Beverly Hills, 90210 (1990-2000)

At the beginning of “90210’s” fourth season, the gang had graduated from West Beverly High - yes, even Donna Martin - and started classes at California University. College life proved rocky for the Walsh twins and their friends: Brenda ponders eloping and falls in with a group of animal rights radicals, former good girl Andrea becomes pregnant and drops out of school, Steve is accused of rape and David becomes addicted to drugs - and that’s just freshman year. Subsequent seasons saw the departure of many of the series’ original actors, including Gabrielle Cartieris, Shannen Doherty and Luke Perry, leaving many fans to long for the good old high school days.

The original ‘Beverly Hills, 90210′ cast found college to be even more dramatic than high school.

Gossip Girl,” entering its third season on the CW this fall, will attempt a feat more risky than one of bad boy Chuck Bass’ velvet suits: transitioning its crew of scheming prepsters from the privileged halls of Constance Billard and St. Jude’s to the city campuses of NYU and Columbia. It remains to be seen whether college can be any more sordid than high school for the “Gossip” gang, but plenty of other TV teens have made the jump from high school to university - with decidedly mixed results. Here’s a look at shows that made the grade, and some that were forced to drop out.

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/tv/toplists/tv_shows_that_peaked_in_high_school/tv_shows_that_peaked_in_high_school.html#ixzz0gy13hNRb

Real Name: Richard Hatch, (born: April 8, 1961 )

Is the winner of the first American Survivor series, which aired in 2000 and was set in Borneo. He is currently incarcerated for tax evasion.

Prior to his Survivor appearance, Hatch was a corporate trainer from Newport, Rhode Island. He spent five years in the US Army, is a licensed real estate agent, and has also worked as a car salesman and a bartender.

Where are they now?

Real Name: Lauryn Noel Hill, (born: May 25, 1975 ) South Orange, New Jersey Is a Grammy Award-winning American singer, rapper, musician, songwriter, producer, and film actress. Where are they now?

After 10 years of ruling the music world. She is now barely recording, living in the suburbs of South Orange, NJ in the home she bought years ago, with her mom and five kids and Rohan Marley and shocking friends with odd behavior reports people magazine. Last summer during her solo tour, Hill was greeted with boos when she appeared onstage in Brooklyn very late.

Also hurting her reputation was the fact that a 2005 Fugees reunion album was derailed, and Hill’s chronic lateness during a brief tour didn’t help. Wyclef Jean is quoted as saying, “I kid you not, every night I’m onstage for 45 - 50 minutes before she would come out”.

How fast do the DVD counterfeiters operate these days? Yesterday, Oct. 30, I got out of a car in downtown Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, and was mobbed by teenage boys hawking rubber sandals and other wares. The young entrepreneur who caught my ear was selling bootleg copies of Walt Disney Co.’s High School Musical 3: Senior Year.

I knew that the movie had opened barely a week earlier, because I had taken my daughter to see it. That’s how long it took for the film to make its way from Hollywood to the teeming streets of Africa.

I suppose Disney can congratulate itself for producing films that resonate in a poor, chaotic place like Maputo, where viewers must find it strange that American high school students spend their days singing and dancing. But I wouldn’t want to be the person in charge of defending Disney’s digital rights.

Don’t feel too bad for Disney, though. According to Bloomberg the film opened with $42 million in sales, the best showing ever for a film musical.

You don’t see the pack of musicians and color guard that takes the field to perform after months of practice.

And you don’t hear the music blasting from the 40, the 30, the 20.

You miss it. But they don’t.

Today, “they” are hundreds of high school marching band members competing for the prize at the 29th annual Michigan Competing Band Association State Finals at Ford Field.

And winning doesn’t just mean they sound good. Victory is proof that they can march, play and carry out choreography over the length of a football field all at the same time and do it better than everyone else. They use props and sets–sometimes elaborate, sometimes as simple as umbrellas–to compliment the music, which spans from rock to classical.

