>> "teen kids news" is next. and here's what we've got. >> fasten your seatbelt. the car of the future is here now, and i'll have that report. >> we'll meet a teen who speaks 20 languages, and he's just getting started. >> i'll tell you about a program to help keep kids from becoming homeless. >> an ivy-league college where you can learn how to run a hotel. find out more on "college and u." >> i'll tell you why one presidential monument includes a statue of his dog. >> so join us now for this week's "teen kids news."

>> welcome to "teen kids news." i'm mwanzaa. >> and i'm siena. we'll start with our top story. >> whether you've already got your driver's license, a learner's permit, or are still just a passenger, you're probably quite aware that the cost of gasoline has gone up a lot in recent years, and that's causing many people to rethink the cars they drive. carina reports on one answer to the high cost of gas -- electricity. >> the first cars appeared in the late 1700s. they were powered by steam, like locomotives. but soon, these horseless carriages moved to using what's called an internal combustion engine. basically, that means they ran by burning fossil fuel. and ever since, internal combustion engines have run on... >> gas.

>> gas? >> gasoline? >> yes, gasoline. or its cousin, diesel fuel. but gas and diesel pollute. so carmakers tried electricity. that didn't work so well. one of the problems was the battery. they just couldn't make a battery powerful enough to make an electric car drive like a car...until very recently. now a number of manufacturers are coming out with all-electric vehicles. for example, ford has introduced the focus electric. >> one of the key advantages of an all-electric vehicle is that it doesn't use one drop of gasoline. you see, there's no internal combustion engine in this vehicle. it has an electric motor and a high-voltage lithium ion battery pack. >>g to buy gasoline is one big advantage. but there's also a green side to the electric car. since it doesn't burn gas... >> there's nothing coming out of it -- no fumes, nothing that would hurt the environment. >> the fumes she's referring to are poisonous carbon monoxide.

does it drive like a regular car? >> absolutely. this focus electric vehicle is built in the same assembly plant as we build our gasoline-engine focuses. and the same team that do the drive and handling on the gasoline vehicle have worked on this vehicle. so when you step on the accelerator, it feels just like you expect it to feel. >> so how do you charge an electric car? >> it's very easy. this is a 240-volt charging station. just remove the plug... and bring it over to the vehicle. our charge ports are located in our driver fender side. open up the charge port by pushing on the indentation, and plug it in. the lights will start to tell you that the vehicle is getting ready to charge. now that you see that 3/4 are lit, it's telling you that there's 75% state of charge in the car. this will start to pulsate, and you'll know that it's giving you between 75% and 100%. when it's fully lit, your car is ready to go. >> wow. that's so cool. fully charged, the car can go 70 to 100 miles, which is

further than most of us drive in a typical day. and move over, gas stations. while most people will charge their electric cars overnight at home, charge stations are beginning to appear across the country. >> there are several different companies that are trying to make sure that there are charge stations so cars can stop there easily and charge up, you know, at malls or stores or restaurants. >> and one of the best things about recharging an electric car... [ sniffs ] ...no gasoline smell on your hands. >> here's something i want to show you. it's the myford mobile app. you can check the status of your vehicle from wherever you're at. you don't have to be in the car. so, this will tell you that you can go 80 miles, because you've got 95% of battery left. and if you tap on the car, it gives you some fun statistics, like you've saved 161 pounds of co2, or roughly $26 over a gas vehicle. >> can i take it for a drive?

