Coming up on flag facts. If you have a creative streak and want to help save lives, theres a National Competition you should know about. Ill tell you why visitors are dancing in the streets at universal orlando. And ill report on a salute to the movies like youve never seen before. Well have Team Coverage from. Sunny florida, coming up. All that and more, next, on teen kids news. Welcome to teen kids news. Im mwanzaa. And im livia. Heres this weeks top story. Theres a way you can combine a good time with a good cause. In fact, an organization is standing by to support you. Its called generation on, and emily has the story. Lots of teens want to do Community Service, but Getting Started can be a challenge. Thats where generation on comes in. Generation on is a Global Youth Service organization, or a movement, that mobilizes youth to take action in their community and do Community Service. We caught up with rachel at her latest service event. She found out about generation on when she was in sixth grade. The organization helped her start a Kids Care Club for teens, by teens. And it started with about 10 girls in it, and now, its expanded to about 40 youth from sixth grade to tenth grade. What does it mean for projects to be by teens, for teens . It means the kids in kids care come up with the Service Projects they want to do, and its solely for teens and kids to do those Service Projects, such as this event. Its made for kids to come bowl on a friday night, to give back to their community. This event is raising money to help kids with disabilities. Over the years, rachels group has organized fundraisers and events for various causes from crafts fairs to fashion shows. Along the way, the kids in the club are learning important skills. Me and my friend lauren, we are the p. R. Committee. Whats the p. R. Committee . Oh, Public Relations for the events, and we did a lot of facebooking and twitter, sending out emails. Usually, i help out with the tickets and making sure that everyone gets in safely and make sure that it runs smoothly. And we stay at the door and just cross off peoples names if theyve already paid and then collect the money and everything like that. Of course, you dont put on an event like this without a lot of planning and knowhow. Everyones gonna come in. Theres gonna be a few people at the front desk. Kids come up with the ideas and the energy. Generation on provides the guidance. They get a startup handbook, monthly project ideas, a newsletter, and an online community, where they can work with other teens across the country to impact their community. Generation on is really on a roll, joining forces with other organizations for a truly global reach. It helps kids to take action, action that not only changes the world, but changes themselves, as well. It really helps your selfesteem, because when youre helping other people, it makes them happy, but it also makes you happy. And it just is a wonderful experience overall. Doing Community Service and starting kids care and being a part of generation on has really changed my life because ive really come to love doing Community Service, and i really enjoy planning events and leading others for what i love to do. And, also, its great to make my mark on the world. That happens to be the slogan for generation on make your mark on the world. The sky is the limit. And it could be anything from working with homeless populations to doing things to help people get fit, to helping with the environment. Really, anything that they want, they can find a way to turn into service. And our job is to help them make that possible. If this strikes you as a great way to do Community Service and you have some time to spare, check out generation on. Theres a link on our website. For teen kids news, im emily l. Theres still lots ahead, so stay with us. Well be right back. Weve reported on concussions before. With the popularity of highimpact sports, head injuries sideline teens all too often. But as scott reports, theres now a new way to help them get back in the game safely. I went sliding out to basically make a play and ended up, the next thing i knew is the ball was kind of behind me. I didnt know what happened, and my head hurt a lot. Anthony had been kicked in the head. The High School Sophomore had the classic signs of a concussion. I had a headache. I was nauseous for a little bit. Really slow, it kind of took me a while to get used to kind of moving again. Players and coaches are becoming more aware that head injuries are serious and can take a long time to heal. In fact, the aftereffects are not just limited to the playing field. Occasionally, during school, when i went back, id start getting a headache when taking a test or doing longterm work that i actually had to think hard for. Before being allowed to get back into sports, its important to be completely healed. Thats why injured athletes are usually put through a lot of medical tests. Doctors are looking for things like errors in vision and balance. But those tests arent perfect. Its very subjective in how you measure the errors, and it also might also have some differences between testers. In ohio, the staff at Wexner Medical Center have come up with a clever solution for testing teens recovering from head trauma. Theyre using wii video games. Were trying to make the process of recovery a little bit more engaging for patients. The doctors found that the wii helps them get a more accurate and consistent evaluation. And theres another benefit. Their young patients