About Katie Bolinger

Two opponents face each other, tense, anticipating the moment when they will be locked in combat. Suddenly, they raise their swords, and the clash of steel on steel reverberates as they engage in a vigorous bout of swordplay. Sound like a scene from "Pirates of the Caribbean" or "Robin Hood," right? Wrong.

Most kids get permission slips from their parents to go on school field trips, but Lance Rice got one from his neurologist for something a lot more important. His doctor gave him a note saying that it was OK for him to get a driver's license. That was necessary because Lance, 17, a Lawrence North High School student, has epilepsy and had to be seizure-free for six months before he would be allowed to get a license.

"I honestly don't care if their music is on tune or off tune; all I care about is if they're having a good time." Tom Vornholt, owner of Franklin's Club Logos, which caters to an under-21 crowd They've come and gone for more than 40 years, but these risk-takers are still cool, original and evocative, according to music experts. In Indianapolis, they have names like The Naked Neighbors, Unikque and

There are many kinds of teachers -- some are down-to-earth, some are out of this world, and some are just spacey. And sometimes there are teachers who you just know are meant to be in space. This isn't to say that these teachers are aliens, but rather they are fascinated by space and space exploration. For 20 years, NASA has been reaching out to these teachers. The Teacher in Space program was sta

I n the United States, baby-sitting is a major money-making enterprise for teenagers. According to a 2005 survey by Junior Achievement, more than 11 percent of those ages 13 to 18 who work during the summer are employed as baby sitters. For teens ages 13 and 14, baby- sitting is the biggest employer, with more than 25 percent engaged in such work. Baby-sitting is one of the few jobs open to younge

A merica's Promise was founded in 1997, after the Presidents' Summit for America's Future, "to ensure that every young person -- no matter their class, race or culture -- has access to the tools that create opportunities for success," according to its Web site, www.americaspromise.org. The nonprofit organization seeks to collaborate with communities to fulfill "Five Promises" to youth, which inclu

In 1956, a movie titled "Godzilla, King of the Monsters" was released in the United States. Although it was a dubbed English version of a Japanese monster movie, it became a smash hit and has spurred 28 sequels, including the 1998 American-made film "Godzilla," starring Matthew Broderick. This has not been the only Japanese influence on American pop culture, however. In more recent years, "Power R

When David Burstein was in high school, it never occurred to him that politics might be irrelevant to his life. He grew up watching CNN and accompanying his parents in voting booths.

Youth today often have unlimited access to multiple forms of communication and have been called the most connected generation. It is not uncommon, for example, for a kid to spend several hours each night instant messaging friends, creating and posting videos on YouTube or inputting information on Facebook or MySpace for (almost) all the world to see. These communications venues are also playing a key role in the 2008 election. As the conventions near, presidential candidates are trying to get all the votes and funding that they can, and the Internet has become a gold mine for generating support, particularly from youth.

Molly Kawahata takes the term "campaign worker" to a whole new level. The high school senior rearranged her school schedule to have an earlier release in order to have more time to work as the national high school director for Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

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.

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.