story can be very dark and creepy, yet have a light side is something that she loves. Those aspects are what she hopes to cap-ture in her stories.

Burton also has inspired Man-zanares’ artwork. She likes to draw and has frequently drawn out scenes and characters from Burton’s films, such as the scene with the song “This is Halloween” from “Nightmare Be-fore Christmas.”

Manzanares also has created pottery inspired by “Nightmare before Christmas.” She made the main character “Jack” out of clay, which is now on display in her bedroom.

— tyler L. Johnson

Who we are

From participat-ing in vacation Bible school plays at the age of 6 to performing more than 20 times in stage productions by age 16, Justin Chesnut has never tired of stage life.

His three years in middle school choir helped him prepare for the challenging plays and musicals at Bandera High School.

Chesnut’s first play in high school, “Christmas Comes To Detroit Louie,” was an eye-opener.

“Crazy. Scary. Yikes,” he said about his first role as an old guy on a couch. “You do it a lot and it’s hard to make sure you love what you do, especially when it gets stressful.”

Even though the production process is over-whelming, Chesnut keeps an open mind.

“Once you get to opening night and the curtain’s about to go up, it’s all worth it,” he said.

Chesnut, editor-in-chief of The Bulldog Times, is a huge fan of Broad-way, and if he ever got the chance to write a screen-play, it would be a dramatic musical.

Chesnut’s favorite Broadway production is the musical “Rent,” which was adapt-ed as a full-length movie in 2005.

“That movie totally changed my life,” he said. He loves the way people of diverse backgrounds can put their differ-ences aside and be great friends.

Chesnut is excited about his senior year and plans to be in two or three plays.

“Looking back, I’ve definitely grown so much, I’m proud of myself,” Chesnut added. “If you don’t know me now, you will in the future.”

— Bernice Barrera

8 YOU S.A. June 26, 2009

Who we are

While some people take 18 years to figure out what they want to become, Brent Harris has known since the age of 4.

It was while sitting in a church pew that he envisioned his future vocation — a pastor.

“It was a call-ing on my life. It was something I not necessarily wanted to do, but something I was called to do,” Harris said. “I felt that was my life’s purpose.”

He attributes his passion to a family tradition of going to church almost every Sunday.

“Whenever my mom was sick or for some reason we couldn’t go to church, I would want to have church in the house,” Harris said. “I had a little toy drum and I would play a church song I knew. I would find a Scripture and preach to my parents based on what I knew.”

Harris was the editor-in-chief for his school newspaper, The Talon, for three years. He began his journal-ism career to prepare himself for his future endeavors.

“I saw people that preached sermons that were unpre-pared, and I didn’t want to be like that,” Harris said. “I saw writing as a way to organize thoughts for my future.”

As Harris is in the beginning stages of becom-ing the pastor he wants to be, he gives credit to his pastor, Richard Rubi.

“He’s inspired me a lot. He has always taken time to guide and counsel me,” the Stevens High School graduate said.

— Jackie Fernandez

By Brent HarrisStevens High School

First Friday was meant to be one day of the month when people could stroll between galleries, eyeing and buying art in Southtown San Antonio.

However, with the help of vendors selling items such as turkey legs, fajita tacos and roasted corn, First Friday has become an unwanted party.

Now the businesses along South Alamo Street and the residents of the King William District are trying to get the art walk back to its original form. Recently the city mandated that all food vendors leave the art walk, which started in 1995 when a few businesses, including some art galleries, got together to stay open later the first Friday of every month.

“If done right, it was an opportunity for the gen-eral public to have an art walk and see a variety of artwork,” said Robert Hughes, owner of Robert Hughes Gallery.

Nobody remembers exactly when the vendors began to show up, but one thing is sure: They came in over time.

Hughes, who helped start First Friday, closed shop for a while to become an international whole-saler during the early years of the art walk.

“When I reopened in 2005, I took some time to walk around and see what it was like, and I was really surprised,” Hughes said. “It had completely changed. It had a different flavor to it. It was like

a carnival. It wasn’t the same art walk that I had left. So many different things were being sold that wasn’t art.”

Ruth Gua-jardo, owner of El Sol Studios on South Alamo Street, has al-lowed vendors to set up shop on her property, but she has paid the price for it.

“I try not to (have vendors on my proper-

ty),” she said. “If we do, we only have a couple to try to draw people back here. They are competition for me. As long as they (the vendors) have something to buy, they are not going to come back here to buy something.

