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Posts published in “Teens”

BlackGirlsCode Wins $50,000 Philanthropy Award

By goodblacknews on November 18, 2012

Black Girls Code wins $50,000 Philanthropy AwardThe Bank of the West awarded $210,000 in cash grants during its third annual philanthropy award program that took place in San Francisco on November 13.

BlackGirlsCode, a nonprofit devoted to promoting young women of color in the technology industry was recognized as one of three winning laureates and received a $50,000 grant.

BlackGirlsCode reaches out to the community and introduces young black females to the world of computer programming via languages such as Scratch or Ruby on Rails. By introducing computer coding lessons to young girls from underrepresented communities, BlackGirlCode is attempting to show that girls of every color can become the programmers of tomorrow. Following their motto of “Imagine. Build. Create,” the non-profit attempts to bridge the digital divide where young black women grow up in homes where their White counterparts are twice as likely to have home internet access then they are.

Cam Newton Donates $150,000 to Three North Carolina Schools

By goodblacknews on November 15, 2012

Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton sits with students Tuesday at Randolph IB Middle School, where he announced that his foundation would give $150,000 to be divided evenly among Bradley, Randolph and Thomasboro Academy middle schools. (Photo: Glenn H. Burkins for Qcitymetro.com)

The Cam Newton Foundation has donated $150,000 to three Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools.  The money will be divided evenly among Bradley, Randolph and Thomasboro Academy middle schools and will be used for activities and resources that boost school pride, the foundation said.  Newton, a second-year quarterback with the Carolina Panthers, made the official announcement in an auditorium packed with cheering children and teachers at Randolph Middle. He encouraged the students to stay in school and get an education, regardless of their career plans.  The donation was part of the foundation’s newly formed School Pride Program.

First African-American Female Chess Master Could Be Brooklyn Girl

By goodblacknews on October 29, 2012

Rochelle Ballantyne is a 17 year-old teenage girl from Brooklyn who is on her way to becoming the first Black female chess master. Ballantyne is one among a group of teens from I.S. 318 middle school in Brooklyn who will be the stars of a new documentary called “Brooklyn Castle”. The documentary chronicles the outstanding achievements of the middle school students.

65 percent of the students at I.S. 318 middle school in Brooklyn are living below the federal poverty level but the school still holds close to 30 national championships and is the highest ranked junior high team in the country. Rochelle is unique because until she joined the team, all the champions had been boys.

Ballantyne has been profiled in Teen Vogue where she shared her story and how she has stayed motivated along her amazing journey to chess stardom. The Brooklyn teen says that her grandmother is the woman behind much of her success.

She says:

“My grandmother taught me to play when I was in the third grade. I was really active as a child, and she wanted to find a way to keep me relaxed and get my brain going. When I first started playing, she introduced to me the idea of being the first African-American female chess master. I didn’t think about it much because for me it seemed like an impossible feat, and I didn’t think it could happen. I wasn’t as focused and dedicated as I am now. I didn’t think I was a good chess player—people told me I was, but it wasn’t my mentality at that moment. But then after she died, that really affected me, because she was the one person that always had confidence in me. She never pushed me, and she always respected me for who I was. I have to reach that goal for her.”

Four Great Reads To Jumpstart Your Career

By goodblacknews on October 28, 2012
(Image: Thinkstock)

Are you a young job-seeker fresh out of college? Are you an office baby looking to move up in your career? Are you a college senior who is months, weeks or even days away from walking across the stage? If you answered yes to any of those questions, here are four books that can help you jump start your career post college graduation.

Have No Career Fear: A College Grad’s Guide to Snagging a Job, Trekking the Career Path, and Reaching Job Nirvana (2007) by Ben Cohen-Leadholm, Ari Gerzon Kessler and Rachel Skerritt

Written and edited by three college graduates with contributions from more than 100 graduates, this guide teaches graduates how to be more aggressive, inventive and persistent in looking for a job and how to how succeed and gain respect once they enter the workplace. Advice includes how to network, negotiate a salary and deal with difficult bosses.

Harlem-Based Education Group Prepares Youth for College—and Graduation

By goodblacknews on October 27, 2012

Many of us found adolescence difficult to navigate but got through it, not just with the help of our anguished parents but because of the network of extended family, church friends, scout leaders, and teachers who stepped in and, very often, said the same things our parents were saying but in a way that we heard and responded to. In effect, the proverbial “village” came through for us.

