Shine is a documentary film that follows three young adults as they work to overcome mental health challenges like depression and PTSD. 

It was created by Peers Envisioning and Engaging in Recovery Services (PEERS) -- an Oakland-based non-profit focused on mental health advocacy. 

Check out the condensed version of the film below, and watch the whole thing here.

The following aired on KCBS.

By: Chantell Williams

Being rejected is never a welcome feeling, especially when its from the college that’s your top choice.

Since last semester, I’ve been obsessed with going to UC Santa Barbara. I researched everything I could about the university and stalked their admissions website daily. Getting accepted was the most important thing in the world to me. When the letter finally came from the admissions office, I was devastated to find out I didn't get in.

I couldn't help but ask myself what was it about my application that wasn't good enough to be accepted. It was important for me to realize that being rejected from my top choice does not define my self worth, my character or my abilities as a student.

I’ve decided I will give my top choice one last shot by appealing. Appealing is a chance to present new information that shows that I’m a strong applicant. Even though successes of appeals have traditionally been very low, I want to give my dream school one final shot. And if i don't get in at least I can say I tried my hardest to do so.

“Truthfully, what happens is, as children grow up, we start to educate them progressively from the waist up. And then we focus on their heads. And slightly to one side,” said Sir Ken Robinson in his 2006 TED Talk about how American education kills creativity. The talk garnered over 16 million views online.

Tonight, Robinson will join Bill Gates, Rita Pierson, Geoffrey Canada and other thought leaders as part of TED’s television debut -- an hour-long special about ideas in education. TED Talks Education is a collaboration with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the New York public broadcaster WNET.

Check out Robinson’s 2006 talk below, and tune in to PBS tonight.

This piece was originally published on Boyle Heights Beat.

By Jennifer Lam

A typical school night for most teens may be made up of sports practice, dinner, homework and maybe a study session. But school nights don’t look like this for 16-year-old Theodore Roosevelt High School student Guadalupe Castro. Ever since he was ten, he’s had a job cleaning floors and scrubbing toilets as a janitor working night shifts.

After a long day at school, tennis and marching band practice, Castro gets home at about 6 p.m. He helps out by cooking dinner for the whole family before they all rush off to that night’s scheduled cleaning, which runs until 9:30 p.m. If he’s lucky, he’ll finish his homework on the car ride home. If not, a long night awaits him until he does.

Many teens in Boyle Heights feel it’s their responsibility to help their families make ends meet although it may affect their academics.

Castro works three times a week helping his parents clean stores and other venues. His parents picked up this family side job after his father’s work hours as a tailor were cut and his wages dropped to $200 a week.

Although Castro doesn’t ask to get paid for his hours worked, his parents give him $25 for working Sundays. That’s enough to pay his cell phone bill. His parents make a combined total of $1,000 a week for the family of four.

By Chaz Hubbard, Denise Tejada and Jenny Bolario

When Heather Collins graduated from high school, she tried out a couple of different jobs, but she always kind of dreampt of working as a hair stylist. Then, when the economy slumped, Collins pursued that dream. "Even when the economy is doing bad," said Collins, "people still want to look and feel good about themselves.” Find out how what she loves about cutting hair, and how she broke into the field.

This piece was originally  published on Voicewaves.

By VoiceWaves Youth Reporters Deonna Anderson & Nayobi Maldonado-Ochoa

The first time Long Beach City College student Ben Fernandez met up with someone that he met online, he lost his virginity.

“We met at his place and we went to his basement,” Fernandez said. “I was scared that he was going to kill me.”

While Ben’s story is jarring, many young people today are increasingly using social media and online sites as a primary means to meet and date. There is no argument that participation in online dating, casual hookups, and other relational activity via technology is increasing, and the users are becoming younger.

Since the early 2000s, at least a dozen dating websites have been created especially for youth ages eighteen and under, including MyLOL, which has over 250,000 teens registered, according to their listing on Entrepreneur.com.

While online dating is moving towards becoming the norm, it does not necessarily make it safer.

In 82 percent of online sex crimes against minors, the offender used the victim’s social networking site to gain information about the victim’s likes and dislikes, according to a 2010 study published in the Journal of Adolescent Health.

