10 Years After Sandy Hook What Has Changed

Sydnee Assan, a student attending Charles Herbert Flowers High School in Bowie, Maryland, has been interested in politics since the 2016 election and wants to be a broadcast journalist. This December marks the 10th anniversary of the horrific Sandy Hook school shooting where 20 children and 6 adults lost their lives.  For her project, Assan decided to look at what has changed since that mass shooting. She interviewed Bill Leukhardt, a veteran journalist and former Hartford Courant reporter, whose step-daughter, Lauren Rousseau, a full-time substitute teacher, was killed that day.  

 

Heat Wave Hits In July

It was hot and humid the week that the Conn. Health I-Team hosted its multimedia journalism workshop in July.  So, Lesley Lachman. who is interested in a career as a news anchor and has experience in live broadcasting at News 12, decided to use her skills to create a newscast about the heat. On a 90-degree day, Lachman,  a student at Rye High School, ventured outside to do interviews and produced her newscast in two days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dacy1Ys2oX0

‘It’s Inevitable’ Monkeypox Cases Likely To Rise In CT

During the last several weeks, Connecticut’s reported count of monkeypox cases increased to 39 as of Aug. 3, and a University of Connecticut expert says it’s likely to go even higher. The first reported case occurred on July 7. With over 26,208 cases across the world (as of Aug. 3), the monkeypox cases seem to be increasing rapidly.

Many Children Face Health Hazards Due To Obesity

Almost 1 in 16 children are morbidly obese in the United States. These children all have a greater risk of many illnesses, self-harm and premature death. “Obesity during childhood and adolescence is associated with a wide range of illnesses, negative social consequences, and poor academic performance,” the American Journal of Preventive Medicine said. The national obesity rate among ages 2 to 19 rose from 19.3% in 2019 to 22.4% in 2020, according to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The national average for youths who are morbidly obese (those who are 100 pounds over their recommended weight) is 6.1%.

Toomey Aspires To Be An Actor – Or Maybe A Journalist

Coleman Toomey, 17, of Tolland, is passionate about theater and art but understands that it is a very competitive industry. So, Toomey is attending C-HIT’s journalism program not only because they are interested in the storytelling aspect, but also to see if this is something they can see themselves studying in college. As of now, musical theater is what Toomey, who uses they/them pronouns, is most interested in, though artistically Toomey sometimes feels like they are pulled in a lot of different directions because of how many different things they enjoy. Toomey, who lives with their mother and sister, aspires to be proficient in various areas of English due to the competitive nature of the theater industry. “I don’t want to be a waiter for the rest of my life,” Toomey says.

A Lover Of Science And Math, Sidhi Aspires To Be An Engineer

Sidhi Dhanda, 15, a rising sophomore at Hopkinton High School, has a passion for jazz music, robotics, and engineering. She’s been playing the electric guitar in a jazz band since middle school, made it to nationals in the Invention Convention competition this past January, and participates in yearly competitions with her school’s robotics team. “I really love robotics, engineering, in general, really love coding, and I’m also really into music and guitar,” said Sidhi, of Hopkinton Mass. Sidhi even created an invention in a 24-hour period that made it to national Inventathon Convention. “In January I entered with my friend in the Inventathon, which is kind of like a hackathon where you have 24 hours to invent something that solves a problem related to COVID in schools.