Stopping bullying: Why Maryland scored an A++ with the Bully Police
September 2, 2012
By Jordan Schatz
Reporter/News Writer
Cool Kids Club
Recent statistics suggest that bullying in schools throughout the country has become an epidemic, despite strong legislation in most states, including Maryland. When Maryland Delegate Anne Kaiser presided over a public committee hearing on bullying in early 2008, she had no idea that the testimony of a group of teenagers would alter her life forever.
That evening, the teenagers took turns describing, in harrowing detail, their own accounts of bullying. Their narratives of abuse [...]
Top 10 (#6) Justin Friedlander: Striking Back Against Brain Tumors
August 1, 2012
Jordan Schatz
Reporter/News Writer
Top 10 Most Interesting People 2012
Cool Kids Club
Justin Friedlander is on a quest that few can top. Shortly after being diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor in March 2009 at only 12 years old, Friedlander, now 14, elected to fight his disease and discover a cure. An avid sports fan, Friedlander decided to carry out his mission through basketball. His quest: to shoot 63,000 baskets—one for approximately each person in the United States [...]
Cool Kids Club – Maddie and Malachi: Bringing Christmas dinner to homeless children
January 1, 2012
By Wendy Thompson
Editor
Cool Kids Club
When Maddie, 6, and Malachi, 8, two members of the DC Spotlight’s Cool Kids Club, joined the club, they welcomed the opportunity to give back to the community in the Washington, D.C. metro area. In fact, teaching kids in our neighborhoods and schools how to give back to our community is the reason the Cool Kids Club was founded. For December, Maddie and Malachi collected can goods and other nonperishable foods [...]
Cool Kids: Brett and Maddie
Photos: SABB Photography Studio
September 1, 2011
Peter Francis
Staff Writer
Cool Kids Club
Brett Burch
Brett’s Trove: www.zazzle.com/brettstrove
Brett is a 7-year-old second grade student at Hyde-Addison Elementary School in Georgetown. He is currently attending conditioning training to prepare for his first season of little league football this fall. In addition to playing football, Brett enjoys playing basketball with a local winter basketball league, learning how to play the electric guitar, constructing paper airplanes and other crafty creations and playing outside with his cousins and friends. Brett’s list of awards [...]
Cool Kids: Richard Jones Muhammad (Radi-yo Musiqq): A Rising Star and Giving Spirit
June 1, 2011
Jordan Schatz
Reporter/News Writer
Cool Kids Club
Richard Jones Muhammad, who prefers to go by his stage name Radi-yoMusiqq, is a 16-year-old singing and dancing star whose talent has made him one of the most promising young artists in the DC metro area.
A junior in high school, who also loves to read, draw and write, Muhammad hopes to hear himself on the radio and perhaps open a recording studio after majoring in the music business at Full Sail [...]
Cool Kids: Ajoyia Baker: Miss Jr. Pre-Teen contestant, destined to do great things
April 14, 2011
Wendy Thompson
Editor-in-Chief
Cool Kids Club
Ajoyia Baker is a 9-year-old 3rd grader attending Grace Brethren Christian School. She enjoys performing and has been a member of the Junior Redskins Cheerleaders, performing at the Washington Redskins halftime shows. Her athletic activities include gymnastics and soccer. She also enjoys art, particularly drawing and recently had one of her art projects selected for display at the ACSI Arts Festival on May 3rd at Reid Temple Christian Academy in Glendale, MD.
Ajoyia is an [...]
Cyberbullying in the Suburbs of DC: A Teen’s Point of View
December 2, 2010
A Kid’s Life
By Shannon Scarselletta
On October 17, 2006, I was alternating between creeping on Facebook and reading stories about what else was wrong with Britney Spears. I stumbled across an article announcing that the mother of 13-year-old Megan Meier had found her daughter’s body hanging in her own closet. The suicide had been spurred by mean messages like “The world would be better off without you,” sent by a boy she’d been flirting with on MySpace.
Six weeks [...]