About Ruth Shirley

Age: 21
Grade:

Stories by Ruth

	Youth hot line counselors provide help amid terror By Ruth Shirley, 4 CHILDREN'S EXPRESS Some kids spend their weekend evenings out with their friends. Terry spends his weekends answering calls for the Indiana Youth Group hot line for gay and lesbian youth. "A lot of people who call (the hot line) are terrified of the fact that they might be gay" which is exactly what Terry, 19, a peer counselor for the hot line, went through when he was 16: "I didn't know wher
	Boy, 10, explains autism and camp By Ruth Shirley, 17 Clark Elliott, 10, explains his perception of autism and the benefits he's received from Camp Awareness: "It's kind of like a disease, but you're born with it and it's not like something that can go away. It's not really bad. I mean, in some cases it's bad. In some cases it can even make you smart. I mean, I'm in Horizons -- that's a special program at my school if you're a really smart kid, and I
	Students spread the word about gossip By Katie Qualkinbush, 15, Ruth Shirley, 16 Most everyone has played a round or two of the game "telephone." One person starts with a sentence and whispers it to the next person. The goal is to see how the final sentence differs from the original. In the game, everyone giggles and laughs at the outcome. But in real life, when gossip is the message being transmitted, the result can be hurtful. Y-Press recently talked with four middle schoole
	Prof examines the rumor mill By Ruth Shirley, 16, Katie Qualkinbush, 15 Most people know the early teenage years are a difficult period. One professor's research explored the role gossip plays in middle schools. In 1981, Donna Eder, now a professor of sociology at Indiana University, began a study to better understand the sociology of middle schools. She published her findings in the 1995 book "School Talk: Gender and Adolescent Culture." Eder and three other research