Today's Show Transcript

---

COY WIRE, CNN 10 ANCHOR: Hello everyone and welcome to the show. I'm Coy 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 High Line 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.
Ten-second trivia.
Which one of these winter sports will make its 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 skimo, 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 Milano 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: You were a skating prodigy coming up young and then you had to take some away. You hit some really tough times. What are some of the things that were most challenging for you to get through?
AMBER GLENN, U.S. FIGURE SKATER: 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. So, it took many, many years to try and find a good balance for me.
WIRE: How difficult was that to feel like superhuman and then all of a sudden, not so much?
GLENN: Yeah, it was -- it was hard. 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.
WIRE: 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.
GLENN: Thank you. It hasn't been without 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've made along the way. And I think that's what helps me be the best possible version of myself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WIRE: 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 Assemblies Harbor School.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We built a community around this island and I feel like our bonds are stronger.
WIRE (voice-over): 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.
REBECCA RESNER, AQUACULTURE TEACHER, THE URBAN ASSEMBLY NEW YORK HARBOR SCHOOL: I'll do some data, Zoe will do data for two different groups. All right, sound good? OK, let's head down.
MICHAEL HOJNACKI, PRINCIPAL, THE URBAN ASSEMBLY NEW YORK HARBOR SCHOOL: 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.
WIRE (voice-over): 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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's up, everybody.
WIRE: Today, we're getting a look at the school's ongoing oyster restoration research program.
(On camera): It's medium, extra medium. I like it.
(Voice-over): The school works hand in hand with a non-profit called the Billion Oyster Project. Its goal, to restore New York's once thriving oyster population.
ISAAC LIVOTI, SENIOR, THE URBAN ASSEMBLY NEW YORK HARBOR SCHOOL: They're just telling me how many oysters are on their shell and then they tell me whether it's alive or dead and measure shell height. It's like length from tip to tip.
WIRE: The goal is to monitor, study, analyze a billion oysters or get a billion oysters in the water.
RESNER: So, the Billion Oyster Project is to put a billion oysters back into New York Harbor.
WIRE: Wow, how do we know how close we are to this goal?
RESNER: By doing monitors just like this.
HOJNACKI: Yeah, if a student wants to be involved in the opportunities and the pathways for those students to get into those fields.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's sort of forming an oyster reef at this moment.
LIVOTI: Our goal is to get around a billion oysters in and that should bring back native oyster populations that were killed off.
HOJNACKI: Just like a regular class they receive grades on assignments. 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 for each of our state approved programs.
Last year more than 90 percent of our students were accepted into four-year college programs.
SHANIA RAJOON DEONARINE, REMOTE SETTING SENIOR TECHNICIAN, BILLION OYSTER PROJECT: All right, can you pull that? Yeah, that's a little bit better. All right.
WIRE: Harbor alumni Shania Rajoon Deonarine was so inspired by her aquaculture training that she went on to become a Billion Oyster Project employee.
DEONARINE: Honestly, it's 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 and the muck and the heavy lifting and all the data. It's beautiful.
WIRE: You love this so much that you come back now to help. What do you see when -- when you look at these youngsters?
DEONARINE: 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 eco dock today or this is what we get to do. Let's get in it.
WIRE: What do you love most about coming out here?
DORKA DOHANY, JUNIOR, THE URBAN ASSEMBLY NEW YORK HARBOR SCHOOL: I definitely like some kind of what I want to do for the rest of my life.
WIRE: What's your hope for people through the work that you all are doing here? How it might impact?
NIKO KINJO, SENIOR, THE URBAN ASSEMBLY NEW YORK HARBOR SCHOOL: 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 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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm having a time -- like, the time of my life.
WIRE (voice-over): The Harbor School is nestled on Governor's Island. About 800 yards south of Manhattan, this former military base is now part public park, part cultural and educational hub. And this 172-acre island is only accessible by ferry, which means for these teens their school bus looks like this.
CARLY RAMOS, SENIOR, THE URBAN ASSEMBLY NEW YORK HARBOR SCHOOL: 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. 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.
WIRE: What's your hope for the -- the program?
DEONARINE: The program?
WIRE: Yeah, you look 10 years from now 20 years from now, the impact it might have?
DEONARINE: I hope that it continues to draw people 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.
WIRE: Give me a dirty high five. Love it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WIRE: 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 U.C. San Diego's Geisel library named after Ted Geisel 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 shout out requests.
Our first shout out goes to Miss Inman at Parker Intermediate Center in McAlester, Oklahoma who sent us this. My new spirit animal this is Cheech. 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's been on.
And this shout out goes to Mr. Eversoles (ph) at Hillcrest 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 Corey Wire and we are CNN 10.

CNN 10's Weekly News Quiz

---