teenagers

Mike, who is a transgender 15-year-old highschool student, sits in on his bed on Monday, May 20, 2024, at his home in Columbia. He said he enjoys going on runs, baking and playing Dungeons and Dragons. “A bit of a sign that I might have been trans early on is that every single time I played a game like this, where you got to make your own character, it was always a guy. I think I only, like, once or twice ever played a girl. But, other than that, it was always guys that I played,” Mike said. “Like, my entire life I've always felt more comfortable with masculine clothing. I was always a tomboy growing up. I always had guy friends. I never liked any sort of dress or skirt. I always just thought it was a tomboy. But then I realized, ‘Oh, I like being a boy more than I like being a girl.’ … I have a binder—actually, I have two binders—but whenever I wear them, I feel just more comfortable in who I am. Even when I'm alone, if I wear it, I just feel this kind of warmness in my chest like, ‘This is who I am. This is what feels right for me.’ And, it just feels great.”

KBIA News

15-year-old Mike: “I hope people just treat me as a normal person. Just somebody who's trans. Just a guy.”

Bailey Stover

Mike is a 15-year-old transgender high schooler. He spoke about his relationship with his mom and about some of his hopes for the future.

"The sexts are currency," explains Hanna Rosin. Teenage girls told Rosin boys collect the photos like "baseball cards or Pokemon cards."

Education

'Why Kids Sext' Describes Nude Photos As 'Social Currency' Among Teens

Teenage girls explained to writer Hanna Rosin that boys collect sexts like baseball cards or Pokemon cards. "There's so much free porn out there that these pictures serve a different role," she says.

It is getting harder for pools, like this one in Lawrence, Kan., to recruit teens into lifeguarding.

Arts and Culture

Why Fewer Teens Are Spending Their Summer Lifeguarding

Elle Moxley

Temperatures are rising, but a shortage of lifeguards in some communities is keeping pools closed. Once a stereotypical way to make some summer cash,...