“People automatically assume the vendors are cheaper than the shops behind them,” Guajardo said, adding that her sales have dropped the past four months.

With the vendors in place, the art walk would draw many people. This caused South Alamo Street to become overcrowded, adversely affecting area residents.

“There was no sponsors, because of that there was no Porta-Potties; they would go to the restroom behind the shrubbery on my property,” said Marry-Ann Ohlenbusch, a King William resident. “Other neighbors had problems with people parking on their driveways.”

Joan Grona, owner of Joan Grona Gallery in Blue Star, said the vendors created a party atmosphere.

“It has become a carnival on South Alamo with vendors selling food and jewelry,” Grona said. “Even though people are looking at the art it has become more about drinking.”

Hughes said that atmosphere has affected his business.

“I had one guy with a beer in both hands describ-ing a painting,” he said as he pretended to have a beer in each hand nearly spilling them on the paint-ings. Hughes said he’s also had visitors spill drinks on delicate sculptures.

For others, it was the vendors combining with the art scene that brought them to First Friday.

“People had barbecue and food. That was the fun of it,” said Kevin Thomas, a Lee High School senior. “It’s the only major art thing for San Antonio.”

Some art galleries in Blue Star started First Thursday three years ago to allow for a more serious art walk.

“We can’t do receptions on First Friday because

of the large crowds that come,” Grona said.Guajardo, who also is vice president of the newly

formed Southtown Chamber of Commerce, said the chamber plans to sponsor First Friday to get more control.

“The event really lacked a sponsor,” she said. “We needed somebody to set the boundaries for the ven-dors and organize the event.”

The food vendors left First Friday this month and Guajardo said there were fewer people and it was an older crowd.

“It feels more dead with a lot less people,” said Alex Ramirez, a Health Careers High School se-nior who attends First Friday because “it’s a great art scene.”

With all the all vendors soon to be gone, First Friday art walk can now return to its original state. But Grona would like one thing more than an art walk.

“We wish that all the people that come First Fri-day would come during the month instead of just that day,” she said.

First Friday rediscovers its art walk originsOwners, residents work to remove food vendors, calm party atmosphere

Ruth Guajardo, who owns El Sol Studios on South Alamo Street, says First Friday vendors draw customers away. “People automatically assume the vendors are cheaper than the shops behind them,” she says.

Photos by Karen Becerra

‘Even though people are looking at the art, it has become more about drinking.’

Joan Gronaowner of

Joan Grona Gallery

Robert Hughes, owner of Robert Hughes Gallery, helped start First Friday. He says the gathering has drifted away from its origins as an art walk.

June 26, 2009 YOU S.A. 9

Who we are

The 99-degree temperature does not deter Mari-bel Molina, 17, from stepping onto the march-ing field at Lee High School.

Molina is the drum major of the band and will be co-editor for the yearbook, The Traveler.

“It is a lot pressure to be out and conduct-ing,” Molina said. “I am responsible for 120 people, and all the while, everyone is look-ing at you.”

Molina’s dream of play-ing the flute was born when, as an 8-year-old, she watched her brother perform at his high school.

Wanting to step up into a leadership position, Molina tried out for drum major during her sophomore year.

“I considered it a challenge, and I like chal-lenges,” Molina said. “I had re-ally hoped to be picked and I was a bit surprised when the direc-tors did.”

For Molina, band serves as an outlet to forget about problems or to simply relax and unwind in the marching show.

“When you are out in the heat, it is easy to forget what you were mad about,” Molina said. “I focus on doing my best while conducting up to tempo and keeping the band together on the field.”

The eight-hours-a-week practices are worth the effort.

“I like know-ing that people approve of what we’ve been working on for months,” Molina said. — Karen Becerra

Who we are

A constant complaint among military families is creating new friends, but for Judson High School graduate Keri Clark that has been the smallest issue.

“Making new friends was the easy part,” Clark said. “Saying goodbye was hard.”

According to Clark, 17, the place itself is what makes each move a challenge.

“It’s hard, because you get so used to one place, just to get up and go somewhere new again,” Clark said. “But it’s not a bad thing. I like going to new places.”

Born in Idaho, Clark traveled most of her life.

“Life on McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey was awesome,” Clark said.

“I love cities, and it was only 15 minutes away from New York City.”

Clark has now been a resident of San Antonio for two years.

