♪ "teen kids news" is about to begin. here's what's happening. >> how students in texas are going high-tech to help deal with health problems that are often overlooked. >> when it comes to shopping, i'll show you a place that's good for the environment and easy on your wallet. >> you take it so much for granted that you see right through it. so, look again, and see what's great about glass. >> and it all starts right now, on "teen kids news." welcome to "teen kids news," i'm mwanzaa. >> and i'm jessica. here's our top story for this week.

>> if we have an accident or become very ill, we can get medical treatment pretty quickly. but if we have issues with the way we think and feel, getting help is not always so easy. felipe reports on a new program that's working to change that. >> reporter: marce has a busy life in galveston, texas. like most teens, she likes talking on the phone and playing video games. she makes time to read, and gets good grades. and she's active in sports, going out for the school basketball team as well as volleyball and track. >> the thing i like most about sports is, it's very active and i can get out and meet new people and go different places. >> reporter: and that's what's different about marce. because wanting to go out and meet people is something very new for her. until recently, all she wanted to do is be home with her mom. >> marce was in a very, very dark place, and i didn't know. >> reporter: marce was

experiencing a problem called "separation anxiety." she had unfounded fears that something would happen to her mother. >> i used to have dreams that my mom would get hurt. and i was sad a lot, and depressed. >> reporter: fortunately for marce and her family, help was available right at her high school. a pioneering program puts teenagers directly in touch with mental health professionals, through a two-way video connection. >> this is teamwork, here. >> reporter: it's called "school-based telemedicine." it was developed by the university of texas medical branch at galveston, along with other community partners, experts help teens with a wide range of mental health issues. >> depression and anxiety are the two most common. if they have learning disabilities, that type of thing. >> reporter: dr. fred thomas helped start the program. he says basing it right in school provides help for kids whose problems might otherwise go untreated. >> the schools themselves have a lot of eyes and ears there. you have teachers, you have principals, you have counselors. knowing the kids who have struggled, or issues in their

family. >> if there's a unit inside the school, then what we can do is we can get that child or adolescent, that student, wonderful world-class help at a touch of a button, by simply turning on a monitor, turning on a tv camera. and guess what? they're connected. >> reporter: for marce and her mom, telemedicine is making a big difference. and marce tells her friends, if they have a problem, they should try it, too. >> and they say, "well, is it helping you?" and i'm like, "yeah, it helps me." >> reporter: here's another cheerleader for telemedicine. in fact, asseneth was a cheerleader at school, too. but something called a visual perception disability was making school work impossible. >> the words distort, as if you would pour water on the paper. they swirl, they wave, they come off the paper, they grow, they compress. it's hard.

>> reporter: thanks to telemedicine, asseneth was able to get ongoing treatment without ever leaving school. >> and with my disability, missing 2 hours, 2 1/2 hours of school is not -- is not what i needed. and then i'd come back and i'd be ten times behind. having the telemedicine here at the school, you come here, you talk, you do what you have to do, and you're back in class in 30 minutes and it's like you never left. >> reporter: another advantage to telemedicine was revealed when hurricane ike hit the area. >> the hospital was shut down. but as soon as we had internet access and as soon as we had phone access, we made access with our clients. >> reporter: one of those patients was asseneth, who had relocated to another town after her home was destroyed. but she says the support she got through that screen in galveston saw her through. now she's heading for college.

>> this program just had my confidence at rock solid. i was invincible. and anything that i put my mind to was possible. >> reporter: school-based telemedicine is a rather new concept. but the people running the program in galveston say their success is drawing a lot of interest. maybe someday it will be standard care in schools all around the country. mwanzaa? >> thanks, felipe. when is a full moon even fuller? when it's closer to the earth. as we learned in science class, the moon's orbit is not a perfect circle, more like an oval. so as the moon travels, it actually moves closer or farther from the earth. the closest point is the perigee. the farthest is the apogee. so when a perigee moon rises, it's 14% bigger and 30% brighter than other full moons. unless it's a cloudy night. >> stay with us. there's lots more still to come on "teen kids news." >> we'll be right back. vintage clothing can be cool.

it can also be an opportunity to save money and help the environment. hannah has the story of a shopping concept that seems to be catching on all across the country. >> reporter: most teens, myself definitely included, love to shop. but when your drawers become too full, it's time to do some closet cleaning. and at stores like buffalo exchange your unwanted clothes may become someone else's treasure. >> basically, the customers come in with items that they no longer wish to own, and one of our buyers goes through the pieces and decides what it is that we can sell, and we let the customer know which item we can sell and how much we would sell it for. >> reporter: this policy is what's called "consignment." the customers can either get money back for their clothes or receive in-store credit to shop. the concept has been around for years, but that doesn't mean the styles are old-fashioned. >> oh, geez. we carry everything from, you

