(CNN) — The college students who showed up with bare midriffs and never contributed to discussions during Faye Rogaski’s communication classes were surprised when they weren’t picked for coveted internships and jobs.

They would also e-mail the public relations executive without so much as a greeting but with demands such as “I need a reference,” or “I need a letter of recommendation.” No “please,” no “thank you,” no face-to-face handshakes, introductions or follow-ups after classes.

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“Matt Thomas” (a pseudonym) had only recently begun experimenting with marijuana when he got caught selling a few joints in the bathroom at his junior high school. It was no big deal, Thomas thought, especially considering that his parents — an investment banker and a homemaker — smoked pot too.

What Is Your Community or Place of Faith Doing to Help Keep Kids Healthy This Summer?

Officials at Littleton Public Schools are working to change the way students eat.
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Though the terms “college ready” and “career ready” have been used together in many education plans in recent years, a new paper from the Association for Career and Technical Education argues they are not the same.

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Too many adolescents drop out of high school and then struggle with high rates of unemployment, incarceration, drug use and non-marital births. The high cost of these mistakes – both to the teens themselves as well as society – make a solid case for investing public funds in programs that have been shown to work, as well as in additional research on these disconnected adolescents and youth.

On April 27, The Future of Children, a joint project between Princeton University and the Brookings Institution, will host an event to release a new journal, “Transition to Adulthood,” that is devoted to research and analysis of the challenges young people face in making the transition to adulthood in modern America. The event will focus on describing and analyzing second-chance programs that aim to help high school drop-outs, and will feature presentations by and discussions among researchers, community program operators and Obama administration officials.

Jamie Oliver’s quest to improve school foods in West Virginia has turned into a hot reality show. Watch clips of the show, get recipes or sign a petition in support of better foods for kids.

Sign the Good Food Petition today!

A new publication from The Colorado Trust details the advantages, as well as the challenges still to be addressed, of the Trusted Hand approach to enrolling hard-to-reach children in public health insurance programs.

A new executive order helps coordinate state- and federally-funded programs that serve young children and their families.  A Colorado Trust report by Deidre Johnson.

The American Camp Association, an accrediting organization, has guidelines and information on choosing a camp for kids this summer.