1 . Caring 17-year-old Lauren Schroeder was inspired to help bring healthy food to needy families in her community. Volunteering at a food shelter helping _______ boxes for households in need with packaged food when she was 14, this Iowa teen felt that something was _______ from the donated groceries: fresh vegetables. So she shared with her parents her _______ to start a vegetable farm on part of their family farm in Dixon, Iowa to support local families in need with fresh produce.

Coming from a farming family, Lauren was _______ agriculture. But the work involved in _______ Lauren’s plan was no walk in the park. _______, while proud of her daughter’s vision, her mother, Katie Shroeder, admitted _______ about the work involved: “I also had a little bit of responsibilities on my shoulder.”

Lauren was one determined young _______, however! She researched plants online, _______ which species needed more shade and how much water was ________. During Iowa’s hot summers, she had to water her crops by hand for around 2-3 hours daily. Thanks to her ________, Lauren planted half an acre of land, with 15 varieties of vegetables in 2022, harvesting about 3,000 kilograms.

In 2023, Lauren doubled the size of her farm to an acre. Discussing her future ________, The Washington Post revealed that Lauren would like to grow another 5,897 kilograms of produce, thus ________ her veggie total to about 9,000 kilograms when it’s time for her to go to college in 2025.

Explaining her ________ to local media channel, KWQC, Lauren said, “I wanted to do something that would impact people. Many people help you out, but it makes more ________ when you help others out.”

2 . Thanks to the 1999 Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act, 26 endangered species in Australia have seen their populations recover.

It seems like that we're always hearing about new animals that have become endangered, but there's some good news in Australia: 26 animal species no longer meet the criteria to be listed as threatened. Australia’s biodiversity has been in decline, with more than 1, 700 species and ecological communities known to be on the line. In 1999, the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act was passed to introduce protections for endangered animals. The burrowing bettong is one of 26 Australian species that have returned from the edge of extinction.

Seemingly these are working, as a recent study published in the journal Biological Conservation reviewed the animals that were previously or currently listed as threatened between 2000 and December 2022, and discovered that 26 species had recovered to no longer meet the criteria. Species that have seen improvement include the charmingly named burrowing bettong, the golden bandicoot and the bulloo grey grasswren.

Factors behind this improvement include habitat management, control of introduced predators (捕食者) and translocation of endangered animals to predator-free islands. However, the species have not been officially delisted at this time. The EPBC Act only allows species to be delisted if doing so will not have a negative effect on their survival, and researchers believe that conservation gains could be lost should management efforts be stopped.

Dr Michelle Ward, a conservation scientist at WWF Australia, told The Guardian, “The key problem with delisting species is that then they no longer have monitoring and no longer need certain funding plans.”

However, it is promising that researchers have found signs of improvement. Hopefully this will continue among these and other species!

4 . Robotics/Artificial Intelligence (AI) Competitions for High School Students

Robotics and AI competitions are a great way for high schoolers to dive into modern technologies. Here are four of them.

MATE ROV Competition

Location: Houston, Texas

Awards: VR headsets

Competition Date: March to June

MATE ROV Competition challenges students to design and build remotely operated vehicles, and its purpose is to see who can design a vehicle that will help monitor ocean health, provide clean energy, or just help keep our oceans healthy for the future.

RoboRave

Location: Lorrach, Germany

Awards: Small cash prizes

Competition Date: November

RoboRave is a robotics competition that welcomes participants to compete in various challenges like firefighting. The competition’s unique aspect lies in its international reach, bringing together enthusiasts from around the world to celebrate robotics education and hands-on learning.

Agorize AI Challenge

Location: Virtual for initial phases, then in Paris, France for the final award ceremony

Awards: A trip to the destination of your choice, iPad, Apple TV

Competition Date: September

In this project, you can work in teams of 2-5 people to present an idea for how we can use AI-technologies to impact a specific field, like marketing, healthcare, etc. You’ll send in your initial application in a 3-5 slides presentation, and if your team makes it pass this phase, you’ll have the opportunity to include more information about your product features.

OpenCV AI Competition

Location: Online

Awards: Certificates, cash, free courses

Competition Date: December

In your project, you can either work individually or in teams of three using computer vision technologies. OpenCV AI Competition suggests project ideas related to robotics, agriculture or education, but you’re not limited to these areas.

5 . The “Got Talent” crew is one of the pioneers in finding and publicizing music talents and has been giving the world some of its most favorite artists for almost two decades. This year “Britain’s Got Talent” (BGT) uncovered a musical genius named Malakai Bayoh who amazed the audience with perfect high-note singing. The London-based 13-year-old boy appeared for the show’s audition (试镜) in April, 2023 and was accompanied by his mom and sister. “My big dream is to be a singer. I started singing at 7,” said Bayoh to the BGT team and added jokingly, “My mom made me join the choir (合唱团) because she’s very bossy.” The teenager mentioned she’s his biggest fan.

Bayoh’s mom was shocked as he was about to perform and said, “It scares me because, on his first show, somebody heckled (对……起哄) him. It was bad to think that someone would boo (喝倒彩) a child on stage because it could’ve knocked his confidence completely.” Contrary to his mom’s fear, Bayoh set the stage on fire singing the song “Pie Jesu” and the entire crowd were struck by his beautiful voice. As he ended his song, the audience and the judges gave him a standing applause. Simon Cowell, a judge, had just one word to say and it was “Golden Buzzer”, sending him straight to the semi-finals of the show.

Cowell and the other judges called Bayoh’s performance “flawless” and “heavenly”. His angelic voice made the audience tear up and the judges thanked the teen for coming on the show. Bayoh went on to become one of the finalists of the show.

Bayoh’s audition at the BGT became popular on social media. People loved the boy’s impeccable singing and some musicians even commented on how perfectly he hit the high notes. “I’m a trained singer and a music teacher by profession, and sang this song as a young performer myself. I can say with absolute certainty that this song is most beautifully sung this time. With proper technique and breathing, this boy sang really well,” posted @mayacorinne878.

10 . As China’s first ever full-time Formula One (世界一级方程式锦标赛) driver, Zhou Guanyu makes a living by doing the sort of things many people can only dream about: traveling the world and racing in a fast car.

“I think the only ______ between Formula One and a roller coaster is that you have to be ______ where you’re going, and you have to be at 100% of yourself,” Zhou told CNN.

Zhou has been putting his all into ______ since he was a young boy ______ in Shanghai. Today, Zhou is predicted to become F1’s answer to Yao Ming, who is often praised for making basketball ______ in China.

It was back in Shanghai in 2004 that-at just 5 years old-Zhou ______ Rubens Barrichello win the first ever Chinese Grand Prix on TV. The moment helped to ______ his interest in racing and has ______ with him ever since, he said.

There was a ______ of Chinese racing role models, so he ______ a path of his own. A very important moment in his racing life came at age 12, when he ______ Shanghai for Sheffield in the United Kingdom to ______ his development with the strawberry Racing Krting team. The move put him on the road to achieving his ambitions.

Zhou is often ______ to the former NBA player Yao Ming, who is also a sport star from Shanghai. “Who knows, maybe in 10 years’ time. I could have the same ______. And that is my aim ______,” he said.