Students: We Are Seventh-Grade Texas History Students at Incarnateword Middle Level Incorpus

Students: We are seventh-grade Texas history students at IncarnateWord Middle Level inCorpus Christi, Texas, and today is the 180th anniversary of Texas independence. Happy Texas Independence Day, and Channel One News starts right now.

Azia: Thanks to the students from Incarnate Word Academy for getting us started today, and happy Texas Independence Day to all of you in the Lone Star State.

Speaking of Texas, it was a big prize last night during the Super Tuesday election. Candidates went head to head in 12 states as they tried to get closer and closer to the White House.

The contests stretched from Vermont in the East to Texas and Georgia in the South. On the Dems side,Hillary Clinton won at least seven states, with a strong showing in the South — including Texas. She wasted no time taking on Republican frontrunner Donald Trump.

Hillary Clinton: Trying to divide America between us and them is wrong, and we are not going to let it work.

Azia: Republicans threw their support behind Donald Trump; he won the most states on the Republican side, including Georgia and Arkansas.

Donald Trump: I think honestly we have done something that almost nobody thought could be done.

Azia: In recent days Marco Rubio took on Trump, but last night he fell short with only one win:Minnesota. Ted Cruz won his home state of Texas and the state of Oklahoma and asked other Republicans to get out of the race and support him against Trump.

Senator Ted Cruz: Our campaign is the only campaignthat has beaten, that can beat and that will beat Donald Trump.

Azia: Bernie Sanders held his own against Clinton, taking at least four states, including Vermont and Colorado, and he promised to go all the way.

Senator Bernie Sanders: This campaign is not just about electing a president; it is about making a political revolution.

Azia: The night really was a big test to see who can get their party's nomination, with half the Republican delegates handed out and more than a third up for grabs on the Democratic side. But the race keeps going on, with more battles to come.

All right, coming up, leaky roofs, no heatand mold — that is just one day in school for Detroit city kids.

Azia: Schools in Detroit, Michigan, are ina crisis. Buildings are falling apart, students complain of no heat, teachers have refused to show up, and officials say the Detroit school system could run out of money by April. Maggie Rulli talks to young people therewho are speaking out, trying to make a difference.

Maggie: The Detroit public school system has been failing for years and is more than half a billion dollars in debt. But it wasn’t until teachers and students here at Cass Technical High School, one of the largest schools in the district, decided to take action that the rest of the country took notice.

They took to the streets: students with signsout to show support. And leading the way was Ashley Carson.

Ashley Carson: It's important that the seniors, the leaders of our school today, take action.

Maggie: She helped organize the student-led protest, demanding the attention of her state and the Detroit public school district.

Ashley: It wasn’t really so much about the protest; it was just about the students wanted a change, and we, the students, wanted to be advocates for a positive change.

Maggie: We sat down with Ashley and two of her classmates at Cass Technical High School, one of the top public high schools in Detroit.

Alyson Grigsby: Since we are the ones receiving this education, shouldn’t we be the ones that go out and make sure that we are the ones getting the education that we deserve?

Maggie: Over the past few months, teachers in the Detroit school district have been calling in sick as an unofficial form of protest. One of their biggest complaints: poor conditions in schools.The sick-outs affected nearly 45,000 students, or 91 percent of the student population. Teachers hope it will draw attention to get the problems fixed.

Ashley:It wasn’t so much standing up for our teachers; it was more standing with our teachers. I believe that my teachers are always going to fight for what’s best for us. So I wanna say that, yes,I believe in what they believe in.

Maggie: The teachers cited mold, maggots in bathrooms, mice and mushrooms that once sprouted in a classroom as common problems. They claim that the schools are risking children's health and safety, saying some students have suffered from "respiratory ailments, chronic fatigueand stomach pain."

It is not just Detroit; teachers across the country can relate. A 2013 report on America's infrastructure gave public schools a D grade and said to fix and modernize schools would cost $270 billion. That is more than 20 times the money spent on schools the year before.

