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.

This Friday (7/10), tune in to WNYC at 2pm to AM820 or on Saturday (7/11) at 4pm on 93.9FM to hear 'Growing Up, Getting By', the first ever Radio Rookies Hour special. We revisit some stories from the past ten years, and host Marianne McCune checks in with some of them to find out what happened next.

I like to say I'm more than half way done, but really I don't know what percentage. All I know is I have a lot to work on and lately (meaning the last month and a half) I haven't done any work because I've been studying.

I’d sometimes sit at home on my bed during a humid muggy Sunday afternoon flipping through channels. I’d land on a baseball game. Little figures would run across the screen throwing a ball around, running from one base to another, a ball went high in the air, the crowed screamed, what did this mean? What’s the significance of this? I’d grow tired of watching and turn off the TV.

Last week there was an article in the New York Times about the negative impact texting is having on teenagers. This article seems to me to be an exaggeration. I don’t think texting is as serious an issue as it is made to seem here.

Mr. Grzelecki, a teacher at Ditmas Junior High School (IS 62) in Brooklyn, used Jacuyra's Rookies story to teach his students a lesson. After listening to 'My Mother vs. The Streets' his 7th graders wrote responses to 5 questions.