On Thursday, July 20, I held a public forum and press conference in downtown Asheville. My goal in doing so was to show the Buncombe County Board of Education how many people actually support having a student adviser on the school board. Members from the media included WLOS-TV, 570 AM WWNC, and Mountain Xpress. All…
Excerpts from a Q and A with Dr. John A. Cagle, Parliamentarian of the Academic Senate and Professor of Communication at California State University, Fresno There is no such thing as a 2/3 majority. The correct language is a 2/3 vote. Majority in law and parliamentary procedure always means “more than half.” Abstentions are never…
USA Today, which is among the country’s most widely circulated publications, recently quoted NYRA’s Executive Director in an article on teen driving. Specifically, the article dealt with a report put out by the National Highway Safety Administration, which presented a biased, anti-youth interpretation of driving fatality statistics aimed at convincing states to make seventeen the…
The 2006 board election started on July 5 and will last until August 5. Eleven NYRA members are running, the full list: Jessica Campbell, Scott Davidson (incumbent), Zach Hobesh, Alex Hull-Richter, Rich Jahn, Adam King, Alex Koroknay-Palicz (incumbent), Keith Mandell (incumbent), Katrina Moncure (incumbent), Chip Sinton, and Pamela Tatz (incumbent). All candidates have answered a…
NYRA Vermont, one of NYRA’s most active chapters, held an event called “Know Your Rights Day” on May 16 at the Vermont Commons School in Burlington. The event attracted dozens of students, as well as members of the local press. “Know Your Rights Day” consisted of a series of workshops pertaining to youth and student…
A group called Do Something has done a poll that went out and asked teens what they thought of the voting age. The results: “When results for a lower voting age are combined, there is a clear majority of young people who believe that the voting age should be lowered to at least 17. If…
Student representation is a concept the Buncombe County Board of Education does not seem to be able to grasp. Since February, I have written letters, delivered speeches and have called politicians at both the local and state levels of government about adding a nonvoting student adviser onto the local Board of Education. The student adviser…
NYRA’s Treasurer Katrina Moncure has a fundraising idea that is sure to work. She made a big grid that spells out “NYRA” in a multitude of 50 by 10 pixel spaces. Each space is only $25, and it will make up a small part of the large NYRA picture. Moncure wants everyone to spread the…
NYRAthon is over, so no more point in donating. Right? WRONG! It’s always a good time to donate to NYRA. Look at all the great stuff we do and could do if we had more money. Don’t think you shouldn’t care anymore just because NYRAthon is over, and it doesn’t seem like your donations would…
There is a new bill pending in Congress that would cut government funding to any school or library that permits people under the age of 18 to access social networking websites such as Myspace. In addition, many schools are starting to punish students for pictures on their Myspace accounts. On May 22, reporters from ABC’s…
