i'm livia. here's this week's top story. (energetic pop music) when asked what was the key to his success, the famous inventor thomas edison replied, "1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." the lesson being that you shouldn't just rely on talent, but also on hard work. as amelia reports, that's good advice if you plan to apply to college. - when i say sat or act, what comes to mind? - um, a standardized test you have to take in order to get into college. - pressure. - i cringe because i'm taking it this weekend. - anxiety. - stressed out. - and, just general angst. (laughs) - [amelia] when i say sat or act, what comes to mind? - uh oh. - anger. just straight-up anger.

i do not like the sat. i do not want to take the act, which is what i'm planning to take. and i just want to get it over with. next year, done. - yes, few letters strike more fear in the hearts of kids hoping to go to college than sat or act. to learn more about these tests, we're joined again by rob franek. he's a college prep expert from the princeton review. hi. - good to be here, thanks for having me back. - for those of us who aren't geniuses with photographic memories, should we fear these tests? - the truth is that most students fear the sat and act, but there is no reason to fear either exam, because hear my words when i say both are absolutely coachable exams. you can do well on either of those exams, and they're of such value to those admissions counselors and those admissions committees that are going to be reviewing your application in the next year or years. you can do this, sat or act, it doesn't matter. - okay, so when should we take them?

- i think the best time for students to start to prep for the exam, the sat or the act, is at the end of their sophomore year, into the beginning of their junior year. so, the perfect time between your summer ending your sophomore year into the beginning of your junior year, you can take your first exam during that summer term or during the fall. but remember that you can continue that prep work after you've taken that first administration of the exam, see where've done well, and see where you've not done as well, and be able to focus on those areas where you're weak to make sure that next administration is strong. and then you can take it another one or two times during your junior year. that is the perfect formula. - what are some of the ways to get ready for taking the sat or act? - there's lots of different options for students to prepare for the sat or the act. you can buy a book and prep, you can do that on your own. you can take a classroom course with an instructor or a teacher. many of those classes are taught online, either with a live instructor or a synchronously, you can sit with a private tutor in your home.

we have each of those options at the princeton review. i think the truth is that you should make sure that you're engaging with one of those things, and making sure that you're leaving at least six weeks of time to study for the sat or the act. remember, there's no crash course that's effective for either of those exams. so you have to buckle down and make sure that you're spending the time, however you choose to prep. - can colleges tell if you've taken a prep course, and do they count that against you? - that's a good question. the truth is that a college may see a dramatic increase in your score after you've prepped, but the truth is that they probably just don't care. the admissions counselors at schools, large and small, are going to focus on your best sat or act. and most schools will mix and match scores from different exams to make sure that they're putting you in the best light academically. so, whether you're taking a course or not, it's the end result that matters in the admissions process.

- any secrets you can share to help us do better on the test? - oh yeah, i mean, one thing that we tell students at the princeton review is, on testing day, make sure you pack a couple of bananas. you can eat them during break or during the exam time. it keeps your energy level up, so it's a good secret technique to take into the actual exam day. and then, prior to the exam, take as many practice tests as you can. the more confident you are around the sat or the act is going to pay off when you're in that testing environment, because it's a timed environment, you're gonna to understand the instructions for the questions that are going to be asked, and we see great confidence in those students, and they tend to do exceptionally better because of those prior exams that they've taken. - great advice, thanks. - you're welcome, good to be here. - the boy scouts' motto is be prepared. when it comes to the sat and act, that's great advice. and here's one more suggestion, don't wait until the last minute to start preparing. for teen kids news, i'm amelia.

- we've got lots more to tell you about on teen kids news. so don't go away. we'll be right back. - [luke] closed captioning is brought to you by.

- the silver award is the second highest honor in girl scouting. it's earned by doing a service project that helps the community. katie tells us more. - a silver award project takes a lot of work and dedication, at an age when many of us are spending our free time on other things. - when a girl at this age,

between the 7th and 8th grade, decides to commit herself to a project to improve her community, to improve her world, the amount of hours that it takes to attain that, it's really a major commitment. (inspiring pop-rock music) - [katie] the first step is deciding what your silver award project will be. it should be something that fulfills a need in your community, and is important to you. - [pamela] they could be working in a senior citizen center, and doing something creative for the senior citizens. it could be creating a literacy program for kids in elementary school, helping kids with math. - [katie] girl scouts can work on their project individually, or two or three can work together. leadership is important. scouts going for silver need to put together a project team. this could consist of friends, family and even members of the community. most projects will need some funding. raising that money is each scout's responsibility. - [scout] so today we're doing a bake sale to raise money to provide families of non, non-verbal special-needs children

