Work by High School Campers

Stories From Our School Workshops

Corporal Punishment Still Practiced In Some States

Corporal punishment is practiced in 19 states, mostly in the south, and African American students are more likely to be disciplined with a type of physical punishment than whites, according to recent studies. On average, 160,000 students are disciplined by corporal punishment a year, reported the National Institutes of Health in its study of the prevalence of this form of discipline in 2016. Black children in Mississippi and Alabama are at least 51% more likely to be corporally punished than whites; and in one fifth of the states’ school districts, black children are over 5 times (500%) more likely to be corporally punished, the NIH reported. Corporal punishment is a discipline method in which a supervising adult purposely inflicts pain on a child in response to a child’s misbehavior. In schools where physical punishment is used, common tactics include, paddling, and spanking by hand or wooden stick.

UConn Teams Exceed NCAA Academic Requirements

The University of Connecticut’s football and men’s basketball and women’s basketball teams are among many teams at the university that have performed above the required NCAA Academic Progress Rate. The football and men’s basketball teams both have improved their APR scores in recent years. The women’s team has repeatedly scored well off the court while also winning national championships. The men’s basketball team earned an NCAA Public Recognition Award for posting a perfect 1000 single year APR score in the 2017-2018 year, UConn Today reported. The football team has had a steady improvement in the last five years in its multi-year APR score, with it starting at 960 in 2013-2014 and increasing to 981 for 2017-2018, according to The New Haven Register.

Local Stores Thrive Despite Online Competition

In the past decade, online retailers have grown more and more popular, with some earning millions of dollars in revenue each year. Consumers can access products on the internet in a matter of seconds these days, whether it be through a computer, laptop, or mobile device. According to Tinuiti, a website that tracks online retail, 96% of American consumers shop online, but 65% of shopping is still done in stores. The gap between the percentage of online shoppers versus in-store shoppers is rapidly increasing, with millennials spending 67% of their spending budget on the internet. With said gap growing larger and larger, local businesses are slowly declining — but they’re not disappearing.

College Athletes And Mental Health

Jake Roberts of Danbury was highly recruited to run track in college. He decided to run track at the University of Connecticut, but during his freshman year, his plans took a wrong turn. He said he began to feel depressed, anxious and overwhelmed at having to perform well at both his meets and in the classroom. He said he “buckled under the pressure.”

After one year, he made a tough life decision and quit the track team to focus more on his journalism and political science studies. This is not a unique situation.

Tennis Surfaces Affect Injuries

The type of surface a tennis player plays on affects the chances and types of injury or lingering pain. Out of the three, hard court surface could cause the most damage to your body. “My personal experience has shown that hard courts are tough on the joints, just from the lack of give,” said Donna Doherty, the former editor in chief and vice president of Tennis Magazine. There are three main playing surfaces in tennis — clay, hard court, and grass. Clay courts are made from crushed brick.

Implications Of The $15 Minimum Wage In Connecticut

Jan Stone, who works at The Flower Pot in Storrs Center, said she is happy that she will see her pay increase thanks to a bill passed in May by the state legislature. That’s because Connecticut became the seventh state to pass a bill that would raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next four and a half years. “It’s good for me,” Stone, a Storrs resident who has worked at the shop for the past two years, said. Before the bill passed, it was debated for months at the State Capitol. For minimum wage workers across the state, earning a higher wage will bring a sense of financial relief.

Social Media’s Impact On Teen Health

One day Kamar Rhoden, 15, of Hartford, was scrolling through Instagram when he received a notification that someone had left him a comment. When Kamar clicked on the comment, he saw that it was mean, and he said he was immediately overwhelmed with sadness. Seeing that someone could say such mean things, he said he became depressed and wanted to change everything about himself. Kamar said he has since been able to overcome his sadness, that may not be the case for other teens. In fact, The Crime Report reported that an article in the Journal of School Violence has found that “Students who experienced bullying or cyberbullying are nearly two times more likely to attempt suicide.” Twenty percent of students, ages 12-18, were bullied during the 2016-2017 school year, TCR reports.

Vlog: A Day In The Life Of A C-HIT Camper

Wonder what it’s like to attend C-HIT’s summer journalism workshops? Here’s a look:

This Vlog was created by Marie Kane, a graduate of The Morgan School, Clinton and Leslie Parra, a high school student from Riobamba, Ecuador.

Football Injuries Prevalent In High School

Teenagers who play high school football are three times more likely to be injured than those in other sports, according to statistics. USA Football estimates there are 3,000,000 youth football players in the United States. Knee, ACL, shoulder and various other injuries are common, but concussions are the most common. According to the Journal of the American Medical Association, 57% of high school football players suffer a concussion during practice — when most injuries occur. Alex Okun, 16, who plays for Wayne Valley in New Jersey, injured his shoulder in a 2018 game, although he too said most injuries occur during practice.