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>>rterthks, .gh some evecall it privege. but many voters young and old choose not to take part in eltions. felipe looks at what se op e into get more of us interested in voting. felipe? >> reporter: jessica, every few years there's an effort made. still, many young people opt out of elections. in the voting process early is the key. at the office of new york city councilwoman gale brewer, teens are hard at work. even though we're in high school, it's good to be involved in government and politics because it's our right to stand up for ourselves.n mear o

the world, people risk their lives to vote. when democracy returned to iraq in00 ppldeed terrorists who tried to stop the preswi bbs and bullets. in the u.s., african-americans and women fought for the right ve. so did young peopl inhe97, e nim age was lowered from 21 to 18. but only about half of eligible young adults went to the polls. and with each passing election fer d wevod.t heatrnhaed >> and in 2004, it went up again. and it went up again in 2006. soe' rllexteth younger people are beginning to come out to vote because it was very discouraging that young peleernovongoran yes. >> reporter: adrienne kivelson is with the league of women voters. she says the extremely close presidential election in 2000 twn or wbu a al gore may have something to do with the increase in turnout.

>> one of the reasons op tend not to vote is they don't think their votes count. d thk e 00lection pointed out that aotcabe very close and it can make a ffen iyovo ono >> reporter: haile rivera was 15 ene rst volunteered for a political campaign. now he's running for new york city counc. he wants teens who have concerns about their committoet inlv n, t itnt they're 18. >> the'subc ru, meetings. bring those issues up. stand up, bring a group of ies thounday let's talk about this issue. >> reporter: councilwoman brewer once proposed allowing 16-year-olds to voten cal eltis. she thinks getting involved early will help tes sy voeds ul. >> the other issue is that the 16 and 17-year-olds, if in fact they could vote in city elections, many more politicians would go to the high schools. >> reporter: and politicians

lle rc tfos issues that we find important, such as education and the environment. if you're interested in getting voedcoaca ca ste or even federal campaign. they're always looking for volunteers. and like haile said, get a friend or two to come along. mwanzaa? >> reporter: thanks, felipe. in london, they call it the oo a rtrm,nd now there's a new way to find one. a cell phone service will direct a caller to the nearest public facility. a student came up with the idea, and the city council made it happen. >> reporter: when we come back, wel av bk te. >> reporter: we'll visit one of the most important battlefields in u.s. history. >> reporter: the epidemic of overweight teens in america. it's putngilonatis r serious health problems down the road. but kelsey reports that some teens are learning how to turn this trend around. and they're sharing their secrets.

♪ ♪ ♪> the secret of my success is probably the fact that i really just found who i was. rorr:risten is a healthy teenager now. but in junior high she was overweight and under pressure. >> i had a couple of people not be my friends simply because i was overweight. itasotun >> and so she would talk about it and how much it hurt her to be treated the way that she was. >> reporter: with her mother's help, kristen started stocking the kitchen with more fruits and vegetables. but she still wasn't having the success she wanted. >> i didn't see the results fast ou f me, and definitely not fast enough for the people that were making fun of me. >> reporter: so kristen's mom found a program where she learned how to lose weight by gaining knowledge about exercise and nutrition. >> everything that i eat, i think about it before i eat it. fstit's really hard.

but then after you've done it for awhile, it comes natural to you. >> reporter: that's how she got into the pages of "weight loss confidential." author and dietician ann fletcher started with her own son and went on to interview other teens about how they lost weight and kept it off. >> none of them lost weight overgh th kw att s process. >> part of the process is writing down what and when you eat. you might see a pattern that you're a nighttime eater, or that y'rdog stf ur snacking in the evening, and you might decide, "well, that's a time when i need to be more active. >> repte bngcte portant. but it can be difficult for someone who is self-conscious about size. some people talked about how they needed to start out privately. they would start out in their n me using their parent's treadmill, or just walking around the neighborhood. and then when they started to feel better about themselves, lost a little biofeit, th ty had the confidence to go to a gym. speaking of exercise, the first step you should take when