with identification bracelets, in case they get separated from their guardians or aides. and we're trying to raise the money so it costs them nothing. - you're welcome. - well, my uncle's cousin has special needs, so we just thought it'd be a idea of, better idea to do something that would help protect people and help them at the same time. - i chose a topic that i am very passionate about, to ban the retail use of plastic bags in eastchester. every year, americans use 100 billion, that's billion with a b, plastic grocery bags, and only 15% are recycled. many of these bags end up killing aquatic animals. they also end up in landfills where toxins seep into ground water or streams. - [katie] to help get the plastic bags banned at stores in her community, katie reached out to her local legislator. - i was really impressed with katie. you know, i love nothing better than to see a young person who has a real drive

and enthusiasm and passion for doing something that's going to benefit everybody. - [katie] in fact, legislator parker was already planning to propose a countywide ban on the bags. so she invited katie to participate in the press conference announcing the proposal. - i met with legislator parker about a month ago, and learned about her goal. i'm very happy to adjust my project into helping her get this law passed, so that all of westchester county is plastic bag-free. - [katie] katie says speaking at the press conference was valuable experience. - it's really good practice to speak in front of people because later on i'll have to speak in front of the eastchester board to try to persuade them into this cause as well. - [katie] while katie is still working on her project, lily, anaie, and caoilinn have completed theirs. they were honored at a silver awards ceremony with almost 300 other girl scouts. - [announcer] troop 2981. special identification for special needs.

(audience claps and cheers) - i feel like, um, really, successful, like i've succeeded. (audience claps and cheers) - accomplished, because we did so much work and we finally got the award. - i actually feel really proud about this, we put a lot of effort into this, too. - celine and alexandra earned their silver awards for planning events that brought together senior citizens and kids. the idea was to increase communication between the generations. - i learned so much because we really, we really got to understand like how our generations are the same but also like differences between us, and it was really cool to learn stuff about them, and i had a lot of fun, and it was like really great just like, giving back to our community, you know. - it was all worth it in the end. like, everybody was very happy with our project and it was great to see the stories from the seniors, and from the youth on, like, how fun it was, and even, like, the seniors told us about their past and what they did in their lives, and it was a really nice experience.

- working towards a silver award is not only a nice experience, it helps you develop useful skills for the future. - i think it's a good idea to do a silver award, because you learn leadership, and working in a group, you learn how to divide your abilities so it's, the workload is not as heavy, so it also helps with time management for, like, when college comes. - another important requirement for the silver award is sustainability. that means the project needs to continue helping the community, even after the scout receives her award. - the girl scout law says that we should make the world a better place. this is something i strongly believe in. and it's up to my generation to make these changes. - girl scout or not, i think we can all follow that advice. if you're interested in learning more about the silver award or joining the girl scouts, go to girlscouts.org. there's also a link on our website. for teen kids news, i'm katie. - my report should really pee-ak your interest.

it's about an unusual fertilizer. teen kids news will be right back.

(upbeat pop-rock music) - throughout the year, we've been reporting on simple things that can make a big difference in lives of people living in poverty. especially girls, because they're most often the victims of abuse and misfortune. all of these ideas come from the book one hundred tools for empowering global women. with us again is its author, betsy teustch. hi. - great to be back, thanks for having me. - i can't wait for the audience to hear what you're going to tell us about this week. urine, can actually be useful? - urine is actually extremely beneficial. first of all, it's important to know that human urine is essentially sterile. it doesn't have pathogens in it, so it's relatively safe after it's been stored for a month.

it's full of nitrogen. that's the main ingredient of pee, after water, and nitrogen is what, is the main ingredient in fertilizer. so, if you use human urine on your crops, they grow much bigger and faster. and in places where the earth is very depleted, and they don't, they used to let the earth replenish itself by leaving a field fallow, but population pressures make that more and more difficult, to just leave a field open. so, this is a way to help plants grow, and it's free. fertilizer is actually very costly, and it has to be shipped in places where it's very hard to get it there. so, if farmers, and about half of the world's farmers in the developing world are women, if they can have access to something as simple as pee, and it helps grow their crops much bigger, it's great. - are you suggesting american teens

send their pee to poor countries? - i don't think that's a great idea, but i do think that learning more about this is a really great science project. i've seen examples where you have two plots, one has just plain water, and the other has urine, and the urine-fertilized crop is like this, and the one with just plain water is like this. so you can prove that it really works and organic gardeners do use this on an individual basis. in the developing world, the big challenge is to educate people, that this is a resource that's available to them. so, what we want to do is help organizations that educate farmers, get the word out. - so, how can teens do that? - you can get involved by researching online, or in my book, different organizations that promote this, and there's one right in new england,

called the rich earth institute, that is promoting this technique, pee cycling. - wow, i never would i have thought of that. thanks betsy. - you're welcome. - this is just one of the many ideas in betsy's book. if urine as fertilizer doesn't excite you, maybe one of the other 99 ideas will. for teen kids news, i'm eden. - it shouldn't come as a surprise that the more nervous you feel before taking a test, the less likely you'll do well. dr. sian beilock is a psychology professor at the university of chicago. her book, choke, gives insights on how stress affects us. dr. beilock, most students i know have test anxiety. what can we do about it? - well, there's actually a simple technique for coping with the stress, it's writing. my research found that students who write about their feelings of anxiety or stress for just ten minutes before their exam actually perform better on tests. it has to do with the prefrontal cortex.

