Last Leg of High School No Easy Feat

By ARLENIS PENA

Senior year is not what my friends and I imagined it would be. Instead of the fun of going on class trips, taking the perfect yearbook photo, or just cooling off after three years of high school, the 12th grade is surprisingly stressful. According to a UCLA survey of college freshmen in 2015, 18 percent of students spent 16 hours or more with their friends each week during their senior year of high school. That’s compared to 37.9 percent of students surveyed in 1987. I can relate to that statistic. As a high school freshman at International Community High School

By TAYRELL JACKSON

Teens looking for part-time jobs in New York City may have a hard time finding work because employers discriminate based on age, and the process is unfair, say some students. Lerret Jackson is a 17-year-old high school senior who now works at Dunkin’ Donuts but remembers the job search being difficult and the “constant rejection” a lot to deal with. The Bronx resident is not alone. In the past 13 years, the number of jobs held by teenagers ages 14 to 18 has decreased by 33 percent. Nationally, that’s an estimated 1.7 million teens unemployed from April to July of

By SAFIYA HYLTON

Teen pregnancy rates have fallen in the Bronx, but the push to drop the teen pregnancy rate continues. The latest figures from the New York City Department of Health (DOH) shows that teen pregnancies dropped 10 percent since 2012 and 37.6 percent since 2004. “We attribute the drop in teen pregnancy to a decline in sexual activity and an increase in the use of hormonal or highly effective birth control,” the city’s health department said in a recent statement. Still, the problems persist in the Bronx, a borough with the highest number of teen pregnancies, according to the DOH. Babies

By JONATHAN MERCEDES

Catholic school students say they’re excelling in and out of the classroom, thanks to the recent number of after-school programs offered to them by the Archdiocese of New York. Chris Valerio, 17, says the programs offer students an escape from the serious problems of everyday life. The Cardinal Hayes High School senior added that the extracurricular activities also allow students to enjoy the company of their friends. The programs are not just beneficial from a social aspect, but students also attribute their academic success to extracurricular activities. Nathalie Cortes, 15, shares a similar experience to Chris’. At the Academy of

AN UNFORTUNATE WAY to end 2015. Crews with Con Edison work to remove this cable pole that dropped onto a vehicle on Wayne Avenue off Gun Hill Road on Dec. 29. Crews spent an hour hoisting the wooden pole off the vehicle following the incident which happened around 4 p.m. No one was hurt. The incident drew several bystanders who snapped some pictures as they stumbled upon it. Photo by David Cruz

Arrests Made in Fatal Stabbing on Decatur Avenue

By DAVID GREENE Police have arrested three of six young men wanted in connection with the stabbing death of a man on Decatur Avenue during the overnight hours of Dec. 30. Police say Hugo Ivan Galindo, 24, of nearby Hull Avenue, had been surrounded by the group outside 3340 Decatur Ave. at 2:45 a.m., where he was stabbed multiple times in the torso. He died a short time later at Montefiore Hospital. Less than 24 hours later, detectives from the 52nd Precinct arrested Alexi Santiago, 21, of 323 E. Mosholu Parkway N., and charged him with gang assault in the first degree. On Jan. 5,

Developers behind the Kingsbridge National Ice Center (KNIC) have been approved for a multi-million dollar loan by the state to begin construction on its $348 million ice skating center at the Kingsbridge Armory. The news signals a major hurdle crossed by developers, whose progress at the vacant Armory waned in 2015. Developers for KNIC Properties LP have spent the better part of 2015 scouting for philanthropists and private donors to help fund the massive project, purported to become the world’s largest ice skating center. Read materials for the public session here The Board of Directors for the Empire State Development

DO YOU NEED A DENTAL CROWN? Crowns are an integral part of many dental restoration treatments including implants, root canals, or simply covering and strengthening a tooth that’s damaged by trauma or decay. Before Now, Placing a Crown Took At Least Three Steps: First, you needed an appointment to prepare the tooth, take the impression, and place the temporary crown. Second, you needed to wait (possibly two weeks) while your permanent crown was fabricated at a dental lab, then returned to our office. Third, you needed a SECOND appointment to remove the temporary crown and place your permanent crown. Now,