“People are nicer down here, like a weird nice, though,” Clark said. “Up in New Jersey they were really rude, but I like that they were rude. It was amusing.”

During her travels, Clark has become a driven and independent student with a passion.

Clark gradu-ated early and excelled as an editor-in-chief for Judson’s newspaper The Satellite. She plans to attend San Antonio College in the spring.

— Katherine Sanchez

By Keri ClarkJudson High School

The North East Independent School Dis-trict has adopted a new policy requiring all schools to stock feminine hygiene products after complaints arose at Lee High School.

Female students should always have access to those products, said Becky Rendon, North East health services director.

“We are going to a different school of thought for the coming school year, and they will be a standard supply item in our clinics,” Rendon said.

In the spring, students at Lee High School complained that feminine hygiene products were not available at the school. Brenda Slat-ton, a Lee High School journalism teacher, has worked at the school for 10 years and doesn’t remember there being a feminine hy-giene product in the dispensers in the wom-en’s restroom or in the nurse’s office.

“They don’t see it as a priority,” Slatton said.

In the spring, an article published in the Robert Lee High School student newspaper, Bugle Call, called attention to the problem. School nurse Melinda Ochoa was quoted in the story, citing reasons for the lack of prod-ucts. She said it was because of bookkeeping issues and vandalism of the dispensers in the restrooms.

Other schools throughout the school dis-

trict offer hygiene products either for free or for a nominal fee, according to the article.

But students from at least one other school in the district said their school lacked femi-nine hygiene products for as long as they can remember. Zaeva Mercado said she has never seen feminine hygiene products at Roosevelt High School.

“Sometimes, you really need it because it (menstrual acci-dents) can come any time,” the Roosevelt High School junior said.

Some students don’t see it as a problem because they can ask a friend or bring their own sup-plies.

“I just ask my friends if they have some … (it’s) not that big of a deal,” Jack-ie Ybañez, a Roosevelt High School senior, said.

Other North East schools have varying ways of handling the matter. Reagan has a 25-cent dispenser in the nurse’s office. Churchill also sells them for a quarter, but offers them for free in an emergency. Madison’s PTA donates the hygiene products, which are provided to students free of charge. MacArthur’s nurse of-fers only one free sanitary napkin or tampon.

After learning about the problem at Lee High School, Rendon took action and is now considering a bid to stock sanitary napkins in

the nurse’s office in every district school, el-ementary through high school.

Rendon said tampons are not provided because of cultural issues. A sanitary napkin is something everyone can use. Policies on

supplying feminine hygiene products vary at other school districts.

“The decision to supply stu-dents with hygiene products is made by the principal on the campus level,” Laura Vega said of the San Antonio School Dis-trict policy.

Like North East School Dis-trict, Northside School District only stocks the nurse’s offices with sanitary napkins. Shirley Schreiber, Northside health

services director, said the products are pro-vided only for emergencies.

“We supply them, but we encourage the students to bring their own,” Schreiber said.

The Judson Independent School District nurses “always try to accommodate the stu-dents’ needs,” said Sean Hoffmann, director of public information. “The nurses even pro-vide the student an extra product to eliminate another trip to the clinic during the day.”

The cost of providing feminine hygiene products during the 2009 fiscal year for Jud-son for 3,500 tampons and 6,250 sanitary napkins was $1,010, Hoffmann said.

By Maribel Molina Lee High School

Tending to customers since she was 17 has taught Olive Garden waitress Blanca Mendez tolerance.

She recalled a teenage couple giving her a hard time. They sent her scurrying to fill their order and then complained something was wrong with their food. At the end of the meal, they were upset about the cost. They did not leave a tip.

Even though she said teens dining without parents can be messy, hard to deal with and unlikely to tip, she said she has never mistreat-ed teen guests, because she could lose her job.

Olive Garden trains servers to treat guests no matter what their age with the same hospi-tality, she said.

Some teens claim that restaurant employees give them poor service because of their age. But according to a recent Urban Journalism Workshop survey of students on social net-working sites, 76 percent of 84 respondents said they receive service with respect at res-taurants.

“I eat at Alamo Café at least twice a month,” said Chloe Peterson, a Johnson High School graduate who has never lodged a complaint. “Every time I go, they ignore our table or keep checking on us or rush the tab.”

However, Mendez, 19, said teens act differ-ently when dining with family versus a group of friends.

