The Today Show Appearance

It's rough, but you get the idea.

Here's a video of the Today Show appearance by Kid Reporters Mariam El Hasan and Andrew Liang. They were interviewed by Today Show hosts Ann Curry and Al Roke and were asked about their experiences covering the NBC Education Nation summit this week.

This footage was taken by one of the Kid Reporters' beaming proud editors witha small handheld camera. We were standing just off the set and filmed it as it happened. Our apologies for the poor sound! We thought it would be interesting to see what it's like to be on the show!

Click on play to find out!

—Editor Suzanne Freeman

VIDEO: Scholastic Inc.

Our Schools, Our Future

Kid Reporters cover NBC conference Education Nation

Kid Reporters are covering the upcoming NBC summit Education Nation on the state of the country’s schools.

From Sunday, September 26 through Tuesday, September 28, Kid Reporters will be posting reports on the events and exhibits as well as their interviews with some of the nation’s top education experts.

Follow it all online, while also checking out the Kids Press Corps’ profiles of their own schools in Scholastic's Special REport, Our Schools, Our Future. Click on the video play button for a sample of what you'll find there!

—Editor Suzanne Freeman

VIDEO: Courtesy Andrew Liang

 

Gulf Oil Spill Dispersed?

The mood improves, but Gulf Coast residents still skeptical.

As Editor of the Scholastic Kids Press Corps, I have been in New Orleans this week with two Kid Reporters. We are covering stories about the region's recovery from the Gulf Oil Spill and the upcoming 5th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.

When we first got here, people were somewhat down about the spill and the fact that many fishermen are out of work. They are also stricken by the damage that may be done to the delicate ecosystem in the marshlands along the Louisiana coast.

Today, the mood improved somewhat when the government announced that 90 percent of the oil is gone. It has been dispersed by nature, according to NOAA reports, with the help of chemicals put in the water to break of the slimy substance. Also, thousands of workers have been busy cleaning the oil off of beaches and animals and out of the wetlands.

At the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in the French Quarter in New Orleans today, families crowded around tanks to see rescued sea turtles swimming freely amongst brightly colored tropical fish. The aquarium has put four of the more than 170 rescued turtles on display at the aquarium. That's all that are well enough to be put in with the healthy population of sea life.

Kid Reporter Abi Lista will have a video report on the Audubon turtle rescue efforts that will be posted next week.

Oysters are back on the menus in many of the restaurants in town, though they are smaller (and a bit more bitter tasting) than usual. Some of the bigger beds have been closed until they are deemed safe for harvest again.

Today, the Kid Reporters also retraced some of Abi's steps as a young girl growing up in the New Orleans culture before Hurricane Katrina. A favorite haunt was a Six Flags theme park in New Orleans East. Like parts of its neighborhood, it is still shuttered after five years. Haunt is a good word to use here. The place is a ghost town.

Abi also ate some of her favorite foods, now being threatened by the oil, checked out Mardi Gras World, and walked through the French Quarter.

Check back next week for a report on how her city has made a comeback in some places and not so much in others. She and her dad will tell you why they decided to return rather than resettle somewhere else.

Tomorrow, Kid Reporter Trinity Vogel and I are going out on a boat in the wetlands. Check back here to find out what we saw and what the Coast Guard has to say about the latest news.

—Suzanne Freeman, Editor

PHOTO: One of two rescued Kemp's Ridley turtles that are now well enough to be on display at the Audubon Aquarium of the America's in New Orleans. Once the waters in the Gulf are ruled safe again, the turtles will be returned to the wild. (Photo by Lee Alvey)

Taylor Swift Wins Big

Kid Reporter fans attend a concert; interview teen singing sensation.

Editor’s Note: Singing sensation Taylor Swift made music history when she became the youngest person ever to be named 'Entertainer of the Year' at the Country Music Awards last week.

The 19-year-old also took home awards for Female Vocalist of the Year, Music Video of the Year for her song "Love Story," and Album of the Year with "Fearless."

Kid Reporter Chloe Anello recently attended a Taylor Swift concert at Madison Square Garden (see blog post below). A year ago, Kid Reporter Sydney Rieckhoff had a sit down interview Swift. Check it out by clicking here!

But first, relive Chloe’s concert experience in New York City.

—Editor Suzanne Freeman

Concert Sensation

Going to your first concert is a whole different musical experience from listening to recorded music. For me music came alive when Taylor Swift preformed in Madison Square Garden recently. The sold-out crowd was a sea of tween and teen girls, all fans of 19-year-old singer/songwriter.