>> sure. hop in. you need to step on the brake and push the button, the power button. [ tones play ] and you see the "ready to drive"? that means you're all set to go. >> okay. reverse. back out. it drives really smooth. >> it's also very quiet. >> mm-hmm. >> 'cause there's no engine running. and as you drive it, you get a feel that this handles exactly like a real car. it turns like a real car. it stops like a real car, and it corners like a real car. now, the top speed in this vehicle is 84 miles per hour. the overall range that you should be getting is about 76 miles on one state of charge. but you have a lot of influence on that. if you accelerate smoothly, and if you brake smoothly, you're gonna get longer range of your vehicle. but if you jackrabbit start,

like take off real fast from a stop sign, or slam on the brakes, you're gonna cut your range a lot. >> and that's good advice when driving a gas-powered car, as well. do you expect that, soon, all cars will be all-electric? >> no, we anticipate that by 2020, 10% to 25% of our vehicle sales at ford motor company will be electrified vehicles. and by "electrified vehicles," we mean all sorts of electrification -- hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and vehicles like this that take no gasoline at all. >> it's no secret that the world's supply of fossil fuel is getting smaller. and consider this -- every year, american cars use more than 140 billion gallons of gas. clearly, we need to go down the road to far better fuel efficiency. and it looks like electric cars can help steer us in the right direction. for "tkn," i'm carina. >> we have a lot more to tell you about. >> so stay with us.

>> for most of us, learning a new language requires months, even years, of study. so this next story could leave you tongue-tied. eden tells us about a polyglot. >> from the greek for "many tongues," it means someone who speaks several languages, someone like timothy doner. >> [ speaking russian ] >> russian...

>> [ speaking turkish ] >> ...turkish, japanese... >> [ speaks japanese ] [ speaks arabic ] >> ...arabic... >> [ speaks chinese ] >> ...chinese. those are just some of the languages tim can speak. >> i mean, it depends on your definition of "speak." but, i mean, the languages that i'm familiar with or i know to varying degrees is more than 20 at this point. >> wow. [ laughter ] that's crazy! like, i never even heard of that! 20 languages? one teen? that's a smart kid. >> wow. 20 languages? i barely know two. >> i think that's awesome. that's cool. like, i wish i knew 20 languages. >> and here's something even more amazing -- he started only three years ago. >> tim, i need help. >> at the time, tim was preparing for his bar mitzvah, the jewish coming-of-age ceremony. he had to learn the language of the bible, ancient hebrew. >> and around the time that i finished, i decided that i wanted to take a look at modern

hebrew as a language, to actually learn how to speak it, 'cause i had a very big interest in the politics and history of that region of the world. >> that region, of course, is the middle east. so, after learning israel's hebrew language, tim tried his hand at arabic. >> and then, from that, that's when i started getting very interested in pursuing languages solely as a hobby. >> tim had already been taking french and latin in school. but now he teaches himself. he has the ability to learn a new language with remarkable speed. >> i would say, honestly, i mean, depending on how difficult it is, if i really put my mind to it, maybe two to three weeks. >> just in case you missed that, tim just said he can learn a new language in... >> maybe two to three weeks. >> as i said, remarkable. so how does someone like tim find other polyglots to talk to? >> hey, tim. >> he skypes. it's helped him connect with polyglots all over the world. for example, richard lives in southeastern europe. >> he's helping me out with my german. i've been speaking to him in hebrew, which, actually, he

knows pretty well, surprisingly, for the little amount of time he's put in. he's very talented. >> so, do talented people like tim have any advice for the rest of us? >> i think, really, it relates to constant, constant exposure, i mean, the same way that, you know, someone who's really dedicated to history or literature finds the time to do that and might become an expert in that field, right? i've found that my real passion is languages, and so i've pursued it. >> as with just about everything in life, there's no substitute for hard work. so i'll just say adiós, au revoir, zài jin, and arrivederci.

