Category: kid nation

In Kid Nation episode 4, the producers tried to stir up trouble with the introduction of religion, Taylor and most of her yellow district continued to do whatever they wanted (which is nothing), and the town again complained about Taylor’s lack of leadership.

Zach goes into Taylor’s bunkhouse to wake people up and tell them they need to cook breakfast. They refuse.

The pioneer journal suggests district elections. If nothing else, Taylor’s gotta go, but it will be interesting to see whether she’s got enough popularity with enough people to stay in charge. Laurel and Mike have done a good enough job that I’d be okay with them sticking around.

As they’re about to break the news, a food fight breaks out. There’s much happiness from the townsfolk. Sophia asks how many of the town council are confident, and none of them are.

The green district, despite the fact that they always lose the showdowns, is a very good district and discusses things maturely, coming to the conclusion that, although they have people like Michael, Sophia, and Morgan, Laurel should stay in charge.

Mike asks whether anyone from the red district wants to oppose him. Guylan raises his hand. Who?

Anjay asks whether anyone wants to oppose him, and Olivia, who doesn’t like him, decides she does.

Taylor asks for another (another) chance. Zach says he’ll oppose her, and he’s the best pick. He says he’s getting tired of “Deal with it.” He asks people to tell him they agree with him, which they do.

The showdown is about politics. Each district will send out one person at a time to smash pinatas. In some of the pinatas is a picture of a US President. They must bring the pictures back to their council leaders, who will put them in historical order. Mike’s pretty confident, but everybody else doesn’t have an idea. Green gets off to a fast start. Blue team’s smaller members prove problematic. Taylor has no clue, but Zach tells her the right order. Green gets all the pictures first but takes a long time to put them in order. By a split second, Laurel outruns Taylor, but she’s wrong. Yellow district gets theirs right and is the upper class. Going back to their original order, green finally gets out of the laborer class and takes second to become the mechants. Red team takes third place and are the cooks. With 15 seconds left, blue finishes, getting a reward for the town.

The first choice is a BBQ. The second choice is toothbrushes, toothpaste, mouthwash, and floss. The council takes the dental choice, an unpopular but good decision. Taylor tells the other council members if they want meat, they can kill a chicken, which is a spot on assessment. As with the pizza, Mike again makes it clear he disagrees with the council’s non-food choice.

Taylor’s confident because she has all the girls on her side. Zach realizes this and pitches his case to the girls, telling them it’s their choice between Taylor letting them be lazy or someone doing a good job. Markelle tears down Taylor’s poster and starts shouting for people to vote Taylor out. He then rips it up, and Leila, who made the poster, gets upset and cries. Greg, who from time to time shows he’s mostly just putting on a tough guy act, goes to comfort her.

Greg and Zach are mentioned as the top choices for a gold star.

The current council’s last act of business is to award the gold star. Greg finally gets the gold star he’s been working toward. He says he’s going to use the money for college.

Laurel stays in power because nobody runs against her.

Blue District Votes
Anjay
Olivia
Anjay
Olivia
Anjay
Olivia
Anjay
Anjay
Anjay
Anjay

By a vote of 7-3, Anjay is reelected to the town council. Olivia says she’ll run again if given the chance. Anjay says he’ll respect her opinions in the future. She says she doesn’t believe him. This is exactly why she wasn’t elected. It seemed more about a personal conflict than anything else.

Red District Votes
Guylan
Mike
Guylan
Guylan
Guylan
Guylan
Guylan
Guylan
Guylan
Guylan

Guylan wins in a landslide 9-1. I still don’t know who he is, though, considering it’s episode 5 and we haven’t even seen him before as far as I know.

Yellow District Votes
Taylor
Zach
Taylor
Zach
Taylor
Zach
Zach
Taylor
Zach

Zach wins by a vote of 5-4. It’s about time.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Kid Nation Episode 6 Bonanza Is Disgusting, which airs at 8/7c on CBS.

In Kid Nation episode 3, the yellow district continued to do nothing (still), the kids flipped out because they got a microwave and cocoa that would last the whole time rather than pizzas that would have been gone later that night, Greg didn’t win a gold star, and Taylor practiced being a beauty queen.

As the kids start discussing how religion starts wars, the journal conveniently tells them that they need to address the concept of religion. Great, more pot stirring from the adults who are supposedly leaving the kids to their own devices.

