by Angela Gu | 13 May 2020 | Chadwick School, Contests, Friends Seminary, News Decoder Updates, School Year Abroad, Thacher School, Youth Voices
Students tackled topics from homelessness to hip hop. Entries on COVID-19 and the environment copped the prizes in our storytelling contest. Charles Gorrivan of the Friends Seminary school in New York and Claire Wang of School Year Abroad France have won first prize...
by Claire Wang | 20 Apr 2020 | Contest winners, Health and Wellness, School Year Abroad, Student Posts, Youth Voices
Complacency, denial, bigotry: In my journey around the world, I observed scant recognition of the shared danger of COVID-19 until home in China. Passengers from Wuhan, China’s epicenter, together with railway workers wearing full protective gear at the railway...
by Maya Agarwal | 4 Mar 2020 | Europe, Health and Wellness, Human Rights, School Year Abroad, Student Posts, Youth Voices
I was conceived through in vitro fertilization. My year in Spain has given me a chance to see both sides of this controversial procedure. An Argentinian couple with twins born after the implant of ovarian tissue and in vitro fertilization in Valencia, Spain, 8...
by Aidan Birenbaum | 17 Feb 2020 | Health and Wellness, School Year Abroad, Student Posts, Youth Voices
From increased stress to more ticks, global warming is harming human health around the world in insidious ways. Africans are likely to suffer the most. Environmental activists protest in Johannesburg, South Africa, 29 November 2019 (EPA-EFE/KIM LUDBROOK) There is no...
by Sarah Mende | 16 Jan 2020 | China, Human Rights, Podcasts, School Year Abroad, Student Posts, Youth Voices
Censorship in China allows the government to control the media narratives. How can democracies protect free speech and sort fact from fiction online? A protester demonstrates against censorship, Johannesburg, South Africa, 1 July 2016 (AP Photo/Denis Farrell) Welcome...
by Lindsi Reyes | 20 Dec 2019 | Personal Reflections, School Year Abroad, Student Posts, United States, Youth Voices
My father used to tend our garden. Then he was taken from us — changing what I understood about America’s fundamental covenants. He doused the roots of his white carnations, careful not to soak the generous stems that lived inside this hanging pot. They...
by Savannah Jenkins | 18 Dec 2019 | Contests, Indiana University, News Decoder Updates, School Year Abroad, Thacher School
Claire Wang and Christine Fernando win first prize in News-Decoder’s Storytelling Contest with articles on French protests and U.S. immigration. story telling contest U5 Natural disaster at feild storytelling contest storytelling contest bullet storytelling...
by Claire Wang | 28 Nov 2019 | Contest winners, Economy, Europe, France, Politics, School Year Abroad, Student Posts, Youth Voices
I thought yellow vest protesters in France were a uniform group of angry radicals. But I talked to citizens and discovered it’s much more complicated. A newspaper stand burned down by protesters in France (photo by Claire Wang) This piece tied for first prize in...
by Ella Steinhilber | 8 Apr 2019 | Americas, Education, Europe, School Year Abroad, Student Posts, Youth Voices
I’ve spent the past school year studying overseas. It’s given me a new perspective on my own homeland and on the polarization that divides us. A protest against efforts to repeal the U.S. Affordable Care Act, New York, 24 July 24 2017 (EPA/JUSTIN LANE) I...
by Elisabeth Wachtel | 5 Apr 2019 | Contest winners, Europe, Personal Reflections, School Year Abroad, Student Posts, Youth Voices
I’m a New Yorker studying in France. I now realize a president doesn’t define a country and there are constructive ways to talk about politics. (Courtesy of GetDrawings) Since arriving in France over six months ago, I’ve had the same conversation many times...