(upbeat music) - Coming up next on NewsDepth, we review what we've learned this year in the news.

Next we get ready for summer by visiting Daffodil Hill in Cleveland.

Gabe zips through the history of the Soap Box Derby.

And NewsCat has an update for us.

NewsDepth is now.

(upbeat music) We've made it!

It's the end of the NewsDepth school year.

Hello everybody.

I'm Rick Jackson.

Thank you for joining us.

Most of you guys are almost done with classes and for us, this is the last episode of our 52nd season of NewsDepth.

That means the show's been on for 52 years, we're going on 53.

Now, if I remember my dates of school accurately, you're probably working on your final projects and getting ready for final exams, and reviewing what you've learned throughout the school year.

So why don't we also recap what happened this year around the world?

(upbeat music) When we started the school year, way back in September, President Biden had just signed a bill that declared Juneteenth, a federal holiday.

Juneteenth, which falls on the 19th of June is a day commemorating the end of slavery in the United States.

It's in recognition of June 19th, 1865.

The date on which news of the end of slavery finally reached slaves in Southwestern states.

Now last November, President Biden met world leaders at the United Nations for the Conference of the Parties, or COP26.

They focused on slowing climate change and decreasing greenhouse gases.

Human activities like burning fossil fuels for energy create many of these gases.

Also in November of 2021, the CDC was testing effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccines against the then new Omicron variant before it became the dominant variant of the Coronavirus.

And did you remember, that millions of people voluntarily left their jobs?

That was called the great resignation.

The industry suffering the most from voluntary resignations were education, transportation, and hospitality.

Beijing hosted the winter Olympics at the beginning of 2022, but the ongoing fight against COVID-19 forced China to change some of the traditions of the Olympic games.

The city was basically split into two, one area for residents and one for athletes.

The US brought home eight gold medals by the way, 27 medals in total.

Now on February 24th of this year, Russia invaded Ukraine.

Attacks by Russian forces were reported in major cities across the country, including Kharkiv, Odessa, and the capital Kyiv.

Since then more than 12 million people have had to flee their homes.

Most of the refugees went to neighboring Poland.

The American Immigration Council estimates about 344,000 Ukrainians are now living in the United States.

Then back in March, the Hubble Telescope got a picture of the most distant star known to man.

It's the Earendil star and it's about 12.9 million light years away.

And space will get even better known though as the new James Webb telescope was launched, this was back in December of 2021.

And then at the beginning of April, the Senate voted to confirm Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as the first black woman on the United States Supreme Court.

Wow!

What a busy and historic past year.

Now, we wanna highlight some student accomplishments.

We have a story about a high school senior from California who got a perfect SAT score.

SAT stands for Scholastic Aptitude Test.

It's the standardized test that colleges and universities use to determine which students they accept into their schools.

Brittany Hope has more.

- Apurva Mishra is a senior at Davis Senior High School.

The 17-year old has his own typical teenage imperfections.

- I'll clean up right now.

- Including a disheveled room.

- This is my bed.

It's not set right now because I was again, late for school- - And a problem getting out of it.

His chemistry teacher says he's been caught falling asleep in class.

- He's one that's maybe doesn't get the top scores interestingly enough.

- But his parents have plenty of room for forgiveness because how could a teenager be perfect?

- In the end, I see a 1600 on my SAT score but there were plenty of failures that came before that.

- You heard that right.

Apurva got a perfect score on his SAT exam.

Every single question answered correctly.

The college board which administers the exam, says only a fraction of a percentage of test takers achieve this.

- Once you sat in the chair, was there a question or a section that you were a little bit nervous for.

- The first section, for sure.

The reading sections, they're reading these long passages, and then they ask you at some point in time like, what was the meaning of the intro paragraph, or what did the author want to convey in this section?

And you're like, well, I don't know.

- Apurva said he prepared whenever he had free time.

- When I did the SAT I was actually studying right here.

- But what free time?

He's vice captain of the robotics team, student body president and- - Recently I was able to take up like a job as a software engineering intern.

- All that and a perfect SAT score?

I think that forgives the messy bed.

- I have seen him.

I was not very happy the way he was preparing for this exam.

And according to me, he was not giving proper time, enough time.

- His parents say they are so proud of their son.