The council comes up with the idea to have all religions in one room and have people from each religion talk, in an attempt to let people learn from each other. Sophia hangs her head dreading it, and then a bunch of people start shouting/arguing about how this idea is going to start arguments. Mike doesn’t care about the input he gets. He tells them to shut up.

Alex decides to do a survey to find out what religion everybody is, receiving responses of Christian, Jewish, Hindu, atheist, and other.

Nobody cares what the council says. Nobody bothers to show up.

Morgan takes a different approach. She invites people and tells them they can come and pray if they want. This gets a good response, unlike yelling at people and trying to force them. People of all different religions come to join together and have a good time.

Taylor and the rest of yellow district are thrilled being upper class because it means they can sleep in and do whatever they want. Just like they did before they were the yellow district. Zach is trying to separate himself from the yellow district because he doesn’t like how they’re behaving.

The showdown is a puzzle. The kids must create a steeple puzzle then raise it with pulleys. Reward is not yet revealed. Yellow starts strong but falls apart. Red manages to take the lead as yellow screams and tries to figure out where a piece is. Blue then overcomes red with a slight lead going into the final stage. Pretty obvious what’s going to happen here. The oldest kid in town, Greg, is able to raise the steeple faster. Blue is the upper class. Red finishes close behind to become the merchants. Yellow takes a slight lead over green, and everybody begins praying yellow finally gets where they belong. But it’s too late. Yellow are the cooks, which allows Taylor to say if people don’t like it, they can just starve themselves. Green finishes in time to win the reward.

The reward is a choice between mini golf or a library of holy books. The council turns the decision over to the town because everybody got pissed off last time. Good way to at least try to stay in power, but considering who’s making the decision, it’s not a good way to ensure that the right decision is made. Oddly enough, the town chooses the books over golf. That’ll upset some people, but the majority of the town will be happy.

Cody, 9, gets homesick because of a letter from his girlfriend, who he’s known ever since third grade. Not touching this one.

Yellow team is still not doing anything. Only two yellow people are in the kitchen. A couple of people go to confront Taylor about her attitude and tell her they’re getting pissed off. She just laughs and keeps doing what she’s doing. Zach gets fed up and goes around gathering everybody from the other districts to help him watch dishes. Overthrow Taylor and put him in her place.

The kids wake up to snow, which receives mixed reactions. It’ll be harder to keep those water pipes unfrozen now.

Zach is the first person mentioned when it comes to a gold star. Morgan is also mentioned again. As usual, Greg’s name comes up. I’d say let him sweat it out for a few more weeks. I am impressed with his improved attitude, though. Instead of thinking he’s the only one who deserves a gold star, he acknowledges that Zach has also worked hard.

When asked if they have a problem with the leadership, Taylor’s name comes up again.

Cody decides he wants to go home because he misses his family. This leads to a tearful goodbye. Campbell is upset his best friend is leaving.

Morgan is awarded the gold star for working hard, being nice to everyone, and not complaining.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live blog of Kid Nation Episode 5, which airs at 8/7c on CBS.

In episode 2, the producers had the kids kill some chickens (through the “advice” in the “old” book), the yellow district continued to do nothing, and Michael won the gold star over a likely to be angry Greg, who found out pretending to be a hard worker for a couple days just to win $20,000 won’t necessarily work.

The show starts off with a party to celebrate making it through the first week. Lots of kids hopped up on sugar probably isn’t the best thing.

Those who weren’t smart enough to know not to stay up all night get a rude awakening early in the morning that they’re not ready for. The council rings the bell and screams, while Greg has fun banging pots and pulling people out into the street in their sleeping bags. Sophia confronts him about this, and he runs off and locks himself in the room. Mallory, 8, isn’t happy with the cursing.

The pioneers suggest some law and order, starting with a curfew, a pretty coincidental suggestion considering the late night partying the night before. The decision is that they must be in their bunks by 9:30. No questions asked and no discussion allowed.

The yellow district gets into a food fight, further adding to people’s wishes they be booted from the kitchen. They keep saying the problem’s their age, but Mallory is willing to step up and clean up after them.

