BESSIE COLEMAN: THE PILOT WHO BROKE CEILINGS AND CLOUDS PDF Free Download
1 / 5/5
100%
When Bessie Coleman
became the rst Native
American and African
American woman to earn a pilot’s
license in 1921, she broke both gender
and race barriers in aviation. Prior
to her, only wealthy white women
and men were pilots. And Bessie
was not only a pilot, but an aerobatic
pilot, ying her plane in rolls, loops,
spins, and more. Bessie’s athleticism
and artistry earned her respect from
both Black and white people and
the nickname “Queen Bess.” Like
Ella Fitzgerald, Hiram Revels, and
Jackie Robinson, Bessie Colemen
broke stereotypes for Black Americans
and women and continues to inspire
people today.
Bessie Colemen was born in
Texas on Jan. 26, 1892, to an African
American mother and a Black and
Choctaw father. She grew up in a time
with high rates of violence against
African Americans, racist restrictions
on voting, and segregation, and as a
girl, she attended a segregated school
that lacked funding and materials.
In 1915, Bessie moved to Chicago in
search of better conditions, and during
her time there she fell in love with
ying. She heard stories about pilots
in World War I and decided that was
what she wanted to do.
However, because of the oppression
she faced based on parts of her
identity, Bessie was not condent
she could become a pilot in America.
According to PBS, Bessie “was also
spurred on by her brother, who
taunted her with claims that French
women were superior to African
American women because they could
y.” To pursue her dream, Bessie
learned French at the Berlitz School
in Chicago and moved to Paris,
France, to learn to y. In 1921,
she was awarded her pilot’s license
from the Fédération Aéronautique
Internationale.
Bessie’s extraordinary
accomplishment earned her
nationwide recognition, including an
invitation to the all-Black musical
Shue Along as a guest of honor. At
the end of the performance, Bessie
received a standing ovation from the
multi-race crowd of hundreds.
Her career was lled with dozens
of breathtaking air shows and stunts
that wowed crowds. Bessie used
her fame to encourage other Black
people to go into aviation, and
notably refused to perform at shows
that barred African Americans from
attending or forced people to use
entrances separated by race. Bessie
tragically passed away in a ight
accident in 1926.
Bessie continues to be celebrated
to this day and was honored in 2023
with a special quarter dollar by the
American Women’s Quarters Program.
The coin features a picture of Bessie
and the date she received her pilot’s
license, and was sculpted by United
States Mint Artistic Infusion Program
designer Chris Costello, who modeled
the drawing on his wife and young
daughter, also of African and Native
American heritage. On the coin,
Bessie is shown “readying her goggles
as she takes to the skies. In the
background, her Curtiss Jenny biplane
is seen soaring through the clouds,”
Costello said in a press release by the
U.S. Mint.
Bessie Coleman continues to be
an inspiration. “Coleman’s legacy of
ight endures and she is credited
with inspiring generations of African
American aviators, male and female,”
wrote Julia Lauria-Blum for the
Cradle of Aviation Museum. This
included the Tuskegee Airmen as
well as Dr. Mae Jemison, a NASA
astronaut and the rst African
American woman to go to space,
according to Lauria-Blum. And when
Jemison left Earth aboard the Space
Shuttle Endeavour in 1992, she carried
Bessie Coleman’s picture with her
into orbit. It’s important to learn
about stories like Bessie’s to highlight
those who thrived when faced with
adversity and to remind us that we
can also soar high.
BESSIE COLEMAN: THE PILOT WHO BROKE CEILINGS AND CLOUDS
Original illustration by Ananya Broker Parekh
GRACE STEVES • age 13
ALL ABOUT
PHONES
CENTER SPREAD
www.indykids.org
1
Issue 89 • WINTER 2025
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK: facebook.com/indykids FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @IndyKidsNews FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: @IndyKidsNews
Photo by Wesley Hilario on Unsplash
A FREE PAPER FOR KIDS, BY KIDS
Issue 89 • Winter 2025 www.indykids.org
A FREE PAPER FOR KIDS, BY KIDS
Issue 89 • Winter 2025 www.indykids.org
Osama Muhammad
Abu Mustafa is 13
years old and lives in
Khan Yunis. He wanted to be
a soccer player until he lost his
left leg in an Israeli airstrike
last summer. “The occupation
killed my dream, ” he said in an
NBC interview. “They stole it
from me.” Osama’s story is not a
singularity. In the Fall of 2024,
top U.N. ocial Lisa Doughten
told the U.N. Security Council
that each day in Gaza, 10
children are losing one or both
of their legs.