- You can be definitely keeping a track of their progress, but at the same time they deserve your law and trust.

- His older brother who's a junior at Harvard is feeling the competition.

- He'll always be like, well, I got a perfect score.

What about you?

So he has that over me.

So what can I say?

Now I just need to be taller than him.

If he goes taller than me then I have nothing over him at that point.

- Apurva is humble.

- So I think the big thing for me was that like, I really do wanna go to, like a college where I can make the most of myself.

- Thank you Brittany.

Millions of college students are getting ready for graduation, but one graduate stands out from the crowd this year, this 74-year old veteran decided to go back to school for his master's degree.

After retiring he says he has no plans of slowing down.

Patrick Hayes reports.

- Everybody say, wow, will you get it?

- Tae Chong is 74 years young and has no plans on slowing down.

- Sometime they ask me because I was so active.

Some people ask me what...how old are you?

But I didn't say anything.

- The army veteran lost his father during the Korean war.

- My father was captive to North and my house kind of bombarded and was...caught fire.

- Chong managed to escape, eventually ending up in the US and joining the army.

- Veteran's army.

- After the military Chong got his bachelor's degree in accounting and went on to work several jobs.

After retiring, the former soldier went back to school to get his master's degree so he could teach others how to speak English.

- When I came to United States, I was so hard.

It was so hard for me, to study the English.

And I was almost want to back to Korea but I decide I'm going to get it down and I make sure I success.

- Chong is one of more than 10,000 military related students taking classes at ASU, and one of 823 graduating this semester.

After graduation, he tells me he plans on going back to work.

- I probably have a part-time job because I was pensioned right now.

So I don't need that kind of stress job.

I need to enjoy my life, and also give some help to other people, so that is my plan.

- Thanks Patrick.

I guarantee you that students here in Ohio are just as impressive as the ones we've just seen.

And one of the things that impresses us most at NewsDepth is the empathy shown by our A+ award winners.

Empathy is understanding and sharing the feelings of other people.

This week's A+ award winners get an A+ in empathy, Ms. Hayes' first grade students at Grant School in Lakewood were moved by the situation faced by many children and families across Ukraine.

During snack time, the students started to talk about Ukraine and were really concerned about the children who've been affected by the war, that's what Ms. Hayes told us.

Melanie, Will, and Aine started to brainstorm some ideas on how we could help.

The students came up with a wide variety of ideas to raise funds they could donate.

They decided to make buttons and sell them at recess.

Ms. Hayes tells us that the students designed and made nearly 300 buttons to be sold at all of the school's recesses.

She added that they couldn't have done it though without the help of Mrs Gallik's class.

They were a huge help making all the buttons and also selling them at recess.

Now as the students made the buttons, they learned valuable lessons in technology and design, art, economics, producers and consumers, and world cultures.

A community member from Ukraine even visited the students to teach them about Ukraine's culture and food.

Evie told us she was really proud to help Ukraine, and Will added, It was an important project because they got to help people in Ukraine feel loved by the rest of the world.

Johnny added more saying helping people can have important lessons and it can be a lot of fun.

When we visited with the class, they were excited to teach us how to make the buttons and best of all, get this, the students raised more than $900 to donate to Ukraine.

This week's A+ award then goes to Ms. Hayes' first grade class at Grant Elementary for showing empathy to families affected by war, and learning a few lessons along the way.

At NewsDepth, we're really proud of you.

Keep up the great work.

Now that we're done with schoolwork, we can finally give our screens a rest.

Hey, have you ever looked up from your screen and been surprised by just how much time you spent either playing a game online or looking through social media?

Electronic addiction is when you can't seem to get away from your phone, your tablet or your computer, and today's Spot on Science, Margaret Cavalier speaks to a psychologist about the problems that can come with too much screen time.

(upbeat music) - Have you ever thought about thinking?

It's enough to give me a headache but that's exactly what psychology is.

The study of the brain and how it impacts emotion and behavior.

And someone who does this professionally is called a psychologist.

They can work in all sorts of fields.

From figuring out what kind of commercial can get me to buy candy, to how to stop me from fighting with my siblings.

Now I invited psychologist, Dr. Jay Berk to the studio to tell me about the area he focuses on, kids and electronics.

He's been studying why we can't put down our phones or the video game controllers until we've just gotten to that next level.

