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Subway surfing has taken over NYC. Inspired by the game Subway Surfers, it has claimed the lives of several adolescents, and the list seems to grow by the day. The MTA is planning to address this issue.

Jerry, the 111th Booth Coordinator, spoke about the tragedy that occurred on Oct. 28, 2024. Two girls, aged 12 and 13, fell between train cars at the 111th Street Station in Corona just before 11 p.m. One of the girls passed away, while the other was rushed to Elmhurst Hospital in critical condition.

“It’s truly devastating,” Jerry said. “It’s heartbreaking how just a couple of seconds can end a life or change it forever. What I don’t understand is why these two young girls were out at this hour—it’s far too late for them to be outside. Still, this is a real tragedy, and the entire community is determined to put an end to this subway surfing trend. My heart goes out to both families affected.”

In several cases, families have threatened to sue the MTA over the dangers associated with subway surfing. While the MTA has begun adding more cameras, MTA employees and police officers in stations, these efforts have not been enough to deter teenagers from climbing onto the tops of trains.

Police Officer Nicholas, stationed at 33rd Rawson Street, shared his frustration: “You know, I’ve seen a lot as a police officer, but this whole trend has really left me frustrated. Even after seeing many kids get injured or lose their lives, some still decide to climb aboard. My coworkers and I will be taking extreme measures to ensure kids’ safety and issuing punishments to those caught, so hopefully, this never happens again.”

Officer Nicholas and other officers are regularly stationed near two large high schools, working to ensure teens are behaving responsibly and staying out of harm’s way.

However, there is still a missing perspective: that of the riders themselves. One surfer decided to remain anonymous but had this to say :

“Yeah, I’ve seen the reports and cases, and while it’s sad, personally, I won’t stop doing it. I get an adrenaline rush, and I view it as part of the teen experience. I even manage to take pictures for my photography class. So far, I haven’t been caught and don’t plan to anytime soon. No one really knows, and, well, if my folks found out, I’d never hear the end of it. My advice? Be smart. If you’re not experienced, definitely don’t do it. It’s a stupid idea that could risk your life. I’ve been doing it since I was 13, and now that these cases have come to light, I take a lot of precautions.”

This story was written by Hailey Kan

Murray Hill Academy students do not enjoy their school meals .

“I feel like [the foods] lack nutritional value. Some of the food doesn’t, it doesn’t look edible. And I don’t think many kids would really be excited for lunch when it’s time to eat, because then the food really just ends up thrown away,” senior Jesus said.

And it’s not just in Murray Hill Academy. Hunger Solutions New York, a report by the Food Research & Action Center, “reveals a decline in participation relative to the previous school year; 12.4 percent fewer students ate school breakfast and 4.3 percent fewer ate school lunch. Nearly 793,000 children in New York participated in school breakfast and just over 1.5 million participated in school lunch on an average day during the 2022–2023 school year.”

“Most of the kids really just want to buy food outside and actually enjoy something so that they could be able to go through the day with a full stomach,” Jesus said.

According to Funding Our Schools by the Department of Education, only 12% of the $4.9 billion School Operations Budget goes to food, serving 880,000 meals daily with free breakfast and lunch available to all students.

While this may seem to be a lot, according to Chalkbeat New York, Mayor Eric Adams cut $60 million of the city’s school food budget in November 2023. This forced the Education Department to “thin out” the school cafeteria menu by removing “pricier items.” This included cheese burritos, chicken dumplings, cookies, and more. However, these options were favorites for students, and were eventually restored to the menu.

In the School Meals Report by the New York City Council, the total cost per breakfast is $3.95, while the total cost per lunch is $6.00. So the lack of funding, and food options has led to fewer students eating and more waste. According to Food Service Director, “As the nation’s largest school district, NYC Public Schools generate more than 80 million pounds of trash per year.”

Some people have their own solution for how lunch should be handled.

“I think the problem is twofold. One, the quality of food is bad, and it’s because of the lack of funding and the lack of incentive for people to get good tasting food. In order to fix that, they need to make school lunches paid and only give free vouchers to kids who can’t afford it. And then the people who can pay for it can opt out and instead pay for things like outside lunch. And I think that will improve the quality of food for people who want to eat school lunch whilst not wasting food, because only people who can afford the lunch or people who buy the lunch will get it, so it also reduces the waste,” senior Kiroto said. 

