Bitten by a tick. Harry potter, watch out. Theres another magical teen with more than a few tricks up his sleeve. Ill have that story. That and more, next on teen kids news. Welcome to teen kids news. Im mwanzaa. And im siena. Well start with our top story. If you play a sport, you know that having a great coach is really important. But in some communities, coaches are hard to find. Libby reports on a game plan to change that. Sports are more than just fun. Kids who play sports are more likely to. Do better in school. Theyre less likely to. Abuse drugs. Or become pregnant. And theyre less likely to be. Overweight. And yet sports programs in Public Schools across the country are being. Reduced cut. Downsized. In fact, almost 4 billion have been cut from sports programs in recent years. Especially hard hit are kids in poor areas. Only 3 of them get to play organized sports. As a result, there are lots of kids out there who want to play sports but dont have what they need most coaches to work with them. Thats where an Organization Called up2us comes in. Up2us was started because we know that kids all over america, particularly in our cities here, need sports. I mean, sports is such a fundamental part of growing up, and you learn so many values from sports that you take with you for the rest of your life. With help from the federal Service Program americorps, up2us started coach across america. So far, theyve trained more than a thousand volunteers to be coaches in 25 states. Ktrice mcneill was recently named their coach of the year. He really understands his players. Because he was once in their shoes. It was really tough growing up in my neighborhood because they really didnt have any organized sports teams. Everything was just surrounded by violence and just innercity crime, so i wanted to find an outlet and something positive where i can be able to say i dont have to get involved with that so much and just i can do my own thing. Coach mcneill not only turned his own life around, hes passing his positive attitude on to his players. Ktrice is a very good coach. I look up to him in many different ways. Hes like family to me, and thats basically everything. He has a big impact in my life. Hes a very good coach. He teaches me new moves, stay in school, dont be outside with the idiots doing the bad things. The volunteers arent trained to just be coaches but to be mentors as well. Thats why coach mcneill takes an active role in his players schoolwork. I keep a rapport with the teachers, principals, their counselors, and sometimes im in studentteacher conference meetings with their parents, teachers, principals. All 1, 2, 3, varsity one of the things we know is when we ask, like, young kids across this country, whos the numberone person you turn to . Besides their parents, if theyre lucky enough to have a coach in their life, they say their coach. Up2us is also looking for teens to be assistant coaches. If youre interested in applying, theres a link on our website. And there are other ways you can help struggling teams stay in the game. Theres a lot of sports programs out there that desperately need equipment. They dont have everything from baseball bats to lacrosse sticks. So one thing kids can do, is if theyre from communities where they do have lots of equipment, maybe do a collection or a drive. Whether youre giving or receiving, everybody wins. Theres more teen kids news coming up next. Well be right back. One school turned a ton of garbage into a moneymaker. The project all started in the school cafeteria. Stephanie has the story. The trash cans at the Anne Hutchinson school were once overflowing with all types of garbage. We noticed kids walking up to the garbage cans, dumping their chocolate milk in the garbage can, throwing the carton out, throwing all foods, all soft plastics everything was going in the garbage. Not only was it wasteful, it was ending up in alreadyovercrowded landfills. And adding insult to injury, all that garbage was costing the school a lot of money to take away. Then students heard that recycling could greatly reduce their lunchroom trash. Recycling is not throwing out things that can be reused. Like many of us, they had thought recycling was only for things like paper, plastic, and glass. Then their teacher told them they could also recycle food through a process called composting. Instead of having more garbage to send away, cause the landfills are gonna soon take over the earth, instead of doing that, you can just give it to the worms, and it soon decomposes, cause the worms eat it. Wait. Did she say worms . Personally, i do not pick up any worms because im a little squeamish about that. But the students are becoming bffs with the worms. Thats because the slimy Little Critters are an essential part of the composting process. Well, you take fruit scraps, vegetable scraps, and bread. You put in there, and then you mix it up, and then, about two months it gets hot, and then when you turn it, it gets steamy. Its really hot doing that job because it gets over 160 degrees in there. As the food breaks down, it attracts worms that eat it. Then, when the worms poop, they leave behind a nutrient. And that makes the compost, which is used to fertilize new fruits and vegetables. That way we can get the compost into our garden, and our plants can grow better. And in the process, theyve also cut down a lot on the amount of garbage that has to go to the landfills. We used to throw away 12 bags of garbage. Now were down to half a bag of garbage for all the lunch periods. But it took a while for the students to get their schoolmates to pitch in. Separating their trash into all the different containers was a bit challenging at first. Well, at first they werent so on board with it. They would just put it in wherever they want. But soon they got the hang