that's the area of the brain that sits right above your eyes. your working memory is housed there. you can think of it as a mental scratch pad that helps you work through complex problems. when worries creep in, your working memory becomes overloaded, and that can cause you to cave in to pressure. (explosion) but when you write about your feelings, you're giving yourself an opportunity to express those worries. this actually frees up space in your head. writing can also give you insights into what specifically is stressing you out. so the next time you have a big test, take a few minutes, write what your feelings. it should make all the difference. - i guess you can call it the write way to take a test. thanks dr. beilock. - you're welcome, and good luck on your next test. (upbeat pop-rock music)

- [emily] this report is brought to you by the national road safety foundation.

every year, the national road safety foundation runs a contest for students in grades three thru five. the idea is for these young kids to create a poster reminding people that it's dangerous to walk while not paying attention. and of course, that you should never drive distracted. - we wanted to ask younger students to get involved in this poster contest so that they can get the message about being safe when they're walking on the roads and to be alert about those that are driving on the roads. we know that car crashes are the number one killer of teens, however, we want them to get this message so that we can help reduce that number. - my name's lea, i'm nine years-old and i'm in third grade. my teacher got an application to a poster contest, and she said whoever wants to apply can come get the application. and i went up there and got it, and then i brought it home, and i got a piece of paper and i started drawing it.

(upbeat pop music) i like to draw because it's fun. (upbeat pop music) this is a blowup of my winning poster. and here's a person, he's going onto the grass which you're not supposed to, because he's texting and driving and he's not paying attention. he's gonna have an accident, and they're both texting, and that's not good because he might get hit. so you should always be paying attention. he shouldn't be driving on the grass, because he might hit them. oh and, this is my, this is walk safe, drive safe, and then here's my message, don't finish that sentence with a jail sentence. - [emily] the nrsf worked with scholastic to help choose the winner. - lea's poster was not only terrific artwork,

but it was drawn from a very unique perspective. and we felt that it was done in a way that would resonate both with kids and adults. - my mom, she calls my grandma and she's just like, um, "guess what, lea won something." and i didn't know at the time. and then when she gets home, she tells me and i was really happy. really surprised. - so the winners of this contest, there are actually more than one winner. we selected a winner form the third grade, a winner from the fourth grade and a winner from the fifth grade. but our grand prize winner, who is in the third grade, miss lea garcia, she received a $500 gift card, and she also had the opportunity to be filmed for teen kids news. - for information on entering next year's contest, visit teenlane.org. for teen kids news, i'm emily. (upbeat rock music)

(beeps horn) (camera flashes) - coming up, i'll tell you about a scottish town that is famous for its connection to a popular sport. teen kids news will be right back, stay with us.

on the fascinating history, people and places of the united kingdom. ("rule britannia") (relaxed music) - on the rocky eastern coast of scotland is the historic town of st. andrews.

it has the ruins of an ancient castle. and it's home to one of the oldest english-speaking universities in the world. but the town owes its international fame to a game. in 1457, king james ii was angry that instead of practicing for war, his nobles were playing a game where they hit a ball with a stick. it was the game of golf. while there's some dispute as to exactly when and where golf was invented, there's no dispute that st. andrew's is considered the home of modern golf. there are no fewer than seven golf courses here. while there have been various games where a rock or pebble is hit with a stick, the scots get credit for making one indispensable addition, the hole. by the way, there's no truth to the claim that golf originally stood for gentlemen only, ladies forbidden. some of the greatest golfers have been female. in fact, over the years,

teen kids news has often reported on golf phenom, michelle wei. - [cody] michelle is a member of a new league of young players who are shaking up the golf world. - she made history when she became the youngest golfer ever to play in the u.s. women's amateur championship. and she was only 10 years old. to those who claim that young girls can't play professional golf, i'd say either putt up or shut up. for teen kids news, i'm nicole. - that's our show for this week. but be sure to tune in again next week for more teen kids news. bye. (upbeat pop-rock music)

alex paen: coming next, a newborn elephant is found nearly lifeless. the young animal is malnourished and injured. can this baby be saved?

this is... [captioning made possible by telco productions, inc.] thanks for joining us. i'm alex paen. every day, ordinary people go through extraordinary efforts to save animals in trouble. this story is a great example. in the heart of africa, near the town of selebi-phikwe in central