♪ "teen kids news" is on now, and here's what we've got. >> coming up, i'll tell you about a girl who's making a difference, halfway around the world. >> i'll report on a teen designer with some delicious-sounding clothes. >> during the american revolution, lanterns were hung from a church window to signal that the british were on the move. but just who gave that signal is a mystery that you can help me solve. >> you hear about distracted driving all the time, but do teens really know what it is? >> and much more, next on "teen kids news."

♪ welcome to "teen kids news." i'm mwanzaa. >> and i'm jessica. here's our top story for this week. >> the idea of losing almost a year of school because of an illness sounds awful. but felipe has the story of a girl who turned a bad situation into something wonderful. >> reporter: many of us spend our sick days home from school eating ice cream and watching television. but one student used her sick days off to do a whole lot more. rachel missed most of her junior year in high school. instead, she spent it at home, battling a severe stomach disorder. it was no fun. >> i lost touch with all of my friends.

they were busy with their junior year doing homework, when i was in the hospital having tests done. >> reporter: but one day, while reading the newspaper, she came across an article that caught her interest. she discovered that many children in a rural part of the country cambodia never get the chance to go to school at all. >> by not going to school myself, i realized how much i took education for granted. so i wanted to give these children a chance to get the education that everyone in america's able to get. >> rachel did some research. she was looking for a way to help provide a school for these children. >> and i came across an organization, american citizens for cambodia, and they had this whole organization already set up, where i needed an initial $13,000 to build the school. >> reporter: now, let's face it, $13,000 is a lot of money for a high school student to raise. so rachel developed a plan. >> my first idea was sending out fundraising letters, trying to get the community, my friends and family involved. >> she decided she wanted to do

this, and she really took it upon herself and she did a lot herself. i was here with her because she was sick. so i helped her, you know, type on the computer, or edit stuff and sort things and stuff envelopes. so, you know, i was just her right-hand woman. >> and i came up with an idea of making naming rights, so i have a sheet, and then all the sheets -- i had different amenities, such as chairs for $25, or a bookcase for $150, to a water filter for $300. >> reporter: she even designed and sold t-shirts. through steady hard work, rachel raised the $13,000 to build the school. but the school needed more than just a building. it also needed teachers, computers, and educational materials. >> that was really all i was hoping for. i couldn't have even imagined how much more that i'd be able to raise, and how amazing people were going to be in donating. >> reporter: so rachel kept at it, and even surprised herself. >> i actually to date have

raised just over $57,000, from t-shirts and fundraising letters. and actually i just received a $5,000 award from the supreme master cheng hai of vietnam. >> after the long months of fundraising, she got the chance to see the school that bears her name, and meet the children who would use it. she and her family made the 18-hour flight from her home in new york, to cambodia. >> seeing how appreciative they were, it made me feel so much better about myself. and knowing that this year wasn't in total vain, and i was actually able to make something good out of such a horrible year. >> it helped my country a lot, especially that school with the internet access and with the generator that can help the children know about the world. i think they feel very lucky. >> reporter: rachel's work is a great example of what seems to be a growing trend among young people. more students are dedicating their time to helping others -- from fighting malaria in africa, to volunteering at a local nursing home.

>> the messages to the young people are, if you have an idea, big or small, go for it because you'll probably be able to do it and what you get back from it is overwhelming. >> don't underestimate yourself. i'm just one teenager. look what i was able to do. >> reporter: and for rachel there was an additional benefit that resulted from all her work. >> seeing the children, i feel like they almost helped me more than i helped them. everyone says, "oh, you helped these kids so much." seeing their faces and seeing how much i did for them, they helped me tenfold. >> reporter: so maybe the next time you're home from school, you'll think of some ways to help others like rachel did. for "teen kids news," i'm felipe. stay with us. there's lots more still to come, on "teen kids news." >> we'll be right back.

new revlon just bitten. it's the first two-in-one lipstain and balm. the lipstain gives me a light flush of color while the moisturizing balm softens my lips. have you ever been bitten? new revlon just bitten lipstain and balm.

