Here We Stand Student Site

Have you ever been told it's okay to just "borrow" an item from a retail store? Or encouraged to graffiti someone's car or property because they offended your friends — or just because it would be fun? "Come on. Just...

I usually wake up early every morning to get ready for school. I like school, it's so much fun! I play pogs (circular cardboardy paper disks that we use to hit against others to flip them over) with other kids at school. I...

It's Spring Break next week. Most of my friends are going somewhere warm, like Florida, California, or Mexico. I'm headed to a warm place as well—Brazil. My school is taking 15 people for a six-day experience....

It snows all of the time where I live. You might think that snow is pretty or fun, but I don't. My parents are farmers. We live along a gravel road. Snow plows don't come down our road very often. When the wind picks up, the...

My real life is really hard. I am the middle of three kids, which means people don't always notice me. My parents are divorced and live seven hours apart. That means I spend 14 hours in a car every other weekend. My dad...

I'm finally done with confirmation. I was confirmed last Sunday, which means I don't have to go to confirmation class anymore. My church does 5 years of confirmation, so it will be nice to have other options on Wednesday...

Today began like any other. Marching band practice starts at 7:00, but if you're not there by 6:30, you're late. I like marching band because I get to see my friends. I just wish I didn't have to get up so early. It started...

Last week my church did something called the 30 Hour Famine. A bunch of my friends and I didn't eat any food for 30 hours. Why? We were trying to see what it feels like to go without food for more than a day. We also had...

Sometimes I feel like I'm living out of a suitcase. Some nights we're at Mom's house. Other nights we're at Dad's apartment. I know they're trying hard to make the best of a lame situation. It's just hard to get used...

Last week we talked about worship in confirmation class. Our pastor had us look at a bunch of stuff in the new red hymnal. We talked about the different ways of taking communion. My favorite way is intinction. I called...

Yesterday I had to help out with the Easter Breakfast at church. I was not very happy about this. Breakfast started at 7:30, which means I had to show up at 6:00 in the morning. My parents don't let me drink coffee yet, but...

My usual Spring Break routine is pretty boring. I sleep a lot, hang out at the mall, go running with my friends, and eat a lot of frozen pizza. However, this year, I got to do something totally different. I went to...

We do it every year, and I don't know why. Saturday is my one day to sleep in during the week, and yet my mom wakes me up bright and early to go Christmas shopping. I know it's good to give gifts to people this time of year....

Republican … Democrat … Undecided … Liberal … Conservative … Moderate Perhaps you've heard these terms used when people talk about politics. But what do they mean, and where do you fall on...

I had an awesome first day of junior high. My locker partner brought some cool organizers, which made it really easy to store our stuff between classes. I think I have a lot of hard classes, which is a little scary. I'm...

Sarapiqui, Costa Rica Have you ever thought about how pineapples grow? Do they grow on a tree or under the ground like a potato? They actually grow on a tiny bush. Only one pineapple grows on each bush at a time. A...

Guapiles, Costa Rica Merlin loves to study languages. Being from Costa Rica, she is a native Spanish speaker, but Merlin also is learning English and French in high school. She wants to study more languages, including...

Guapiles, Costa Rica Elias is a typical teenager. He likes to play soccer, hang out with his friends, buy candy for pretty girls, and goes to high school. In Costa Rica, youth have two options for high school. You can...

Guapiles, Costa Rica Tatiana is the oldest of four children being raised by a single mom, Ligia. Tatiana has many responsibilities, like taking care of her siblings, cooking, and cleaning because her mom has a very...

Guapiles. Costa Rica Keilyn loves to play soccer. She is on two different soccer teams in her neighborhood. Keilyn wants to play even more then she already is playing, but she says there are not as many soccer...

In Central America, I see a lot of things that I have never seen in the United States. When people greet each other, they offer a kiss on the cheek or a hug. In groceries stores when the shopping basket is too heavy, you...

People say I'm good at stuff, and that makes me feel good. I like to do sports, music, church, dance, and debate. The only problem is, I sometimes feel really burned out. I leave for school at 7:00 a.m., and usually don't...

My friends think I'm emo … but I'm not. I don't even know what that means. I like to listen to hard rock music, I guess. My favorite band is My Chemical Romance. I have all their songs in my iPod. I don't think...

Earlier this year, I took a group of teenagers from our church to a homeless youth center. On Friday and Saturday nights, the center is open from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. for homeless teens to hang out and feel "normal" for a...

It was a Wednesday night, and I had just finished teaching confirmation class. Exhausted, I strolled down to the youth room to see why the light was still on. Noteak, one of the 8th graders, was playing video...

Stealing is a problem in my community. Sometimes adults rob houses for drug money. Other times it is kids taking something small from school, like a scissors. Stealing never personally affected me until it happened at our...

I live in Nome, Alaska. Nome is a very isolated community. The only way to get here is by plane. There are no roads to Nome! Due to the isolation and lack of resources (we have no shopping malls or places for teens to hang...

Katie Haugen, Age 18 St. Timothy's Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minn. Katie Haugen loves to sing! Imagine her disappointment when she discovered that she didn't have enough time in her school day to be in choir. So,...

Erika is a normal Costa Rican teenager. She loves to hang out with her friends, listen to music, and spend time with her family. However, something makes her different from most teens. Erika is 15-years-old and a mother of a...