However, other people do not see a problem.

“I feel like you [students] may get better food just because I know over the years they would constantly change the menu. Kids right now might say the opposite, but if you were growing up when I was here, you would definitely say the food is better,” Justin Moore, former school dean of Murray Hill Academy, said. According to the school’s official website, he graduated from Murray Hill Academy in 2016.

When asked about his past experience with the school lunch quality in Murray Hill Academy, Justin said, “It wasn’t the worst because at the end of the day, if you’re hungry, you’re going to eat. So I wouldn’t say it’s the worst thing, but some days I wasn’t really a big school lunch eater. So yeah, I usually do my own things … but that’s what the kids do now. But if they’re hungry, they’ll eat.”

“I lived in Brooklyn for a while and then I moved to Manhattan. I’ve been here since. So the food is okay to me, so it hasn’t changed anything,” Jason Alicea, supervising school aide, said. He graduated from Norman Thomas High School, which preceded Murray Hill Academy, in 1993 and worked at that school in 2001 before it split into four smaller schools. He was a founding member of Murray Hill Academy according to the school’s website.

When asked about his perspective on how others feel about school lunch, he said, “Everybody has their own prerogative on how, you know, eating wise, some kids will want it, some kids don’t want it. So I guess it goes based on who wants it and who doesn’t want it.”

To encourage students to eat school meals, the mayor should increase the school lunch budgets to allocate more money into the quality and quantity of food options that students can have in order for there to be less food waste.

“They’re everywhere, and there is no doubt they are doing a tremendous damage,” said Governor Cuomo in a meeting at Long Island University on Earth Day 2019.

New York State will finally ban plastic bags, beginning March 2020. This law was passed by Governor Cuomo with the goal of reducing pollution and waste, as well as protecting wildlife. 

Stores will no longer be able to give plastic bags to consumers. Instead, there are various options, such as bringing your own reusable bags when shopping and paper bags offered in stores.

Most New Yorkers are content with this new law due to the fact that big changes are being made to help the Earth. 

18 year old, Midtown Manhattan resident Hari Murugesan says, “Our generation has to be the one to take preventative measures to ensure the safety and well being of the Earth before we hit the point of no return.” Hari comes from a traditional Indian family where plastic bags are “a gift that keeps on giving” due to the fact that they have many uses when they are recycled. Although he already recycles plastic, he is looking forward to the new law because he wants more people to help prevent more damage to the environment.

There has also been a surprising number of New Yorkers that are already making changes of their own regarding plastic bags. In Queens, residents are glad to finally have the government support recycling plastic bags, since many of them already do this.

For 41-year-old Alma Jimenez, who lives in Corona, Queens, the ban of plastic bags is nothing new. The Mexican native shops a minimum of 5 times per week and recycles every single plastic bag and keeps them in a cabinet under the sink to use for other things. She says most Hispanics in the neighborhood do the same. 

“I think nowadays people waste tons and tons of unnecessary plastic, and there needs to be changes done, so this law will definitely help the environment that we are responsible for,” she states.

College student Andrea Pineda, who also lives in this neighborhood, has very strong favorable opinions on this new law. “I used to live in Paris where plastic bags were banned, and I found out this so much more comfortable and convenient because you could bring your own bag everywhere; and now most Americans think that everything should be given to them on hand and fast such as plastic bags, so when they see the difference that this new law will make, it will not only be beneficial for the environment, but for our individual self,” she says. The 21-year-old also states the fact that the USA makes 30% of the worlds waste so New York is a great place to begin, since it is very populated and will cause a great change.

These New Yorkers interviewed stated that when March comes, they will take their reusable from home to go shopping. They are satisfied with the new law because it is finally making a difference to help our planet.

While some New Yorkers are content with this law being passed, others are not.