“When they’re with their friends, they’re a little more demanding,” Mendez said. “They have you running back and forth. Otherwise, when they’re with their family, they’ll say, ‘Oh we’re fine; we don’t need anything.’”

According to some managers, teen diners, like Peterson, usually don’t complain to man-agement.

“Managers won’t do anything,” said Kirsten Forkheim, 18, a cashier and hostess at Sushi Zushi. “They’ll take adults seriously, but not a teenager.”

Servers, who survive on tips, say teens leave meager tips, if any.

According to the U.S. Department of La-bor’s May 2008 Occupational Employment Statistics, San Antonio’s 17,100 waiters and waitresses earned an average of $7.94 per hour including tips.

“(Tips are) my salary, so it’s very important because I get $2.13 an hour,” said Mendez,

who supports a 4-year-old daughter. “If I don’t make a tip working for a table in an hour, I get $2.13 as my salary. Tips are actually what I live off of.”

Ryan Weidenbach, general manager of Ala-mo Café at 14250 San Pedro Ave., said every customer who comes in pays the bills, regard-less of how much they spend.

“Servers are only looking at it for that day, like they’re only spending $5 and so it’s not as important in their minds as the customer who’s coming in and spending $20 to $25,” he said.

Weidenbach thinks that by taking care of teen customers through high school and col-lege, they will continue to dine at the restau-rant when they start their own families.

The biggest misconception about teens, Weidenbach said, is that they don’t spend money.

“Teenagers are a very important part of our business,” Weidenbach said. “We’re in this to be in business for another 30, 40, 50 years, hopefully as long as possible. The way we do that is by taking care of every group that comes in.”

While shortchanging is not normal, Men-dez said she notices teens are more likely to not have enough money.

“I even had a group of teens who left me short $10 off the ticket, so I had to pay out of my pocket,” Mendez said.

Dealing with teenagers and rude customers is a daily thing, Mendez said.

“Every day, you get that one guest that doesn’t leave you anything, or leaves you a dollar or leaves you 14 cents. You can’t let one guest affect the rest of your guests, because your next guest can leave you $10.”

Weidenbach said he is 100 percent behind his customers and hopes teens understand that his staff is on their side.

“My advice to teenagers would be come in, have a good time, but don’t hesitate to notify someone if there’s a problem,” he said. “They need to feel welcome; they need to feel like they’re allowed to come talk to us and not be intimidated by us.”

Schools lack feminine products, plan to stock up

Restaurant servers vs. teenagersIn parents’ absence, some say good service, adequate tips can be hard to come by

Becky Rendon

Fernando RiosBlanca Mendez, 19, a waitress at Olive Garden, holds a strip of pictures of her 4-year-old daughter.

Mariel PachecanoRyan Weidenbach, 29, the general manager of Alamo Café, believes that a tip should be based on the service received from a server.

By Katherine SánchezRoosevelt High School

High school students in the top 10 percent of their class aspiring to attend the University of Texas-Austin

in fall 2011 may have to choose an alternative.

“Being in the top 10 percent is an honor,” said Danielle Vargas, 16, Stevens High School class of 2011. “I go to a big school and it’s really competitive, so if we do succeed, we should be rewarded. Being at the top is a big accomplishment.”

� e Texas Legislature passed a bill this session that allows the Uni-versity of Texas-Austin to limit the number of automatic admissions under the top 10 percent rule. � e law goes into e� ect for freshman en-tering UT in 2011.

Known as a premiere university, UT-Austin’s campus has become a competitive � eld, even with a high number of automatic admissions.

“� ere are some people willing to work and some people willing to give up on (UT-Austin) completely,” said Christian Tovar, 15, Je� erson High School class of 2011. “Obvi-ously, there are people who work to get in the top … and they’re going to feel unfortunate, but the law can go both ways.”

According to Gwen Grigsby, the associate vice president for gov-ernment relations at UT, 81 percent of the fall 2008 freshman class has been ad-mitted automatically un-der the current 10 percent rule. In 2009, the estimated population of top 10 stu-dents will be 90 percent of the freshman class.

“We need to be able to admit stu-dents on more criteria than high school rank,” Grigsby said.

Under the new law, freshmen enter-ing UT in 2011 will only be 75 per-cent top students. � e university will begin by admitting those in the top one percent and continue until the cap is reached. Students who are le� will compete for admittance.

With the new law, the admissions o� ce will have more control over stu-dent selection, said Augustine Garza, deputy director of admissions at UT.

