[Music] coming up transfer of power we're in the nation's capital for a look at president Trump's inauguration also what advice do you have for the new president the advice I have for the new president is to listen to kids and young people we also have thoughts and we know what's happening we teamed up with the weak Junior magazine to find out what some kids have to say about their hopes for America my hopes and dreams for America are that our country can become more my hopes for America is that the two political parties can come
together and solve the issues that are really important then around the globe it's one of the most important passages in the world the history of the Panama Canal explain plus field trip we'll visit our friends at Shed Aquarium to learn more about these unique birds in honor of penguin awareness day and inspiring kids we are going to throw this out take it off and then right here's going to be a little mirror students in Missouri are rebuilding toys and donating them to children who are struggling this is NBC Nightly News Kids edition welcome back to
Nightly News Kids edition I'm Lester Holt it is always great to be with you we have a terrific lineup ahead from Penguins to snowfalling in some very unlikely places plus our picture of the week and we're putting you to the test twice this week but we want to begin with one of the top stories making headlines this week and that's the inauguration of President Donald Trump in case you missed it here's a look at some of the highlights president Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States on Monday I Donald John
Trump do solemnly swear supreme court Chief Justice John Roberts administered the oath to president Trump shortly after JD fans was sworn in as the new vice president due to the very cold weather the inauguration was moved indoors the last time this happened was back in 1985 when President Ronald Reagan took the oath inside the capol retunda so help me gu president Trump is only the second president since Grover Cleveland to be elected to two non-consecutive terms in office the Golden Age of America begins right now outgoing President Joe Biden along with former presidents Barack Obama
George W bush and Bill Clinton were among the many leaders and other guests who attended the inauguration Grammy award-winning singer Carrie Underwood sang America the [Music] Beautiful [Applause] Amica God shed his grace on among the other inaugural festivities a parade inside Capital 1 Arena featuring marching bands from around the country and later in the evening president Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump attended the inaugural balls a longtime tradition since President James Madison's first in 1809 another tradition of modern times the outgoing president leaves a handwritten note for the new President Joe Biden who posted
his last selfie at the White House Monday morning with his wife Jill Biden said he did leave a note for president Trump in the Oval Office the two met for morning tea at the White House and then rode together to the capital for the swearing in ceremony a peaceful transfer of power playing out in our nation's capital as president Trump begins a new term in office we thought it was important to hear from you so we teamed up with our friends at the weak Junior magazine who ask kids to share their hopes for America and
advice they have for the new president of the United [Music] States my hopes for America is that the two political parties can come together and solve the issues that are really important as the great Abraham Lincoln once said A house divided against itself self cannot stand my hopes and dreams to America are that our country can become more united over the past few years our country has become more polarized and I hope that under a new president we can change that and become more united My Hope For America as a new president takes office is
for the country to become less divided we need to focus more on solving the problems than just arguing about them my hopes for America as the new president takes office is that the USA reduces our carbon footprint and improves the resources in school and school nutrition my hopes for America as president Trump takes office are stopping climate change and making sure that everyone has a [Music] job my advice for the president as he takes office is to listen to everybody's opinions no matter how different they are or their age their opinion is going to matter
and they might have good ideas to contribute the advice I have for the new president is to listen to kids and young people we also have thoughts and we know what's happening we may be young but we know what's going on my advice for president Trump as he takes the office is to think of diversity as one of our greatest strengths and not as one of our weaknesses our country has been formed by diversity over the past 300 years and without diverse perspectives our country would not be the way it is today with all due
respect president Trump has sometimes posted on social media at very extreme hours in the night and day and as the leader of the Free World I do really hope he can be real arrested for the day so I would advise him to sleep a little bit more Mr President I can only guess how many decisions you have to make big or small but whenever you make a decision maybe picture one or all of your 10 grandkids and how it would affect them negatively or positively because your decisions impact directly impact every kid in the United
