KUOW's RadioActive Youth Media Features

Series produced by KUOW's RadioActive Youth Media

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Presenting feature stories from RadioActive Youth Media, where youth tell the story.

RadioActive is the youth media program at KUOW where youth delight in discovering public radio journalism. RadioActive supports young people’s growth as media makers by sharing access to public radio’s knowledge, skills and institutions.

Seattle teens created these feature stories during RadioActive's introduction to radio journalism workshops.


20 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Caption: Lambert House, Summer 2016, just after a water balloon fight., Credit: KUOW PHOTO/AMY STYER
On Seattle's Capitol Hill, the Lambert House is a space where queer youth are free to be themselves. RadioActive's Amy Styer takes us inside the ho...

  • Added: Sep 18, 2017
  • Length: 07:27
Caption: Omar Ali with his family. Omar is standing fourth form the left holding his daughter., Credit: Courtesy of Awal Ibrahim
Omar Ali is a hero in the eyes of his family. He embarked on a long journey that could have landed him nearly anywhere, fighting to find a safe spa...

Bought by KSFR


  • Added: Sep 18, 2017
  • Length: 05:47
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Alyssa started using heroin when she was 14. She’s now 20 and works as a daycare teacher., Credit: FLICKR PHOTO / B.A.D. HTTPS://WWW.FLICKR.COM/PHOTOS/BRADADOZIER/
"My own family didn't even know who I was anymore. I didn't even know who I was anymore."

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio and KSFR


  • Added: Sep 18, 2017
  • Length: 04:01
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Maya and her parents., Credit: Courtesy of Maya Konz
The first thing you say to someone you just met is most likely a polite greeting: "Hello! What's your name?" But not everyone is that thoughtful.

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio


  • Added: Sep 18, 2017
  • Length: 06:29
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: April Reyes (far left) with the family who took her in. From left to right: Mariya Manuel, Tanya Kim, Tamar Manuel and Alan Lee., Credit: Courtesy of April Reyes
For most people, family will always be family because you're blood. But in April Reyes' case, it doesn’t quite work that way. / This story won the ...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio and Cards Against Humanity: The Good News Podcast


  • Added: Sep 18, 2017
  • Length: 06:39
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: The author's parents, Fetiha Omer and Abdul-Basit Hassan, in Somalia., Credit: Courtesy of Zubeyda Ahmed
"My dad's life story is kind of like Cinderella’s. He grew up without a mom, worked for an evil relative and found his princess in the least expect...

Bought by Cards Against Humanity: The Good News Podcast


  • Added: Sep 18, 2017
  • Length: 05:40
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Sam struggled with depression in middle school., Credit: KUOW PHOTO/NATALIE NEWCOMB
“I started being like, I can’t talk about these things. You’re basically taught to bottle up your feelings in middle school.” RadioActive Youth M...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio and KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio


  • Added: Sep 18, 2017
  • Length: 05:49
  • Purchases: 2
Caption: Volunteering at the Seattle Aquarium helped Grace Zheng overcome her fear of talking., Credit: KUOW PHOTO/SURYA HENDRY
"I was afraid that I was gonna say the wrong thing, I wouldn't be able to speak, I was gonna stutter." One introvert's transformation, with a littl...

  • Added: Sep 18, 2017
  • Length: 06:27
Caption: Noel Gasca poses for a graduation shot with her father, Rick Gasca, and mother, Kim Chapman., Credit: Courtesy of Noel Gasca
On a sunny morning during her junior year of high school, Noel Gasca was taking the SAT, when she got to a question that left her stumped. It basic...

Bought by KSFR


  • Added: Sep 18, 2017
  • Length: 05:57
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Leo S. Morales loves his job as a researcher of minority health at the University of Washington., Credit: KUOW PHOTO/TORI ZIVKOVIC
People sometimes take unlikely paths to get where they're going. This is the story of an unlikely scholar.

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio


  • Added: Sep 15, 2017
  • Length: 04:54
  • Purchases: 1

  • Added: Sep 15, 2017
  • Length: 05:12
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: RadioActive producer Jad Vianu with his father Alec Vianu., Credit: Courtesy of Jad Vianu
Many people have heard of the brutal dictatorships that ruled Soviet Eastern Europe in the twentieth century. RadioActive youth producer and high s...

  • Added: Sep 15, 2017
  • Length: 04:55
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When you hear about concussions in the news, it's often about a football player. But kids get concussions too. In one recent year, nearly a quarter...

Bought by KSFR


  • Added: Sep 15, 2017
  • Length: 05:38
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Mr. Drego Little teaches a class at Rainier Scholars., Credit: KUOW PHOTO/FEVEN MEKONENN
We all remember the influential teacher who made a difference in our lives. But for Drego Little, the teacher that changed his life was the one he ...

Bought by Cards Against Humanity: The Good News Podcast


  • Added: Sep 14, 2017
  • Length: 05:56
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Diana Nguyen used to be lazy. Then she got on a bike., Credit: KUOW PHOTO/MELISSA TAKAI
Laziness is a hard habit to break, especially if you want to make the most out of life. But it helps if you have a bike, or at least it did for one...

  • Added: Sep 14, 2017
  • Length: 04:59
Caption: Kamna Shastri with her dad on her fifth birthday. Now, Kamna is coming to terms with her albinism., Credit: COURTESY OF KAMNA SHASTRI
RadioActive producer Kamna Shastri tries to understand where she fits into conversations about race and identity as an Indian-American with albinism.

  • Added: Sep 14, 2017
  • Length: 03:52
Caption: Elinor Jones Toutant at the RadioActive Community Listening Party., Credit: KUOW PHOTO/COLLEEN MCDEVITT
Elinor Jones Toutant was homeschooled for most of her education, even though her family isn't one you'd expect to make that choice.

  • Added: Sep 13, 2017
  • Length: 05:03
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In the United States, we take the right to get an education for granted but that's not the case for many refugees. RadioActive's Faisa Muse brings ...

  • Added: Sep 13, 2017
  • Length: 05:12
Caption: Fallon, 17, suffered a psychotic episode in sophomore year of high school., Credit: COLLEEN MCDEVITT / KUOW
Lots of teens struggle with depression or anxiety, but what’s less talked about is psychotic disorders in teens and what the struggle is like. Radi...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio


  • Added: Sep 13, 2017
  • Length: 06:03
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Shina William's mother worked for many years in factories. When she was working she felt a pain, tingling over her hands., Credit: KUOW PHOTO/SHINA WILLIAMS
Look at your hands, and think of all the things you do with them: hold an ice cream cone, drive your car, scroll through Facebook. What if all of t...

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio and KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio


  • Added: Sep 13, 2017
  • Length: 05:26
  • Purchases: 2