Eighty-four percent of
schools in Gaza are destroyed
and require full reconstruction,
per UNICEF. Gaza is “not a
place to be a child,” says James
Elder, a UNICEF spokesperson,
according to NBC. “The
suering stretches the limits of
what we thought was possible.”
Outside the Gaza Strip,
Palestinian children are
not exempt from suering.
According to UNICEF, since
Oct. 7, 2023, one Palestinian
child was killed on average every
two days in the West Bank.
Rula Salameh, a journalist
and producer for Just Vision,
an organization promoting the
truth about Palestine through
storytelling, spoke to IndyKids
about the children in the West
Bank. “Palestinian children and
students do not live a normal
life,” she said. “[Palestinian
children] watch the settlers
attack their homes or arrest their
parents or sisters or brothers.”
Amid the horrors broadcasted
on social media daily, Salameh
emphasizes a message of hope.
“With the work we are doing,
the conversation [around
Palestine] has shifted,” she says.
“People are seeing more about
Palestinians, about resisting
occupation.” She wishes that
the world would understand a
simple message: “Palestinians
want to live like other people in
the world. We want to be free in
our country … We want to live
in dignity.”
Note: This article was
written in the Fall of 2024
and may not include the most
recent developments.
RAYA EL-HAJJAR • age 17
According to KFF, as
of February 2024,
rearms are the
leading cause of death in the
United States for children and
adolescents, amounting to more
than even car-related deaths. With
dangerous assault-style weapons
available in most states, shootings
have become more dangerous and
injure more people.
School shootings in particular
are on the minds of the upcoming
generation in America, who risk
their lives every time they go to
school. According to data from
the nonprot Everytown for Gun
Safety, school shootings increased
by 31% across the nation in the
2023-2024 school year. David
Riedman, the founder of the K-12
School Shooting Database, has
tracked 330 school shootings in
2024. Nirmita Panchal writes for
KFF, “Exposure to gun violence
is linked to post-traumatic stress
disorder and anxiety, in addition
to other mental health concerns
among youth.”
Gun violence also aects
teachers. Pew Research found
that 59% of K-12 public school
teachers state they’re worried
about the possibility of a school
shooting. According to USA
Today, some educators even have
rearms at school.
Organizations like March for
Our Lives can emerge from these
tragic events. Eloísa Harper, a
senior at Boise High School, is
the director of the Idaho chapter
of March for Our Lives, the
largest youth-led movement of
its kind in America. “Our goal
at the end of the day is to create
a safer space in schools,” Eloísa
told IndyKids. “We don’t want
to be scared to go to school. We
don’t want to have to wonder
what’s going to happen if a
shooter does come.”
Her chapter organizes vigils,
rallies, and ghts to secure
better gun legislation and
increase voter access for young
people. When asked about
challenges pressuring legislators
in a majority-Republican state,
she said it’s often necessary to
cushion her words. “I know
that if I went into the Capitol
building during a legislative
session and said I wanted to
ban all assault ries or that
type of thing, nothing would
happen. My word wouldn’t
get anywhere. There would be
no progress moving forward.”
But her chapter of March for
Our Lives engages heavily with
students, creating spaces and
support groups where students
can talk openly about their
fears and anxieties related to
gun violence and learn about
what’s happening in the wider
community.
Although eecting change
may be dicult, Eloísa says it
is necessary to ensure the safety
of school-age children, the 72
million of us who deserve peace
of mind in the safety of our
schools and homes. “If this issue
isn’t addressed, we’re just going
to keep putting students’ lives at
risk, and that’s heart-wrenching.”
In America, education is a granted right.
However, in other countries, receiving an
education is sometimes rare and prohibited.
This is currently the case in Afghanistan,
where girls over the age of 12 are disallowed to
receive any education.
From 1996 to 2001, the Taliban had control over
Afghanistan. However, they were forced to leave after
troops from Western countries were deployed. Now
they have taken over again and are using the same
tactics as before to limit women’s rights.
Not only is the Taliban curtailing the education
girls can get, according to CBS News, they have
introduced a new law, known as the “morality
law,” where women have to cover their faces and
bodies in public. They are also not allowed to sing
or speak in public spaces. Women aren’t allowed
to go to parks, gyms, workplaces, or beauty salons.