It’s time for the next showdown to determine what the classes will be. The challenge is to work together to round up sheep. Council members will yell the names to their teams below. They get 5 minutes to catch 5 sheep. The whole thing is complete chaos with nobody being able to hear a thing. Blue gets off to an early lead as usual. Yellow catches up to them. Red and green are way behind. Yellow ends up winning, so they are the upper class, thanks to Colton’s animal background and fearlessness. This means the yellow district can do whatever they want, including nothing at all. So basically what they’ve been doing all along. Blue takes second to be the merchants. Green finally doesn’t lose the challenge, allowing them to get into the kitchen, where Sophia will take charge as she has been all along. With seconds to spare, red finishes last and are the laborers, but it’s fast enough to win the reward.

The choice is between 1) a microwave and a barrel of cocoa or 2) 40 pizzas with every topping. Mike wants pizza and is extremely vocal in his opposition, offering no support to his fellow town council members when the decision is announced. The other three go for the microwave and cocoa instead. Few of the kids are happy with this choice, whether it’s a logical choice or not. Some of them, however, realize that the pizza would be gone very quickly, whereas the cocoa and microwave would be useful for the rest of their time there.

Taylor may have dug her own grave by being so vocal. There were only a couple people who were upset with the council to begin with, but after no pizza and a curfew, there’s serious potential for her being overthrown.

Sophia tries to get a bag from Mallory for 5 cents, and Mallory offers a deal but isn’t a pushover. For her age, she’s proving pretty impressive at running the store.

Then a storm blows through town. There’s lots of wind and tipped over outhouses, but it looks to pass pretty quickly. Zach takes charge and gets the situation under control. The storm is enough to upset Cody, 9, and Mallory and make them homesick.

This time, the council is smart enough to get feedback from the others on who they think deserves the gold star. The main suggestions are Greg and Morgan, who has tried to step up and be the mom of the group to some of the younger kids. Olivia, Mallory’s sister, suggests Mallory, which does lead them to start looking at the kids who maybe aren’t old enough to pitch in as much as the older kids but are doing a great job in their own right.

As expected, nobody’s happy with Taylor’s pageant queen attitude. A lot of them are probably still bitter over the pizza party as well. She says she will work harder in the future, which buys her one more chance.

Nobody ends up going home this week. The gold star winner is Mallory, a happy 9th birthday present, which Greg says is the only reason she got it. I’m not sure he realizes if he finds a positive attitude and keeps working hard, he’ll get the star eventually, even if it takes a while.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live blog of Kid Nation episode 4, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Episode 1 was mostly about discovering the rules and getting to know the kids somewhat as they started building their town. Jimmy, 8, became the first to go home, which left us with 39 kids.

The book suggests that the chickens are good for more than eggs, a rather controversial suggestion to make to a bunch of kids. The other kids are starting to get sick of not having fresh food and having to eat canned stuff. Laurel decides that they have to take a vote to decide what to do.

There’s a lot of concern over lack of protein. Greg says he’s worked with a butcher and knows how to do this. After the vote, the kids decide to kill the chicken. Emilie, 9, who we haven’t seen before tonight, says she’s going home if they kill a chicken. She then locks herself in the chicken coup with some others in protest. Eventually, though, she realizes they need to think about what’s best for the town. Everybody’s grossed out, but they all insist on watching.

Greg’s primary motivation in helping out seems to be that he wants to be nominated for a gold star. This is definitely a big change from last week when he mostly just wanted to goof off.

The next major dilemma is the cold, which freezes their clothes and water. Some of the boys from the green district figure out that if they poor some boiling water on the pumps, it may thaw them out, and it works.

Zach, 10, tries to get Taylor to go to the kitchen because she’s the leader of the yellow district, the cooks. She doesn’t care. Sophia’s a trooper. She’s a laborer and not even supposed to be cooking, but she’s still heading it up while shivering.

It’s time for a showdown to redetermine the job classes. Nobody likes blue team still, and a lot of people are tired of yellow’s laziness. Reward choices: a 45 foot heated water slide or what’s under a barrel (to be revealed after the challenge). They must connect pipes with running water to get water wheels spinning. All teams must finish in under an hour. Blue team gets off to an early lead, with red close behind. Red loses it at the water wall, and blue never looks back. Blue is the upper class. Red are the merchants. Yellow are still the cooks. Green can’t get it together in time, so they’re the laborers, and the group misses out on the prize, including the mystery prize of water pumps designed not to freeze. Everybody is supportive of their effort, though.

