This year’s Youth Takeover looks a little different from previous editions. While school closures and coverage of the pandemic altered our plans to share student work on our airwaves, here we are showcasing stories produced by students in our participating classes, all offering a snapshot of teen life in today’s Bay Area. 

Alina Jafri struggled to find fictional role models that looked like her until she found the comic book, Ms. Marvel, about the Pakistani American, shapeshifting teen from Jersey City, New Jersey.

Even though I was much older when I discovered my “fictional role model,” it was the most incredible feeling. It was the first time in my life where I could read the pages and say, “She is just like me.”

Emily Harvie recognizes the role shoppers have on driving up the cost of thrift store clothing. Here she advocates for intentional shopping habits to keep stores affordable.

Hear more stories from Bob Ansaldo’s journalism class.