Students: Good Morning, Channel One! This Is Mrs. Robinson's Village Christian Seventh-Grade

Students: Good morning, Channel One! This is Mrs. Robinson's Village Christian seventh-grade class, and Channel One News starts right now!

Azia: I see you with that…Thank you to Mrs. Robinson's class for the awesome start to the day. I am Azia Celestino with a look at headlines. And first up, the Zika virus, which is spread through certain kinds of mosquitoes, hasn't done a lot of harm in the U.S., but people are still worried about it.

President Obama will ask Congress for more than $1.8 billion in emergency funds to fight the virus. The money will be used to fund things like mosquito control programs, vaccine research and better ways to test if someone has the virus. But the president said there is no need to panic.

President Obama: People don't die of Zika. A lot of people get it and don't even know that they have it. It is something that we have to take seriously.

Azia: The symptoms for the virus are mild but can be dangerous for pregnant women as it is linked to birth defects. The Zika virus is spread by a specific mosquito; the mosquitoes carrying the virus are now present in nearly two dozen countries. So far, more than 30 cases have been confirmed in the U.S. All of them were traveling abroad when bitten by the mosquito.

Chipotle fast food restaurants shut down yesterday for a few hours. It is all part of an effort to put food safety first. Lunch was not an option for Chipotle lovers yesterday afternoon. The company closed its doors across the country for a few hours in order to hold a special meeting with employees.

Sales have plunged as the company struggled after an E. coli and norovirus outbreak last year. Dozens of people in nine states reported symptoms of poisoning, and many locations were forced to shut down. Now the company says they are laying out new safety measures, including testing ingredients for bacteria and giving employees paid sick leave to stay home when they don't feel well.

All right, after the break, we have got some fresh news for veggie lovers.

Azia: Americans are eating less meat, but that doesn't mean people don't want a good burger. And after years of a bad rep, veggie burgers are making a tasty comeback. Keith Kocinski takes a bite out of this story.

Keith: A veggie burger is no longer a tasteless, gray patty posing as meat.

Chloe Coscarelli: The texture is very important.

1 | P a g e Keith: Chef Chloe Coscarelli opened By Chloe last summer in New York City. Everything on the menu is vegan, meaning nothing comes from animals.

Coscarelli: I think there's still a lot of work to be done in terms of making them just fun and accessible and everyday. So that's part of our mission.

Keith: Customers are loving the veggie trend. In just three years, vegetarian menus are up 66 percent. At one time you could only find these at high-end restaurants; now they are expanding to fast food. Places like White Castle, here, Burger King and Wendy's are now offering veggie burgers on their menu.

Woman: People are definitely more mindful to it and open to it now.

Keith: More than 35 percent of Americans say they eat vegetarian meals at least once a week, and more than 60 percent of Americans actually like to eat their vegetables when going out.

Food trend expert Michael Whiteman says it is not just veggie burgers that have come a long way, but people's appetite for them.

Michael Whiteman: They were not likeable for a generation or two; they were awful things. Now you're eating it as a matter of pleasure because it's a different product. It doesn't taste as if it were run over by a bus.

Keith: And when it comes down to it, true success is still all about taste.

Nicholas Anselmo: It’s kind of like the burger experience, you know, you have, like, the good bread, and the good pickles, and onions or whatever, like, with an order of fries.

Keith: Regardless as to whether or not you are on board this meatless movement, it is a burger breakthrough being served up in places you never expected.

Keith Kocinski, Channel One News.

Azia: Oh, that looks good!

All right, after the break: a mission to get you motivated.

Student: I believe in promoting art education.

Student: I believe in the importance of exercise.

Student: I believe in…

2 | P a g e Azia: Today voters head to the polls in New Hampshire in what could be a make-or- break moment for the presidential candidates eyeing the White House. And a whole new generation of voters who are 18 are now getting the opportunity to cast their ballot — but will they?

Well, one student has made it his mission to get other young people involved. Maggie Rulli shows us how his campaign is starting to stick.

Student: I believe in free speech.

Student: I believe in mental health awareness.

Student: I believe in digital rights.

Student: I believe in supporting a sustainable future.