Green’s irritated that yellow refuses to do any work.

Emilie wants to work with the animals, but since she’s not upper class or a cook, the kids kick her out. One of them suggests she should go home if she wants to be with the animals.

Greg is pitching in, but Mike gets suspicious that it’s just for the gold star. Michael has been working well all along and has a lot of spirit. It’s a 2-2 tie with the council between them. Mike and Laurel vote for Michael; Anjay and Taylor vote for Greg.

Last time, only Sophia didn’t approve of the council. This time, it’s Sophia again, along with one other girl. Taylor’s response is “I’m sorry. You’re just gonna have to starve.”

Nobody wants to go home. Emilie decides to stay and tough it out.

The decision is to give the gold star to Michael. Well deserved. He says he thinks his parents deserve to get the money and is mostly just happy to be able to talk to them. Greg’s angry he didn’t get the star and believes it was disrespectful. Instead of just containing himself and trying for it next time, it looks like he’s planning to flip out.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live blog of Kid Nation episode 3, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Before it even premiered, Kid Nation has already become the subject of a lot of seemingly baseless controversy. 40 kids, a damn big cast, must try to turn Bonanza City, NM into a bustling town, something adults failed to do back in the 1800s.

The leaders here are also kids. They are Mike, 11, a boy scout, Taylor, 10, a pageant queen, Anjay, 12, a spelling champ, and Laurel, 12, a student leader. This is the town council, who will at least temporarily lead the others. Nobody’s particularly impressed with them.

Any kid who can’t handle it is free to leave at the town hall meeting. Jonathan pulls out a star that’s worth its weight in gold, $20k, which will be given away each week to whoever they feel deserves it most. The leaders can’t tell anyone about this until it’s time to give the first one away.

The kids are dropped off by bus and must walk a few miles lugging what they need with them in wagons. It’s not long before people start arguing over who is or is not working and how hard. DK falls on the way but appears to be okay with just a muscle cramp.

When they arrive, there’s nothing waiting there for them. The ghost town is exactly as could be expected. It’s complete chaos with everyone running every which way.

They attempt to cook, with attempt being the key word, only to find out nobody actually knows how to even cook macaroni and cheese. They come up with the idea to get a cookbook and finally figure it out. Sort of.

Taylor, who seemed to be doing a good job, finally breaks down crying at the end of the day due to homesickness. Mike’s also concerned they weren’t prepared for the scale of what they were getting themselves into.

Breakfast turns out better. They figure out how to make pancakes, and some of the kids live on a farm and know how to work with farm animals. Apparently, some off the kids took too many pancakes, leaving others with nothing to eat. Mike steps up and takes charge, calling a meeting that he quickly loses control of. Greg, one of the older kids, tries to bully Mike and pushes him, then walks out. In the midst of the arguing, Michael comes forward and gives a speech that finally brings some order. Mike and Greg shake hands after the meeting, after which Greg says, “You haven’t seen me upset.” Uh oh. I sense someone who failed the psych test.

The leaders must divide into four teams. Who’s on what team? Uh… I don’t even know who’s who and don’t think I ever will. The revealing of the teams was complete random chaos as with everything else.

Laurel goes searching for Jimmy, who she learns has also broken down crying. She handles the situation really well and comforts him.

The blue team, the older team, grafitis their name all over everyone else’s bunkhouses. They suspect it’s the older boys, Greg and Blaine. Alex, a 9 year old, says it’s juvenile behavior.

On the third day, the host steps in and attempts to bring some order, revealing a job board to assign people jobs. The jobs will be determined by having a showdown district against district.

The challenge is to find the correct color water and pump it out of the ground to fill their bottles first. Everybody wants to beat the blue team. Blue pumps red in error, allowing red to gain the lead with strong teamwork and leadership, and in the end, the red district becomes the upper class (pay is $1, and they can choose what to do and where to pitch in). In second is blue, the merchant class (50 cents). Yellow, the youngest team, comes in third and are the cooks (25 cents). Green are the laborers (10 cents).

Because everybody finished, they get a choice of reward: 7 more outhouses (there’s only one now) or a TV. Most of the council is in favor of the outhouses, largely because the TV is a distraction. They make the decision to go for the outhouses.