States and kids around the world for generations to come my advice I have for President Trump is to do what you think is right and try to execute on it I would like the president to pay attention to gun control this is a very pressing matter for both kids and adults alike and personally I've even had some intruded drills at my school and those have been very scary the issues that I would like the president to focus on in the next four years is to keep AI in check but also let it Thrive and expand
to its potential because it can help people in numerous ways and also be a great factor in helping people stay alive an issue that really fects kids that the President should pay attention to is cyber bullying social media is all around us kids whether we like it or not and some platforms recently have loosened their restrictions on things like hate speech and misinformation and I think that the President should use his huge influence to make people feel protected well they're on those platforms and be a role model in person and online for treating people with
with kindness and respect the number one thing I'd want the president to do during his term would be to focus more on climate change rather than just talk about it I've already been through a couple once in a-lifetime Super Storms and I'm only 12 the number one thing I would like to see the president do over his term is to reduce the USA's carbon footprint he can emphasize walkable towns and cities and encourage public transportation the number one thing I'd like to see President Donald Trump address is homelessness homelessness is one of the biggest crises
in America and there are three main ways that he can address this number one is by providing more AF affordable housing number two is by creating new jobs number three is by providing training for those jobs I would like to see the president formally introduce the Equal Rights Amendment into the Constitution as the 28th Amendment it's very important for men and women to have equal rights and girls and boys to have equal rights the number one thing that I'd like the president to do during his term is to make America the best version of itself
for the people that live in the United States for the Wildlife that lives and thrives in the United States and for the people that would come and travel and maybe live in the United [Music] States wow some really interesting thoughts thanks guys we want to head now South for our around the globe series to a place that's been making headlines lately president Trump said in his inauguration address he would like to take back the Panama Canal and it got us thinking just what is the Panama Canal and why is it so important let's find out
the Panama Canal is one of the most famous past Mes in the world stretching about 50 m long between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans the Waterway is an impressive feed of engineering that continues to make travel and trade easier to this day before the canal was built ships traveling between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans would have to travel all the way around the entire continent of South America it was a dangerous and timeconsuming Journey Back Then by offering a shortcut between the oceans the Panama Canal saved time money and lives the idea of creating a
water passage across the ismos of Panama a narrow strip of land with sea on either side dates back hundreds of years but it was France who first started Construction in 1881 and then the United States began work on the project in 1904 connecting the Atlantic and Pacific tens of thousands of workers helped construct the Panama Canal bravely battling dangerous conditions like mudslides and disease to create one of the most advanced infrastructure systems ever built the canal operates using a system of what are called locks which are really giant chambers that fill up with water these
locks raise ships up to Gun Lake in the middle of Panama then another lock lowers ships back down to the other ocean it's kind of like an elevator for boats after years of hard work the Panama Canal opened on August 15 1914 at the time the canal was also the United States most expensive construction project costing approximately $375 million to complete that's over $8 billion in today's money the United States transferred full control of the canal in 1999 to Panama as a result of two treaties signed between the US and Panama today about 5% of
all global trade flows through the Panama Canal every year according to the American society and the United States is a Canal's biggest user making up around 75% of that cargo what's more you could even travel through the canal on a cruise or boat tour or watch The Canal at work from the sidelines making the Panama Canal a crucial part of the worldwide economy and travel all right what do you say we test your news smarts and see if you've been paying attention to the news headlines this week president Trump's first Cabinet member was confirmed and
sworn in earlier this week was it a John Ratcliffe B Marco Rubio or C Elon Musk I'll give you a few seconds to think about it okay all right time's up the answer is B Marco Rubio the Senate voted unanimously to confirm Marco Rubio as Secretary of State and he was sworn in on Tuesday Rubio a former Republican senator from Florida will now head the state department and advise the president on foreign policy well meantime parts of the country this week got hit with snowy weather including Florida yes Florida and some other areas in the