Hannah Zhang volunteers for the Humane Society and the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center of Minnesota. Hannah helps animals who have been orphaned, injured, or separated from their parents. She loves feeding baby animals, like...

Alberth Aguero Araya, Age 12 Dengue fever is a huge problem in Costa Rica right now. You can get it from an infected mosquito. The symptoms of dengue fever are usually sore bones and joints, fever, vomiting, dizziness, and...

When I was a little boy, my dad left my mom and I. He did not want to help us with money. My mom took him to court and the judge ordered him to pay child support. He did not do it, so he went to jail. My mom always worked...

In my community, there is a lot of domestic violence. I think many times the violence is caused by alcohol or drug abuse. Using that stuff makes people crazy. A lot of kids come to school with bruises because their parents...

The schools in Costa Rica are good. Our country puts a lot of money into our education. Schools that are in better neighborhoods have more money to spend on their students. Because of this, not all schools have the same type...

Drugs are becoming a big problem in my community. It makes me scared to go out in the streets at night. Around Christmas, a man held up an entire bus with a gun. He wanted money to buy drugs. Just a few weeks ago, a man in...

Honoring Martin Luther King Jr. and Help Kids in Uganda

Two 11-year-old boys, Michael Hardat and Gabe San Elias, came up with an idea in their after-school program. The project began when the boys saw pictures of a child digging a well in Africa. They were moved by the child's...

Discipline is an important part of life in Costa Rica, especially for people who play soccer. Discipline teaches a person to be dedicated, to want to get better, to believe in yourself, and helps you become more talented....

Surprises come in all varieties and can stir up many different emotions in us. I remember how surprised I was one peaceful July morning. The quiet morning turned to chaos the moment I saw a snake in my kitchen.&...

When the spring weather is cold and damp, our family enjoys having fun inside. We challenge each other to board games. We pop popcorn and settle in front of the TV. We watch DVDs and even old family movies.&...

Do you have hardships? Are you suffering? Are there situations in your life that cause you emotional distress? When I was a young teen, several ongoing events in my life that brought different...

Friends are a gift from God and one of our greatest blessings. In Ecclesiastes 3:4 the Bible states that there is a time for laughing. When I read this it reminds me of my friends and the fun and laughter we have...

There are many benefits to our praying. People who have an established and frequent prayer life certainly feel close to God. Likewise, if we join together in prayer with other people, we will feel closer to them too. I...

Have you ever had several really difficult events happen close together in your life? Have you had times in your life when you were so very sad? I'm certain we all have experienced times in our lives like these. For me, one...

As I remember, the easiest times to believe in God were when I was at church, doing faith activities, hanging around with people from church, and when things weren't going well. The hardest times for me to believe were when...

I missed church a lot in junior high. My parents never made us go, so I didn't. It was so easy for all of us just to sleep in and make excuses about how busy we were with school and sports and delivering newspapers and other...

Have you ever been part of a team and felt like you let the team down? I have. At age 11, I played recreational softball for the first time. I was not a very good player. While up to bat, I would frequently strike out....

We all have days when we are down . . . when we feel sad, blue, and unhappy. When I have days like that I get out my "blessing box." My blessing box is just an old shoe box, but what lies inside lifts my spirits more than a...

Can you think of certain tasks that you must do but are reluctant or nervous about doing? Maybe you have been asked to perform a solo at a music concert. Maybe you are giving a speech for the first time in school. Maybe your...

A few days ago I had a face-to-face conversation with a friend . . . who was in Japan! We were video chatting over the Internet! This got me thinking about the ways technology has changed relationships between people in the...

I once heard somewhere that the average middle school student sees thousands of advertisements every single day! Just think about all the advertisements you see. They're on the soda machine at school, on your friend's...

Have you ever felt that a prayer was too small for God to answer? I have. I remember wondering if I should pray and ask God to help my cat, Panda, come home. Panda spent her days on outdoor adventures and her evenings...

Geek. Dork. Loser. Nobody. These words are often spoken to make fun of those who are different. When I was in school, there was a boy whom several kids made fun of. His name was Tim. Tim's hair was...

I was meeting some friends for a movie. I parked my car, when all of a sudden a man was standing right outside my window. I asked, "Can I help you?" He said, "I ran out of gas. I need 37 cents for a gallon of gas to get...

My stepfather fought in the Korean War. The war was in the early 1950s, a long time ago now. When I was a child, I remember digging through the closet in my parents' bedroom and finding a big silver footlocker. Inside was my...

It seems that the goal of most people is to accumulate as much stuff as possible. And sometimes it's not enough to have a lot of stuff—if it's more than a year old, it's time to trade in for newer, better, faster,...

Triangulation. It's a big word, but it defines what happens in a lot of relationships, both teen and adult. Maybe it's happened to you… Maggie and Sarah are fighting over who gets to ask Ryan to the dance. They are saying...

School can be very stressful. There are always loads of projects, homework, quizzes and tests, presentations, and extra-curricular activities. Sometimes I feel like I'm being pulled in every direction—and that I have to...

I suffer from a disease. I have bulimia nervosa, a psychological disease that occurs when a person binge eats (eating up to 10,000 calories in one sitting) different foods — often sweets — and then purges or...