The night started off with videos of Swift and her friends Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, and Lucas Till talking about their definition of the word fearless. After all it was the Fearless tour!

Swift took the stage in a marching band uniform singing the song “You Belong with Me.” In the middle of the song she pulled off the band uniform to reveal a sparkly fringe dress.

After a couple songs everyone noticed that only the band was on stage. Swift was missing. Then the screams began. I looked to my left and there she was, standing in the aisles. Fans were climbing on seats to get pictures, while others were running to get close to her. It took a while for her to get back to the stage with all the fans trying to hug her or take a picture with her. Once she was on stage she was surprised with a seven-minute standing ovation from adoring and appreciative fans.

For her hit song “Love Story,” the stage transformed into a castle scene. Swift performed in a red dress until back up dancers pulled it off of her revealing another dress, this one white. Swift took off her tiara and gave it to a little girl up front. That sure made one little girl’s day!

Taylor gave two encores. On her last one, there was an amazing special effect that I’ve never seen before. She was singing her song “Should’ve Said No” and at the end water cascaded right on top of her. The water rained down in sheets with the lyrics of the song reflected on it. It was an amazing way to end the show. I’ll never forget it.

—Chloe Anello

PHOTO: Taylor Swift with Kid Reporter Sydney Rieckhoff. (Photo courtesy Sydney Rieckhoff)

President Obama Goes Back to School

Kid Reporter twitters, blogs, covers Obama speech to students today!

President Barack Obama is speaking to America’s students today at Wakefield High School in Arlington, Virginia. In his speech, the President is expected to encourage and challenge students to set and accomplish their educational goals in the years ahead.

My Editor Suzanne Freeman and I will be covering the event live. In fact, we will probably be on the train to Union Station in Washington, D.C., as you read this!

You can follow our "tweets" on twitter.com/kidspress. Or check back to this blog or the Scholastic Kids Press Corps Web site for full coverage. You can also watch it live online at www.WhiteHouse.gov.

The speech is set for 12 noon Eastern Standard Time.

Covering this speech is a great opportunity and I have worked hard to prepare for it. It will be a full and exciting day. My family and I will catch a 6 a.m. train from New Jersey to Washington, D.C.'s Union Station. I will have to wake up at 5 a.m. to get ready!

Once I board the train, I will meet my editor, who is coming on the same train from New York. We will then have a chance to review our plans for the day. On our return-trip, we will be back on the train, writing the news story and updating this blog. Be sure to follow the coverage and send in your comments!

—Gopa Praturi

PHOTO: President Barack Obama speaking at a town hall meeting. Photo: White House photo 2/9/09 by Pete Souza

We Have Liftoff!

 
Space Shuttle Endeavour heads to ISS on sixth try.

Kid Reporters Mason and Bailey Pownall finally saw their friend Astronaut Tim Kopra begin his space adventure when the Space Shuttle Endeavour achieved liftoff on Wednesday afternoon. It was the sixth attempt at launch for the problem-plagued shuttle. The first three attempts were scrubbed due to a gas leak. The next two attempts were delayed because of bad weather at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Today—the shuttle's second day in orbit—the crew will inspect the shuttle's heat shield and prepare for docking with the International Space Station (ISS).

Mason and Bailey will report back soon on this blog with a full description of the lift off and mission details.

—Editor Suzanne Freeman

PHOTO: Liftoff of space shuttle Endeavour from Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Jeffrey Marino 

Where Art Thou Rockets’ Red Glare!

Has the bad economy put a damper on your community’s Fourth of July?

I may need a boat to see any fireworks this Fourth of July. I’m staying on a lake in Central Texas for the summer. Normally the small towns in the two counties here compete with each other for the best holiday fireworks displays. The bad economy has put a damper on the patriotic fervor in the Texas Hill Country, this year.

In the Highland Lakes, which is about 40 miles west of Austin (the state’s capital), the problem is not just the economy though. While the cost of a community fireworks display led the Marble Falls Chamber of Commerce to cancel its town’s pyrotechnics, the drought has also played a role.

Burn bans are in effect throughout Burnet and Llano counties, and yet fireworks stands are open to the public along almost every major roadway. Volunteer fire departments plan to be on alert all weekend long. (Kid Reporter Quinn Jacobson is here covering that story for The River Cities Daily Tribune, one of the local papers. More on his cool summer internship later!)

In this area of Texas, only Kingsland and Horseshoe Bay will feature community fireworks, and both of those are on the water. Kingsland, which is a small community about 50 miles west of Austin, is still holding its annual Aqua Boom fest. And just as the name suggests, it’s all about the water: boat parades and fireworks center lake.