of it and started putting it where it needs to go. And we made signs to help them. Terracycle helped, too. The company pays the school for collecting certain types of trash that can be turned into useful products like book bags and pencil cases. Weve already made almost 150 from terracycle just returning used juice pouches and chip bags. Basically, the only garbage left is the milk cartons. And once we hook up with a person that will take our milk cartons, were gonna really have no garbage. If composting is something you want to try at your school, heres some good advice. Find a teacher, find someone that can help you, get as many kids interested as you can, and set up some bins in the lunch room, and kind of see what happens at first. You never know. Worms may become your best friends. For tkn, im stephanie. We all should know what to do in a medical emergency. Thats why were bringing you tips on first aid from the american red cross. Okay, so, i come in from playing outside, and i find theres a tick on me. What do i do . Dont panic. Ticks are mostly just an ugly nuisance. But we do want to get rid of them. So take a pair of tweezers, grasp it near the head, as close to your skin as you can, slowly and firmly pull until it lets go. Then put it in a sealable container ill tell you why in a second. Meanwhile, wash the area with soap and water. Apply antiseptic or antibiotic ointment. And look for symptoms like rash, flulike symptoms, or joint pain. If you experience any of those, go see a doctor, and bring that tick you saved with you. Theyre gonna want to analyze it. So, what are they checking for . Well, ticks carry illnesses like lyme disease, Rocky Mountain spotted fever. How do we avoid ticks . Well, they like to be in the woodsy areas and highgrass areas. So if you know youre gonna be in that kind of environment, wear longsleeve shirts, long pants, and preferably make them lightcolored so you can see the dark tick and if its attached to you. Also, pull your hair back in a ponytail and wear a cap. Dont forget your insect repellent. And every time you come home, you should check yourself and your pets carefully. And dont wait time may be ticking. For tkn, im emily. You can learn history from a book, a film, a museum, or sometimes even from an airplane. Scott reports on an effort to preserve the past thats really taking off. From the outside, hangar b doesnt look like much. But inside, the building is crammed with vintage aircraft of all kinds. And its all part of whats called the harp project. Harp stands for Historic Aircraft restoration project. And its a department of the interior program. The objective is to restore those kinds of airplanes that flew out of Floyd Bennett field during its 50year history or so. Floyd Bennett Field opened in 1931. It was new york citys first municipal airport. During world war ii, it served as a military airport. Today its part of our National Park service. Floyd bennett has a rich heritage. Many of the worlds most legendary aviators used this airfield, including amelia earhart. This is a replica of a plane that took off from here in 1933 and made history. Eight days later, landed here in Floyd Bennett field. The first man to fly solo around the world, a oneeyed pilot called wiley post. Whether its faithfully recreating a replica or restoring an actual aircraft thats logged hundreds of hours in the air, all the work here is being done by volunteers. Marty gave us a tour of some of the aircraft harp is restoring. This is a 1940s, 50s, and early 60s Antisubmarine Warfare airplane. Two propellerdriven engines and there are two jet engines. The jet engines would be used to help it get off the ground, but then they could fly slowly for extended periods of time. Because of the propellers . Because of the propellers. And thats what they would do, is float around up there looking for unfriendly submarines. This, scott, is a c97 the c meaning cargo. But it is based on the b29 aircraft of Second World War fame. This particular airplane is the granddaddy of commercial aviation in this country. Now, this is an a4b skyhawk. The a stands for attack. The primary purpose of this airplane is to deliver bombs and rockets on enemy positions in support of infantrymen on the ground. This is the type of airplane, by the way, that john mccain was flying when he was shot down in vietnam. Its a singleengine, singleseat, carrierbased airplane. The coast guard used these primarily for searching for people in distress on the ocean and also to pull off rescues. Theres a hoist that you can see right there that would enable a crewman to descend into the water. You could put an injured person in that basket, hoist them up into the helicopter, and there would aboard the helicopter. The pilots are officers, graduates of flight school, and you would have two enlisted men back here. One is a jumper the rescue jumper. Scott, why dont you sit up there in the pilots seat . As you can see, there are a large number of instruments on the Instrument Panel and many of them are missing, but thats because when the military gives us these, they strip out the instruments. The stick is controlling the direction. The collective is controlling the angle of the blades, which dictates what speed youre going at, and your feet thats maneuvering the rudder left and right, so its very, very, very busy in these things. Now, this particular airplane here is a pt26 cornell. P stands for primary and t for trainer, and they named cornell because guess what its named after the university. During the Second World War, many pilots went through six months of training at various universities across the country. I should point out the reason the wings are painted yellow, the tail, its for visibility because the air would be filled with student pilots, and they didnt want them to collide. Well