Jordan Gregory: These teachers aren’t going to want to continue to work here if they’re being treated like this and if they’re in buildings with terrible health conditions.There are teachers who are, in fact, warning people,“You might not want to go into DPSor this profession because they’re treating us so bad.”

Maggie: Bad news for a school district that is not only struggling financially but also academically.In the Detroit public school district, 96 percent of eighth-graders don't make the grade in math, and 93 percent aren't up to speed in reading on national tests.

Here at Cass Tech, the students have access to high-level courses, clean facilities and even this state-of-the-art music studio, which was funded by Cass Tech alum and rapper Big Sean.But they say celebrity donations can only go so far.

Alyson:We are compared to a lot of other students who are in the suburbs.Suburban schools, private schools and schools that may have the resources are not dealing with the same things that we and other DPS students are dealing with in our schools, like lack of resources and teachers who are underpaid and overworked and very tired.

Maggie: They say they are fighting for others in their district who weren't given the same equal opportunities to succeed.

Ashley:People are listening to the kids now. We have everyone’s attention; now, what do we wanna say?

Jordan: We’re fighting for everybody’s younger brother,younger cousins, younger sisters.We’re fighting for everybody who has to go through this, and we don’t want them to.

Maggie: Maggie Rulli, Channel One News.

Azia: Experts say there is not much that can be done to fix the problems in Detroit schools without more money, which would have to come through the state legislature and increased taxes on residents.

And for a complete history of education in America, visitChannelOne.com.

Okay guys, coming up, transforming the grace of gymnastics into one groovy sport.

Azia: I used to love gymnastics classes growing up, but what about you,Keith,did you ever take any?

Keith: I can't say I have, Azia, and trust me — no one wants to see me do cartwheels.

Azia: I don’t know about that, but Ihear you have a cool story about one teen who is flipping the world of gymnastics upside down.

Keith: I certainly do, and she has got some mad skill. Take a look.

Gymnastics is all about grace, power and…hip-hop?

It is not just the high notes that UCLA gymnast Sophina DeJesus hits. It is those nontraditional moves.

Sophina: Not traditional at all!

Keith: She and her teammatesare transforming the image of the sport, says Valorie Kondos Field, now in her 26th year as UCLA head gymnastics coach.

Valorie Kondos Field: I feel that it's much more about entertainment now than about the rigid sport of perfection.

Keith: Sophina is getting high marks from judges, but even higher marks on social media, where her floor exercise earlier this month went viral.

Sophina: I woke up, and my mom called me, and she's like,“Oh, honey, like, did you know that you have, like,5 million views on your floor routine?” I was like, “Well, I didn’t even know it was posted anywhere.”

Keith: It has now been viewed more than 40 million times.

Sophina: Some of my favorite ones have been some marriage proposals and prom proposals.

Keith: Even celebrities have taken notice.

Sophina: Reese Witherspoon, she tweeted me, and I was really excited. I found out that Chris Brown posted it on his Facebook, and I was like,“Omigosh, no way no way no way!"

Keith: Even Sophina's teammates have gotten into the groove, along with her coach, who admits you can please a crowd but still not please the judges.

Kondos Field: I think there are judges that still don't like it. I've always just compared it to a Picasso.You know there’s — a Picasso's worth $30 million, but there are a lot of people that would not put a Picasso in their home 'cause they don't like it.But that doesn't mean that it's not excellent art.

Keith: Sophina has danced professionally and says her future remains in dance.You won’t find the nene, the whipand the dab this summer at the Olympics in Rio, but to the millions who have now viewed Sophina's routine….

Sophina: That one performance that I did, it was like, that was my Olympics!
Keith: And a moment as good as gold.Keith Kocinski, Channel One News.

Azia: Now that is what I call flip-hop.

All right, guys, we are all out of time for today, but we will see you right back here tomorrow.

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