Teen Writing Contest:
Show us your passion for Writing and win a fantastic prize.
Are You Brave Enough To Write?!
Entries can be fiction, nonfiction, poetry, short stories, etc.
The 1st, 2nd and 3rd place winners will receive visa gift cards generously donated by the Schissel family.
The winners will also be announced on our social media pages with links to their winning work.
Entries will need to be emailed to DDaly@vailgov.com by Friday, Sept. 25.
P.S. – Teens! Don’t forget to include your Instagram handle so we can tag you!
Virtual Middle School Book Club
Do you have a middl
e-school aged child who loves to read? Invite them to join the Virtual Middle School Book Club. Our books for September 2020 is “The Hate U Give” by Angie Thomas.
We’ll meet on Friday, Sept. 25, at 4:30 p.m. via Google Meet.
Please contact Ali to join at amurray@vailgov.com.
Tips to Help Teens Cope During COVID 19
This website will ask you to sign up – you don’t need to do that. Just “X” out of the box in the top corner.
Your financial path to graduation
Have a financial aid offer? We’ll help you plan to finish your program with debt you can afford.
This tool can help you:
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Understand your financial aid offer
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Plan to cover the remaining costs
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Estimate how much you’ll owe and if you can afford that debt
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Compare offers from different schools
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Decide what to do next
Keep coming back as your plan evolves.
For many students, planning how to pay for school is complicated. It may require multiple conversations with family, advisers, and the school financial aid office to get more information. As you figure out your best options, come back and update your plan as many times as you need!
This tool does not save your personal data. Learn how we got the numbers and guidelines for our calculations.
To start, you will need:
- Your financial aid offer(s)
- An idea of how much money you and your family can put towards school
- A private loan offer (if you have one)
- The phone number or email address of someone in the financial aid office – it’s their job to answer your questions!
You may want to use this tool with someone you trust who can help you weigh your options.
Looking for an opportunity for leadership? Join Mountain Youth! Right here in Eagle County!
Our mission is to continuously and collaboratively improve the lives of youth in the most powerful ways possible. Our vision is that “All youth in our community thrive.” Click here for more information.
This youth-led, adult-supported program encompasses CTC youth advisors and other young people in our community. The focus is on education and community service projects — giving young people a voice in programs that impact them. Youth can be on the board, pitch a project, work with local businesses to provide insight and feedback. The program includes youth ages 10 and older.
YALSA’s Teens’ Top Ten
YALSA has launched the Teen Book Finder Database, which is a one-stop shop for finding selected lists and award winners. Users can search this free resource by award, list name, year, author, genre and more, as well as print customizable lists. This new resource will replace the individual award and list web pages currently on YALSA’s site that are not searchable and that are organized only by year. Check out the top ten for 2020 here.
Hour of Code!
Try a one-hour tutorial designed for all ages in over 45 languages.
Colorado Blue Spruce Book Award
The Colorado Blue Spruce Young Adult Book Award (Blue Spruce Award) has been recognizing the most popular books among middle and high school students in the State of Colorado since 1985.
Voting opens on July 1st and closes on December 31st at 11:59 PM.
This will be the last year for the award, so please participate while you can.
The award is unique in being entirely nominated and voted for by teens. Inclusion on the nominations list does not imply endorsement by any adult as this is a program of entirely student-selected titles. Each year teens in grades 6-12 are free to nominate their favorite titles; a list of 12-15 titles is then compiled by the Blue Spruce Award committee based on number of nominations received.
Students must have read at least three of the titles to vote for a winner. Adults do not nominate or vote for books, and publishers are not allowed to submit their books for consideration.
2020 Nominees
THE 2019
WINNER IS…
by Neal Shusterman
“Hello, Colorado! I’m thrilled and honored that Scythe has won the Colorado Blue Spruce Award. I wish I could have been there to accept it when the award was announced, but I look forward to spending some time visiting schools, libraries, and bookstores in Colorado on my next book tour! Thank you again for this honor! Warmest regards, Neal Shusterman”
Online Resources for Young Adults
The award-winning Teen Health & Wellness provides middle and high school students with up-to-date, nonjudgmental, straightforward curricular, and self-help support. Topics covered include diseases, drugs, alcohol, nutrition, mental health, suicide, bullying, LGBTQ+ issues and more.
Need help prepping for college admissions?
Vail Public Library offers access to EBSCO Learning Express. Click on the images below for more information.
Little Free Library Project
Over the summer, our Teen Reading Group built five little free libraries! Have a book? Leave a book! Want a book? Take a book! Always free, the little free libraries are the “town square” of a community and thanks to our amazing teens, Vail has five.