“We have to have some control over the population,” Garza said. “� is

gives us more spaces for non-top percen-

ters. � ey still have to compete, but there is

more room for them.”As for the freshman ad-

mitted in 2010, it will be business as usual, Garza said.

Don Hale, vice presi-dent for public a� airs at

UT, views the changes in the law as a step in the right direction.

� e new law a� ects only the UT campus, as a way to control enrollment. � e university has enough room to ac-commodate 50,000 students. Each year, more than 29,500 applicants vie for 6,800 freshman spots, according to a report issued by UT.

“� e top 10 percent law a� ects this university unlike any other in the state,” Hale said. “Only 19 percent of our last fall’s incoming freshmen go through what I call a holistic review.”

Hale’s “holistic review” is a complete application process, in which the uni-versity decides whether the student is

right for the school by reviewing the entrance applications.

“It should give students outside the top 10 percent a little better chance of getting into UT. I believe it bene� ts high schools that have a highly com-petitive class. It will open doors for those types of students who sit outside the top 10 percent,” said Samantha Gallegos, director for secondary cur-riculum in the Harlandale Indepen-dent School District.

In the very top of the 10 percent at Je� erson, Tovar sees the new law as something that may discourage some from attending UT but will also in-spire those who didn’t think they could compete for a spot at a top school.

“People are going to be surprised when they hear about the law. � ey are going to feel encouraged to submit applications,” Tovar said. “People who don’t have the advantage of having high grades will think, ‘this is my chance to get into a premiere university.’”

With more applicants to compete with, students who once found them-selves in the top of their class may � nd that 10 percent just wasn’t high enough.

“(Students) at the end may have worked harder than the ones in front,” said Juliana Torres, 16, McCollum High School junior class valedicto-rian. “� ey still deserve a chance at a college they want to go to.”

10 YOU S.A. June 26, 2009

Who we are

Four team-mates short, one more game to go and a mild concussion, team captain Kath-erine Sánchez took the fi eld and scored all the goals for her lacrosse team, tying the score 2-2.

Sánchez’s team is the only competing high school girls lacrosse team in San Antonio. They qualifi ed for the playoffs until the swine fl u epi-demic canceled the playoffs.

“Lacrosse is football without helmets,” Sán-chez said.

Along with playing club lacrosse, she also enjoys fi lms and photography and hopes in the future to become a movie director or a scriptwriter.

“My entire life revolves around art,” Sánchez said. “I live and breathe art.”

Sánchez, an independent 17-year-old senior from Roosevelt High School, attributes much of her success in life to her grandmother, who she some-times referred to as her second mom. Until Sánchez was 5, her grandmother helped raise her.

Sánchez’s grandmother continued to be apart of her life until she was a high school sophomore when her grandmother passed away.

After that she described her life as being “like a dramatic movie,” but she remained optimistic. “I hope it will end like a Lifetime movie,” Sánchez said.

Sánchez said she used fi lms to cope with her grandmother’s death. Her fa-vorite is “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” with Jim Carrey.

— Keri Clark

Where very good isn’t good enough

Jackie FernandezChristian Tovar, 15, is in the top 10 percent of his class at Jefferson High School but may not be able to attend his school of choice, the University of Texas, because of a new law that gives UT more control over freshman enrollment.

Some top students may get the hook after new law dramatically alters admissions standards at the University of Texas

‘People who don’t have the advantage of having high grades will think, ‘this is my chance to get into a premiere university.’

Christian Tovar, UT hopeful

ing that district servers usually catch up with proxy sites within a few days.

“� e average longevity of a proxy site is only a few days; the really strong proxies can last about a week, maybe,” she said. “� ey are here one day and gone the next, and there are millions of them out there.”

Students say the blocks make complet-ing assignments di� cult, if not impossible.

In an Urban Journal-ism Workshop sur-vey of students on social networking sites, 52 percent said they had used prox-ies to bypass school servers and 8.3 per-cent reported using the sites more than 30 times during their school careers.

“We had to use proxies to access tuto-rials for guided research, senior portfo-lios, and because everything was blocked, proxies were the only way to do them,” Garcia said.

She said one teacher asked her for a proxy site so students could watch videos of the inauguration of President Barack Obama.

“We couldn’t even watch the inaugura-tion on cnn.com because it was blocked,”

she said. “It was ridiculous we couldn’t see history in the making.”

