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YCM Story of the Week

  • How Masking Impacted My in-school experience

    Wearing a mask in school was annoying and socially stunting, but it made me feel safe.

    by Marylene Bioh

    After one year of online learning in 8th grade, I chose blended learning for my freshman year at Beacon High School. I only had to go in person one day a week, and during the rest of the week my classes were held remotely.

Recent Stories

  • Finding a Supportive Home

    by M.T.

    I was 13 and it was almost summer in Florida. It was a sunny day and my best friend and I were walking to my house after school. When I got home, the atmosphere suddenly shifted from bright and lively to dark and gloomy. 

  • Why I Love Hard Copy Books

    by Winnie Lin

    One Saturday last November, I stepped into the place I missed going to the most during quarantine—my local public library. The familiar shelves made me smile behind my mask. The building looked mostly the same as I remembered it from more than a year and a half ago. 

  • winning essays from the 24th annual awards for youth in foster care

    On June 1, 2022, Represent magazine and Youth Communication celebrated the outstanding writing, persistence, and achievements of 10 young people at the 24th Annual Awards for Youth in Foster Care. Each winner received a prize of $1,100 and recognition of their writing, resiliency, and service to others. 

  • My Parents are anti-vaxxers

    by Anonymous

    My parents are against getting the COVID-19 vaccine.  Before 2020, I never heard them say anything about conspiracies or anything close to being fanatical. Then in the early months of the pandemic, my mom or dad began to show me random Facebook posts with captions like “Covid is a hoax!”

YC Magazine publishes true stories by teens, giving readers insight into the issues that matter most in young people’s lives.

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Video: Stories That Transform

Watch how educators use our stories to support the well-being of students

Represent Magazine

Stories by Teens in Foster Care

Choosing Myself

Life with my mom was unstable, so I made the difficult decision to live with my cousin to prioritize my wellbeing.

by Faith Ornstein

In 17 years, I’ve had to move more than 10 times throughout New York City. In 3rd grade, I attended five different schools. As a child, I never understood why my family moved around like a military family, but now I know some of the reasons. 

Youth-written stories in Represent give inspiration and information to teens in foster care while offering insight into those teens’ struggles.

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More Recent YC Magazine Stories

  • What Online Learning Has Been Like For Me

    by Marylene Bioh

    In mid-March 2020, I was having a wonderful week in school until I heard these words come out of my 8th-grade science teacher’s mouth: “So guys, if you haven’t heard about COVID-19, cases are rising so there’s a possible chance we’ll be out of school, and if it gets worse, we might not come back.”

  • The Privilege of Telling My Side of the Story

    by Seohee Jung

    My younger brother and I grinned at each other from the back seat of my grandpa’s Jeep: We were making a rare trip to Burger King. I was 11. We had been living in the United States for four years after emigrating from South Korea, and most of the time, my mom preferred that we eat her home-cooked Korean meals.

  • Losing My Brother

    by Anonymous

    Names have been changed. My brother Thomas is only three years older than me. We didn’t feel close to our mom, our stepfather, or our dads. So growing up, it felt like it was just the two of us. We had so much fun playing video games, basketball, and other games we created.

Express yourself, get published, win $

Youth Writing Contest

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