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Everywhere you look, you see pregnant teens – in schools, at the mall, on TV, in the movies. The fact is, teen pregnancy is on the rise in the United States for the first time in 14 years. The Centers for Disease Control report that from 2005 to 2006, teen pregnancy increased 3 percent.

Olivia Gardner was a northern California sixth-grader when the bullying began. Diagnosed with epilepsy, she had a seizure one day in class. Many of her classmates started calling her "retard." She switched schools, but the bullying continued, moving to a new frontier, the Internet. Some of her new classmates set up a Web site, the Olivia Haters, on MySpace. She moved to yet another school but found no warmer reception there. She thought of suicide.

When Josiah Kaufman was a freshman at Carmel High School, he would bring his lunch every day. When the period was over, he would help his friends return their lunch trays out of "courtesy," he said. Soon, he began helping other students clean up. "It became this thing where I went all around the cafeteria and started picking up everyone's trays when they were done. It was so funny. People were like, 'Why in the world are you doing this?'" Josiah was just being nice. It also was his way of adapting to new people and a new school system. It was Josiah's first year in a public school.

After reporting from the Democratic Convention in Denver, we realized teens there can be more independent than us. We used the bus system in the center of the city. There are more than 100 bus routes, compared to 28 in Indianapolis. To us, it seems like it should be the other way around, considering that the urban population of Indianapolis is 200,000 more than Denver’s.

Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard said that the city, United Way of Central Indiana and a local foundation will launch a major educational reform program early in 2009. The program, which will be piloted in two schools at first, will track students in grades 1-8 to discover what extra help each one personally needs. “There’s literally dozens upon dozens of programs in the schools right now,” said Ballard, pointing to nonprofit agencies like the Boys and Girls Clubs.

“The great truth about America is if you get an education, anybody can be anybody.” This belief, voiced by U.S. Rep. Mike Pence, is the foundation of my family’s view of education. From as early as I can remember, my mother instilled in me the importance of education and the opportunities it could bring.

“A.” That’s the grade this high school senior would give Sarah Palin for her acceptance speech at the Republican National Convention.

Throughout the presidential election season, Barack Obama has been cited for his success in energizing young people, engaging them in the civic process as never before. Across the country, youth who can’t even vote are turning out to work on the campaign trail or canvass for votes on college campuses with organizations such as Students for Barack Obama.

With a brother who works for the Obama campaign as well as a family that tends to lean Democratic, I have grown up favoring Democrats. Early on in the Indiana primary, I strongly supported Barack Obama for president. I believed that he was the best and only candidate for the job. I agreed with Obama on immigration, global warming and education, and I strongly defended my beliefs up until I arrived at the Republican National Convention in September.

Keith Ellison started his journey as a political activist at age 18. On Detroit's Wayne State University campus, he protested and petitioned to end South African apartheid in the 1980s.

Victoria Blackstone, Ashley Gunn, Mike Knopf: What makes you so special? Why did you get into the Xcel Center, site of the Republican National Convention, and Y-Press did not?

Nearly two years ago, Ashley Wolfe was dancing in a nightclub and then blacked out. Rushed to a hospital, she remained in a diabetic coma for days

Indiana does not appear to be a champion of green energy, with carbon emissions consistently putting us among the 10 biggest offenders in the United States.

On a warm September morning, we sat in our elementary school classrooms and watched collapsing towers on T.V. We heard whispers of an attack, and many of our classmates were whisked out of school by nervous parents.

Ayanna Porter has watched kids in her class casually put a stick of gum in their mouths, then use the wrapper to scribble down test or homework answers.

While seasoned politicians resort to kissing babies or begging for corporate contributions to gain a national audience, a 15-year-old simply wrote 434 powerful words. Those words propelled her to a coveted speaking spot during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul at 6:30 p.m. today.

Considering how important young people have been to this election cycle, it's not surprising that their journalistic peers have the same enthusiasm for covering it.

Instead of awakening to Spot barking or Frisky purring, Lauren Van Atter listens to Fiyero sing a solo at 6 a.m. Fiyero, named for a character in the musical "Wicked" is Lauren's cockatiel. Most kids have pet dogs and cats, but according to Dr. Angela Lennox, more young people are choosing to own exotic pets than ever before.

This election, much fuss has been made about the voting potential of young adults. Candidates have reached out to youth through social networking sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, and in frequent visits to college campuses.But part of this demographic has long been overlooked.

With the rise in gas prices Indiana families still had hidden treasures in the state. One is about a little an hour and half northeast of Indianapolis the Peru amateur circus.