Proxy sites are not illegal, but they do violate district policy, which is designed to confront the dangers posed by the in-creasing popularity of social networking sites such as YouTube, MySpace and Fa-cebook.

Tom Johnson, North East’s director of educational technology, said educational sites were blocked because the district’s server security so� ware was con� gured to do so by the vendor who sold the system to the district.

“� e way our system works is certain types of Web sites are blocked because that’s what the company has listed on it’s blocked list. If a site is blocked that actu-ally is educational, we can unblock it,” Johnson said, noting that the district had done so for Google and Wikipedia.

Some students are misusing proxies in school to access YouTube and other social networks, but, according to Garcia and Hermosillo, most students use proxies for educational purposes.

“If we were using proxies for education-

al purposes, like to � nish our assignments, teachers usually just turned their head,” Garcia said. “� ey knew we had to use them to do our work.”

Garcia admitted to making her own proxy sites and says she knew of other students who were selling them to other students.

“I made proxies in class if I need some-thing that bad. Mine (proxies) weren’t very strong, but they got the job done,” Garcia said, adding that some students turned to Google based in other countries.

“We started using Google.mx, Google.canada, even Ukrainian Google,” Gar-cia said, “until those sites got blocked as well.”

According to both Johnson and Fitz-Simon, it’s easy to unblock educational sites; most sites are unblocked within a day or two of a request.

“It’s just di� cult to keep up with these issues because there are countless sites that should and shouldn’t be blocked,” John-son said. “But I’m sure there are plenty of students still using proxies.”

Garcia agrees, but is more philosophical about the student culture of proxy sites.

“� ere are so many proxies out there and getting them is so easy; it’s like, if I have a proxy, I will give it to you; if you have a proxy, give it to me. Hey, sharing is caring right?” Garcia said.

� e game goes on.

June 26, 2009 YOU S.A. 11

Keri ClarkIn a social networking survey, 52 percent of teens who responded said they had used proxy Web sites while attending school.

Who we are

Krystal Barcenez, a 17-year-old senior at McCollum High School, found her passion in performing with the color guard in her junior year.

The order and discipline she’s learned as a mem-ber of the guard has high-stepped into her everyday life.

“I totally feel bet-ter about myself when people are watching me perform,” Barce-nez said. “I mean who else can spin a 6-foot fl ag, spin and toss a triple (fl ip) with a wooden rifl e, dance and act at the same time, while keeping a smile and look as cool in a ridiculous costume?”

She is an unoffi cial leader of the guard, which performs with the band during football season and marching competi-tions.

She joined the guard as a junior but didn’t embrace the activity until a new di-rector challenged her abilities by requiring daily workouts and 7-minute mile runs.

She soon realized how eager she was to do more with the color guard the fol-lowing year and how it became a part of her life.

Barcenez’s friends have noted that when she leans into her locker, she grace-fully lifts her hand and points her toe as if she were about to dance.

Now when she lis-tens to her iPod, she envisions routines for the squad.

“While listening to music in my room one day, I started imagin-ing routines being performed in my head. I would replay the songs sometimes eight different times when I pieced a movement together,” she said.

Besides color guard, Barcenez has a passion for publications and will be editor-in-chief of Brand-it Magazine.

“My leadership qualities are similar when it comes to pub-lications and guard,” Barcenez observed. “This upcoming year, they will both be like ‘my baby.’ Both require leadership and dedication to be successful.”

— Alena Ramirez

Who we are

Jackie Fernandez is passionate about one thing: music. Though she does not play an instrument or sing, she likes to listen.

“I listen to every-thing except hard rock and metal,” said Fernandez, 17, who is known by her friends as the “human iPod.”

In the fall, Fernan-dez plans to take gui-tar lessons at school as an elective.

“I get inspired when I hear my favorite art-ist play their guitar,” Fernandez said. “I want to learn to play my favorite songs.”

The current editor-in-chief of the Cornerstone Church Christian School newspaper, the Cor-nerstone Chronicle, also enjoys attending concerts.

“I’ve been to a mini-mum of 15 concerts since the second grade,” Fernandez said.

Those concerts include the Back-street Boys, Hannah Montana, the Jonas Brothers, Fall Out Boy and Jeremy Camp.

The farthest Fer-nandez has traveled to a concert was to Dallas, about 275 miles, to see the Jonas Brothers. At the age of 14, a friend got Fernandez mosh pit tickets to a Fall Out Boy concert.

