Eric Leinung was 12-years-old when his big brother, Paul, went into work on the 100th floor of the World Trade Center on September 11th, 2001.  Paul didn't make it out. When adolescents are faced with a traumatic event research shows that they often vent their feelings through aggression and rage. Eric spent his teen years fighting, sometimes physically, with his mom.  Now, ten years after the Twin Towers collapsed, Eric reports on how he found his way through his family's loss. 

Erin Reeg's parents were paramedics when they met and fell in love. They went on to become a firefighter and a nurse who, given their line of work, passed along to their two daughters the ability to react calmly in a crisis and to NOT respond to adversity with too much emotion.  When the first tower fell on September 11th, Erin's father was hit by falling debris and all the coping strategies Erin learned from her parents kicked in. 

Half of Radio Rookie Alicia Martinez's family members are U.S. citizens, the other half are not. Her parents and older sister came to the U.S. illegally before she was born. Alicia knows – from her sister – how hard it is to grow up in the U.S. without legal papers, but she also finds it stressful to be the lucky one: the daughter with all the opportunities.  As one of three U.S. citizens in her family, Alicia has struggled to meet her parents' expectations and overcome the guilt she feels that her hardworking sister’s life is so limited.

Radio Rookie Alexis Gordon's dad has been in the Army Reserves since before she was born. He served a tour in Iraq when she was in the 5th grade and was recently deployed again to the war in Afghanistan. 18-year-old Alexis is struggling to understand her dad's decision to stay in the Army and go back to the Middle East.

Until recently all Victoria (Vikky) Cruz knew was that her mother was sick. Her mother hasn't been able to walk in years, can barely speak and goes into rages, but no one ever told Vikky why. Now, at 17-years-old, Vikky struggles to cope with her mother's illness, a rare gentetic disease called neuroacanthytosis, and the ways it's taken over the mother she once knew.

15-year-old Keith Tingman remembers his tenth birthday better than any other birthday before or since: that was the day he watched his mom get arrested after being falsely accused of stealing someone's wallet. 

With joblessness at a 26 year high, many people across the country are getting a crash course in coping with the stress of not having a steady pay check. Rookie Reporter Erikka Diaz, like many of her neighbors in South Bronx, has lived in poverty her whole life. Her family knows well the anxiety that comes with constantly having to scrape enough money together to pay the rent, buy groceries, and have enough left over for all the things kids want, like going to the prom, or a new pair of sneakers.

When seniors at a small public high school in the Bronx cast their votes for "Best Couple" earlier this year, they chose a pair they admire but who definitely defy the stereotype of best couple.

Last year at a routine check-up, 15-year-old Raymond Henderson decided to tell the truth. When his doctor noticed bruises on his neck, Raymond admitted that his stepfather was abusing him. The Administration for Children's Services took Raymond and his sister Monica from their step-dad who’d raised them since their mother's death 13 years ago. Now they’re living with Ophelia, the home health attendant who cared for their mother as she was dying. Ophelia wants to give Raymond and Monica a permanent home. But faced with a decision that could shape his entire future, Raymond isn't sure. He worries that letting Ophelia adopt him would mean cutting ties with his old life and family.

If her strict, Panamanian mother would allow it, Jacuyra would hang out all the time on Franklin Avenue in her Brooklyn neighborhood--because that's where all the boys are. In the past, hanging out with boys has gotten Jacuyra into trouble. But as a 16-year-old who doesn't often think about the consequences of her actions, Jacuyra would love nothing more than to head back out to "The Ave", if only her mother would let her.

Krystle Murray spent much of her childhood at school or in the care of babysitters, who watched her at home in the morning and at night, while her single mom worked fulltime at a law firm and went to college at NYU. Now that Krystle is a teenager she doesn't have babysitters anymore and sometimes she feels lonely waiting for her mom to come home, which can be as late as 2 or 3 in the morning. Krystle loves her mom very much and she feels guilty about how hard her mom has worked to provide a good life for them, but Krystle sometimes wonders if all the work hours are worth it.

14-year-old Krystle has been living in a group home in Manhattan since last summer. She never expected to wind up in "the system," but when conflicts between Krystle and her mother reached a boiling point she found herself separated from her family. In her radio story, Krystle documents what life is like in the group home and how she might be able to move back to her family.

Shirley Diaz’s life has been shaped by the tragedy of her mother’s murder, and the difficulty of growing up in six different foster homes, separated from her six younger siblings. To avoid being consumed by loss, Shirley tries to make sense of these events and find refuge in home and family as she finds them.

Two years ago, at 15, Jordan Teklay became legally emancipated from his parents and moved on his own from California to New York City. Since then, he has been learning to juggle the responsibilities of work, school and taking care of himself. Emancipation has brought both freedom and hardship. Struggling to negotiate his path in the world, Jordan is trying to understand what it means to be an adult.

Sonia first learned about Darwin in junior high school. The theory of evolution made sense to Sonia and she began to question everything she’d been taught previously by the church and her devoutly Catholic mother. Four years later, Sonia is the only atheist among her parent’s 13 children—a fact that often leaves her feeling misunderstood and tired of explaining that just because she doesn’t believe in God, she doesn’t worship the devil. Sonia’s documentary delves into the religious and cultural split that divides her from her family, especially her parents: "They grew up on little farms [in Mexico] with no running water and wooden floors. My dad started herding goats and cows when he was five years old. It was hard to survive and go to school. My mom went to school through the first grade and can only write her name."

Sara Martinez assumes a lot of responsibility in her family. She helps her parents, who are from Mexico, with household chores and serves as their bridge to the English-speaking world. She also looks after her three younger siblings, including her youngest brother, Diego, who was born with autism. Sara knows that taking care of Diego helped her grow up faster than her peers, and sometimes she feels she missed out on being just a regular teenager. As Sara says in her radio documentary, "When my mom was telling me her worries about Diego, inside I was like, 'Why are you telling me this? I'm just a kid - why should I have to worry too?' But instead I just let my mom talk."