At the end of 2024, the Taliban ordered that new
buildings should be constructed so that there are
no windows looking into rooms or spaces where
women usually are, like kitchens.
In response to the new laws, many women have
protested the Taliban and their decisions. Hakima
is a midwifery student who was forced to give up
her education. She told CBS News, “The Taliban
are scared of women. They are afraid of women’s
voices. They know how powerful Afghan women
are, and our voices will destroy them. That is
why they want to silence half of society with their
women-hating laws.”
The Taliban’s oppressive actions have led to
several responses throughout not only Afghanistan,
but the entire world. Not only are people like
Hakima protesting, but others in Afghanistan
are helping girls learn despite the Taliban’s laws
through online schools.
Women's and Girls' Rights Oppressed
Due to Resurgence of Taliban
ARMAAN SOORMA • age 13
School Shootings Spark Fear and Activism Science Briefs
TikTok, an app that launched in 2016, has
now amassed over 1 billion monthly users
worldwide. According to CBS News, 25% of
those users are children under the age of
17 who are vulnerable to many “trends.”
One viral trend that can cause physical
harm is the “Sephora kid” skincare trend.
Many kids as young as 10 flock to Sephora
to try skincare items made for adults. Dr.
Abigail Waldman, a dermatologist, told
CBS News that kids’ skin works perfectly.
And these skincare products are made for
adults, containing exfoliants, fragrances,
and alcohol, which can harm or burn
children’s skin.
According to NPR, TikTok can also
create mental health issues, such as body
dysmorphic disorder, a disorder where
one can’t stop perceiving minor flaws, like
a tiny pimple. TikTok gives creators filters
to have flawless skin. This makes tweens
insecure of things that are perfectly normal
such as acne and scars.
In conclusion, parents and kids should be
cautious of the dangers of TikTok.
How “TikTok
Brain” Aects Kids
BROOKLYNN THEN • age 10
Photo by Olivier Bergeron on Unsplash
LUCA CANTAGALLO • age 14
Career and technical education (CTE) is
a high school program that helps prepare
students for technical careers and trade
jobs like building, welding, health science,
business management, agriculture, and
more, and it is growing in many high
schools nationwide. CTE is seeing a
comeback, and so are trade schools.
Some students would rather work hard
and make money in a job they get through
a trade school than to go to college.
College tends to be way more expensive
and, depending on the degree, doesn’t
always lead to a well-paying job. “When I
went into a trade program, I learned how
much money I could make performing a
very specific kind of work,” Diego Aguilar
told NPR.
According to K-12 Dive, “Career and
technical education programs have helped
boost graduation rates, skills training and
school engagement.” The recent rise of CTE
programs and trade schools can also help
companies to get skilled workers.
For schools to meet the demand for CTE
programs, more funding and qualified
teachers are needed. “We need CTE
programs that are available to all students,
so they can explore careers that interest
them — whether or not they require a
four-year degree or an industry-recognized
credential,” said U.S. Rep. Suzanne
Bonamici, D-Ore.
More Students
Are Going to
Trade Schools,
and Here’s Why
AYAAN SOORMA • age 11
Photo by PTTI EDU on Unsplash
The Occupation Killed My Dream": The
Effects of Violence on Gaza's Children
Photo by Kübra Arslaner on Unsplash
Protesters holding up signs in
San Francisco.
Photo by Natalie Chaney on Unsplash.
Scenes of the destruction that befell
the besieged city of Gaza.
Photo by Emad El Byed on Unsplash
Photo by Cameron Gibson on Unsplash
For a child to learn,
they have to be able
to get to school, and
there has to be someone to
educate them. Unfortunately,
there are bus driver shortages
and teacher shortages in many
parts of the United States.
These shortages take a toll on
kids’ education in school.
Over 90% of district leaders
and transportation workers
surveyed across the country by
HopSkipDrive said their district
has a bus driver shortage that
has aected bus routes. When
a bus driver shortage occurs,
many children have a hard
time getting to school because
nowadays train rides, cabs, and
Ubers are expensive because
of ination. This can cause
students to be late, or worse,
absent.
The Annenberg Institute at
Brown University estimates that
there are 49,000 vacant teaching
positions across the country.
Teacher shortages cause students
to miss out on the education that
they need.
