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. 

As a little kid, Samr "Rocky" Tayeh was the adorable, chubby boy at home; but at school classmates called him "Barney", the big purple dinosaur. Rocky didn't hide in a corner and wait for the bullying to stop, he learned how to use his sharp tongue to shut other kids down, but sometimes he takes it too far. Rocky heads out to a park in Brooklyn to talk with kids about how they survive teasing.

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.

In many ways Valentine's Day is just as significant for people who are pining for love, as for those who have it. So, in honor of unrequited love, Radio Rookie Keith Harris shares a story about an all-consuming, exhilarating, and over-the-top high school crush. 

Kaddeem Wright enjoys reading philosophy and arguing with his friends about history and politics. With his smarts and innate curiosity about the world, Kaddeem seems like a kid who should thrive in school, but he's not. Instead he feels unmotivated and rarely does his homework. He scrapes by with a C average, something that frustrates him and his mom. Like a lot of kids, especially young black males in New York City, Kaddeem is not reaching his potential. He wants to know to why he and so many of his friends are barely getting by, uninspired by school or thoughts of the future.

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.

Like most of the kids in her school and on her block, 16 year old Josetta Adams used to listen to hip-hop music. But, when Josetta slipped into a depression, she started to listen to rock music that matched her mood. She also began painting her nails black and wearing t-shirts adorned with skulls. Her way of expressing her feelings went against the norms of her family and her community, quickly labeling her as different and even as far as calling her a "sell-out". Depression is an uncomfortable topic for anyone, but amongst an African-American family it can be taboo. Josetta is no longer depressed but she wants to figure out why her family, friends, and community have a difficult time understanding her way of expressing herself and why it's hard to talk about these feelings of sadness in her family and community.

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.

When Marie resolved to lose 40 pounds last summer, she thought that would be the end of her struggles with self-esteem. But after exercising and dieting her way to a slimmer figure, she has found her confidence much slower to improve. Tracing the sources of her self image, Marie has found answers and also questions.

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."

Like a lot of teenagers, Yesica has spent hours and hours online, mostly chatting to her friends, some of whom lived only blocks away. Sometimes she found she couldn't stop herself from logging on, even when, hours later, she'd log off feeling like she'd been in a trance. Yesica knew she wasn't actually addicted to the internet, but she decided to take a closer look at what was driving this exhausting need.

Yesica was mentored by Ave Carrillo.

Amina isn't proud of it, but she readily admits that she gossips a lot. Like the girls in the movie Mean Girls, Amina and her friends do it all the time. She jokingly says it's like "Muslim Girls Gone Wild."