this report is brought to you by the national road safety foundation. it's the number one killer of teens. it's called distracted driving. but do you know what it is? >> reminds me of driving and texting. when you're driving and texting, it's not like you can focus on the road. >> i have a lot of friends that text and drive. >> reporter: texting and driving is definitely a bad idea, but there are other types of distractions too. >> talking to someone on the phone. >> or talking to somebody that's behind you. >> or maybe simply talking to -- like talking to the person next to you and it's dangerous. >> if you're tired, have a lack of sleep. >> or they're listening to music too loud. >> probably if you're making a sandwich.

>> if you're not paying attention to the road and you're driving on autopilot. >> once i was driving along with my dad and, like, we were passing by our favorite pizza place. so he looked and turned and pointed at the pizza place and he said, "hey, check it out, it's michelangelo's pizza." and then as a result, we kind of accidentally sort of nudged this minivan in front of us. so it leads to some bad stuff like that. we were really lucky it wasn't much worse, no one got hurt. >> reporter: not everyone is that lucky. so remember, when you're in a car, whether as the driver or passenger, turn off those distractions until you reach your destination. i'm zach for "teen kids news." we all know the story of how during the american revolution, lanterns in a church steeple signaled that the british were on the move. but after more than 200 years, we still don't know just who hung those lanterns. so we sent nicole to try to solve this history mystery. >> reporter: this is the famous old north church in boston. it's where our hunt for clues begins. >> in april of 1775, general

gage was looking to send british troops out to lexington and concord, and do so in a secret mission, because his previous missions had been foiled by the sons of liberty, who had spies in the town of boston watching his troops' every movement. >> reporter: it was paul revere who came up with the plan to hang signal lanterns. >> and so he enlisted the help of who we think are a couple of different men. we don't know for sure because he only tells us that he chose a friend to help him hang those, to give those signals. >> reporter: to solve the mystery, you need clues. bob explains that there are two basic types -- >> so primary sources, the best way to put it would be those are sources that come from people who were alive or present at the time that events happened. so they are someone who are going to be able to give us an eyewitness account of the things that actually happened at that night. by contrast, secondary sources are sources of information that come from someone who's heard it from someone else, read it somewhere else, heard that story from someone else. >> reporter: so walk me through how we go about solving the mystery. >> well, the first thing we do is actually look at the documents. so we read what paul revere said about the night.

>> reporter: that would be a "primary" source. >> and then we read the stories of two men. samuel hascal newman, who in april of 1876 at the centennial of the american revolution came here to this church and before a packed house told his family story about how his father climbed the stairs and hung the lanterns. >> reporter: but as bob said, samuel newman told that story one hundred years after the event. so he didn't witness it himself. that makes him a "secondary" source. >> the last document that we read is one from a guy named reverend john lee watson, who actually lived in pennsylvania he sent his own version in the form of a letter to the editor to the boston gazette saying that it was his relative, captain john pulling, who actually hung the lanterns in the old north church. >> reporter: that's another secondary source. because reverend watson wasn't an eyewitness either. having looked at the documents, next step is to hunt inside the church for clues. as bob showed me around, i asked

him why is it important to question when and who wrote a historical document? >> i think it's really important for us to recognize that history is not something which just comes down to us from on high, or as a magical fixed thing that happened in the past. history is really stories that we've constructed from evidence that we have of what happened in the past. those stories can change and differ as we get new evidence. >> reporter: some of that new evidence is on a wall near the front of the church. it's a plaque that says robert newman displayed the lanterns. >> this was actually placed here by the newman family. it comes from the newman family story. it doesn't include obviously the story of the pulling family or the participation potentially of mr. pulling. so the newman family's plaque says it was only mr. newman, mr. newman only who was responsible for hanging those lanterns. >> reporter: but we have to remember that the plaque is a secondary source, put here 200 years after the famous night. >> so what's behind this door? >> these are the stairs of the steeple. this is the way we are going to get up and see the bell ringing

chamber and the rest of the area where bell ringer, the lanterns hang. go on. >> reporter: when we return, "teen kids news" gets permission to go where few visitors are allowed, way up. >> how many more flights? >> oh, if you want to go all the way to the top, quite a few more. >> it's dark and scary in here.