VoiceWaves surveyed some young people in Long Beach about the potential dangers of dating online, with their stories detailed below.

To Meet or Not to Meet…in Person

Most people don’t think of Facebook as a dating site. But because many dating sites require that users are at least 18 years of age, many young people have adapted Facebook as somewhat of a make-shift dating site, according to some students at Millikan High School who did not want to be named.

(Photo: Student Carlos Hernandez-Martinez in the "Dream Resource Center," part of the Undocumented Student Program at UC Berkeley. Credit: Luis Flores / YOUTH RADIO.)

Originally aired on KALW-FM and Stitcher Radio.

By Luis Flores

Tucked away in the student center at University of California Berkeley, the Undocumented Student Program is designed to be a national model. It makes college possible for students without legal status. Meng So runs the program. He's totally passionate about the work, and insists students here couldn’t wait for national immigration reform. “So we said, as the number one public institution in America, we’re gonna take a lead, and we’re gonna act when others won't,” said So.

That means: low cost housing, financial aid, and free legal services, on top of the in-state tuition and grants that California offers many undocumented students, who attended three years of high school.

All to support students like sophomore Carlos Hernandez Martinez.

"I'm actually I guess what you would call a dreamer," said Hernandez Martinez. "My parents brought me to this country when I was 4 years old. I grew up here my whole life in Oakland... Sometimes I feel more from here than from Mexico. My parents say that too, 'You were basically born here. You’ve done everything here.'”

Today on the Youth Radio podcast, a growing project at the University of California at Berkeley helping undocumented students apply for legal status. Also a group of fourth graders are getting a crash course in immigration reform, while they try to figure out why their classmate is stuck in Mexico.

The following aired on KCBS.

By: Dominique Sims

The environment? Please. I just wanted a free trip to Bangladesh. That’s why I applied for a cultural exchange program, but I came back with more than just pictures.

While touring through the Sundarban Forest in Bangladesh, I saw a man bathing in a river. I asked my tour guide, “Is this water clean?” He chuckled, “Of course not! This river is one hundred percent not water. It’s made up of oil, feces, and trash.”

According to my host sister, cyclones in Bangladesh are becoming more common, and recently they’ve wiped houses and waste into the surrounding water. Although these cyclones cause massive damage, she said the environment is not a priority for people in Bangladesh -- instead, they’re worried about getting through the congested traffic to arrive at work on time.

I’ve been back home for two months now and I’ve participated in beach cleanups, avoided wasting food, and I’m putting together a fashion show to raise awareness about reusable products.

Now that I know all the negative effects humans can have on the environment, I’m trying to positively impact my community.

Millennials in the U.S. are more politically divided than they have ever been in the past, according to a newly released study from the Harvard Institute of Politics.

Views on the President

Numbers show that the overall approval rate of Mr. Obama for 18 - 29 year-olds hasn’t changed much in the past year. But according to the study, the gap between Democrats and Republicans who approve of the President has widened.

Eighty-five percent of 18 - 29 year-old Democrats approve of Obama’s job performance, while only 11 percent of young Republicans approve -- a difference of 74 percentage points. A year ago, this gap was ten percentage points smaller.

Graph below from Harvard Institute of Politics.

Views On Guns and Gun Control

The study also released new findings about Millennial views on recent hot-button issues like gun violence and gun control. The numbers show that the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut did not change Millennial views on gun control, although the partisan gap on this issue has widened since 2010. The percentage of young Democrats who favor stricter gun control laws has increased by eight percent since 2010, while the percentage of young Republicans who are opposed to stricter gun control laws has increased by six percent.

However, the majority of Millennials (56 %) disapprove of the way the Mr. Obama's handling "gun violence," according to the study.

As for their views of the National Rifle Association (NRA), the biggest gap is racial: forty-nine percent of white Millennials expressed a favorable opinion of the NRA, while 48 percent of black Millennials expressed a net unfavorable opinion. 

Almost one-in-five Millennials owns a gun, according to the press release, and 39 percent of Millennials say they have an immediate family member who owns a gun. 

What do you think that will that mean for our country in twenty years? Tweet us @youthradio.