know, old navy and gap to some of your more higher-end labels like marc jacobs and prada and diane von furstenberg, and then j. crew, banana republic, urban outfitters. everything. we carry it all. >> the new things coming in all the time. it's a constant treasure hunt. by the hour, our inventory is changing. so you kind of never know each day, like, what you're going to see, what's on the bottom of a customer's bag that may be like that jewel. >> reporter: kerstin and spencer block opened the first store in tucson, arizona. today, buffalo exchange has over 30 locations around the country. >> our biggest goal with buffalo exchange is, in general, is to keep clothing out of landfills. >> reporter: their go-green attitude is what draws many customers in. >> i like how you can get renewable, like, clothing. >> it's like a reuse kind of thing. like, it helps the environment, but also gives you great new fashion. >> i try to stay pretty green and recycle and stuff, so i like wearing vintage because, i don't know, it's not wasting new

fabric. >> reporter: and it's not just teens that are jumping on board. >> i think we're actually pretty special as a retail or resale store, because our demographic is extremely diverse. we have anybody from, you know, teens shopping here to somebody's grandma shopping here. >> reporter: since we stopped by, i couldn't resist trying a few things on. ♪ another cool thing about buffalo exchange is that they work with several charities. so if they can't resell the items, they're donated to people in need. >> even if we can't use them, they're destined for a good home. >> reporter: plus, if you're on a tight budget, these thrifty stores are nicer to your wallet. >> not only do you get clothing at discount prices, but you get really cool clothing, like quality pieces at discount prices. >> reporter: americans throw away an average of 68 pounds of clothing each year. you can help reduce this waste by using second-hand shops that recycle your fashions.

for "teen kids news," i'm hannah. ever dreamed of fighting cancer, developing solar panels, or inventing lifesaving medicine? well, you can help do all those things right now. and you don't need any special technical knowledge. just lend out your computer when you're not using it. the website called worldcommunitygrid.org asks users to download a small program. then, whenever their computer is on but not being used, the program kicks in. the computer receives scientific data, does some calculations, and then sends the results back to researchers. it's like letting a scientist borrow your computer, without it ever leaving the room. over 1 million computers are already involved, but the world community grid can always use one more. for "teen kids news," i'm haley.

we use it every day. and we take it for granted. but really, it is amazing. in fact, there ought to be a museum to celebrate it. and there is. nicole takes us on a tour. >> reporter: from an ancient portrait of an egyptian king to a very fragile baseball bat. all of the fabulous objects at this museum have one thing in common. they're all made of glass. lindsay is a teen with a cool job. she's what's called an "explainer," at the corning museum of glass, an amazing tourist attraction in upstate new york. there are 45,000 glass objects in this museum, tracing the history of glassmaking. >> glassmaking started about 3,500 years ago, so it's actually a very old form of art. >> reporter: at some point long ago, humans realized that when

lightning struck sand the crystals that formed were useful. heat plus sand equaled glass. early glass production was mostly for royalty. the process of creating it was time consuming and costly. then the romans discovered that glass objects could be made quickly and easily, by blowing through a tube. so, when that type of glassmaking was developed, then bigger pieces could be made and they could be made a lot quicker. and then more people were able to own glass. >> reporter: when machines entered the picture, glass became even more widely used. and while artists continued to create hand-crafted glassworks, advances in glassmaking continued. the museum features innovations in glass products the corning company helped pioneer. from mirrors for telescopes, to ultra thin tubes that carry information for modern communication systems, called fiberoptics.

but seeing how glass is made the old-fashioned way is one of the biggest attractions at the museum. is glass blowing a dying art? >> well, a lot of people ask that question. and i think a lot of people expect me to say yes, it is. but it's actually not. >> reporter: eric and other experts demonstrate why creating glass is attracting a new generation of enthusiastic fans and participants. so how can teens get involved in glass blowing? well, most large communities have a glass-making center. and often, they offer classes. and usually, you can start those as a teenager. >> reporter: or you can come to the charming town of corning and see how it's done by the masters. when we return, i'll show you how to make glass. so here we are, back at the corning museum of glass. and i'm about to try turning a

glowing blob of super-hot melted glass into an object of art. lee babbit is my instructor. >> so you can choose any three colors that you want. >> now? >> yes. >> oh, this is so stressful. i want this color. i want that one. and that one. >> perfect. >> reporter: there's no fooling around with molten glass. so on go the apron, protective sleeves, gloves. >> safety glasses. >> reporter: all right. i'm ready to go. first, i get comfortable at my work station with my tools. then, i have to make a few more decisions about the flower we'll be creating. pink for the stem, blue for the flower, and as for the white -- around the outside edge, please? >> perfect. let's get started with some glass. the first thing we always start out with is by picking up a little bit of soft glass, which is molten, at 2,100 degrees. and when we scoop that up, it's like honey, so we always have to keep the iron turning, otherwise that glass is going to droop directly down towards the floor.

about that fast. slow and steady. just trying to keep it straight. trying to keep that from kind of falling off center. >> reporter: how am i doing? >> perfect. >> reporter: the challenge in working with glass is that it starts to cool pretty quickly. when it gets down to about 1,400 degrees, it begins to harden into a solid again. so it goes back into the oven for a few minutes. when it comes out, it's softened enough to hold layers of crushed colored glass. >> now, once that's on there, we'll melt it all together. and i want you to get that paddle ready. >> reporter: this one? >> yep. and you go ahead and start to push that flat. now, once you hold the end, i want you to give it a little tap, and you'll hear the metal in there. >> reporter: oh. >> so, you go ahead and grab your tweezers. i'm going to heat this up a little bit. we're going to start out with really small short pinches. and we'll keep that nice steady rhythm. we'll go in between those just to open up the face of the flower a little bit. perfect. and you can see when you touch it starts to cool and that blue starts to come back. >> reporter: yeah, i see. it's pretty.

