Students from Jordan High School in Durham, North Carolina, present memoirs juried and edited by their peers. Topics range from witnessing gang violence to forming lasting friendships to coping with the loss of a beloved guinea pig. A moving and informative resource for teachers, parents, and community members, this collection offers a readable snapshot of what it is like to be a freshman in high school today.

High school freshmen at Durham School of the Arts, a magnet school in North Carolina, share their personal stories in this third installment of the Going on 15 series. A collection of short memoirs written by young adult authors and edited by their peers, Freshman vs. Self covers a wide range of topics facing youth today. From coping with unwanted stepparents to discovering inner beauty, the true stories in Freshman vs. Self allow teenagers to speak for themselves. Relevant for a young audience and revelatory for educators and parents alike, these memoirs will remind you what it's like to face the foe that is the self.

Freshman writers at Durham School of the Arts, a public arts magnet school in North Carolina, share the stories of their teenage lives in this wide-ranging collection of short memoirs. Originally written for a class project, the memoirs were edited by student Kaitlin Medlin and staff and supervised by teacher Alexa Garvoille. Covering topics from the power of the arts to the effects of abuse, from journeys of faith to chronicles of friendship, Going on 15: Memoirs of Freshmen reminds adult and teen readers alike to look beyond the friends, the classmates, the students, or the children we think we know, and listen to their voices.