Maggie: Believing in something and getting young people passionate about politics — that is the goal of Andrew Plotch.

Andrew Plotch: We're high school students, and high school students talk about the Kardashians, and Justin Bieber, and movies and sports. And politics aren’t at the forefront of classroom conversations or in lunchrooms. And so I wanted to change that, and I wanted people to be talking about issues that matter, issues that make a difference, that were important for them to know about.

Maggie: He was inspired after seeing the passion of protestors during the 2011 Occupy Wall Street movement.

Andrew: In mid-October of 2011, I was walking through Zuccotti Park in Lower Manhattan at the height of Occupy Wall Street, and I was looking around, and I realized something. This wasn't just a movement about wealth and equality, but this was people sharing their beliefs, sharing their ideas and having conversations.

Maggie: He wanted to motivate young people to fight against the apathy teens are often known for, not caring or not wanting to get involved in politics — a hard thing to do when young people are the least likely group to vote in elections.

Andrew: I thought of a sticker, and all it says is "I believe in," and students get a Sharpie, and they fill it out. And they write in whatever they're passionate about, from social issues to foreign policy to specific candidates to some local election.

Maggie: Andrew pitched the simple idea to his chapter of Junior Statesmen of America, or JSA.

3 | P a g e Isaac: JSA is a student-run organization that focuses on getting kids in high school more civically engaged.

Maggie: Andrew named his campaign Fight Apathy.

Has there been a moment where you saw someone’s sticker and thought about something differently, or it sparked an interesting conversation?

Isaac: So I saw, you know, the quietest, you know, freshman just write, "I believe in political revolution.” People are excited about politics; they just need an outlet to share.

Maggie: And Fight Apathy became that outlet.

Student: I believe in the improvement of America’s infrastructure.

Student: I believe in free education.

Student: I believe in campaign finance reform.

Student: I believe in the power of the youth voice.

Andrew: The fact that it's so simple is why the campaign works well. Initially, my goal was let’s get 50,000 students to do it. Nobody thought it was possible; my teachers thought I was crazy. Even my mom thought I couldn’t pull it off. I got two schools to do it, and then I got five schools. Then it climbed to 10, to 20, to 30, and then it took off. Eventually, we had over 120 schools and 80,000 students participating.

Maggie: That is a big jump, Andrew.

Andrew: Yeah, we grew really fast.

Maggie: Eventually, what started as handing out "I believe" stickers between classes and lunch period made its way to the Internet.

Andrew: Just going online and seeing the number of students participating in the campaign — if you look up #FightApathy on Twitter or Instagram, you see, not tens, not hundreds, but thousands of people that I've never met, never heard of, never talked to, participating in something that I started.

Maggie: Today the Fight Apathy campaign is in more than 23 states and 230 schools. And schools weren't the only places taking notice of his mission to ignite civic engagement in young people.

4 | P a g e Andrew: I recently received the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award, which is a award given out to youth activists who have done outstanding work in their community or field, and so it was a real honor to be a recipient of this because it's recognition for the work that not only have I done but the work they hope for me to do in the future.

Maggie: The honor came with a $36,000 award that Andrew will use to help pay for college and for his charity work.

So what does the future hold for Andrew? Where do you see yourself in 5 years, in 10 years? President?

Andrew: Well, for now I'm just trying to graduate college, but at the moment, I'm really really into youth civic engagement, and I hope to at least for the foreseeable, you know, next few months or years, keep working on getting more youth involved in politics, and 5, 10 years down the road — who knows what it holds for me?

Maggie: But when asked the simple question that changed his life, Andrew knew the answer.

Andrew: I believe in empowering others.

Maggie: Maggie Rulli, Channel One News.

Azia: I believe in education. So what about you guys? What do you believe in? Write it down, snap a pic, or send us a video to [email protected]. We want to hear from you, and if you want to find out how your school can get involved, head to ChannelOne.com.

All right, guys, I believe we are out of time, so that means we will see you right back here tomorrow.

Student: I believe in vaccinating children.

Student: I believe in gender equality.

Student: I believe in the United States of America.

Student: I believe in freedom of expression.

5 | P a g e