At Roberto Clemente
Community Academy in
Chicago, there have been a lot of
absences for sta and teachers,
which can mess up students’
learning. According to reporting
by Chalkbeat, one student at
Clemente, named Carolina
Carchi, decided to teach a
sophomore chemistry class
herself, because the substitute
who was put in place after their
main teacher quit didn’t know
chemistry. She was inspired to
do this because of how hopeless
her classmates were. The year
prior, she taught her classmates
algebra when their long-term
substitute was unable to teach
the subject.
Teacher Shortages and School Bus Shortages
Are a Big Crisis. Here's Why NOEL FERNANDEZ • age 10
2 3
NewsBrief
E-mail: info@indykids.org
Website: www.indykids.org
Mail: IndyKids
P.O. Box 2281
New York, NY 10163
Published in print four times a year:
spring, summer, fall & winter. Website
updated monthly.
Issue #89 • Printed February 2025
ISSN: 1943-1031
SPECIAL THANKS TO…
The supporters and readers of IndyKids and NYC
Cultural Affairs NYC Department of Education,
Brooklyn Arts Council, Pulitzer Center, Lush Retail
Ltd., Claudia Hirsch, New York Community Trust,
the Wolf Family, the Wolf Baumer Family, DCTV,
Rethinking Schools, Columbia Teachers College, Simin
Farkhondeh, Democracy Now!, Britt Hamre, Mike
Kimber, Ms. Perry, and Ananya Broker Parekh.
IndyKids Team: Isis Phillips, Em Löwinger, Neil Shibata,
David Rojas-Leon, Jyothi Natarajan, Todd Eaton, Malik
Morangello, Raya El-Hajjar, Diana Raimondi, Hudson
Mckinley-Uss, Mike Burke, Lisa Castillo, Bonnie Singer,
Soledad Aguilar-Colon.
Mentors: Sarah Hermes Griesbach, Kathleen Lynn, Soledad
Aguilar-Colon, Em Löwinger, Sarah Skinner, Lexie Neeley,
Zeke Tesler, Sneha Rampalli, Kelli Gail.
Editor: Sarah Skinner, Neil Shibata, Em Löwinger.
A FREE PAPER FOR KIDS, BY KIDS
Issue 89 • Winter 2025 www.indykids.org
A FREE PAPER FOR KIDS, BY KIDS
Issue 89 • Winter 2025 www.indykids.org
In recent years, advances have been made
in smartphones that drastically change
how we see and use our technology on
a daily basis. Even in the last 15 years,
owning a smartphone has become much more
normalized. Now, as younger and younger kids are
getting their rst phones, it invites the question:
How are schools going to deal with this sudden
upsurge of technology use in the school day?
In the past, limiting device usage at school
wasn’t as much of an issue, considering kids
didn’t really have phones, or if they did, they
weren’t smartphones. However, now that so many
do, it has become much more of a problem.
According to Gallup, a 2023 survey of middle
school students showed that 51% were on social
media for a minimum of four hours per day.
A study by Common Sense Media found kids
are spending 43 minutes on their phone during
school on average. Zach Rausch, associate research
scientist at the NYU Stern School of Business, told
Bloomberg News, “Kids are feeling isolated, lonely,
disconnected. They’re also performing poorly in
schools.” In addition to being a distraction, social
media and phone use are linked to low self-esteem
and cyberbullying.
As schools all over the United States are facing
these problems, they are nding dierent ways of
restricting phone use during the school day. Among
the most common of these methods are pouches in
which kids are required to put their phone at the
start of the day. These pouches vary from signal-
blocking velcro pouches, that will keep students
from sending or receiving anything on their phone
during classes, to the Yondr pouch, where the
phone is placed in the morning, locked, and can
only be unlocked with a special magnet at the end
of the day.
According to the National Center for Education
Statistics, during the 2021-2022 school year, 76%
of public schools in the United States said they
had some kind of ban on phone use. According to
Ballotpedia, “As of November 12, 2024, ten states
had enacted laws or policies on K-12 classroom or
school cellphone usage.” Depending on what kind
of phone ban and what kind of phone pouch, it can
be expensive for a school to implement a policy.
According to the Times Union, one New York school
spent nearly $27,000 on Yondr pouches for their
phone restriction policy.
Many schools all over the country are taking
action to restrict or ban phone use in school. This
is leading to increased participation in classes and,
according to KFF, can lead to better outcomes on
tests and assessments overall.
However, not everyone is happy with school
phone restrictions. While some students have gone
from ghting these bans to realizing that they are
really helpful in increasing focus, the same cannot
be said for everyone. Students at many schools have
gured out how to cheat the system, and some are
even organizing protests against phone bans. Lots
of people even argue that this is not a priority, and
they would rather have their tax dollars be spent in
dierent ways.