Fetpak, a big supply company that specializes in plastic bags is not happy. While they do offer paper bags, it will not be as much as the sales lost on plastic bags. “The increase in paper Bag sales does not make up for the decrease in plastic bags sales, especially in cases where there is a fee to the consumer,” says CEO from Fetpack, Wayne Fetta in an email. The law can therefore hurt businesses greatly and in the future put them out of business.

Other residents are simply annoyed that they won’t have plastic bags to use. 17-year-old Sebastian Gomez says, “I use plastic bags for many things in my house, what am I supposed to use now when they are gone?”

Although there are many alternative options for plastic bags, this won’t be enough to make up for all the plastic we use now. This new law will benefit most people, but the rest are annoyed that they might not find a better option to use. 

 “We got used to the standard of living of killing our environment, and this law is a step towards changing that,” says Andrea Pineda.

The children are our future—and so is climate change. Scientists conclude that by 2030, the Earth will reach a point of no return. By that year, Earth’s environment will be permanently destroyed and will only continue to collapse until reaching its inevitable end. 

That’s why organizations like Our Climate aim to educate and empower the world’s youth to take action on the global warming crisis. Over the course of four days in late July, Our Climate’s Youth Climate Camp met in locations throughout New York City, such as Governors Island, Williamsburg and midtown Manhattan, to discuss climate change. 

According to the organization’s website, “Our Climate mobilizes and empowers young people to educate the public and elected officials about science-based, equitable climate policy solutions that build a livable world.”

The camp is “helping me develop the skills that are needed to get the attention of politicians who think that climate change is not a pressing issue,” says Kayla Kadlubowski, 16, who attended the camp.

About 20 teenagers came together to learn about the history, politics, art and writing surrounding climate change. They discussed the seriousness of the issue and acknowledged that many people do not believe that climate change is real.

“Climate change has been discredited in our society today, seen as a fake phenomenon that has ‘no scientific evidence’ to be backed up on. As an adolescent, it is very important to me that people start to realize how pressing and real [it is],” Olivia Daoud, a participant in the program, says.

Eloise Dreesen, a 16-year-old living in Greenwich Village, described her experience in the program. She explained that the group learned how to take action and change policies in hopes of creating a safe environment for future generations. They met with Sunrise, an organization the New York Times has called a “political power player,” that provides jobs for young people to spread awareness about, and protest against, climate change.  

The attentive and driven teenagers practiced writing letters to government officials, and even learned how to use bird dogging as an effective tool for seeking answers from politicians. The technique involves asking specific, well-planned and unavoidable questions, usually during live interviews, in hopes of getting honest remarks from significant figures.

Kadlubowski describes how she “realized how pressing this issue is” when a speaker explained that carbon taxing and cap-and-trade can effectively lower the amount of emissions produced in the U.S. “To me, it was such a logical way to incentivize green energy use, but it was only a part of the plan. There’s hope for the planet, but it’s mind-boggling that these big fossil fuel companies are so blinded by greed. They are willing to do anything to keep their customers, even if it means killing their planet,” she says.

The camp educated the participants on the importance of being an active supporter rather than a passive one, meaning that in order to create real change, the population must make phone calls to Congress and take other actions to combat climate change.

“After attending a youth climate camp and learning more about how serious of an issue climate change really is, I try and encourage all of my friends and family members to live [cleaner] lives…by purchasing a reusable bag for groceries, trading in a plastic straw for a metal one, and investing in sustainably made clothing, coffee and solar energy,” Daoud says. 

On Sunday, July 28, Our Climate’s youth climate camp met on Governors Island. Located just off the southern tip of Manhattan in New York Harbor, the island is extremely eco-friendly and home to the world’s first climate museum. 

According to the website, the Climate Museum on the island welcomes individuals “from all walks of life” to learn about climate change, reflect on what has been lost, and unite to actively engage in solutions to major problems. 

Our Climate’s camp toured the museum and met with resident artists who fight climate change through art. 

The program taught participants that everyone must take action to confront what may be the most dire challenge the world has ever faced.

When the camp ended, Dreesen asked herself, “Can I have kids?” She fears raising a child in a world that may witness so much more damage.

“You need to dedicate your time to this. That’s how bad it is,” she says. She acknowledges that many organizations, politicians and individuals have the answers and resources to attempt to minimize environmental destruction. “We know exactly what we have to do,” Dreesen says. 

