RadioActive KUOW

“A lot of people don’t know me as my wolf self. But that’s only because I like to keep it a secret.” An 11-year-old shares their special connection to wolves in this creative audio piece.

Many students are going back to school for in-person learning. RadioActive youth producer Charlotte Engrav is one of them. She feels mixed emotions. In this creative audio diary told entirely through sound, she shares her experience with anxiety during school after over a year of virtual classes.

Adar Abdi is a White Center teenager with a passion for fantasy. She gravitated to fantasy novels as an escape from reality, into worlds without racism or sexism. But as she continued to read, she found more messages — subtle and overt — that brought the same issues she tried to avoid to the forefront. This piece is an imagined confrontation between Adar and a fantasy writer.

If Facebook were a person, it would be older than most RadioActivians. This audio piece explores what it's like to grow up online for four teenagers — from falling in love to facing trolls — and blends nonfiction interviews with an imagined main character: the Internet.

Talking about mental health in the Somali community is hard. There's a stigma — especially around seeking professional help. But mental health is something that many in the Somali community struggle with.

RadioActive youth producer Kouther Ahmed shares a story from her community about why it's important to talk about your mental health.

A fictional story about two young people navigating their newfound distance during the pandemic, told through their voicemail messages.