Not only are kids pushing back, parents
have their own arguments. Many of them are
worried that they will be unable to contact their
children in an emergency. There are also concerns
about kids with disabilities who rely on certain
technology to aid with their learning at school.
Jenn Silverstein, mother of two students who lived
through a shooting at their Denver high school,
told Chalkbeat, “It made me realize that the idea of
schools going phone-free just doesn’t work for me.”
Among all of the controversy and disagreement
about phone bans, it remains true that much of
the work around upholding the policy has to be
done by teachers. Amy Zimmer, bureau chief for
Chalkbeat New York, says, “Teachers feel the
burden of responsibility of enforcement.” Another
article from Chalkbeat reports that teachers feel
like having to constantly police phone use in their
classes is making it hard to form good relationships
with their students.
As technology becomes more normalized and a
bigger part of people’s lives, schools have to adapt to
what is becoming the new normal. Although people
disagree on the subject, what most can agree on is
that the amount of time kids are spending on their
devices, even at school, has negative consequences.
There have been—and doubtlessly will be more—
attempts to x these problems and come to an
agreeable solution. At this point there really is no
right or wrong answer to this question, and at the
rate technological advancements are being made, it
may be a long time until one is reached.
The Controversy of Phone Bans
in Schools, and What They Mean
for Students TERRA MORRISON • age 12
Phones and the ability to communicate over long
distances are a pretty recent part of human
history. In the last 150 years, the evolution of
phones has impacted society in good ways and bad. In
the last 25 years alone, there have been massive shifts
in phone technology that have completely changed how
we live life.
What started out as a device whose sole purpose was
to transmit the human voice has evolved into a mini
computer that fits into the palm of our hands.
The question is: Can our solutions to digital-age
problems catch up with the tech that caused them?
ALL ABOUT PHONES
An Italian inventor named Antonio Meucci
developed the idea of a telephone as early
as 1849. Alexander Graham Bell, a Scottish
inventor, obtained the first patent for a
telephone in 1876. However, an American
inventor named Elisha Gray submitted a patent
for a very similar invention on the same day as
Bell, but after a battle in court, Bell was granted
the patent.
Telephones became
more popular, more
affordable, and more
widely available.
Telephone wiring
needed to be
improved so more
people could be
connected via
telephones and with
better quality.
In the early days, to make a phone call you
couldn’t just dial another person directly.
You had to call a telephone operator, who
would connect you to another caller through a
switchboard. In the 1930s, it became possible to
call other lines directly, and the need for human
switchboard operators completely ended by the
late 1970s.
Payphones were
once plentiful in
public spaces, as
they were the only
way to make a call
when out and about
before the invention
of cellphones. Today,
it is very rare to
see a payphone. In
2022, New York City
removed its last public
payphone.
The first car phone was invented in 1946. It
weighed about 80 pounds! Very few people had
car phones, and sometimes it took as long as 30
minutes to make a call!
Smartphones and
the social media
apps on them have
changed how we live
life, communicate,
and how we get our
information.
TikTok is released
internationally.
2017
2010
The Instagram app is
launched.
2007
Apple introduces the
iPhone.
“What we’re going to
do is get rid of all these
buttons and just make
a giant screen.” - Steve
Jobs
The iPhone completely
revolutionized
cellphones, our
relationships to our
phones, to social media.
2002
The first Blackberry is
released.
This style of phone was very popular in the
1950s and ‘60s.
In 1984, Motorola
released the DynaTAC
8000X, the world’s
first handheld
cellphone. The phone
cost $3,995, took 10
hours to charge, and
its battery only lasted
35 minutes.
In 1994, IBM created
what is considered
to be the first
smartphone, called
Simon. It had a touch
screen and even some
applications.
In the 1960s, the first
touch-tone phone was
released to the public.
The first flip phone came out in 1996.
Photo by Giulia Squillace on Unsplash.
Photo by Glen Anthony on Unsplash.
1800s
1900s
2000s
4 5
(1877) The Bell Magneto telephone in 1877.
Retrieved from the Library of Congress
Photograph by Theodor
Horydczak, approximately
1890-1971. Retrieved from the
Library of Congress
Photograph by Harris & Ewing, 1905.
Retrieved from the Library of Congress
Photo by Inni on Unsplash
Photograph by John
Vachon, 1937. Retrieved from
the Library of Congress
Photo by Russell Lee, 1942.