Lynette Faust believes “it takes a village to raise a child,” and that the Harlem Educational Activities Fund has been part of the village that’s helped her to successfully raise her daughter, L’Eunice.

An exceptionally bright child who learned to read at an unusually early age, L’Eunice hit a “rough patch” in her teens.

“Teenagers today are exposed to so much and have so many distractions,” Faust says. “She tried to assert her own authority and had some difficulty adjusting, but HEAF supported us through that.”

By affirming the values her daughter received at home, and by providing a nurturing, supportive environment, L’Eunice emerged unscathed.

“HEAF constantly reinforces your goals, aspirations, and expectations,” Faust says. “You go to HEAF, you go to college.”

HEAF is a nonprofit organization that helps high-potential, underserved black and Hispanic students in New York City prepare for, enter, and graduate from college.

Brooklyn High School Preps Students For Technology Jobs

By goodblacknews on October 21, 2012

Students use computers even in English class at the Pathways in Technology Early College High School, also known as P-Tech.(Michael Appleton for The New York Times)

Flakes of green paint are peeling from the third-floor windowsills. Some desks are patched with tape, others etched with graffiti. The view across the street is of a row of boarded-up brownstones.  Students attended an Introduction to Computer Systems class at Pathways in Technology Early College High School in Brooklyn.  The building and its surroundings in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, may look run-down, but inside 150 Albany Avenue may sit the future of the country’s vocational education: The first 230 pupils of a new style of school that weaves high school and college curriculums into a six-year program tailored for a job in the technology industry.

By 2017, the first wave of students of P-Tech — Pathways in Technology Early College High School — is expected to emerge with associate’s degrees in applied science in computer information systems or electromechanical engineering technology, following a course of studies developed in consultation with I.B.M.

Regions Financial Partners with Historically Black Colleges and Universities

By goodblacknews on October 14, 2012


BIRMINGHAM, Ala.- Regions Financial (NYSE:RF) today announced the formation of the Regions HBCU Partnership, a collaboration with six Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) in the Southeastern United States supporting financial education, academics, athletics, and alumni engagement.  The Regions HBCU Partnership kicks off during the fall of 2012 at the following institutions, with plans to expand the program to additional HBCUs in the future:

Teen Runs Into Burning House And Saves Two Year-Old Boy

By goodblacknews on October 1, 2012

nelson fonangwan saves adamA brave 16-year-old boy in Southampton, Hampshire in the United Kingdom risked his own life after running in a burning home to save a 2-year-old boy, Adam, the Southern Daily Echo reports.
Nelson Fonangwan was awaken by the screams of his neighbor, Aneta Jedlikoswka, whose child was locked inside of her burning house. When the teen reached the mom, she was frantic.
“She didn’t speak good English and she pointed to me inside the house and said ‘baby’, I knew I had to do something so that’s when I helped by breaking the rest of the glass and I went in and got the baby,” Fonangwan told The Echo.
“The smoke was really thick you couldn’t even breathe, I don’t know how the baby was coping because I was choking. I didn’t think too much because it was frantic but once I heard baby I thought I have to do this. I was a bit nervous though because it was fire.
“When I brought her baby out, she was really relieved her arm was really bad she hugged him tight.”
article via newsone.com

Students in Florida Get Financial Training, Job Skills at New School Credit Union

By goodblacknews on September 27, 2012
Student run credit union169

NBC Miami – The Dade County Federal Credit Union opened its doors at Booker T. Washington High School Tuesday and put the students in charge.  “These students are actually manning the credit union during lunch and after school,” said Principal William Aristide. “They have the opportunity to interact with their schoolmates, parents and people in the community.”

Special To Premiere On First Graduating Class Of Oprah’s South African School

By goodblacknews on September 26, 2012
Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls

Oprah Winfrey poses with the graduates on her arrival at the inaugural graduation of the class of 2011 at Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls on January 14, 2012 in Henley on Klip, South Africa. (Photo by Michelly Rall/Getty Images)

The Oprah Winfrey Network will premiere a television special on October 14 following the journey of the first graduating class from Oprah’s Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa.  The two-hour special, The First Graduating Class: Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls, will give viewers a look into the challenges and victories the 72 girls, who were only twelve and thirteen when they left home to enroll in the school, faced during their time at the academy.