see the new tests as an entertaining game. And so its become very competitive, and they enjoy it versus saying, oh, this is just another concussion test that i have to take. For anthony, the testing provided a green light to get back on the field. For sports trainers, the wii is scoring new respect. Im scott for tkn. We see them all the time, but very few of us look closely. So, heres this weeks flag facts. If you ask someone what state theyre from, and they hold up their hand like this, theyre from michigan. Heres detroit. The state is shaped like a mitten with a hat on it. Michigan is made up of two peninsulas, the lower and the upper, called the u. P. In english, the michigan motto means if you seek a pleasant peninsula, look about you. A peninsula is a body of land surrounded on three sides by water. And michigan has an extensive coastline. There are the four great lakes. Theyre michigan, huron, erie, and superior. And its right there on the flag, the latin for if you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you. Youll also find lots of water. Michigan has more coastline than any state but alaska. This is actually how the missionaries and the fur trappers that settled the land first got there. Thats one of them on the shore in the center of the flag. Although hes holding a gun, hes waving. A peaceful gesture, you might say. But then theres this word. Tuebor means i will defend and dates back to 1835, when tensions rose so high between the neighboring states, michigan and ohio, that they almost went to war. Theres more latin across the top. Youll recognize E Pluribus Unum one from many, a salute to the diversity that helps make this country great. Oh, almost forgot. Move over, diagon alley. The Michigan Town of colon is home to the biggest maker of magical supplies. With flag facts, im ellie. There are all kinds of things you can do at summer camp. But katie tells us about a camp activity that might surprise you. Its called camplified. When the sun sets, baby, on the avenue i get that. Camplified is a rockconcert tour that comes into summer camps for teens and tweens. Its a national tour, and we get a chance to visit with campers, do activities with them during the day, with the concert as the culmination. Oh, ooh some of those activities include things like learning how to beat box. [ beat boxing ]. Or being shown recording techniques. Melissa [ voice echoing ] and its not just the campers who have all the fun. Camplified is also a chance for rising talent to get a taste of what its like to give a concert. Why dont you guys and gals put your hands together for brandon and savannah [ crowd cheers ] you dont need to be a superstar artist on a record label for this tour. I got a brandnew pair of wings im gonna try we love to inspire people every day, and we love to perform for people, and also we never went to camp, so this is kind of like our camp experience. So its been a blast. I wanna fly the program also turns up the volume for performers who are already making a name for themselves. Baby, youll remember this old flame after payton rae uploaded her music on youtube, she became a hit on musicsharing sites. And as a part of the camplified tour, shes a headliner. North shore, make some noise for payton rae come on [ crowd cheers ] hey, you guys. Can guys put your hands together for me . The performance is amazing because the kids really get into it. I mean, theyre so energetic and really love interacting with me. My favorite part about having the bands here is that i get to listen to music and talk to them and interact. A normal concert, you cant really interact with the bands, but at camplified you can. It was really cool. And it wasnt just the campers clapping. The counselors were cheering, too. Oh, i loved it. It was a really fun time. I thought it was really interesting and really cool to see all the different musicians and what they do here. It gives the kids something to do thats different, and i really enjoyed it. After a visit from camplified, singing around the campfire probably seemed pretty tame. Theres no end to the amazing ways to spend time online. Lick. If you enjoy figuring out puzzles, you might have even more fun creating your own. You can do that with puzzlemaker at discoveryeducation. Com. Puzzlemaker offers all kinds of brain challenges. First, pick the type of game you want to create from their list. Youll see there are crosswords, math squares, and cryptograms, to name a few. Then, using your own questions and answers, the site helps you design the puzzle. When its finished, you can print it out and challenge family and classmates. This can be a helpful tool for sats and acts. For example, creating your own crossword puzzle is a fun way to learn vocabulary. With click this, im harry. heres how teens answered our question for the week. Global warming we hear about it all the time. But do any of us do anything about it . Yes, i try. I like i walk to school, and then i also shut the sink off and i take tubs so i dont waste water. So, i fill it up, and then i dont fill it up again. Well i try to, like, recycle, and i tell, cause every day in school were talking about Global Warming in our science classes. So, i try to, like, tell other people to recycle and just make sure those polar bears still stay safe. Well, i try to unplug stuff after using it and all that. I think that i as a person try really hard to become ecofriendly and to take care of our environment. Yeah, i have trouble with that. I probably should do more about it, but