The yellow district is cooking but doesn’t believe in (or don’t know about) the cookbooks. But somehow it works out anyway, with better food than they’ve had previously. They don’t appear very interested in doing dishes, and Taylor, who had been likeable, says, “I’m a beauty queen. I don’t do dishes.”

Next, it’s time for the blue team to open up the stores. The candy store gets a great reception. Sophia decides she wants a bike for $3, but as a laborer, she’s only got 10 cents, so she begins dancing for money and somehow manages to raise the funds she needs, including a nickel from someone who wants her to dance further away.

Jonathan asks if anyone is unhappy with how the leaders are handling things. The lone person who speaks out against the council is Sophia, who’s been complaining constantly, even if she does have some valid points.

The next question is whether anyone wants to go home, which will be asked at every town hall meeting. Taylor decides she wants to stick around, but Jimmy, 8, raises his hand to go home, bringing us down to 39 kids.

The council must decide who gets the gold star. They choose Sophia because of the work she’s been doing. As an additional reward, she is allowed to call her parents and tell them. The reveal made for good TV, and now everybody wants to work harder. At the end of the day, they all seem to want to come together and work as a unit, for now at least.

This was a good premiere, and hopefully people will shut up about all this child labor/endangerment crap now. Granted, there are so many kids that it’s hard to tell who’s who, which does make things a bit chaotic, but on the whole, it’s an enjoyable show about empowering these kids and seeing just what they’re capable of.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live blog of Kid Nation Episode 2, which airs at 8/7c on CBS.

Lately, Kid Nation has been the subject of controversy, and one parent told Access Hollywood she’s frustrated with the fact that people are only interested in stirring up the negative aspects.

Lori, a lawyer from New Jersey, whose daughter Sophia is on the show, had this to say, “I know I speak for most of the parents when I say we are just mystified by this uproar and I guess it’s because people like to read sensational headlines.”

“Every time they show them, they cut out anything that might put the show in a good light, and it was such an amazing experience for these kids,” she said. “We really are so mystified by it. My daughter has nothing but great things to say about it. They had the time of their lives. I’m perplexed.”

“My child was better supervised there for six weeks than she could have had (she) been living with her family for six weeks. We don’t have her surrounded by doctors, and safety experts, and therapists, and producers and counselors.”

Regarding the controversy over child labor laws, “It wasn’t putting the kids in a situation where they had to work,” Lori said. “My daughter told me that there were so many kids that would just lay around the entire time and never did anything at all. So, my understanding from talking to my daughter was that kids could do as little or as much as they wanted to do. Nothing was forced at all.”

And on the issue of child endangerment, “I’ve been reading stuff that’s been coming down the pipe, and it’s really been distressing to me and most of the parents that have been involved with this production,” she said. “I’m a former prosecutor of child abuse and to label this show child abuse and child neglect is insulting and denigrating to children who have been victims of child abuse.”

A month before it goes on the air, and CBS’ newest reality show, Kid Nation, is already the subject of controversy over the issue of child labor laws and child endangerment.

The LA Times reports Janis Miles, the mother of a 12-year-old girl who was burned in the face while cooking, filed a complaint in June in Georgia, where she lives. She has asked for an investigation into “abusive acts to minors and possible violations of child labor laws.” Her complaint was forwarded to Santa Fe County Sheriff Greg Solano, who on July 20 posted an item on his department blog revealing Miles’ claims and stating he had found no criminal wrongdoing related to the production.
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“These kids were in good hands and under good care with procedures and safety structures that arguably rival or surpass any school or camp in the country,” the CBS statement read.
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The children did receive $5,000 stipends, and they competed for $20,000 gold stars in each episode.

(CBS legal counsel) Anschell, however, said the stipend and rewards are not considered wages for work because, “It’s a stipend for participating in the show. It’s not tied to specific output or tasks.”

Anyone who considered allowing their kids to do this had to know what they were getting themselves into. Despite the potential for money/fame, it’s not summer camp, and just as if they were at home, accidents may happen, which in this case they did to a handful of the kids (with nobody being seriously injured). That being said, as much as this show is billed as being about kids surviving on their own, these kids have more adult supervision than anyone they know.

I’m finding it hard to believe that CBS would intentionally break laws like this just for the sake of producing this show. At the end of the day, this is similar to the race tribes on Survivor, which I thought worked out fine but was blown out of proportion before anyone really knew what was happening. CBS is ultimately just getting massive amounts of free publicity, which should only help to enhance the ratings.