Retrieved from the Library of
Congress
Photo by Dawn McDonald on
Unsplash
Photo from weburbanist.com
Photo by Wesley Hilario on Unsplash
Photo by Reno Laithienne
on Unsplash
Photo from
androidauthority.com
Photo from
Wikimedia Commons
Photo by Adobe Stock
Photo from
Wikimedia Commons
Photo by Apple
Photo by Claudio Schwarz
on Unsplash
Photo by Alexabder Shatov
on Unsplash
Photo by Sara Kurfess
on Unsplash
A FREE PAPER FOR KIDS, BY KIDS
Issue 89 • Winter 2025 www.indykids.org
A FREE PAPER FOR KIDS, BY KIDS
Issue 89 • Winter 2025 www.indykids.org
Shan Hubbard-Bennett!
My name is Jacob, and I
live in South Korea. I
used to live in Seoul,
where there are skyscrapers and a lot
of people. But in 2022, I moved to
Jeju Island. Jeju is such a cool place,
with beautiful oceans and many
beaches. I love it here.
I have a mom, a dad, and a little
brother who’s 7. I like my brother,
but sometimes he pinches me. We
don’t have any pets, but my mom
said I can have a hamster at my
next, next birthday. I hope we get a
very uy one. I also have innite
friends here, more than I had in
Seoul! My best friend is Min-jae
because he makes me laugh so hard!
But some kids aren’t so nice to me,
and it makes me feel furious.
My hobbies are basketball and
soccer, because I can shoot the ball
into the hoop or the net and it’s so
fun! One day I want to be a soccer
player in America. I went to America
once, and it made me feel terric.
I saw the Golden Gate Bridge,
the Empire State Building and
the Statue of Liberty. Seeing those
places made me feel like I can do
and be anything. But then I had to
go home, and the feeling went away.
Sometimes my mom buys me
dumplings. I feel so happy when I
see the dumplings get big and uy
in the microwave. But my mom
says I can only eat them sometimes,
because it’s not healthy to eat them
every day, which is sad.
Sometimes my life has some good
things, and sometimes bad things.
It always depends; it’s never the
same. But I heard that’s normal, and
everyone feels that way. So, I’m just
learning to love the life I have.
PERSONAL ESSAY
Meet
IndyKids
Reporter:
14-Year-Old
Did you know that it has already been
about 80 years since Anne Frank died?
You might be wondering who Anne
Frank is. She is most known for her diary, which
she wrote during the Holocaust. She was born in
1929 and had an older sister, a mom, and a dad.
Anne Frank, who was Jewish, grew up in the
Netherlands, but when World War II started in
1939, things got very bad for Jewish people. They
had to wear stars so that the Nazis could know who
they were. Being Jewish meant you weren’t allowed
to do things like go into certain stores and schools.
When she was 13, Anne and her family went
into hiding because the Nazis were killing Jews or
taking them to concentration camps. Anne and her
family stayed in an annex above her father’s old
business, where they had hopes of surviving until
the war was over. There were four extra people
living with them, as well.
Keeping a diary was a way for Anne to express
her feelings. Anne had imaginary friends to ll in
the gap of missing her real friends, and one of the
main ones was called Kitty. Anne Frank was not
always mature with her actions, but she was mature
in her writing by knowing how to express herself.
Hiding in such a small space for two years was a
dicult experience, but at the same time, Anne
wrote, “I feel wicked sleeping in a warm bed, while
my dearest friends have been knocked down or
have fallen into a gutter somewhere out in the cold
night. … And all because they are Jews!”
Aug. 4, 1944, was the day everyone hiding
in the annex was caught. Anne was taken to
a concentration camp with her family and got
separated from her father. Anne Frank died at age
15 in February of 1945 from typhus. More than 6
million Jews and millions of non-Jews (who didn’t
t Adolf Hitler’s idea of perfection) were killed by
the Nazis in World War II.
Otto Frank, Anne’s father, was the only
survivor of the Frank family. He was crushed to
hear his daughters and wife did not make it. His
friends sparked the idea of publishing her diary as
a book. Almost 80 years later, that book has been
read all over the world and translated into over
70 dierent languages. Her diary is in the Anne
Frank House museum in Amsterdam, one of the
world’s main attractions.
Access to sports participation has a
great eect on children’s lives. Sports
exercise the body and mind and teach
sportsmanship: how to accept defeat and continue
trying. The determination used to play sports is
similar to what’s needed in school. When student
athletes feel fear, they can practice talking to people
about their feelings.