im very busy a lot of times. But when i can, i definitely do try to contribute less to the Global Warming. Well, i, as cliche as it sounds, i dont buy water from the store. I always bring my own little bottle with me. And just Little Things like that really do make an impact. I mean, my parents are raw vegans, so we recycle and we avoid all plastic bags and all that fun stuff. So, i mean were kind of a green house, but i dont know. So, i guess its kind of like Second Nature to me. Heres what families tell us theyre doing to help the planet. So dont just say youre worried about Global Warming. There are things we all can do to try to help deal with it. Im brandon for teen kids news. This report is brought to you by the National RoadSafety Foundation. You dont need a drivers license to enter the Fourth Annual drive 2 life psa contest. You just need a bit of creativity and the drive to help make the roads safer. Car crashes are the leading cause of death for teens. And many of those crashes are caused by distracted driving. Thats why the National RoadSafety Foundation and scholastic are sponsoring the psa contest. Theyre inviting teens to create a publicservice announcement that will help convince other teens that distracted driving kills. The contest is open to students in grades 6 through 12. And, you know, last year, we received more than 700 entries from students in 41 states. In addition to a 1,000 scholarship, the grandprize winner gets a unique opportunity. A trip to new york city to work with an awardwinning director to produce the psa. Were gonna carpool it, and were gonna go to the location. The completed tv spot will then be unveiled right here on teen kids news. Find out what takes two days toto make, thirty seconds to watch, and could save thousands of lives. The winner will also be featured in scholastics magazines distributed to classrooms nationwide. There are two ways to send in your idea for the psa. You can write it out as a script, or you can send in a storyboard. Thats a series of drawings that help visualize your concept. Like writing a letter and then using their ipod. If youre thinking of sending in a video, dont. Video entries will not be accepted. To find out more about the contest and the rules, go to drive2life. Org. And remember get those entries in by february 28th. Which means now is the time to get into gear. Good luck for teen kids news, im carina. we sent nicole and lauren to universal Orlando Resort to find fun things to report on. And they certainly did. Our Team Coverage starts with nicole, and im jealous. One of my assignments was to cover universals superstar parade. If youve got Young Brothers or sisters, theyll love seeing characters from despicable me, dora the explorer, go, diego, go, hop, and many more. There are over 13 shows that feature all these characters during the day. You see them all over the park. The parade is how we culminate our end of our day. Whos the most popular character . I cant say that theres one most popular character. I think theyre all pretty popular. But of course gru during the parade goes over 20 feet up in the air. So, he might be the tallest and largest character in our parade. Heres one character from my childhood ive always wanted to meet. Hey, spongebob, hows life in bikini bottom . Can i have a high five . Thats spongebob theres spongebob how does it compare to past parades here . This parade is different because we make two show stops that have interactive moments with the guests. The parade floats themselves are very different, as we have lots of animatronic, moving pieces on our floats, which is very different than any other parade that weve done in the past. Throughout the day, y see people dancing with some of the characters. Can you show me a few moves . And the outdoor fun doesnt stop here, right, lauren . Thats right, nicole. At night, more stars come out movie stars. Houston, we have a problem. This is universals cinematic spectacular, 100 years of movie memories. The show talks about 100 years of heroes, 100 years of villains, good versus evil, laughter, triumph. Its a really remarkable show that takes our guests on an amazing journey through universal. There are clips from more than 200 iconic films from universal studios. To get the full effect, you really have to see it live. And we use fountain technology. Weve got these water screens that we project all of the images on, and between these water screens are fullcolor fountains that are basically like theyre tied to the music. So, anytime youre hearing these really huge scores, those fountains fly out of the water and with brilliant colors, lots of light, lots of energy. Its a lot of fun. Universal pictures. One hundred years is just the beginning. Do you think there will be a 200 years of movie memories . [ laughs ] i would hope so, yeah. I dont think ill be around for that, but the great thing about this show is that we work with universal pictures. We have a great relationship with them. So, as new films come out, well be able to incorporate things that arent in the show currently and keep the show relevant and current. Even if you havent seen all the movies, 100 years of movie memories is still a memorable experience. At universal orlando, im lauren for tkn. Thats our program for this week. Thanks for joining us. And of course teen kids news will be back again back next week. So, well see you then. Write to us at. Heres a shoutout to p. R. Newswire for including teen kids news on their big screen in times square, new york city