What do you think? Has CBS gone too far, or is this much ado about nothing?

Want more Kid Nation? Subscribe to dingoRUE for continued coverage of Kid Nation.

And you thought you had trouble keeping up with 10 teams of 2 on The Amazing Race. CBS’ newest reality show, Kid Nation, tests to see whether kids can survive in the ghost town of Bonanza City, NM for 40 days on their own without adults, building it into a prosperous town along the way. The cast of Kid Nation is comprised of 40 kids age 8-15. At the end of each episode, the kids will vote on the most worthy person to win $20,000. Only those who decide to leave on their own will have to leave, as they can’t be voted off. The full massive cast list is below:

ALEX
Age: 9
Hometown: Reno, Nev.
Favorite subject: Geography
When I grow up I want to be: “I’m not sure what I would like to be when I grow up, but I currently think that it would be interesting to be a linguist, geography teacher and/or a chemist.”

ANJAY
Age: 12
Hometown: Pearland, Texas
Political views: “If I could hold one office in politics it would be Secretary of the State, so I could suggest the policies for the future of the U.S.A.”
Role Model: “Mahatma Gandhi, because he gained India’s independence without firing a single shot or shedding a drop of blood.”

BLAINE
Age: 14
Hometown: North Palm Beach, Fla.
My Perfect Day: “There is nothing I like better than to spend the day at the beach, waiting on the perfect wave to surf on my favorite board.”
Rode Model: “My Dad is my hero and role model, hands down! He is an Engineer/First Mate on a 124′ private yacht, and some day I want to do the same thing, ’cause I love to work with my hands, be on the water, travel to exciting places and meet new people.”

BRETT
Age: 11
Hometown: Edina, Minn.
Accomplishments: “I am working with families on changing the family law in Minnesota that upholds contact between kids and their ‘non-custodial’ parents, creating ‘Ryan’s Law.’”
Political Views: “I am very conscious of world events and concerns. I believe the best way I can help my community and world is to spread good energy to others.”

CAMPBELL
Age: 10
Hometown: Thomasville, Ga.
What I want to be when I grow up: “I would like to be a political person because good government is important and I could help the economy.”
If I could switch places with someone: “I would like to switch places with the President of the United States so that I could perform the daily duties and protect the wildlife.”

CODY
Age: 9
Hometown: Newport, Ohio
When I grow up I want to be: “A police officer.”
Political views: “If I could write a law, gas prices would be $0.25 a gallon.”

COLTON
Age: 11
Hometown: Reno, Nev.
Accomplishments: “My football team made it to the playoffs and was named the All-Star team. Also, I won my first belt buckle at the Wadsworth Rodeo.”
Political Views: “I feel that no matter who you vote for, someone is always going to disagree with the president’s judgment.”

DIVAD
Age: 11
Hometown: Fayetteville, Ga.
Personality traits: “Kind, helpful, honest – I am a great leader and I like to make others laugh.”
If I could write one law: “If I could write a law, I would make it illegal to charge medical care to someone who can’t afford it.”

DK
Age: 14
Hometown: Chicago
If I could switch places with someone: “I would switch places with the President of the United States – this would be the opportunity to have a positive influence on others and make the world a better place.”
Goals and Aspirations: “I want to inspire kids everywhere. I want to be able to prove all things are possible if you put your mind to it and believe in yourself.”

EMILIE
Age: 9
Hometown: Sparks, Nev.
Favorite hobbies: “Horse back riding, finding adventure and basketball.”
If I could switch places with someone: “I wouldn’t switch places with anyone because I appreciate myself.”

ERIC
Age: 14
Hometown: Morristown, N.J.
Role model: “As a musician, my role model would be Paul McCartney. I play many of the same instruments as him and his life is very inspiring to me”
Goals and aspirations: “My career goal would involve music, leadership and teaching others. I want to inspire and help others.”

GIANNA
Age: 10
Hometown: Chicago
When I grow up I want to be: “I want to be an actress or President of the United States.”
Role models: “My family and my educators – they all help me to learn and grow in different ways.”

