[Music]
Hello everyone and welcome to the show.
I'm Koi Wire. This is CNN 10. We are
coming to you from the Vessel in New
York City, one of Manhattan's most
striking modern landmarks close to the
Highline and the Hudson River. I got the
chance to spend the day with some of you
while I was here. And I can't wait to
tell you about that story and what I
learned. First though, let's get you
some other news. We begin today with an
update on Hurricane Melissa, which has
devastated parts of Jamaica and Cuba
after becoming one of the strongest
hurricanes in history. Melissa made
landfall in Jamaica early Tuesday as a
category 5 hurricane, the most powerful
storm to ever hit the island. Torrential
rain and winds of up to 185 miles per
hour caused extensive damage to many
homes, schools, and hospitals. The
government has declared the entire
island a disaster area, and the full
scope of the damage is still emerging.
Melissa then continued to Cuba, making
landfall early Wednesday as a category 3
storm with severe winds and torrential
rain. The government there says flooding
has cut off about 140,000 people and
left many communities completely
isolated. So far, the storm is
responsible for at least 29 deaths
across the Caribbean. As of this taping,
Melissa is making its way back into the
Western Atlantic after passing over
parts of the Bahamas. 10sec trivia.
Which one of these winter sports will
make his debut at the 25th Winter
Olympic Games? Ski mountaineering, broom
hockey, synchronized snowboarding or ice
climbing.
If you said ski mountaineering, I can
ski you know your stuff. The event, also
known as skio, features athletes racing
up and down mountains using specialized
skis. I think I will stick to the
gondola. Thank you. Ah, the Olympics.
The 2026 Milan Cortina Games are right
around the corner. In fewer than 100
days, the games will kick off in venues
across northern Italy. This week, I had
the opportunity to go one-on-one with
some of Team USA's brightest stars as
they prep to go for the gold. That
includes figure skater Amber Glenn,
who's fresh off a second straight China
Cup win and set to make her Olympic
debut at 26 years old. But getting here
was anything but easy. I talked to Amber
about how she's overcome some major
setbacks in her career and how she's
using them to push forward. You were a
skating prodigy coming up, young, and
then you had to take some time away. You
hit some really tough times.
>> What are some of the things that were
most challenging for you to get through?
>> For me, I had a mental health crisis. I
was diagnosed with depression, anxiety,
and eventually ADHD. And it was just a
lot to try and process while being on a
national stage as a child. Uh so it took
many, many years to try and find a good
balance for me. How difficult was that
to feel like superhuman and then all of
a sudden not so much?
>> Yeah, it was it was hard. Uh I remember
being called a freak of nature as a kid
and being so insulted by it and now I
embrace it. I'm like hell yeah I am. I
have worked so hard to get where I am.
It's not just natural and I wasn't
gifted in this sense. It's also because
I've dedicated my life to this. And how
have you turned any of these perceived
challenges into now just like a
superpower? I can feel it emanating from
you. You are like ready to dominate out
there.
>> Thank you. It hasn't been without its
challenges. I take every lesson that
I've learned and try apply it to
everyday things and try and help others
around me avoid some of the mistakes
that I might have made along the way.
And I think that's what helped me be the
best possible version of myself.
>> All right. What is it like to go to high
school in New York City, ride the subway
to school, walk past Wall Street, maybe
Fifth Avenue? Well, I got the
opportunity to spend a day at one school
that defies just about every New York
City stereotype that you could think of.
We would like you to meet the remarkable
students at the Urban Assembly's Harbor
School.
We built a community around this island
and I feel like our bonds are stronger.
>> For 550 kids in New York City, this is
high school where all of the typical
stereotypes of a high school experience
are met with career training courses
that focus on the ocean that surrounds
their home.
>> I'll do some data. Zoe will do data for
two different groups. All right, sound
good. Okay, let's head down. The goal of
this school, the founding of this school
was to give opportunity to maritime
education to those students who may have
never been able to get that.
Students get hands-on experience in a
range of maritime skills to prepare them
for careers in everything from
aquaculture to ocean engineering. They
get the chance to build and operate
boats, design submersibles, even dive in
and conduct real life research.
>> What's up everybody? Today we're getting
a look at the school's ongoing oyster
restoration research program.
>> Speedium. Extra speedium. Like I like
it. The school works handinand with a
nonprofit called the Billion Oyster
Project. Its goal to restore New York's
once thriving oyster population.