we're looking for clues to the mystery of just who hung the signal lanterns for paul revere. so where are we? >> we are in the bell-ringing chamber here at the old north church. there are eight bells above your head. they weigh a grand total of 7,200 pounds. >> reporter: wow. >> so the stairs we're about to climb were built in 1982, when the bells were restored and the bell frame that they sit on was restored. so these stairs do not reflect what it would've been like to climb up here in 1775. they're actually a relatively stable version.

>> reporter: uh. i find that hard to believe. so is this it? >> this is it. we are up at the spot where the lanterns were hung. >> reporter: so which window was it? >> it was this window, the northwest window, facing towards charlestown, which is where the militia would have been waiting to see the signals as arranged with paul revere. >> reporter: so are these the actual lanterns that were hung? >> they are definitely not the actual lanterns. they are lanterns we use for our annual birthday celebration, which is on april 18th. >> reporter: this was a special side trip. the actual hunt for clues continued downstairs. >> well, this plaque here in the washington courtyard is one of two that are out here that tell us one of the sides of the story. this particular one was placed here by the daughters of the american revolution, and tells us that it was mr. newman who hung the lanterns in the old north steeple. this is the second of the two plaques that are out here in the washington courtyard that tells us anything about the hanging of the lanterns. this particular one, which was placed here by pulling descendants, is the only one of the plaques here outside or inside of the church that actually puts both newman and

pulling on site together on that night. the last place we go is right up the street here to the copshill burial ground, which has the tombstones of both captain john pulling and robert newman, and we look at some of the words written on their gravestones as part of solving the mystery. >> reporter: you can do your own investigation. one way is by visiting boston's old north church. >> the other way is you can go to our website, and it's a shameless website plug. but for a particular program called tories, timid or true blue, which talks about all of the different documents and some different people who might have attended and been a part of this church on the night of april 18th, 1775, and would have been connected to that story. >> reporter: well, i examined all the clues, and guess what? i figured out who really hung the lanterns. want to know who it was? i'm not telling. guess you'll have to do your own research. for "teen kids news," i'm nicole. students from the culinary institute of america are sharing some of their favorite recipes with "teen kids news."

here's this week's recipe. >> so, you've got friends coming over for a movie, but you don't want to serve the same old, same old popcorn. we'll i've got a recipe for you. it's chili popcorn, and it's a great way to spice up the usual movie snack. we're going to start with about eight cups of freshly popped popcorn. now were going to make a spice mixture. it starts with a pinch of salt. but if you're cutting down on your salt, you can just leave it out. now were going to add 1/4 teaspoon of chili powder, 1/8 of a teaspoon paprika, 1/8 of a teaspoon of garlic powder, and 1/8 teaspoon of cayenne pepper. cayenne pepper is really spicy, so if you don't like things too spicy, cut down on the amount of cayenne pepper that you add. there we go. it's all mixed up. let's sprinkle it over our

popcorn. and then we'll just toss it with a spatula so it's all evenly coated. told you it was easy. now all you have to do is decide on a movie. and that is chili popcorn at the culinary institute of america. for "teen kids news," i'm andrea.

sometimes the craziest ideas can turn out to be really smart moves. erika tells us how a breakfast

treat, a source of vitamin d, and some cotton fiber inspired a young entrepreneur. >> reporter: meet gary jiang. he designs and distributes his very own clothing line. >> i had been printing t-shirts for maybe about a year or so. at this point i was just making some random designs for friends and stuff just for free and then i decided to make my own design and it was called muffinmilk. >> reporter: muffinmilk? now, that's a seriously strange name for a line of clothing. >> i came up with muffin milk in my freshman year when i was doodling little pictures of robots and ducks on my notes during class. and then eventually, i got a little monster who had three heads and three eyes and was like fbi's most wanted. so i put him on a milk bottle and he looked like a muffin on the milk bottle, so i ended up just calling it muffin milk. >> reporter: but odd as the name may be, it's one that has definitely gotten people's attention. in the short time since that first spark of inspiration, muffinmilk has grown into a streetwear machine.

