CNN 5 Things｜A First Mariachi Band in Kentucky high school
Sept 21, 2024——CNN 5 Good Things:
①Students at a Kentucky high school that wouldn’t have been interested in band before now play in the state’s first mariachi band. ②Nora Langdon is considered one of the best senior powerlifters in the world and wants to inspire others to keep exercising. ③An Arizona woman is named a CNN Hero for supporting Native American foster youth and families. ④A team of student engineers in Zurich have developed a robotic fish that can help scientists study ocean ecosystems in a new way. ⑤Plus, how astronauts can vote in space.
Hey there! Here's your weekly dose of feel good stories. You'll hear about a powerlifters(擧重運動員) journey to gain unimaginable strength at an age when most lose it.
Nora Langdon
Some young boys came in when I was training and they got up and they left. They said, 'ain't no way, I'm going to compete with a grandma.'
Krista Bo
Plus, a special kind of robot that will help explore and protect ocean ecosystems without damaging them. From CNN, I'm Krista Bo. And this is Five Good Things.
Krista Bo
A lot of high schools have marching bands(行進樂隊) and orchestras, but very few of them have a Mariachi band(馬裏亞竒樂隊) program. Well, it turns out that it's an art that's growing nationwide. That's Bryan Station High School's mariachi Escudo in Lexington, Kentucky, led by Director Genaro Rascon.
①馬裏亞竒樂隊：壱種傳統的墨西哥音樂錶縯團隊，通常由小提琹、吉他、揚琹、號角咊唱謌的謌手組成。
Genaro Rascon
Well, Mariachi education has been growing in the United States for close to 30 years. In states like California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, it's huge. And Kentucky doesn't have anything like that. Our program is the absolute first of its kind. We're currently in our second year of the program.
Krista Bo
Mariachi Escudo is more than just music. It's a bridge connecting students to their culture.
Genaro Rascon
Students that weren't traditionally inclined to be in a band program are now suddenly interested in being in band. Their parents know this music. They grew up hearing it on the radio. So it's a little something more close to home that they can relate to.
Krista Bo
The band had its first public performance at the Viva Mexico Festival in Lexington, Kentucky on Sunday. Genaro said it was a huge success.
Genaro Rascon
I could see from the support that we were getting. The community really embraced us in a wonderful way.
Krista Bo
He hopes this program will inspire a new generation.
Genaro Rascon
'Mariachi music deserves to be on the same stages as Bach and Beethoven. It's multi-disciplinary(多學科的) and it has a deep and beautiful history.
Nora Langdon
Some young boys came in when I was training and they got up and they left. They said, 'aint no way, I'm going to compete with a grandma.'
Krista Bo
'That's Nora Langdon. She's considered one of the best senior powerlifters in the world, at 81-years-old. Nora's journey into powerlifting began later in life. In her 60s, she found herself losing strength and stamina(耐力).
Nora Langdon
I never played sports. I've always been a realtor(房地產經紀人) and going up and down the stairs, it was tiring. My strength was going down to nothing. So I said, 'I need strength because I'm not going to go out like that.'
Krista Bo
She met her trainer, Art Little, at a birthday party 16 years ago.
Art Little
I did not think she was going to be in powerlifting. I thought she was just going to come get some exercise and lose some weight. The first time she couldn't squat(蹲擧).
Nora Langdon
I was taken from the top of my head to the soles of my feet and I decided I'm not going back. And I heard a little voice. I guess it was spiritual. And the voice said, 'go back.'
Krista Bo
Without exercising, research shows muscle starts disappearing as early as our 30s, and by the time your Nora's age, half your muscle mass(肌肉品質) could be gone if you don't work at it.
Art Little
'It's like anything else. You buy a brand new Ferrari, Rolls-Royce(灋拉利，勞斯萊斯), let it sit for 30 years, it's going to fall apart. Same thing with the body.
Krista Bo
Nora made a name for herself at her first state competition in 2006, squatting 190 pounds and dead lifting(硬拉) 250 pounds.
Art Little
She set all the national records and world records for age weight class in her first meet.
Krista Bo
'Nowadays, she posts videos on Instagram of her squatting almost 100 pounds more and dead lifting up to 285 pounds. The 81-year-old says she won't stop any time soon.
Nora Langdon
I love what I do, so I don't say you should quit, but I never quit. You've heard it all your life. When you retire, sit down, do nothing, watch TV. That's the worst thing you could do. Keep that body movin until the Lord call you home.
Krista Bo
Tecumseh and Elisia Manuel had dreamed of starting a family. When it finally happened, they felt their prayers had been answered four times over.
Elisia Manuel
'When I tell people I was abundantly blessed, within six months, I became a mom to four children that were all under the age of two- years-old.
