Gail Skroback Hennessey

Some kids learn to ski, others learn karate, Preston Weber,11, who loves skateboarding, found another interest. He learned to do the knife dance of Samoan warriors! Watching YouTube videos, Preston, got fired up and taught himself the art of the fireknife. The dance involves twirling a very sharp knife extremely fast...and, it's lit on fire at both ends! After practicing for hours each day for about a year, Preston's fire-knife dancing paid off. He just won the 6-11 Junior Division championship at the 18th annual World Fire-knife Championships held this past week in Hawaii. Preston got interested in the dance after visiting a Polynesian show at a restaurant in his town, thought it would be fun to do and set out learning to do the traditional dance.

Today, May 15,2010, Jessica Watson,16, of Australia, sailed her pink yacht into Sydney Harbour to the cheers of thousands of spectators. She just completed a round-the world journey, the youngest to circle the globe-nonstop, unassisted and solo! Jessica's record setting adventure took her seven months to complete. Facing loneliness, homesickness,huge storms and 40 ft. waves(but also unbelievable sunrises, seeing a shooting star,and, a blue whale), the teen walked off the yacht, called Ella's Pink Lady, onto a pink carpet placed in her honor at the pier. It was the first time she'd walked on land in 210 days, after leaving Buderim, Queensland, on October 18, 2009. Watson's journey took her northeast through the South Pacific,across the equator(where she dumped water on her head to celebrate), south to Cape Horn( tip of South America), across the Atlantic Ocean to South Africa, through the Indian Ocean and around southern Australia. Although Jessica is the youngest to accomplish such an sailing,it will not go into the record books as the World Speed Sailing Record Council has discontinued its "youngest"category. Of her efforts, Jessica told spectators."People don't think you're capable of these things-they don't realize what young people, what 16-year-olds and girls are capable of. It's amazing when you take away those expectations what you can do." The Prime Minister of Australia has hailed Jessica,"Australia's newest hero". As for the title, Jessica was quoted as saying,"I don't consider myself a hero. I'm an ordinary girl who believed in her dream."

Update:Jordan Romero has become the youngest to summit Mt. Everest. The 13 year old reached the summit of 29,028 ft. on Saturday, May 22nd. He used a satellite telephone to call his mom saying,"I'm calling you from the top of the world". The eighth grader breaks Temba Tsheri's(of Nepal), record who held the youngest to successful summit Mt. Everest at the age of 16. Jordan only has one of the highest peaks, on all seven continents, left to climb. Come December, Jordan sets out to summit Vinson Massif, in Antarctica. Check out his website:

Teen Does a Wheelie Amazing Stunt

Do you do wheelies on your bike? So,does Aaron Stannage, 14, of Great Britain. His recent wheelie lasted for more than eight miles and may have set a Guiness World Record! For about an hour,on January 17th, the teen circled round and round and round around a local indoor track. During his 94 laps, Aaron says he listened to some of his favorite tunes, Prodigy and Linkin Park, to pass the time. He said that what kept him going was the support of his family and friends. Having trained for months, Aaron,part of a family of stunt performers, hopes that his has just wheeled himself into the record books.

Young Boy Bikes to Help Victims of Haiti Earthquake

Don't tell Charlie Simpson, 7, of Great Britain, he's too young to made a difference to help others. He heard about the earthquake in Haiti and wanted to do something to help. He said he'd ride his bike around his local park in London, Great Britain and take donations. He hoped to raise about 500 pounds($800) for his 5 mile bike ride. Instead, Charlie's efforts have raised more than 200,000 pounds($320,000 dollars)

House Designer is 12 Years Old

The designer of two houses being constructed in Great Britain will have to have her mom drive her to the work site. That's because she is only 12 years old. Jennifer Brook, of Great Britain, entered a contest two years ago to design an eco-friendly house. Her ideas included lots of solar panels and light switches on the floor which could be activated by people walking over them. Jennifer's ideas will be used in the plans for two houses, called carbon zero homes, to be build by the summer of 2011. The houses will be used of 70 percent recycled materials. Jennifer said: "I think it's really fantastic that a house is actually going to be built that uses some of the ideas from my design. I can't wait to visit it with some of my friends once it's been finished."And, the two green-eco friendly houses, will be called "Jennifer's Houses"

Teen Discovers a Super Nova!

Caroline Moore, 14, from New York, has achieved something no one else her age has ever done. She discovered a supernova and a very rare one, too!A supernova is a dying star which explodes suddenly giving off amazing brightness in the process. Found last year, Caroline's supernova, named SN 2008ha, make be the weakest one ever seen. The supernova is 1000 times more powerful than a nova but just as many times less powerful than a supernova. Astronomers say Caroline's supernova still carried a powerful explosion-25 million times brighter than our sun! Her discovery was found about 70 million light years from earth, so it was very faint to see.

It may surprise you to learn that Caroline didn't use a telescope to find the supernova. It would be far too difficult for a regular telescope to successfully see one so far away. Joining the Supernova Search team, she received images taken with more powerful equipment at the observatory. And, lots of them, since the amateur group snaps thousands of images every night. For eight months, Caroline searched sets of 93 images taken three months apart. She studied the photographs to see whether there was a change between the two photographs in a particular area of the sky. She was looking at images taken of the UGC12682 galaxy found in the constellation Pegasus,the winged horse. She studied the images for three-ten hours a week. Each set of images took about 30-45 minutes to review. Then, in November, Caroline saw something. It was a faint speck of light that wasn't there in the earlier photograph."I didn't want to get my hopes up. Should I sent it to the search team or not?I decided I would."

Days went by and then one night the telephone rang. Caroline had already gone to bed. Her dad took the message that Caroline had indeed spotted a supernova. "We got confirmation and boy it's a strange one." Caroline said he dad woke her up around 11:30 PM and gave her the telephone. As she heard the news,a big grin took shape on her face and she started laughing.
To those who think they'd like to become amateur astronomers, Caroline has some advice."Go to your local observatory, join an astronomy club. Find astronomy sites on the internet or ask your science teacher for help. Get a telescope and go out, especially on a cold winter evening, and...look up!"

KIDS DID IT!