GREG
Age: 15
Hometown: Reno, Nev.
When I grow up I want to be: “A mechanical engineer – working at my dad’s shop (dad is a master mechanic) gives me the experience I need to become a successful engineer someday designing cars or something.”
If I could switch places with anyone: “It would be my mom, because I want to know how she does it. She raises me and my sister, keeps a clean house, does paperwork at the shop, cooks dinner and yet she still has time to go out and work with the horses. She’s amazing.“

GUYLAN
Age: 11
Hometown: Upton, Mass.
Experiences: “My parents are exotic animal trainers, therefore providing me the opportunity to live and work with bears, camels, baboons, lions, tigers and elephants literally in my back yard since I was a year old. I also grew up living in two zoos in New England, York’s Wild Kingdom and Southwick’s Zoo, for a few years.”
Goals and Aspirations: “To stop global warming; to seek out new life and civilizations and to boldly go were no man (boy) has gone before.”

HUNTER
Age: 12
Hometown: Martinez, Ga.
Interests and hobbies: “Basketball, biking, water sports, golf, fly fishing, hunting and reading.”
Goals and aspirations: “I would like to go to college and be in one of the branches of the armed forces.”

JARED
Age: 11
Hometown: Dunwoody, Ga.
If I could hold a political position: “I would be Speaker of the House.”
If I could write one law: “I would write a law that required specific requirements for animal refuge centers.”

JASMINE
Age: 11
Hometown: Atlanta
Goals and aspirations: “When I grow up I would like to have my own television show, an artist development company or a School of Performing Arts.
If I could switch places with someone: “No one, because I love the people in my life and I would not want to change that.”

JIMMY
Age: 8
Hometown: Salem, N.H.
Political views: “If I could outlaw something it would be weapons and war.”
If I could switch places with someone: “It would be Bill Gates, because he is the richest man in the world and very smart.”

KELSEY
Age: 11
Hometown: Furlong, Pa.
People would be surprised to learn: “That I performed on piano at Carnegie Hall when I was in the fourth grade, which was a great honor to experience.”
Political views: “I think it was a bad choice to send soldiers to Iraq to fight. If I could change something about our world it would be to let all world and nationwide disagreements to be settled peacefully.”

KENNEDY
Age: 12
Hometown: Ashland, Ky.
Accomplishments: “I started the program ‘Break the Cycle with Reading,’ spending Saturdays reading to inmates’ children who were visiting their parents that are locked up; I’m a highly-ranked tennis player across Kentucky, the south, and the nation.”
Role Model: “President John F. Kennedy – he had high hopes for our country and was fearless.”

LAUREL
Age: 12
Hometown: Medford, Mass.
If I could write one law: “I would make a ‘no bullies’ law. I believe bullies are truly cowards and I think if bullies were gone the world would be a better place.”
If I could hold one position in government: “I would like to be in a position where I could make decisions that would affect people’s lives in a positive way.”

LEILA
Age: 9
Hometown: Charlotte, N.C.
Favorite hobbies or sports: “I have been doing beauty pageants since I was a baby. I usually do about 15-20 pageants a year. I also enjoy riding horses with my oldest brother at the barn and going to my other brother’s high school football games.”
If I could change one thing in the world: “I would want to make people more honest and nice with each other.”

MADISON
Age: 11
Hometown: El Paso, Texas
Goals and aspirations: “I have always dreamed of being an actress, being in movies, and in many plays.”
Quote: “If I could change one thing in the world I would change people’s desire to be perfect. NO ONE is perfect, and you don’t need to be a Barbie to be loved. You are perfect in someone’s eyes.”

MAGGIE
Age: 14
Hometown: Evansville, Minn.
Experiences: “I was adopted as a baby, and still know my birth parents. I keep in touch with them and my brothers and sister. I live on a hobby farm in a one-room house, with no indoor bathroom.”
Political Views: “I would outlaw smoking and war – they both kill – and bombs kill innocent kids.”

MALLORY (OLIVIA’S SISTER)

Age: 8
Hometown: Indianapolis
When I grow up I want to be: “A pediatrician – I want to help people.”
People would be surprised to learn: “That I play soccer better than most boys on my team.”

MARKELLE
Age: 12
Hometown: Marietta, Ga.
When I grow up I want to be: “An entertainer.”
Quote: “If I could change one thing in the world, I would make sure that all kids with single parents have good role models and mentors to make sure that they have the same amount of opportunities and love and grow up to be happy.”