Just try and rent a boat around here on the Fourth of July! Well, I have and it’s not happening, so me and mine will be straining our necks on very dry land for a glimpse of the rocket’s red glare!

What about you? What are you doing for the Fourth? What is your community planning (or not)? Click on the blue comment link below and tell us all about it!

—Editor Suzanne Freeman

PHOTO: Part of the Aqua Boom 4th of July Boat Parade in Kingsland, Texas, 2008. Photo courtesy The Picayune.

History in the Hallway

In the hallway of a building at North Carolina Central University, sits a section of a lunch counter complete with pie rack, coffee cups, and saucers. Two red vinyl covered stools are anchored to the floor. Next to it is a red vinyl booth. You can sit there, chat, take pictures, touch the items. They are just out there in the hallway where hundreds of students pass every day.

The only way you would know the significance of this display is to read the framed photo copy of a 10-year-old news story perched on the counter. The display, including menus, came out of the Woolworth's department store at 124 W. Main Street in Durham, North Carolina. (That address is now an empty lot. The building was pulled down years ago.) That Woolworth's was one of several in Georgia where civil rights activists staged peaceful sit-ins in 1960  to protest segregation.

A sit-in in Greensboro, North Carolina, just a few days before the Durham protest on February 8, got most of the national media attention. A photograph taken there became the iconic image of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s non-violent protests. But Durham had a place in that history, too. Eight days after the Durham sit-in, Dr. King visited the city and made one of his famous speeches.

"Let us not fear going to jail if the officials threaten to arrest us for standing up for our rights," King said. "Maybe it will take this willingness to stay in jail to arouse the dozing conscience of our nation."

He also made a stop at the Woolworth's counter. Woolworth's closed it's counters for business, reopening them in the summer--desegregated.

The store closed for business in 1994. The counter was saved by the director at North Carolina Central University at the time. NCCU is the first public liberal arts college founded for African-Americans.

When I read about it being at the school, I decided to go see it. I expected it to be behind glass, but it just sits there out in the hallway. It's been there 10 years and looks completely undisturbed. The coffee cups, salt and pepper shakers, pie rack, and napkin holder can be picked up and moved around. Students walk by as you sit there and rearrange things, but no one asks you to leave. No one pays any attention to you as you snap pictures and take notes.

So does this mean that no one cares anymore about the struggle of the 1960s? I don't think so. After 10 years in a university hallway, the display remains pristine. Someone, somewhere in that building takes good care of this little slice of history in the hallway.

—Editor Suzanne Freeman

Photo by Suzanne Freeman

Texas Takes the Lead in Swine Flu Prevention

I just spent the last three weeks in Texas where I have several family members who work in the public schools. Texas is taking a lead in prevention and is doing a good job.

As parents began to panic about sending their kids to school, Governor Rick Perry stepped in and took action. The last week I was there, he held an emergency meeting with a majority of the state's school superintendents. That same day, the superintendents went back to their districts to decide whether or not  to close their campuses to prevent the spread of the virus.

Most districts stayed open, but with pro-active measures. Janitorial staffs went to work double time, disinfecting washrooms and cafeterias twice as often as usual. They are also disinfecting classrooms on a daily basis rather than weekly.

Student competitions, which require schools to bus participants to other districts, have been canceled for the remainder of the school year. Field trips are also canceled. Kids may be missing out, but they are staying safe and helping prevent the spread of a dangerous disease.

Two reporters in the Scholastic Kids Press Corps talked to infectious disease experts in Texas last week to find out how we can all be involved in prevention. The three doctors each stressed the importance of containing the spread by staying home if you are sick and washing your hands frequently.

You should cough and sneeze into your arm or tissue. Many people are no longer shaking hands or giving hugs and kisses to greet friends and family. Don't touch your face with your hands and keep your hands clean!

You should also get a flu shot if you haven't already. Two are recommended. And when a swine flu vaccine is finally available, be sure to get yours as soon as possible!

You can keep track of what the government is doing, and get advice on prevention at the Health and Human Services Web site.

The World Health Organization has a great site with most frequently asked questions. You can keep track of the number of cases by state at the Center for Disease Control's site. It also has a great list of prevention tips. You can find more tips on the Scholastic Kids Press Corps page, too!

So what is your school doing to prevent the swine flu? Click on "Comment" below and let us know.

—Kids Press Corps Editor Suzanne Freeman