>> They're just telling me how many oysters
are on their their shell and then they
tell me whether it's alive or dead and
measure the shell height. It's like
length from tip to tip. The goal is to
monitor,
>> study,
>> analyze a billion oysters or get a
billion oysters in the water.
>> The billion oysters project of is to put
a billion oysters back into New York
Harbor.
>> Wow.
>> How do how do we know how close we are
to this goal?
>> Uh by doing monitors just like this. If
a student wants to be involved in the
maritime industry, then this school is
able to provide the opportunities and
the pathways for those students to get
into those uh fields. It's sort of
forming a oyster reef at this moment.
>> Our goal is to get around a billion
oysters in and that should bring back
native oyster populations that were
killed off.
>> Just like a regular class, they receive
grades on assignments. Uh the
assignments are more hands-on, but they
are indeed typical school assignments
that are graded. They're called career
and technical education classes and
they're part of a pathway uh for each of
our state approved programs. Last year,
more than 90% of our students uh were
accepted into 4-year college programs.
>> All right. Can you pull that?
>> Yeah, that's a little bit better. All
right.
>> Harbor alumni Shaina Rajun Donarin was
so inspired by her aquaculture training
that she went on to become a billion
oyster project employee.
>> Honestly, it's been one of the most
beautiful blessings ever. I got to like
do this a little bit in our like
freshman field which is where we get to
like experience a couple of all of the
programs and once I did that in field I
was like this is where I belong. I
belong with all of the oysters in the
muck and the heavy lifting and all the
data. It's beautiful.
>> You loved this so much that you come
back now to help. What do you see when
when you look at these youngsters?
>> Honestly, it's really inspiring. It's so
full circle for me to one go through the
program, graduate from the program, come
back to take care of the space, and then
now also get to come back and work with
the students and see them do the same
thing. And also see that they're just as
excited about it as I am. It's not often
that you see kids come in and be excited
for school. Not at all.
>> And then here, they're like, "Oh, we
have oysters today, or we're on the o
eco do today, or this is what we get to
do. Let's get in it."
>> What do you love most about coming out
here? Um I definitely like this is kind
of what I want to do for the rest of my
life.
>> What's your hope for people u through
the work that you all are doing here? um
>> how it might impact.
>> I hope that people like learn about
these kind of how how there are like
these kind of jobs and activities you
can do in in New York like especially
like just an urban place that you can
you can still like save wildlife here
like by interacting with like oysters.
>> I'm having a
time like the time of my life. The
Harbor School is nestled on Governor's
Island about 800 yardds south of
Manhattan. This former military base is
now part public park, part cultural and
educational hub. And this 172 acre
island, it's only accessible by ferry.
Which means for these teens, their
school bus looks like this.
>> I feel like this school has a lot more
diversity, especially because
everybody's coming from all different
areas. like you have people from Staten
Island. Um I'm not I'm in Brooklyn so
I'm used to Brooklyn and that's where I
went to school and so the kids like have
a lot more chances to talk to many
different people, make new friends.
>> What's your hope for the the program?
>> The program.
>> Yeah. You look 10 years from now, 20
years from now,
>> the impact it might have. Um,
I hope that it continues to draw people
in because that's the best best way to
like genuinely get into this kind of
thing is to like get dirty and fall in
love with the earth that's around you.
So, I hope that we just keep encouraging
people to come out because that's that's
a good way to start.
>> Give me a dirty high five.
Love it.
[Applause]
Today's story getting a 10 out of 10.
One book, two book, a new Dr. Seuss
book. A newly found manuscript from the
beloved children's author will be
published next year. It's called Sing
the 50 United States and it prompts
young readers to learn and name all of
the states. It features The Cat in the
Hat and Two Little Cat Helpers. The
manuscript was found earlier this year
at UC San Diego's Geel Library, named
after Ted Geel, aka Dr. Seuss, his real
name. There was full text and a cover
sketch by the author, along with notes
on the overall art direction. The book
comes out next June, just in time for
America's 250th birthday. All right,
thank you to everyone who's been
subscribing and commenting on our CNN 10
YouTube channel for your shoutout
requests. Our first shout out goes to
Miss Inman at Parker Intermediate Center
in Mallister, Oklahoma, who sent us this
my new spirit animal. This is Cheich. He
came all the way to New York with us.
Check out our CNN 10 Instagram page if
you want to see all the journeys this
little fella has been on. And this shout
out goes to Mr. Eversouls at Hillrest
High School in Simpsonville, South
Carolina. Rise up. Thank you for
spending part of your day with us. Go
make it an awesome one. Make someone
smile. I'm Koi Wire and we are CNN 10.