dealing with your weight is to a doctor's office. uramy doctor or a community health clinic can help you set a realistic goal. all of the teens in the weht loss confidential book got help. most went to nearby programs at places like the "y" or weight loss centers. your health is something you should n try to mage on your own. for "teen kids news," i'm kelsey. >> reporter: there was nothing very civil about the american civil war. it was a long, bloody conflict that nearly tore our young nation apart. nicole reports on the battle that was a key turning point in american history. >> reporter: gettysburg, pennsylvania. these days, it's a peaceful place to visit. and millions of people do come now to look and to imagine what it was like in july of 1863. >> it's an amazing battle, the battle of gettysburg. it's the greatest battle ever fought in the western hemisphere. the clash of those armies, more than 150,000 men in this tiny

little town in south central pennsylvania. >> reporter: ironically, it was a battle that no one expected to take place. >> general lee had a bold idea, which was to take his army out of virginia and to head north into the pennsylvania countryside. he was going to attack northern cities. >> reporter: lee hoped by invading the north, people would panic and force president lincoln to end the war. but then general lee's army of the south ran smack into general meade's union army of the potomac. >> they met here almost by accident, but once they engaged with each other here, there was no stopping the battle. >> reporter: on july 1st, the first heavy fighting took place here on mcpherson's ridge. over here were the confederate soldiers advancing toward the union soldiers facing them. soldiers hid behind stone walls, wooden fences, anything that would give them cover from the murderous blaze of bullets and cannon balls. for three days of fierce

fighting, the armies struggled for the advantage of higher ground. big battles raged for small pieces of territory, like hills and ridges. >> on our left is little round top. it's just about a mile away. and that was the far left of the union army. and, of course, the confederates attacked both ends of the uion line. >> reporter: john krepps has been a battlefield guide here for 12 years. he knows where every move was made. where are we here? >> we are on seminary ridge, which is actually part of the confederate battle line of july 2nd and july 3rd of the battle. the confederates did capture much of the forward ground you see out in front of you. however, the main positions, the main union line including little round top here, held and were maintained by union troops. >> reporter: on the last day, a massive final effort. an attack named after its commanding general -- george pickett.

>> approximately 13,000 southern soldiers would form battle lines that stretched over a mile along this ridge. it would advance across the union fields through union cannon fire to try and break the center of the line. but the attack did not succeed. >> reporter: pickett's charge was a noble, but futile charge. the losses were staggering. general lee was forced to retreat under cover of darkness. >> it is really spelling the end of the confederacy, the end of this rebellion. >> reporter: the toll of dead and wounded at gettysburg -- 51,000. the war went on for two more years. but the army of the south never got any further north than gettysburg. >> reporter: there's still more "teen kids news" ahead, including sports. see you in a minute.

>> reporter: some of the world's finest athletes have six feet -- four on the ground and two in the stirrups. kristen reports from a competition where olympic hopefuls strut their stuff. >> reporter: gabe, i'm here at the united states equestrian federation 2007 festival of champions. and yes, that horse really is trotting sideways. the competition is called dressage. >> dressage is the classic art of riding. it's an art form really, and it dates back centuries in its development. >> reporter: dressage is the french word for training, and the horse and rider do a lot of it. 17-year old taryn briones trains at home in the state of washington. >> i'm at the barn pretty much seven days a week and ride a couple horses there each day. five or so hours each day. >> reporter: that's the kind of commitment it takes to reach this festival. riders and horses came here to new jersey from every corner of the country because the festival is literally on the path to the top.

>> the united states equestrian federation is responsible for the training, selecting and coaching of the international teams, particularly those that compete in the pan american games, the olympic games and the world equestrian games. >> reporter: and here's how the competition works. each rider memorizes the course, a series of moves. the rider gives very subtle commands. so subtle, it seems as though the horse is performing on its own. >> the rider that rides with a little bit more finesse and has a little bit better rapport with the horse will be the one that winnings. >> no wonder dressage is often called ballet on horseback. >> winning a 65.4. >> actually won! i can't believe it! yeah. i ended up taking the blue ribbon. >> bonnie and her horse won in

the junior team category. there were intermediate riders, too, but the biggest race came for the grand prix group, these are established champions with olympic experience. >> the moment you get the medal around your neck. nothing tops that. it's fantastic. that's what keeps top priders like courtney king training several horses every day. >> yes. i'm training for the olympics. most of us who are at this, this is a high-level competition so most of us have that goal in mind. you have the right horse at right time. >> this sport requires a lot of precision and discipline. when it comes to judging, a percentage is between winning and losing. for teen kids news, i'm kristin. we humans tend to think we're smarter than the other animals, but not when it comes to memorizing numbers quickly. researchers in japan have been testing college students alongside chimpanzees. a sequence of numbers is flashed