>> one more. now, i'm going to go get that hot again. and when we come back, here's where we start pulling straight up. >> reporter: i think this is fun. it's a lot easier than it looks. i thought i was going to make a terrible flower, but it's looking good. then it was time for more pinching and pulling, with both of us working while the glass was still flexible. >> it's not very symmetrical, but it's got character. >> reporter: and finally, the stem. i wanted it to be curly, so we stretched it out and rolled it around. >> okey-dokey. >> reporter: then it was ready for a different kind of oven. if the glass cools unevenly, it can break. so it needs a slow cool-down, called "annealing." >> and that flower in there is at a safe temperature of 910 degrees. and it's going to hang out there, and cool down overnight about 100 degrees an hour. so it takes about ten hours to bring it down. >> reporter: and here it is. made by yours truly, with a little help from the corning museum of glass. jessica? >> it's beautiful. >> reporter: thank you. >> is glass making something anyone can do? or was it just a special situation?

>> reporter: making glass like i did is actually open to the public. check out the museum's website for more details. and tell them nicole from "teen kids news" sent you. it's time for "word!" a chance to test your vocabulary by finding the real meaning of some rather interesting words. how about this one? "placebo." it's a noun. does it mean -- a fanciful structure usually in a garden? or -- a harmless pill given to a patient in the place of a medication? or -- a strong westerly breeze? placebo is a harmless pill given to a patient in the place of a medication. as in "she's not really sick, but a placebo seemed to make her feel better." okay, here's another. "gargantuan." it's an adjective. does it mean -- a hairy primate common to south america? or -- having to do with an internal body organ? or -- really, really big? gargantuan means really, really

big. it comes from the name of a giant in french literature, gargantua. how about "gnu"? is it -- a large african antelope with an ox-like head? is it -- a middle english version of the word "new"? or is it -- a chewing gum used in malaysia? the answer is -- gnu, a large african antelope with an ox-like head. as in, "what's new at the zoo? a gnu." so, how'd you do? placebo, a harmless pill. gargantuan, really big. gnu, a large african antelope. that's "word!" for now! one of many great things about ice cream is that there are so many variations. but some folks think the moo creamery in california takes variety a little too far. their latest flavor creations -- jalapeno pepper and bacon

ice cream. when it comes to getting ahead in school, a lot of little things add up to success. here's natalie with advice on how to make the grade. >> things are going well at school, and your parents have given you permission to get a part-time job. so how do you begin? the local newspaper is a good place to start. while most of the job listings will be for adults, you just may find something that's right for you. ah, here's one. teen tv reporter wanted. i'll certainly give them a call. or, check out the bulletin boards at local stores. people are often looking for a little extra help. another way to find a job is to look around your community and consider what suits your skills and your schedule. a clothing store, local restaurant, or maybe the ice rink where you spent all those years skating. even if they don't have a "help wanted" sign, they might be interested in you, if you show an interest in them.

just ask politely. do you ever hire teens for part-time work? don't forget adults who are friends of the family. tell them you're looking for work. you never know who might have a great lead. and you'll also be learning something that will serve you well in later years -- networking. and i know that i don't have to tell you never to answer an ad or arrange to meet a stranger about a job without first telling your parents. i'm natalie, and that's this week's "make the grade." it's really long and arduous when you're coming up with a costume and creating a concept for the way you want to be seen on the ice while you're portraying the character of a certain piece of music. so for me it definitely starts with the music and creating something that'll go along with the character of what you're trying to portray. when you put your costume on, it's like i'm ready for this

competition. >> right here i have my costume from a past short program to a russian rock opera medley. this is completely my design. it's the story of a naval officer that chooses duty over passion over love and he ends up dying at sea and never seeing this person that he's in love with again. naval officers in old russia, they thought if you died at sea you turned into a seagull. so the white section is sort of to represent the seagull in the story. this is a bit of sea foam, if you will. then this part of the costume, this white here, is supposed to be sort of like a lady's handkerchief. in the old days when an officer went off to ballot the woman would give him something to remember her by. and then the other side is obviously a uniform. with this costume i feel like i

got all the crazy stories in my head to translate into one place, into one costume. and that's sometimes hard to do when you have so many things going on in your head. and as a creative person i always am trying to find that one point in my head where i can say, okay, stop. but this costume i feel like everything that i wanted came to fruition and it shows up in the costume. that's all for now. but we'll be back soon with more "teen kids news." >> thanks for joining us, and have a great week. ♪ -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com ♪

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