South normally not accustomed to seeing snow these kids near Mobile Alabama took advantage of a rare snowfall in a snow day having fun throwing snowballs and sleding in Baton Rouge Louisiana kids here are clearly enjoying something they usually don't get to enjoy in the winter much snow and areas of Texas including Galveston and Houston also got hit with snow this week and that brings us to our picture of the week while some animal at the Houston Zoo gave themselves a snow day by staying inside their warm enclosures others chose to venture out in the snow
including these Chilean flamingos who are native to the Andes mountains where temperatures both hot and cold can be quite extreme the Houston Zoo says the flamingos kept comfortable by staying together in their Pond love that photo well speaking of some birds who don't mind the cold in honor of penguin awareness day this week we are revisiting a story our pal Jackson daily did for us about penguins at Chicago Shed Aquarium and those field trips we all love it's the ultimate field trip we take field trips with our Penguins all the time penguins at the Chicago
Shed Aquarium enjoyed the sights and sounds like us kids do the aquarium says that the field trip started before the pandemic but when it was forced to close down due to Corona virus the Penguins had the place to them themselves and it was all caught on camera so that really gave us the opportunity to take the birds to different areas of the aquarium we had no idea that these field trip videos would go viral and it was amazing we were hearing from people in different countries all across the US and all of these different areas
just so excited to see these videos I had a chance to catch up with the Penguins team right after these videos became a hit Wellington went on that first field trip to the Amazon um exhibit and it w got so big these guys are inquisitive animals in one of your um videos The Penguin was looking at like a whale has that two species ever like seen each other before maybe they have we might have brought Birds to our underwater viewing Gallery when we're closed before but I've never seen a whale take as much interest in
the Penguins and the Curiosity of the whale watching and pressing their melon against the glass that was awesome and it was these penguins f trips that help spark a huge interest in turning these birds into Superstars did you know that there are 18 different species of penguins I surely didn't some are in cold areas like Antarctica and others are in temperate regions or warmer regions like the Galapagos Islands or South America or South Africa so they're completely comfortable walking around in these temperatures and you can't tell male and female pay apart just by looking at
them you actually have to do a blood test or get some DNA or wait a few years and see if the females lay an egg another fun fact they're waterproof they actually have an oil gland at the base of their tail called a idal gland they can squeeze oil out or rub it in their beak and then rub it throughout their feathers and penguins eat only as much as they need they'll actually step when they're full I'm Jackson daily Nightly News Kids edition back to you Lester all right Jackson thanks so much my friend okay
time now for our pop quiz and since we're on the subject of penguins the question this week true or false Penguins only live in snowy or icy habitats I'll give you a few seconds to think about it okay time's up the answer is false not all penguins live in snowy or icy habitats for instance Southern rockhopper penguins live along Rocky shorelines and make nests and high grasses called Tusk finally in our inspiring kids series kids helping kids a group of fourth graders in Kansas City Missouri are taking old toys cleaning them up repairing them and
donating them to other children in need let's get details from our friend Caroline Hogan from a stuffed animal to a purse and then we turned it into a snack on the go bag or a ruler to a back scratcher these fourth graders at Gordon Parks Elementary School are letting their imaginations run wild okay this is really really really good teacher Miss Lauren Moss explains it's part of the school's Inspire project-based learning program for this quarter the students have had to answer the question of how can we contribute to a circular economy the kids held a
toy drive and are now reimagining new uses for these donations it's a tactic Miss Moss calls tricky learning it's a way um for them to take those core content areas of math science English language arts take that learning and apply it in a way that is important to them that's meaningful the execution is not easy these students have some big Ideas I'm using this to sew the skirt and Trust the process we are going to throw this out take it off and then right here's going to be a little mirror at the end of the
day these results will be on display for other classes to see while the rest of the toys are donated back again circular economy we're not going to pitch them Miss Moss hopes this lesson is carried with them outside the classroom everything from stem teamwork and create ity it's about yes I know these skills but how can I apply these skills to my real life every day because who knows one of these kids could be on to something great Caroline great story thanks for bringing it to us well that's going to do it for us parents
just a reminder if your child has a question about any Topic in the news email a video to us at nightly new kids at nbcuni.com you can also follow us on Instagram at nightly kids thanks for watching watching Everybody remember to take care of yourself and each other so long [Music] l [Music]