and then it is repeated and the champs are the chimps. >> coming up next, i'll take you to a college founded by a founding father. so stay with us. >> he wrote the declaration of independence and became our third president and doubled the size of the country with the louisiana purchase, but thomas jefferson wasn't done yet. lorne will educatous another one of his achievements. >> the university of virginia is one of the most highly-ranked public universities in the country. it's also one of the most beautiful campuses anywhere. in fact, uva is the only university in the u.s. to be honored as a world heritage site. both the academics and the architecture are the legacy of thomas jefferson. returning home after his second term as president, jefferson wanted to create a public

university toad kate the next generation of leaders, but mr.= jefferson had some rather revolutionary ideas, many that have become tradition and they still follow at uva today. >> we don't call professors doctor, it's mr. or miss. we don't call freshmen sophomores or seniors, their second year, third year or fourth year. we call them the grounds instead of a campus. >> uva was also the first u.s. school to offer subjects such as astronomy, philosophy and political science. but even more radical, jefferson separated education from religion. while other schools were built around a church, uva's heart was its library, and it used to be in this building. called the rotunda, it's the school's signature structure. it was rebuilt after a fire, but it's still jefferson's brainchild. in fact, you can see how similar

the rotunda is to jefferson's other architectural achievements. his home, monticello. this is the lawn. it was designed by thomas jefferson. he called it the academical village. the top academic students compete to live here, in the lawn room. so this talented and fortunate student is living in a piece of history. he's carrying on another jeffersonian concept, a community where teachers and students live together. >> we try to maintain that same sense of community and there are no big buildings here. you know, you look around, and you want things to be on a human scale so we intentionally don't build skyscrapers or big, sprawling buildings. >> what does power high at uva is academic achievement. the school produces more rhodes scholars than any other state university. when it opened its doors in 1825

uva had 123 students. today there are more than 20, 0 20,000, and it all started with the vision of one extraordinary man. would you say that his presence is still felt here today? >> yes. i think it casts a long shadow and i think there is a sense that mr. jefferson is just around the corner. >> recently, uva joined harvard and princeton in eliminating early decision applications, saying they were unfair to some students. that's the kind of radical move thomas jefferson would have been proud of. if you play the guitar and you know how frustrating it can be to tune it just right. now a special guitar is coming on the market that tunes itself, but at over $2,000, some might find the price tag a bit off key. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ garrett, fox news channel in the classroom. >> if you're in hift eric,

perhaps i just told you a hilarious joke, but if you're into hysterics, perhaps you're a fan of the band. here's jenna. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> don't get this band's name wrong, it kind of bugs them. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> it's a pet peeve, i mean, you know. ♪ ♪ >> hysterics dropped their first demo during the surge of indy rock bansed like the strokes and the white stripes. so they're flattered to be put in the same category as those groups whose names start with the, but hysterics have been making a name that's all their own. their career started with the assistance of an unexpected band. >> i read that it was through the help of a teacher that you guys got noticed. >> our science teacher j.p. heard one of the demos and put it on his website and eventually it became understood that we had a band and we recorded a song

and gave it to him. >> oliver, josh, charlie and jeff were soon featured on mtv. the spots didn't make them famous, but it did change their lives. >> it's important the fact that it motivated us and it gave us a kick in the bum. >> i sat down with hysterics before their performance at new york city's knitting factory. they were still in a bit of a shock. they had a plan, to sign a contract with independent record label v2, but just days before this interview, v2 went out of business. >> how did you guys find out? >> on the internet. >> on the internet? really? >> we knew there was turmoil, we just didn't know how it would turn out. we thought it might get bought or something, but yeah, then i read on the internet v2 closed its doors, and i said well, too much of nothing. so much for that. >> so what did you learn from this experience? >> we don't have a record label. we have a lot of hard work to do. >> now we have to put a little work in and completely immerse ourselves not only when we're playing music.

♪ ♪ ♪ >> i think it's more important that we actually go through more serious struggle together. i think we'll come out of it more motivated and more musically connected than if it had come easier. >> hysterics released their first album independently and sold it off of cdbaby.com. they're currently putting together demos for the second album which will be released as soon as they can find a new ridiculous label. for teen kids news. i'm jenna. >> that's it for this edition of "teen kids news." >> thanks for joining us. we'll see you next week. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com