When it gets bad, it's called electronic addiction.

Take a listen.

- So electronic addiction would be different than electronic usage.

So lemme explain.

I think it's important for people to understand.

Lots of people use electronics.

Electronics are part of everybody's life right now, and so people are having to understand that electronic addiction means you're having a problem related to use of electronics.

So a good way to say it would be you use the electronics despite negative consequences in your life from somewhere.

You're getting trouble in school, your parents are saying you're on too long, those grades are suffering, your friends are suffering, that's a signal that you're having a problem.

Versus there's a healthy balance in your life, you're paying a little bit of video games, you're still out with your friends, you're still playing sports.

You're in arts, you're in music, drama, whatever you're doing there's a balance, that's the key.

- And it's important for kids who are younger to start making healthy habits so that it doesn't spiral out of control.

What are some tips that you have to make healthy habits when it comes to electronics?

- Well, I think, so the goal is that the kid is able to set a limit that they're gonna manage themselves, which I think is key for anything.

It's like, I'm gonna do my homework on my own.

I'm going to exercise on my own.

So it's, if a setting a limit and you're not staying to it that's a problem.

Now, so many kids out there might wanna think about this.

It's a fun question.

What's the original video game?

You're young, what's your original video game that was out there?

- Ooh, Pacman?

- Pacman.

It's older than Pacman.

- Pong.

- Pong.

Excellent.

(laughs) So Pong had three turns, boo, boo, ball back and forth.

Pong had three turns.

So now one of the things you're seeing is there's no end point to video games.

So when your mom says, come down for dinner and I'll be down after this game, that could be three years from now.

In pong it was very different.

So the games are designed to be more addictive.

So for kids, addictive means you have a harder time stopping.

Somebody that are playing games might see this, which is, I don't wanna get off the game because the game's gonna penalize me by blocking me from the game for a certain amount of time if I get off.

And that's important because they're psychologically set up to do that.

They don't want you quitting in the middle of the game.

- So it's important to remember that you're playing a game.

You wanna outsmart it, in knowing that it wants you to keep playing.

- Well, outsmart it.

So for example, if your friends are on the game, you don't wanna quit because your friends are on the game.

So being able to say to your friends, no, I have to get off it's I have to get my homework done, that's what we're looking for.

Kids that can manage that kind of thing, because it's like, all my friends are still playing, I don't wanna get off.

I don't wanna finish my homework then it's 10 o'clock at night, homework's not done.

They're falling asleep in school during the day, that's a problem.

- Definitely.

Definitely.

Well, thank you so much for coming in to chat a little bit about- - Well, I appreciate the opportunity to talk.

- Thank you, Margaret.

Instead of spending so much time on our screens let's spend some time outside, shall we?

Let's head to historic Lake View Cemetery on Cleveland's East Side, where visitors have been pouring in to see Daffodil Hill.

Every spring, thousands of flowers dot the landscape there.

I actually went there last month but for our program, Ideastream Public Media's Carrie Wise takes us into the field for this week's Sketchbook.

(upbeat music) - [Carrie] Spring has sprung at Lakeview Cemetery with people eager to take in the bright blooming daffodils.

These daffodil faces date back to the early '40s when an area enthusiast donated thousands of bulbs to the cemetery.

- Back in 1941, when a Dr. William Weir wanted to donate 6,000 bulbs, we gladly accepted because we had the perfect hillside for daffodils, which is populated with some pretty trees and the daffodils bring so much green and beautiful yellow explosions of color quite frankly.

They're big showy daffodils.

- [Carrie] The daffodils have been enchanting visitors for decades.

Newspaper articles show the original donor, William Weir was noted for his exceptional collection, growing more than 170 varieties, and putting on Narcissus shows with the garden center of greater Cleveland, which went on to become Cleveland Botanical Garden.

More than 80 years later, people are still enjoying the daffodils each spring.

- I know that a garden club planted the original bulbs.

They planted in the snow and sleet and rain of the fall to get... they were all volunteers and they got the original batch in the ground.

- [Carrie] Visiting Daffodil Hill soon became an annual tradition.

With people spreading the word when the blooms arrive each year.

- The way we get the word out is through social media.

In fact, we have people on social media starting in February, asking us when the daffodils are gonna be in bloom.