According to Missouri University Health Care,
“Team sports help teach adolescents accountability,
dedication, leadership and other skills.”
Sports require learning the rules by focusing
and improving over time. In sports, like in school,
athletes practice things until they get them down.
Using teamwork in sports is similar to working with
others to get something like a research project done.
According to reporting by NPR, athletes gain a can-
do life strategy that can help them in other sports,
school, jobs, and their relationships with other
people.
Sports can also improve kids’ health. Sports make
kids strong and less likely to get sick later in life.
Playing sports makes kids put away their devices,
meaning they spend less time on screens.
Research done by the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention shows that in 2020, kids
from wealthier backgrounds were more likely to
participate in sports than their less wealthy peers.
According to Education Week, some kids who want to
play sports have parents who are really hard-working
but can’t aord to pay for sports participation for
their kids. Some parents don’t have the time to take
their children to practices or games and have trouble
getting the sports equipment that is needed. Many
public schools have cut sports teams and gym classes.
Kids who can’t play sports when they are younger
are disadvantaged later when they don’t have the
skills to play the games. Some schools are working
to build sports programs by nding money to fund
them, encouraging people from their communities to
come and help and be coaches, and using cafeterias
as gyms.
How Sports Benefit Kids
The Legacy of Anne Frank
As a young journalist, what topics are you
most passionate about, and why?
Shanti: I am most interested in exposing the
truth in my writing. From environmental
issues to social inequality, there are
a lot of injustices that need to
be exposed in this world. I like
giving people the chance
to learn and to grow —
hopefully my writing helps
young people become
activists.
Can you share something
you've learned from your
experience at
IndyKids
?
Shanti: My experience at
IndyKids
has made me realize
that my dream of majoring in
journalism in college is possible. I’ve
learned that writing can be a community
full of amazing different people who have
the same goals as me. At school, writing
isn’t optional, but when you choose to join
a place like
IndyKids
, then those people are
choosing to write.
How do you think being a kid
reporter contributes to raising
awareness and promoting
positive change in your
community or the world?
Shanti: I think being a kid
reporter is the best kind of
reporter. Once we grow up,
we will be the ones to make
the decisions in this world.
As a kid reporter, I get to help
shine a light on what kind of
world we have to take on, and
that feels very important. It’s also
inspiring to report on who is helping and
what’s going right.
INDYKIDS STAFF
Noel: Can you explain what your job at
MoCADA is?
Amy: A museum is a place where
we can go visit art. And it's all types
of art, from paintings to photography
to sculpture, moving images, movies,
films. … I have two jobs in my role. As
a curator, my job is to come up with
ideas [for] different types of shows
that touch on current events—what is
culturally important to us right now
as human beings on this planet—and
[then] pulling together different artists
whose work speaks to those themes.
As an executive director, my job is to
make sure the museum stays open, so I
fundraise. I bring in all the sponsors, all of
the philanthropists who help to support
MoCADA with money so that our doors
stay open, our programs stay free, and
everyone can come see the art, [while
making] sure that everyone is paid.
Noel: How does MoCADA distinguish
itself from other museums?
Amy: We consider ourselves a resource
for people who are interested in learning
about African culture and the diaspora.
[The word] “diaspora” describes a group
of people who were from one place
and moved to another place. MoCADA
in particular [focuses] on Africa and the
African diaspora. We focus on those
different cultures and try to teach people
about it. So that's different. Another
way that makes us different is that
from the beginning of our museum
(1999), we always said that social justice
was important to us, too. So we're
also looking at different ways to solve
problems in the community.
Noel: Do you have any advice for
younger artists?
Amy: I would think about what it is that
your art is trying to say. … How is your
artwork different from other artists? I
would also think about what's happening
in the world, because sometimes
artists think that it's important to just
make money and to make a thing that
everybody likes, and that's not what
artwork should be about. Art should
come from the core of your heart.
Someday You Could Be…
Amy Andrieux!
Meet Shanti Hubbard-Bennett, a 14-year-
old
IndyKids
reporter from Los Angeles,
Calif. For as long as she can remember,
Shanti has wanted to be a journalist. She
loves doing research and writing about
what she discovers. Her goal as a journalist
is always to share the truth and to help
readers consider new points of view. When
she’s not writing, she’s riding horses and
practicing contemporary dance.