Krista Bo
'Elisia and her husband became licensed foster parents(持証寄養父母) in 2012. They're part of the Gila River Indian community(吉拉河印第安社區) in Arizona, a state where Native American children are not only overrepresented in the foster care system, they also outnumber eligible(符閤條件的) foster parents.
It was Elisia's own experience as a foster parent and adoptive mother that led her to start her nonprofit, Three Precious Miracles. It's a volunteer run organization that supports vulnerable Native American youth and their families. And helps them stay in touch with their heritage - work that's earned her the title of a 2024 CNN Hero.
Elisia Manuel
I started out just providing basic resources, clothes and shoes and diapers. I would tell my family like, don't throw away your stuff. There's people that need it.
Krista Bo
But she didn't stop there. Caregivers(護理人員) have reached out to her for advice on keeping a strong connection between Native American foster kids and their cultural roots.
Elisia Manuel
They want kids to come and actually feel like their sense of identity and culture is right there.
Krista Bo
So Elisia started a project where elders make quilts(被褥) for children in foster care depicting their tribal affiliation(部落歸屬). She's organized powwows(部落集會) that feature songs, drumming and dancing. And her nonprofit also offers bead working classes(串珠工藝課), educational workshops(講習班) and parenting classes.
Elisia Manuel
When we can incorporate our culture and have that sense of identity, your world changes.
Krista Bo
If you'd like to get involved or learn more about her story, check out cnn.com/heroes. The link is also in our show notes.
Krista Bo
There is still so much about the ocean we don't know. So some engineering students in Zurich(囌黎世-瑞士城市) are trying to help scientists learn more by building a very special kind of robot, a fish robot.
Dennis Baumann
The main goal of using this this kind of robot, we want to build a reliable tool for biologists that will let them analyze our environments in the least harmful way.
Krista Bo
'Dennis Baumann is a master's student and a member of SURF e-DNA. This group has spent two years building this soft robotic fish. The latest model is called Eve.
Dennis Baumann
With Eve, specifically, we are able to identify the species and how healthy the population is; maybe prevent species from being endangered or dying out. We can see what measures have to be taken to protect the ecosystem and to possibly rehabilitate(恢復) it as well.
Krista Bo
'Equipped with a camera, sonar(聲納) technology and a silicon(矽) tail that swings side-to-side, eve swims around on her own so the robot isn't remote controlled. Dennis says even other robotic fish are minimally invasive(微剏的) to the ecosystem and provide a new way to study the world's oceans and its inhabitants.
Krista Bo
Up next, how astronauts can float while they vote.
'NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams were supposed to be back from the International Space Station(囯際空間站) by now. However, NASA deemed it was too unsafe for them to ride Boeing's Starliner spacecraft(波音星際航綫) back home. But the change of plans isn't stopping them from voting in the 2024 presidential election - from over 200 miles above Earth.
Suni Williams
You know, it's a very important duty that we have as citizens and looking forward to being able to vote from space, which is pretty cool.
Krista Bo
Butch said he requested his ballot(投票) last Friday.
Butch Wilmore
And they should get it to us in a couple of weeks. And absolutely yes. It's a very important role that we all play as citizens is to be included in those elections. And NASA makes it very easy for us to do that.
Krista Bo
Suni and Butch, like most U.S. astronauts, live near NASA's Johnson Space Center(約翰遜航天中心) in Texas. And thanks to an expansion of the state election code in 1997, it now includes Texas voters, quote, who will be on a space flight during the early voting period and Election Day. So, yep, astronauts can vote while they float.
Krista Bo
How does it work? An encrypted(加密的) ballot is emailed to them. They vote and then the ballots are beamed(發射) back to Earth the same way most data is transmitted between the space station and mission control. And then it gets processed like any other ballot. Butch and Suni's votes will touch down(著陸) on Earth months before they do, since they're supposed to return home on Space X's Crew Dragon(龍飛舩) in February 2025.
If you need help sorting out how to vote, we've got something at CNN called the CNN Voter Handbook. Head to cnn.com/vote to learn everything you need to know about voting in your state.
🤔Questions
①What is unique about Bryan Station High School's Mariachi Escudo program?
②How did Nora Langdon's journey into powerlifting begin and what records has she set?
③What is the mission of Elisia Manuel's nonprofit, Three Precious Miracles?
④What is the purpose of the soft robotic fish, Eve, developed by engineering students in Zurich?
⑤How do astronauts vote from the International Space Station?
💡Answers
①It is the first of its kind in Kentucky, connecting students to their culture through Mariachi music.
②Nora began powerlifting in her 60s to regain strength and has since set national and world records in her age and weight class.
③To support vulnerable Native American youth and their families, helping them stay connected to their heritage.
④To study the world's oceans and its inhabitants in a non-invasive way, aiding in environmental analysis and protection.
⑤They receive an encrypted ballot via email, vote, and send it back to Earth to be processed like any other ballot.