- [Carrie] Each year peak viewing depends a lot on the weather, but daffodils are pretty hearty, and offer extended color once they arrive.

- We typically see a couple weeks worth for sure, but some of 'em bloom a little bit earlier than others.

It's a little hard to tell.

Mother nature has a lot to do with it but we consider it around April 15th in full bloom and it continues into early May.

- [Carrie] Over the years, the cemetery has supplemented the original plantings with now more than 150,000 bulbs.

They're mainly yellow daffodils of the Carleton and King Alfred varieties.

- We're actually gonna be taking several photographs of the hill to see where we have blank spaces, and we courteously ask people not to walk through the daffodil so they don't get trampled.

If they do, they won't grow back the next year.

- [Carrie] Of course many of these daffodils return just like visitors, season after season, brightening the hillside and people's spirits at the same time.

- Thank you, Carrie.

The blossoms might have peaked earlier in spring but it still makes for a pretty good walk in the city.

Now we go from walking to riding.

Are you ready?

The Soap Box Derby takes place in Akron in mid-July.

Gravity powers these home-built cars and cars were driven by kids from the ages of seven all the way up to 20.

Gabriel Kramer zips through the history of the All-American Soap Box Derby and tells us how Akron became the place to race.

(upbeat music) - Anyone else got the need?

The need for speed?

Well, it might be a few years until you can get your driver's license and join a NASCAR team, but there is another way you could try your hand at racing now.

I'm talking about the All-American Soap Box Derby.

It was created in 1933, right here in Ohio.

It began when Myron E. Scott, a photographer for the Dayton Daily News took a photo of some boys racing down a hill in little homemade cars.

Scott noticed the cars looked up and built using soap crates and had four wheels.

So he dubbed the race, a soap-box-derby.

Scott thought organizing the races could be a fun event.

And so we talked to his boss into sponsoring a series of Soap Box Derbys during the summer of '33, as well as another race the following year.

More than 300 children came out to participate, along with 40,000 people that came to watch the 1934 race.

- [Commentator] But wait till you see the other entrance in the 1935 Derby, there'll be everything from cracker boxes to cheese boxes on wheels.

Only a few short weeks until the starters gun bangs away.

- This gained the attention of the General Motors Chevrolet division and they agreed to sponsor an annual event.

With the sponsorship came a change in location for the race.

Fine by the residents of Dayton who were a bit annoyed by the first race's disruption.

The city of Akron lobbied to host the annual event and won.

It was a good fit since Akron is called The Rubber City because of their involvement in tyre production.

The first race in Akron took place on Tallmadge Avenue in 1935.

One year after moving the races to Akron, both Chevrolet and the city of Akron believed that a permanent track to hold the Derby races was needed.

- [Commentator] Maybe you'd like a ride down the track.

All right, let's go.

(upbeat music) - With the help of the Works Progress Administration, Derby Downs was built in 1936 in Akron.

The Works Progress Administration or the WPA, was part of President Roosevelt's new deal program to help the country after the economic destruction caused by The Great Depression.

The WPA employed men without jobs to work on projects for the community.

The WPA even included artists to design posters like this one for the races.

Pretty cool that the kids' races were able to create jobs and make people smile during some difficult years.

Since 1933 there have only been a few times when the races haven't taken place.

A four-year hiatus during the Second World War, and an early end to the 2019/2020 racing season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And while it first started mainly as a sport for boys, the race opened up to girls in 1971, and it was only a few years later, in 1975 when Karen Stead from Pennsylvania was the first girl to win the All-American Soap Box Derby.

Over the years a few things have changed.

The cars are not made from soap boxes for one thing, they're carefully designed to meet race rules and go extra fast, but still no motors in the cars.

It's all about using design and gravity going downhill to pick up speed.

The Soap Box Derby has grown into a national and even international competition, but the final championship race still takes place at the All-American Derby in Akron.

So no need to wait for NASCAR.

You can build your own Soap Box Derby car today.

- Thanks Gabe.

Hey, of all of our special segments, just wondering which one was your favorite this year?

For this week's poll, we wanna know if you liked Spot on Science, Know Ohio, Politics on Point, or maybe Sketchbook.

Head to our website to cast your vote.

And for last week's poll we did ask you, what you did to try to conserve water at home.