Amy Andrieux is the executive director and chief curator of
MoCADA, which stands for the Museum of Contemporary
African Diasporan Art. She’s also a professor at Parsons, where
she teaches integrated design. She’s also sometimes a journalist.
Photo by Lars Bo Nielsen on Unsplash
My Life in South Korea
This Interview was conducted by Noel Fernandez, age 10, on Oct. 6, 2024.
It has been edited for brevity and clarity for print. Listen to the full interview on our podcast,
IndyKids Voices!
ABHIJAT SAODEKAR • age 10
AIDA CEPEDA • age 10
An Anne Frank mural in Amsterdam.
Photo by Ronni Kurtz on Unsplash.
JACOB KIM • age 9
NOEL FERNANDEZ • age 10
6 7
A FREE PAPER FOR KIDS, BY KIDS
Issue 89 • Winter 2025 www.indykids.org
Getng Wild With...
Tardigrades!Shanti Hubbard-Bennett • age 14
Tardigrades are super
cool creatures! Smaller
than a grain of sand,
they are often called
“water bears” because they walk in a
way that looks like bears.
These little guys can survive extreme
temperatures, going without water for
decades, and even freezing solid before
coming back to life! No other animal
can handle that. Tardigrades have been
around for at least 500 million years,
even before the dinosaurs, which is
pretty mind-blowing!
These tiny beings can survive in the
deepest ocean trenches, in boiling hot
springs, and even in outer space. They
can handle radiation and pressure that
would crush other life forms. These
tough little critters can live through
almost anything. They were the rst
animals sent into space and came back
alive—how wild is that?
Scientists study tardigrades to
understand how they survive such
extreme conditions, and that helps us
learn more about life itself. Overall,
tardigrades are not just fascinating,
but they’re a reminder of how
resilient life can be!
A Snapshot of My Life
by IndyKids reporters
My favrite things about
winter are snow fights,
snowmen, and Christmas.
Abhijat, age 9
from Lafayette, Colo.
My favrite things about
winter are skiing, ski races,
and going to gymnastics
competitions.
Terra, age 12
from Charleston, Maine
My favrite thing about
winter is how many breaks
from schol we have.
Brooklynn, age 10
from Manhattan, N.Y.
My favrite thing about
winter is the break we get
of schol.
Armaan, age 13
from Brooklyn, N.Y.
My favrite thing about
winter is both the breaks
from schol and the cold.
Luca, age 14
from Queens, N.Y.
My favrite thing that
I like about winter is the
feling of knowing that
Christmas is coming son and
you can enjoy hot drinks like
hot coca.
Aida, age 10
from New York, N.Y.
My favrite things to do in
the winter are drinking hot
choclate with my family
near the Christmas tre and
opening presnts and snow
tubing.
Noel, age 10
from Yonkers, N.Y.
My favrite thing to do in
the winter is play Frtnite
and Maden on my Nintendo
Switch and Xbox.
Ayaan, age 11
from Brooklyn, N.Y.
My favrite winter
activity is snowbal fighting!
Sometimes my dad throws
cold snowbals at my face!
Smash! I always laugh and
quickly make snowbals to
throw back.
Jacob, age 9
from Jeju Island, South Korea
What Is My Favorite Thing About Winter?
Meet the “Water Bears”: The Ultimate Survivors
Afghanistan
Athletics
Diaspora
Tardigrades
Curator
Phones
Trades
TikTok
Museum
Thank you
for your
continued
support!
Now more than ever, we need sources of media
for our youth that center the stories of people of
color, immigrants, women, workers and LGBTQIA+
communities. IndyKids is the nation’s only social justice-
oriented newspaper written by kids for kids. Now in its
20th year in print, IndyKids is distributed to classrooms
and households in 35 states, helping thousands of youth
think more critically about the news of the world. Plus, it’s
free and ad-free!
Subscription costs cover only the cost of mailing issues
to subscribers. We rely on donations to cover all other
costs of producing IndyKids and running our Kid Reporter
Program, through which more than 800 youth have been
trained as journalists.
Can you contribute today to help us continue printing
IndyKids and training the journalists of tomorrow? Thank
you for your continued support!
Give online today at
http://indykids.org/main/donate/
To donate via mail, send a check makde out to “IndyKids”
to P.O. Box 2281, New York, NY 10163
Image by @naratrip on Freepik
8
NEWS
LIKE US ON FACEBOOK: facebook.com/indykids FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: @IndyKidsNews FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM: @IndyKidsNews