>> for most of us, turning 18 is an exciting milestone. but for thousands of kids in foster care, turning 18 means the beginning of a nightmare -- no place to live, no financial support, no loving and caring family. scott introduces us to someone

working to change that. >> lauri burns is a survivor and a leader. she was a victim of abuse as a child, and then as a young adult, she was homeless. in her book, "punished for purpose," she tells us how she drew on her experience to reach out to teens who could be lost when they get too old for foster care. lauri, thanks for coming on "teen kids news." >> thank you. thanks for having me. >> first, can you explain what foster care is? >> foster care is when the authorities deem your family unfit or unavailable to take care of you, and they place you with a new, safe, loving family to live with. and you basically live with these people until you're 18, when you get through the school years. >> so what happens when kids turn 18? >> the foster-care system ends at 18, so on your 18th birthday or somewhere around there, you would need to leave the foster home you were in. and for some kids, this may be the only loving, safe place they've ever been. so when kids leave their foster

home, they sometimes go to a shelter or transitional housing. but unfortunately, many of the kids that leave the system end up homeless. so, inevitably, a lot of the foster kids, after their 18th birthday, will end up sleeping on the streets, in parks, in alleys, and it's a very sad situation. >> so you started an organization called teen project to help. how does it work? >> the teen project picks up where the law falls short. so the teen project provides housing, college, and love, food, a safe, pretty room to live in -- just everything that you would get in your normal house. because we believe these kids are getting left off before they're finished. >> so you have a personal connection to these teens? >> yes, believe it or not, i was one of those kids. i aged out to homelessness at age 18 and was on the streets. and it wasn't until a stranger offered me a safe place to live and a school grant that i was

able to restart my life. >> i know you have a house in california for the teen project, and a drop-in center there, too. is the teen project only for teens in california? >> the teen project is for kids all over the united states that are about to exit foster care or have exited foster care. and we have troops everywhere just waiting to help you. so if you've been in foster care or you're in foster care now, and you're ready to exit, please contact us and let us help you. >> well, thank you for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> as lauri says, the teen project is now a national organization. from anywhere in the country, you can call the hotline... there's also a link on our website. um]um]

♪[tum] ♪[tum] ♪[tum] ♪[tum] ♪[tum] ♪[tum] [phone ring,] car brakes hard [phone ring] [car crash] glass shatters [sirens] this video was submitted by a student through the safety scholars program. for more information on teen safety visit driversedge.org.

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>> the song "be our guest" in disney's "beauty and the beast" gives us a glimpse of what is called "hospitality management." that's the business of running places like restaurants and hotels. in this week's "college and u," nicole reports on a school that is very serious about lumiere's line, "put our service to the test." >> greeting new arrivals, settling them in their rooms, preparing restaurant-quality meals, and the perfect cup of cappuccino. this is serious business at the school of hotel administration. a school within a school, it's a separate college at cornell university, part of the prestigious ivy league. >> the school of hotel administration is a school that was started in 1922 here at cornell, to provide students an opportunity to develop a career path in the hospitality

industry. >> what kinds of courses do students take? >> well, they take all kinds of courses. they get a very grounded education in the basic business disciplines -- things like... but then, they also get classes that are very directly related to the industry. >> just click that. it'll bring up your rate screen. >> that means learning how to run a hotel or restaurant, and learning how to buy one, too. >> eventually, we want them to grow, as well, to not just run hotels but to someday own them and own entire chains of hotels. >> what do you like best about this school? >> i mean, if "everything" was a choice or an answer, i would choose everything. the hotel school is great. you learn all the great business practices that you learn at a typical business school, but applied to hospitality. >> so, where are we going? >> we're going to the food lab. >> the school attracts students from all over the world. they're proud of their nickname... on campus, they're known as the

"hotelies." is that okay with you? >> "hotelies." it's a moniker that, you know, in a way, is something we've outgrown. but it's also very near and dear to our students. so, even though we've become a school that caters to the entire hospitality industry, and we're training business leaders, our students will always be hotelies. >> hotelies don't have to look far to get on-the-job experience. their school has a hotel right here on the campus. the statler hotel is a popular destination for visitors to cornell campus. after school hours, the hotel is staffed by students, applying skills they have learned in the classroom and in the culinary laboratory -- the kitchen. >> i always have been interested in the kitchen. my parents actually own a business back home, and, hence -- culinary plus business equals restaurant. so cornell is definitely the right atmosphere for me. it gives me the opportunity to learn the best of both worlds. >> with courses that cover everything from wine to