continue our tour of hangar b when tkn continues. All right, rudders check, ailerons check, Electrical Systems check. Turning a 20foot wall into a canvas takes vision. So will getting into college. Ive got what it takes. So do you. Secondhand smoke affects everyones health. Its not just irritating. It can cause Heart Disease and even death. Speak up about secondhand smoke. Your health and the health of your family depend on it. Were back at hangar b, reporting on harp the Historic Aircraft restoration project. The people here volunteer their time to work on planes that helped to make aviation history. And it all started with this one. This is a 1903 Wright Brothers flyer. Actually, its a fullscale model of the First Successful airplane. It was built and flown by orville and wilbur wright. Made of wood and canvas, it traveled just 120 feet. Thats less than half the length of a soccer field. But it was enough to wing its way into the history books. I got a chance to see what it was like to fly this craft. And if youll get on there, im gonna show you just how they flew it. Now put your feet behind the adjustable leg partition, lie on your stomach, grab the throttle handle to your left that would adjust the ailerons, or rudders, to make the plane get airborne to go up and down. Now, if he wiggles his body left to right, if you notice up there, that gets the plane to bank left and right, and thats how the Wright Brothers plane flew. Wow. It took a lot of work to fly these things. Its part museum and part interactive exhibit. Visitors get to do more than just watch the volunteers at work. They can also help with the restoration. Right now were in what we call the wing room. This is where we restore the wings and some of the fabric portions of the airplanes. Susan gave me some handson instruction. Put it under. Wrap it around. I was surprised to learn that the giant wings of some of these planes use string and fabric. Okay, we go from the very basic to the finished part ready to be primed and ready to be painted. This is fabric . This is fabric. And if you look. [ raps wing ] its like a drum. Its like a drum. Susan also showed me how the canvas wings were stitched by hand. Okay, pull it out. Go easy, easy, easy. Go ahead. Okay. So, why do you do this . History is a very important thing because if you dont understand the past and what happened, youll never understand the present, and you definitely will not know what to expect in the future. Harp is a fitting name for this project because the volunteers who give their time, preserving this important part of our countrys history, certainly are angels. For tkn, im scott. Hey, everyone, theres still time to enter toshibas exploravision. Its a science competition that asks you to imagine new technology for the future. Open to all students from kindergarten to 12th grade, projects are due by january 31st. Just check out exploravision. Org to get started. Some laws are very weird. For example, in st. Louis, its against the law for a firefighter to rescue a woman wearing a nightgown. Like i said, some laws are very weird. Not all magic has to do with spells and potions. Theres magic that any of us can do. But as veronique reports, the trick is dedication. He looks like a regular teen, hanging out with his family at the kitchen table. But mitch abrams is actually magical. [ ding ] [ laughs ] this wont cut it, and thats too long, and thats just right. He calls himself magical mitch. Take the medium rope. When he was just eight, his dad showed him his first magic trick this one. You might say mitch was immediately roped in. Pull, and they all become the same. That trick amazed me, and it made me really want to learn magic and get into performing magic for others, and it really pushed me into what im doing now. Now 15, mitch is a master of magic. And hes happy to demonstrate some of his tricks to alison, a summer intern at teen kids news. Just like that. Wow. [ chuckles ] how did he learn to do magic . While mitch didnt go to hogwarts, he did find a kind of diagon alley. He goes online to find new tricks and to shop for magic supplies. But the real trick to magic is practice, because each magical moment requires showmanship and expert dexterity called sleight of hand. I guess that was it, wasnt it . Yes. [ laughs ] every day i spend about an hour practicing. Ill either practice in front of a mirror, or ill practice in front of my computer with the webcam on and recording. Take it, place it back into my pocket again, snap my fingers. Its underneath there. One more time. That way i can play back the tricks after i do the performance and watch it from the perspective of somebody watching the trick. Like most magicians, mitch doesnt reveal how he does his tricks, though he did give away the secret to this one. You might say the eyes quicker than the hand. As you take that card and show it, i go like this. Okay. I get a glimpse of that card for example, the 8 of clubs. In magic, we call that glimpsing a card. Like an athlete getting dressed for a big game, mitch prepares for a show. Theres a reason a magician wears a jacket. Thats where he keeps his bag of tricks. [ uptempo music plays ] think of your card and watch as i shake it. Mitch is a popular performer at parties, like this bat mitzvah. Ill do it again. Ill put it back. It comes back to the top. I dont get it its that wideeyed look of sheer disbelief that makes all those long hours of practice worthwhile. He just did some cool magic tricks with cards for us. He must have been doing it for like a long time to get that good. Not to brag, but i know a trick that not even mitch can do. I can disappear. Abracadabra hmm. I guess i still need a bit more practice. For tkn, im veronique. Thats all for this week. Thanks for joining us. Well see you next time, with more teen kids news