“I was very claus-trophobic,” Fernandez said, recalling the mosh pit as a scary experience. “I doubt I will ever do it again.”

Fernandez said her cousins infl uenced her love for music.

“My oldest cousin used to drive me to school in kindergarten and he would play his music loud in the car,” she said. “His sisters are who really got me into the boy bands like the Backstreet Boys, and *NSYNC.”

This “human iPod” has more than 2,000 songs on her iPod.

“I download songs everyday,” she said. “I’m always fi nding something new.”

For Fernandez, music often helps her in many different aspects.

“Music is an escape for me,” she said. “There is always a song that can relate to me.”

— Brent Harris

nancy so that they can o� er their own ad-vice about trying to avoid the same situa-tion,” Castro said.

Teenage mother Sierra Ibarra, 17, said she thinks that a better education can help combat teen pregnancy.

“Try to start more organizations to help teen moms and to � nd people who have organizations,” said Ibarra, a Brackenridge senior, who had her son at 13. � e boy is now 3 ½.

Aside from working with assisting teen-age mothers, Castro is looking to get teens o� the streets and back in school.

“We’re going to continue Mayor Hard-berger’s e� orts on dropout recovery so that less folks drop out, and if they do drop out, more get back on track,” Castro said.

According to the city of San Antonio’s statistics from 1985 to 2007, the number of students lost from public schools went from 86,272 to 134,646 — a 56 percent increase.

While Hardberger was in o� ce, he pushed the importance of education, and Castro also plans to emphasize education by continuing Hardberger’s plan of drop-out recovery.

“I want to fund initiatives aimed at en-hancing the education level of our young people so that they can take on the jobs we’re trying to attract and retain,” Cas-tro said. “� e education partnership, the dropout recovery initiative, early child-hood education, those are the types of ini-tiatives I’m looking to fund in the future.”

Besides enhancing education in school, Castro wants the city’s youth to have ac-cess to superior technology and create

places where they can take advantage of the new technology. Especially among the urban youth who do not come from well-to-do households, Castro wants to reach out and let them know they have oppor-tunities.

Castro, who attended Je� erson High School, is an example of someone who used education to succeed. He and his twin brother Joaquin were raised by a sin-gle mother and went on to graduate from Stanford University and Harvard Law School. He believes setting goals is critical to success.

“Have con� dence in yourself, believe in yourself and always take success one day at a time,” Castro said. “People don’t become a success in a magic moment; they become a success by doing well on every test and doing well in a class, doing well in a grade level.”

MAYOR: Putting a premium on the city’s youthContinued from Page 1

PROXY: Dodging the district serversContinued from Page 1

Jonathan Hermosillo

Want more?Get all the stats on the UJW social networking survey at www.ujwsac.net

By Karen BecerraWarren High School

Every Saturday night, a crew of teenagers broadcasts “Say It Loud,” the only student-run radio show in San An-tonio.

Produced by Jim Belt, the show is a Christian-based min-istry that encourages teens to think differently and to weigh what it really means to be a Christian teenager.

“I think today, youth need to hear people close to their age,” Belt said just hours before airtime on a recent Satur-day night at the KSLR studios. “To know that you don’t have to do what everyone else is doing, and if you do, there are consequences.”

Although the focus of the show is gospel, the range of discussions varies from daily life to news. The two hours before the show are spent arranging topics that revolve around religion. Students meet in the station’s conference room.

“We sometimes have a Bible study,” crew member Sarah Corder said. “We don’t always talk about religious topics necessarily, but they always seem to come back to that just because of our common belief.”

Although the radio show is run by teens, the primary audience is parents.

“A lot of the adults take things that we say in our show from a teen point of view,” Corder said. “It kind of helps them relate to their kids.”

The radio show allows listeners to call in to state an opinion. The content is often helpful in deciphering how a parent views his or her own child.

“We’ve had callers say, ‘Thank you, because I never knew my daughter/son was thinking that way,’” Corder said. “We think it’s obvious as teenagers.”

Former crew member Heather Creamer, 19, said “Say It Loud” was just what she needed. Although she gradu-ated from high school last year, Belt invited her as a spe-cial guest for last week’s show because summer vacations caused regular crew members to forgo attending.

Creamer enjoyed the show and the experiences with the calling audience.

“Even though we didn’t get lots of callers, when we did, they were always really meaningful calls,” Creamer said.

Asked about their most memorable caller, Creamer and Belt simultaneously said, “Courtney,” a teen who is a re-minder of the help the show can offer.

