Student Leader - Xueying Ding (Age 17) - based in MA

Last Sunday, I borrowed my friend Emma’s soldering kit to try and solder the wings of the electronic parts of the wings I’ve been working on. I’m not sure just how many safety regulations we may have violated, but I figured out the soldering eventually. I’ve slowly gone from an art project to whatever this is, and I think that these types of interdisciplinary projects could become more common. They remind me a lot of the robotic, moving pieces of clothing I’ve seen on Instagram. One of these...

Going into the first full week of May, sometimes I feel like I’m on my way to my impending doom. AP exams start May 4th, and are just a tiny bit important, even more so during junior year—the last full year of coursework colleges will see when we apply this fall. Maybe we shouldn't be as stressed as we are about exams. Many have discussed how competitive admissions are in this day and time. But if one person were to decide to “chill out,” but the entire group as a whole doesn’t, then they...

Understanding Teen Development I was invited to attend NIF’s Teen Signal workshop last Thursday to write a blog about it, and it was an interesting experience. The workshop was enlightening, focusing on the importance of treating teenagers as individuals with their own rights and perspectives. Overall, the main takeaway from it can relate to treating kids (and especially teenagers) as people. While it might seem simple in theory, I think that society has had a longstanding issue with viewing...