With some help from the Radio Rookies staff, the ESL students of Millenium Art Academy have been learning the art of radio production. The students are very proud to present a montage of some of the work they have completed over the course of the semester on the topics of immigration and education.  

Teachers all over NYC use Rookies stories in their classrooms, and some want to take it a step further by teaching their students to create their own radio. But not everyone's a radio producer, so Radio Rookies is helping some of these teachers learn the basics of recording, editing and mixing so that more young people have the opportunity to tell their stories.

Short Wave Rookies Ailyn Perez, Kedwein Valdez and Lewis Escano had only six weeks to find a story on Roosevelt Island and produce an audio slideshow. They heard rumors about one of Roosevelt Island's known characters: Noel the Fisherman. They searched for him, wandering up and down Roosevelt Island's Main Street, only to realize that the infamous Noel wasn't the only character out there. Although they weren't able to find Noel on Roosevelt Island before their deadline, they were able to talk to him on the phone. Listen here to a clip from their conversation.

On November 12, 2010, classes from ten New York City public high schools, along with teachers, administrators, journalists and journalism educators from around the country, convened at Baruch College in Manhattan. Rookie Reporter Brianna Fugate was in attendance at the conference.

Brianna Fugate recently went to go see The Social Network, the movie that explores the moment Facebook, the revolutionary social website, was invented by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg.

Queens Rookies Alexis Gordon and Jessica Cernadas ran the Rookies table at the NYC Young Artists & Leaders Festival on Saturday, June 5th. Downtown Art organized the festival as an opportunity for young artists to show their work and see the creative work being done by others their age.

Radio Rookie AJ Frazier spent his 8th grade year reporting on the effect of New York City's public school policy changes on him. His story was just featured in Schooled: Teens' Stories About American Public Education. This hour-long youth produced special is a collaboration between Seattle's KUOW and Generation PRX.

This one time, I skipped school. When my mom found out (the school actually called...) she slapped me.  I was shocked.  It was the only time she’s ever done that, and the rest of the day was pretty awkward because she was so mad.

When Hawa told her mom she’d be doing a story about vampires for Radio Rookies, her mom just laughed, “You could say you’re a vampire because you’re so active at night.” Hawa's actually thought about that before.  She's 'half dead' during breakfast, and usually can't tune into classes until after lunch.  Around 6pm she's ready to start her day, and if her mom let her, Hawa would be up until 1am every night.  The whole immortality thing is pretty cool too.

We took a group of 14 Rookies from the Bronx and Queens down to Washington DC to see the sights. There were 17 of us, traveling on a double-decker bus, staying in a hostel.

This fall, we began a new broadcast workshop in Flushing, Queens in partnership with the Flushing YMCA. During the past month, the Rookies have started to roll through their lessons, putting their new skills to practice. They are well on their way to making their radio documentaries.

One of the questions I’ve been asked most by adults when they hear that I produce Radio Rookies is “why do teenagers always want to tell personal stories?” My initial reaction is to feel defensive and even a bit dismissive of the point (on behalf of the Rookies themselves and the program), but of course it is a legitimate question. Why are Rookies stories so often personal in nature? Why not encourage them to reach far and wide for their stories, just as professional journalists must do for theirs?

One of the Rookies asked me 'why is it that we have to throw the party on a brick cold day?' But, despite the arctic temperature and the wind chill factor Rookies from past and present showed up. We all came together and celebrated being a part of the Rookies family for the past 10 years and looking ahead to many more years.

I felt like such a hypocrite. Here I am in Queens, challenging the teens to find a sense of connection to their community, possibly eradicate their assumptions, and change their views about the place, while I think to myself 'me? Start a radio workshop in Queens? How dreadful! Love the kids, just not Queens - it's my least favorite borough.' Come on! Can Queens really be anyone's favorite borough? But after the 5 weeks long workshop, these kids and their stories about flushing made me reevaluate.

The third round of Short Wave Rookies comes from Queens, NY. We collaborated with Mapping Main Street, a documentary project that set out to tell the stories of all the Main Streets in the United States.

This week Radio Rookies is celebrating its 10th Anniversary and checking in with some of the past Rookies.

At the end of August a group of Radio Rookies attended the first annual Red Hook Initiative Youth Radio Conference at the Brecht Forum in Manhattan. Here, Bronx Rookie Vikky Cruz reports back on the day.

This morning WNYC Morning Edition host Soterios Johnson asked Marianne McCune, the host of "Growing Up, Getting By," why the (mostly adult) public radio audience should listen to an hour from teenagers.

WNYC’s Radio Rookies program takes listeners inside the most intimate moments of teenager’s lives. Now, for the first time, we present a special, “Growing Up, Getting By”, an hour of stories and interviews about how teenagers find their way to adulthood.