real estate, it's not just hotelies that fill the classrooms at the hotel school. >> our marketing courses are very popular. and, of course, among the upperclassmen at cornell, the wines class is a very popular class. >> but to apply for the school of hotel administration itself, you need what the dean calls a high e.q. -- emotional intelligence. that means you like working with other people. >> what time are you planning on coming in? >> it also helps to have a passion for the hospitality business. >> i've always been obsessed with hotels, ever since i was a little girl. i used to collect hotel brochures. and then, when i was in 7th grade, someone was like, "oh, hey. did you know that there was this thing called the hotel school?" and i was like, "what is that? that sounds like the coolest thing ever!" >> and here's a tip. if you want to look at a specialized college, remember to keep the big picture in mind. consider what else is available on campus. for example, cornell's hotelies benefit from being part of a much larger university. >> i have friends who are engineers, friends who are pre-med, friends who are architects. it's got such a wide diversity

of kids from all over the world, and i think that's what makes it such a great place. >> at the school of hotel administration, i'm nicole for "college and u." tell you abow medical website designed especially for older folks. website you say! i can't work on computers, they're not senior-friendly. blah, blah, blah. but the national institutes of health fixed all that. now you can make the type bigger, increase contrast, even make it talk to you. just go to nihseniorhealth.gov and get the best medical information available anywhere. nih seniorhealth.gov. built with you in mind.

>> in all of u.s. history, there's only one president who has served more than two terms. there's a special memorial to him in washington, and lauren gives us a tour. >> franklin delano roosevelt was the 32nd president of the united states. >> fdr is someone who totally changed the face of this country, totally changed the direction of this country. >> roosevelt was elected and re-elected an incredible four times. the fdr memorial has four rooms, one for each of his terms in office.

when he became president in 1933, our country was suffering the worst financial crisis in our history -- the great depression. statues of soup lines and dust bowl farmers illustrate those hard times. but why the man listening to a radio? >> there was no television then. how did you communicate? the president communicated via radio. >> fdr's way with words gave people hope in those dark days of the depression. carved on the memorial's walls are some of his most famous quotes. for example, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself." >> if you give time and you really soak in and pay attention to what is being said in those statements, they're very powerful statements. >> something else that makes a very powerful statement is the memorial's use of water. what does the water symbolize? >> water symbolizes freedom. water symbolizes movement. part of what also is trying to be symbolized there is the fact

that we, as a country, moved forward, and that movement is very much a part of the educational and the interpretive message inherent in the fdr memorial. >> you might be surprised to learn that there's actually a statue that pays tribute to the presidential...pooch! >> it was believed that fala, the dog, provided a lot of comfort and solace to fdr through some of the tougher times when he was in office. >> the memorial also shows roosevelt as the public never saw him -- in a wheelchair. >> many americans did not know that -- during his presidency, that he had polio. >> in fact, the entire time fdr was president, he had to use a wheelchair. when he stood, it was only with the assistance of others. the press helped keep his illness a secret. they agreed not to take pictures of him in the wheelchair. this is one of the very few photos known to exist. >> in terms of the design of the fdr memorial, in the early

1990s, there was controversy. there was, "how do we wrestle with showing and depicting him?" in fact, we erred on the side of being realistic, telling the truth, telling the real story and showing him in a wheelchair and showing him seated, because he really was not able to stand. >> despite his disability, roosevelt was a towering world leader. he led the u.s. out of the depression and on to victory in world war ii. >> to then come out of world war ii in 1945 as a superpower -- that was a massively huge transformation for this country. >> roosevelt didn't live to see that final victory. he died in his fourth term. but he'll have many enduring legacies -- for example, establishing social security and laying the groundwork for the united nations. one of fdr's achievements will never be matched. no president can be elected to more than two terms again because congress changed the constitution after he died. for "teen kids news," i'm

lauren. >> that's all for this week. thanks for joining us. >> we'll see you next time with more "teen kids news." >> write to us at...

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