Courtney called in because she was worried about her father, who was deployed to Iraq, and she was having trou-ble understanding how people could feel joy in the midst of suffering, Creamer recalled. Courtney stayed on the line for

most of the show.“She’s just one person, but we know it made a big dif-

ference for her,” Creamer said, “because her attitude from the first few minutes of the phone call till the end of the show was totally different.”

The whole idea of the ministry is that a student can vol-unteer and commit to a one-year testing of the waters, but students are not obligated to stay.

“We can’t have them do something they don’t want to do,” Belt said. “It just doesn’t fit with what we do.”

In the station’s conference room, the atmosphere is calm and soothing. Belt is a father figure, making jokes and helping teens relax.

On the eve of Father’s Day, the topic was father figures, with guest Ed Tandy McGlasson, author of the book “The Difference a Father Makes.”

“Fathers are absent in the lives of the youth today,” Belt said. “Some kids don’t have a father emotionally, so I’m looking for a good show tonight.”

The crew members consist of public, private and home-schooled teens. Belt said it doesn’t matter where they are from, as long as “they have a personal relationship with him (Jesus Christ), that they can talk about him.”

With more than one year of being on the show, Corder, 16, plans to use her experience of being able to talk to audiences.

“I really love talking to young women about how they should respect themselves,” Corder said. “That’s one of the things that I don’t see portrayed on media or any other kind of source that’s out there today.”

Belt believes in getting to know the real person, to “take the masks off” and to see the real person. He said com-munication is essential.

“The fact there’s a microphone in front of your face makes no difference,” Belt said. “Everybody can commu-

nicate, some much better than others, but everybody can communicate.”

When faced with a call, Belt said, the teen has to be able to be “real” and to not fake an emotion.

“If your face is not real, then the whole ministry is af-fected,” Belt said. “So they not only have to know what to say, they have to live with the talk, and that is tough.”

Not everyone can become a member of “Say It Loud.” The teen and his or her parents must interview with Belt.

Stacy Lopez, 16, thought the questions Belt asked in the interview were deep.

“It was a really good process, because it made me think of my relationship with Christ,” Lopez said.

Corder got involved with “Say It Loud” when members came to speak in her church, encouraging students to set up an interview with Belt.

That got Corder’s interest, and she and her parents met with Belt for three hours.

“We just started flowing with conversation,” Corder said. “It was highs and lows. I think we laughed, we cried. … It was amazing.”

With a three-year high school engineering program under her belt, Corder didn’t picture herself going into broadcasting. But she found a passion investing in the ra-dio show, which she considers a “good gift” when it comes to finding a job.

“I’ve got two years of high school,” Corder said. “I ab-solutely love it, and that’s one of the most important things about finding a job — finding something you like.”

‘I really love talking to young women about how they should respect themselves.’

Sarah Corder, 16First Baptist Academy

12 YOU S.A. June 26, 2009

Christian faith puts teens behind mic Heather Creamer, left, Stacy Lopez and Sarah Corder listen to Ed Tandy McGlasson, author of “The Difference a Father Makes,” during a recent KSLR broadcast.

Who we are

Fashioning her user name brandonlov after The Killers front-man Brandon Flowers, senior Karen Becer-ra, 17, writes for a Web site and has fans all over the world.

Along with being a second year editor-in-chief of The Chariot, Warren High School’s newspaper, she writes short stories for a site called fanfiction.net.

Fan fiction involves read-ers of popular stories creating their own plots using their favor-ite characters.

After reading other people’s versions of her favorite books, she wrote her first fan-fiction story in January.

“I was ner-vous because I thought, ‘Who’s going to read this and are they even going to click on it?’” Becerra said. “But I got a lot of positive feed-back, so I just kept writing.

“People are reading from Mexico, England and Africa, even China.”

She has written a story based on “Harry Potter,” cou-pling opposite characters Draco Malfoy and Hermione Granger.

“It’s post-Hogwarts, so they’re grown up,” she explained. “Draco has a son. Hermione meets his son and they form a bond. Eventually, Hermione and Draco are going to be together, but it’s not there yet.”

So far, 145 reviews have been posted. She plans to pursue a career in writing fiction.

“I actually want to write a book. I think it’s really good practice.”

— Maribel Molina

Photos by Maribel Molina

Sarah Corder

Students in the studio consider producer Jim Belt a fa-ther figure who helps them relax.