The question is whether we, as a planet, will stop using fossil fuels, minimize carbon production, use renewable energy sources, and make personal sacrifices in time to save the planet.

“More people, no matter the age, need to be aware of what is happening to our planet and how everyone can adjust their lives to help heal our planet and elongate the lifespan of life on Earth,” Kadlubowski says. 

Today’s world is full of technology with it people have been able to create simple but useful things things, well known as apps or others such as video games. Most of them helps us in our life or is used for other purposes. These creations have changed our lives, as an example, there is more connection with others, we also have been able to learn in multiple ways but also have given us reasons to interact with people who we never thought we could interact. But where does it start and who created  them ? but more importantly, can I create one?

Today, everyone can create an app or video game with the help of the technology, but only a few can really understand it and find the advantages of it. Most, if not all of this knowledge is acquired in classes and experience. To start, you may need to understand several things in programming or coding. In Computer Science, a course offered by high schools and colleges allowing  you to understand basic skills in gaming and coding. This could lead you to better careers, including Software Developer, Network Engineer IT, Systems Developer, and Information Technology Specialist.

All these careers pay from $24 to $41 per hour or an annual rate from 55k to 116k. But “all this depends on the amount of work and the quality of it(the program, app or video game)” said Mr. Fabian, a high school professor at Unity Center for Urban Technologies. Another thing to keep in mind is that you need to learn multiple computer languages which can be complicated.

Additionally, the creator of these programs, needs to be careful with all their steps, because a single mistake may result in a huge error causing errors in the programs, apps or video games, similar like loops which may crash any device or even cause the program to never start or function properly.

“I once made I mistake in a project and it caused me to lose a good percentage of my grade but after a while this becomes easy” Koko Kabash said a student of Mr. Fabian.

As others may not like this class they may not understand the privileges and opportunities that may open for anybody inside this modern society which modernizes everyday.

 Imagine living in a world where nobody knows your language and you must use American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter to help communicate with others. In America, deaf people have no direct access to many different things that hearing people do. 

Most deaf people are visual, which is why many deaf people use an American Sign language to communicate. However many hearing people don’t know American Sign Language and often expect them to communicate as quickly as a hearing person. When that assumption is proven to be wrong they would judge deaf people as unintelligent and incapable to do things correctly.  This is why many deaf people have a hard time finding jobs. Fortunately the American with Disabilities Act law which was passed in 1990 helped create easier communication between deaf and hearing individuals by giving deaf people more rights. The employers can no longer discriminate against those who are deaf because deaf people can sue them using ADA law.

Another obstacle that deaf people faced due to lack of communication is when they go to the movie theater and not all movies have closed captions. It is very difficult for deaf people to lipread what the actors or actresses in the movies are saying with the frequent cutaways scenes voice-over, beards, mustaches, fast speakers, cigarette smoking. Some movie theaters would provide a close-caption glasses, however these aren’t great because sometimes the captions are not correct and the glasses are a bit uncomfortable. The best things that the movie theaters could do is provide open captions so that deaf and hearing can both enjoy and understand the movie at the same time.

One of the most common things that deaf people like me have experienced is social isolation. According to Soukup from VeryWell Health, “I knew that most people were not malicious and that communication barriers exist only because of limited exposure to deaf people and a lack of understanding.” Society’s lack of understanding of the deaf community and lack of fluency in ASL to communicate with deaf people makes it challenging for deaf to have social life with hearing people. Social isolation happens to me all the time in my high school. All my hearing classmates didn’t know how to talk to me and were afraid to come up to me. In order for me to make friends with them, I must go up to them and prove that I can talk. I wish that hearing people shouldn’t discriminate against deaf people. Society should have free classes that teach about deaf culture and ASL to hearing people. Those free classes could be taken in schools, colleges, events, and study places. It would be a great way for hearing people to learn about and able to communicate with deaf and prevent social isolation.

The lack of communication between deaf and hearing people, brings many obstacles for the deaf such as being unable to find jobs, not understanding the movies, and facing social isolation. Communication is the key to bring them both together.