Today’s competition includes the top 10 MCBA high school marching bands in each of four flights, which are based upon school enrollment numbers. Flight IV played first, representing school enrollments of up to 794 students, followed by Flight III beginning at 1:10 p.m., Flight II at 4:35 p.m. and Flight I at 8 p.m.

Awards are presented after each flight, limiting the anticipation to a couple of hours.

Many bands sit in the stands after they finish performing on the field. Members of the Grant High School marching band said they watch other shows while they wait for their scores, paying attention to the music, marching and props used by other bands.

“I’m more excited than nervous,” said Christina Islas, a 17-year-old senior and member of the color guard, adding that the GHS color guard–a group of visual performers which supplements the musicians’ performance–has been practicing since March.

This is Grant’s second year at the state finals. They scored a 10th place ranking in last year’s competition, and in the spirit of improvement, members had already critiqued this year’s performance.

“It was a little off in the beginning,” said 16-year-old junior Courtney Jensen, a trombone player. “But it recovered really well.”

Grant scored a 5th place ranking today, moving up five spots from last year. And the cheering sections weren’t shy at the announcement.

Crowds of parents, friends and relatives showed their support of different schools with posters, pompoms and cars painted with school spirit.

But they weren’t the only viewers enjoying the show.

Joyce LePage of Shelby Twp. brought her 12-year-old son, Ben, to watch all the bands. They’re not rooting for any one school.

“It’s just fun,” LePage said, adding that she decided to bring her son–who plays percussion in the Shelby Junior High band–after a coworker told her about the competition.

Performances continue until 10:30 p.m. today. Tickets are $16 for adults, $12 for students and seniors and are available (cash-only) at Ford Field all day. For more information, go to http://www.michcompband.org/Championships/championships2007.html.

Efron, 20, has found international fame in the role of Troy, the school basketball star, but has decided it is “time to grow up”.

The Disney films, described as a cross between Grease and Fame, have been a phenomenal hit and won Efron the adoration of teenage girls across the world.

Thousands of screaming fans turned out to greet him when he arrived at the London premiere of High School Musical with co-star and girlfriend Vanessa Hudgens, 19, who plays his high school sweetheart, Gabriella.

Speaking after the event, he said: “This will be the last one.

“We’re all in our senior year and have graduated. It is sad but we all have to grow up some time and now it is our time.

“We have saved the best for last – but this is definitely our last stop on the school trip.”

He is planning to move into more adult roles, starting with the lead in a remake of 80s film Footloose, which starred Kevin Bacon.

Efron said: “I love that film.”

A wax-work sculpture of Efron will be unveiled on Thursday at Madame Tussauds in London.

AT&T Aspire Initiative to Promote High School Success and Workforce Readiness

LOS ANGELES, Oct. 9 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — AT&T Inc. today announced it is awarding more than $730,000 in AT&T Foundation grants to eight Los Angeles-area educational institutions to support high school retention programs for at-risk students

The grants are part of the company’s signature initiative, AT&T Aspire, which was announced earlier this year to help address high school success and workforce readiness. AT&T has committed $100 million in philanthropy through 2011 to schools and nonprofit organizations that are focused on high school retention and better preparing students for college and the workforce.

As part of the Aspire initiative, the AT&T Foundation has committed $29 million in High School success grants to more than 170 schools and nonprofit organizations. Statewide, AT&T is awarding 35 grants totaling more than $3.5 million.

America’s Promise Alliance, the nation’s largest multi-sector collaborative dedicated to the well-being of children and youth, has noted that nearly one-third of U.S. high school students drop out before graduating — with about 7,000 students dropping out every school day, or one every 26 seconds.

“High school dropout rates are a serious issue affecting more than 1 million students in this country each year,” said Denita Willoughby, vice president, AT&T External Affairs - Los Angeles. “We’re committed to supporting the great work our educators are already doing in our local communities to help kids succeed by preparing them for a global economy. We are lending a hand to build and expand these programs, and we are gratified by the response to the program and look forward to working with these groups to build a brighter future for our youth.”

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