While energy drinks – such as Red Bull, Monster and Rockstar – originally were marketed to young adults, they are becoming increasing popular with younger consumers. In 2006, about 30 percent of adolescents surveyed reported using energy drinks, an increase of more than 3 million teens in three years.

Instead of awakening to Spot barking or Frisky purring, Lauren Van Atter listens to Fiyero sing a solo at 6 a.m. Fiyero, named for a character in the musical "Wicked" is Lauren's cockatiel. Most kids have pet dogs and cats, but according to Dr. Angela Lennox, more young people are choosing to own exotic pets than ever before.

Emerson Barnett believes that he is successful today, in part, because of mainstreaming. Being included in typical classrooms allowed him and his classmates to face his cerebral palsy head-on.

About 600,000 Serbian youth live in poverty, often without adequate health care or schooling, according to UNICEF. Thousands don't even have parents to love or shelter them: More than 7,500 live in orphanages with little chance of ever being adopted. Spurred by racism, Serbs and ethnic Albanians have been embroiled in conflict over control of the region for more than a century.

Most people watch a movie, critique it, and then move on. For Jenna Knapp, 19, it wasn't that easy. Jenna first saw the documentary "Invisible Children" during her senior year of high school, when a college friend brought back a copy from California.