The hard faith journey does not end with the completion of eighth grade. The larger percentage of students own a personal faith during the middle school year, but the final steps of solidifying belief often happen in the first six months of the freshman year. The things they have begun to believe will be challenged immediately in high school.

In most junior and senior high schools, students are dieting even though, on average, they are not overweight. "I always wanted to be the good girl. Good girls are skinny and happy. The bad girls are the fat ones," answered an eleven-year-old when asked why she starved herself to the point of hospitalization.

At the base of the mountain, teens pour from the cars as the first slivers of dawn creep over the mountains to the east. The youth drag a wooden cross from the bed of a truck. One of the teens shoulders the cross, and we begin to climb.

Do cell phones and tablets get in your way of deep relationships?

I have something you probably don't—a picture of my own brain. My wife won't let me hang it in the living room (too creepy, she says); and while people ask to see pictures of my kids, they've yet to be impressed when I pull a picture of my brain from my wallet.

You're not alone.

The number of older Americans (ages 55-64) using online dating apps has doubled in the past two years.

A San Diego high school has come under scrutiny after parents learned that a transgender student, born female, has been using the boy's locker room.

We don't need more competition; we need more friends—good, close friends—with whom we can laugh, celebrate and link arms.

Want to make sure you're financially ready for a collaborative youth event? Here are some ideas...