it's churning out new designs and selling clothes by the thousands. >> we've ended up selling maybe about 3,000 shirts or so in two years. so it's a pretty good growth for two years. >> reporter: but like every successful business, gary had to start somewhere. >> i started my company through the network for teaching entrepreneurship, and we had a business plan competition at the end where i won second place and they pretty much gave me a grant for about $1,200 and then that also helped propel just like beginning a company. >> hey, what's up? >> my first sale was actually for about $5. i didn't know where to get t-shirts for a cheaper price at the time. and i realized stores in soho and stuff had pretty much just blank t-shirts for about $5 or so. >> do you guys know how many orders we have right now? >> reporter: this isn't a one-man operation, though. gary has a whole army of friends helping him run the business. >> i'm the designer of

muffinmilk. >> i'm actually in charge of sales most of the time. sometimes i'm even creative director with gary. my roles kind of cross over. but i started off in sales. >> we'll, i'm involved in marketing and i usually report to steven. i usually get some sales from kids in class, my friends, and i try to diversify the amount of customers that we have. >> muffinmilk pretty much has a crew of just about like 15 or 20 or so friends of mine. >> reporter: when you work with your friends, it's hard not to love what you do. >> i feel it's amazing because you're constantly inspiring each other, competing with each other. it's just a great feeling to be accomplishing something. >> reporter: but running your own clothing line isn't as easy as it "seams." a lot of work needs to be done before you can start taking the clothing world by storm. just creating a single t-shirt is a long process. first, you have to start with an initial design.

>> well, a lot of it is just us hanging out and brainstorming about what people out there want, and what designs are you know in demand now and we try to make simple designs, but also detailed. >> reporter: once the design has been chosen, the team goes through the process of creating the actual shirt. lucky for them, they don't need a factory or anything. they can do it all from the comfort of their own living room. >> this is pretty much the paint. it's called the half-toning process and it requires four different colors -- black, magenta, cyan, and yellow. and you pretty much put it all together using a screen. >> reporter: the team does this for each and every article of clothing they make. it's a tedious process, but seeing the end result makes it all worth the effort. gary and his friends have put in the hard work, long hours and elbow grease to make their dream

happen. >> my advice for other teens my age would definitely be -- muffinmilk's actual motto, actually, it's to never give up. if you ever have an idea or anything in your mind that you may think will get somewhere, then you should never give up on that idea. >> so if you have a good idea, give it some thought and who knows, maybe you too could

we see them all the time, but very few of us look closely. except for kristen, who has some interesting facts about our state flags. ♪ >> reporter: hawaii is a series of islands stretching more than 1,500 miles. for centuries, each island had its own government ruled by a local chief. then in 1810, with little

resistance, one king established himself as ruler of all the islands. king kamehameha. >> he was the one that united all of the hawaiian islands. without written language, without a common language, he was actually able to combine all those islands into one territory. >> reporter: years earlier, kamehameha had befriended british explorers under the command of captain cook. that friendship had an important influence on the design of the hawaiian flag. kamehameha incorporated the british flag in the upper left-hand corner, or canton, of the hawaiian flag. he also included eight red, white, and blue stripes. they represent hawaii's eight major islands. in 1894, americans with powerful interests in hawaii's sugar and pineapple industries overturned the monarchy. they declared hawaii a republic. following the attacks on pearl harbor in 1941, public sentiment among hawaiians grew in favor of statehood. in 1959, hawaii became our

fiftieth state, but its flag has never changed. today, hawaii remains the only state to feature a british flag from times gone by. for flag facts, i'm kristen. >> that wraps up our show, but we'll be back with more "teen kids news." >> thanks for joining us, and have a great week. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> write to us at info@teenkidsnews.com.