We just got back the results, the top answer, 71% of you said that you turned the faucet off while brushing your teeth.

49% of you said that you avoid taking long showers, 47% said that you don't over water your lawn, and 46% of you said that you only run the dishwasher when it's full.

Well sadly it's time for the final Petting Zoo of the year, and for NewsCat's big news too.

Let's see what she's got for us.

(upbeat music) (cat meows) Hey there NewsCat!

What?

You're already on summer break?

Wait, did you forget?

We still have one more episode.

Come on cat, there's work to do.

Oh, okay, you found us a story about a dog who helps kids to stay calm at the dentist office.

To watch Milo, the dentist assistant at work, click the Petting Zoo button on our website.

(upbeat music) Thank you NewsCat.

But wait, don't leave us hanging.

(cat meows) What's the big news?

Oh, oh, you're you're hiring an intern next season?

Hold on.

I didn't even know she was allowed to hire an intern.

(cat meows) So you're looking for another cuteness correspondent with a journalism background?

Lemme tell them what the job of a journalist is.

It's to report on news stories for a publication or broadcast, that's what I do.

In Ohio there's an estimated 1,370 active journalists or you can call 'em reporters, but it's not really considered an in-demand career.

The average salary for a journalist in our state, just $34,000 a year.

Someone who wants to pursue a career in news needs a bachelor's degree, they need to be curious, they need to be good listeners to gather information, and then good communicators in order to analyze all those details.

They need to be good interviewers and writers so if ELA is one of your favorite classes, maybe being a reporter might be for you.

Journalists also need to be computer savvy because the job could require them to record things and to edit video and audio.

Now before NewsCat starts taking applications for the internship, we want your input.

For this week's question, we wanna know what you think makes a good journalist?

Head online to tell us what qualifications we should look for in our candidates.

For our write-in question last week, we asked you to give us some examples for how art can help solve problems.

Let's hear your ideas by opening up our inbox.

(upbeat music) Allison from Bath Elementary in Bath thinks that art can help a person's mental health.

Art can make someone's day better and happier.

For instance, if you're having a bad day and you see a beautiful or happy picture, it will make you happier.

If someone is hurt and they see a beautiful and detailed drawing they might forget about the pain.

If someone sees a peaceful drawing that they want to live in, they will want peace so they can live in that world in real life.

Art can solve many problems.

Grey from Strongsville Middle School in Strongsville wants inventors to know that they can use art to test out a new idea.

For any inventors out there here's an idea for you.

You can have a cardboard car, you can make a Bugatti Veyron out of cardboard and drive it around.

This would be cool because you can drive around and show off your $1.9 million car, but it's made out of cardboard so it's way cheaper.

That is my idea for all inventors.

Ma from Springdale Elementary in Springdale says that art can help spread a message.

Art can help solve things like racism and wars.

Artists made paintings and sculptures to try to convince people to end the war.

People also create art representing the ban of racism.

Art can always represent something meaningful.

We got this letter from Ethan who attends Edison Elementary in Willoughby saying that art can bring positivity.

I think art can solve problems because in a school you can make positive paintings around the school.

So if someone's having a bad day, they can see that and it could cheer them up.

That is why I think art can solve problems.

And Ally from East Wood Intermediate School in Hudson gets the final letter of the year.

She told us that art can have environmental benefits.

Art can help solve a problem like the littering problem because trash can easily be turned into art with just a couple of paints and paint brushes.

Great letters this week everyone, and all year actually, you're all very creative thinkers, but that's gonna be it for today's show and for the entire school year.

Before I sign off, lemme remind you about our audience survey because we do wanna know how we did this season.

Teachers and students, you can fill it out by heading online to ideastream.org/newsdepthsurvey.

Your input's what helps us improve the show every year.

And you know we always wanna hear from you as well and there are plenty of ways to stay in touch.

You can send us a letter we're right here.

1375 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland Ohio.

Our zip code is 44115.

You can email us at newsdepth@ideastream.org, or you can tweet us.

Our handle is @newsdepthohio.

Thanks for joining us.

I'm Rick Jackson, work hard during the summer, we'll see you right back here in the fall.

(upbeat music) - [Announcer] NewsDepth is made possible by grant from the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation.

(upbeat music)