MICHAEL
Age: 14
Hometown: Monroe, Wash.
If I could write one law: “I would allow gay marriage. I think it’s time to stick to equal rights.”
If I could hold one political office: “I would be a White House Press Correspondent.”

MIGLE
Age: 13
Hometown: Downers Grove, Ill.
If I could write one law: “I would make it a law that mothers couldn’t leave their kids.”
Role Model/Hero: “My hero is my mom. She has been through some tough times and is always there for me.”

MIKE
Age: 11
Hometown: Bellevue, Wash.
Role Model/Hero: “Raoul Wallenburg, who was a Swedish citizen who saved thousands of Jewish lives during the holocaust.”
If I could hold office in politics: “I would like to be in Congress and be on special committees so that I could work in small groups to write laws.”

MORGAN
Age: 12
Hometown: Indianapolis, Ind.
If I could write one law: “I would outlaw smoking in the U.S.”
Quote: “If I could change one thing in the world, I would rid the world of prejudice because it’s unnecessary and we are all equal in God’s eyes.”

NATASHA

Age: 13
Hometown: Miami
Favorite subject: “I think right now my favorite subjects are art and civics because in art, you can just express yourself on paper using anything you want, and in civics, I get so into learning about the government and laws and things involving the amendments and rules, I just find it so cool.”
When I grow up I want to be: “I’m still finding my place in the world and I’m not absolutely sure what I want to do when I’m older. I’m young and I’m still experimenting my skills in different subjects so I want to first find my strengths and weaknesses and then go from there on what I’ll be most committed to.”

NATHAN
Age: 11
Hometown: Mount Prospect, Ill.
If I could switch places with someone: “The President of the United States, so that I could run the country and make all the rules.”
When I grow up I want to be: “Either running my own business or an architect or interior designer.”

OLIVIA (MALLORY’s SISTER)
Age: 12
Hometown: Indianapolis, Ind.
Goals and Aspirations: “I want to be a journalist because I love to write.”
Role model: “Nellie Bly; I also admire my mom’s ability to work, my sister’s logic and my dad’s writing abilities.”

PHARAOH
Age: 12
Hometown: Philadelphia
If I could write one law: “I would write a law that puts more police officers in school. I would also write a law that bans any form of discrimination.”
What others would be surprised to learn about me: “That I ride horses and play polo.”

RANDI
Age: 11
Hometown: Sparks, Nev.
When I grow up I want to be: “A horse trainer – I have learned the proper techniques and I would love to be able to teach them to others.”
If I could write one law: “No one over the age of 65 is allowed to smoke. Also, we would all have to go back to riding horses.”

SAVANNAH
Age: 10
Hometown: Partridge, Ky.
When I grow up I want to be: “A lawyer or zookeeper – a lawyer is interesting and makes a lot of money, and a zookeeper because I like animals and want to learn more about them.”
What others would be surprised to learn about me: “That I like bugs, frogs, lizards and other gross things.”

SOPHIA
Age: 14
Hometown: Winter Park, FL
Accomplishments: “In elementary school, I began a ‘non-violent protest’ to have the school closed for President’s Day and was successful. I also founded a club for Jewish students in middle school, where they only had a social organization for Christian students.”
If I could write one law: “I would outlaw ignorance. I would write a law that said that everyone must be literate and aware of what is going on in the world around them.”

SOPHIE
Age: 10
Hometown: Issaquah, Wash.
When I grow up I want to be: “An author and a professional soccer player. If I’m lucky, I’d also like to be an actress. I’m a busy girl!”
Accomplishments: “I have a company called ‘Art in the Heart’ to raise money for the SPCA every year. I make paintings and bookmarks with my own art, then sell them at the local farmer’s markets and then give 50 percent of the profits to them. For the last two years, I have won the city’s ‘chalk art’ competition for the elementary level.”

TAYLOR
Age: 10
Hometown: Sylvester, Ga.
When I grow up I want to be: “A paleontologist because I love science.”
Miscellaneous: “I am passionate about pageants because I want to be Miss America or Miss USA one day. Also, I enjoy hunting for arrowheads with my family. I have over 2,000 arrowheads in my collection.”

ZACH
Age: 10
Hometown: Miami Beach, Fla.
Goals and aspirations: “I plan to go the Air Force Academy.”
Role model(s): “My dad, he really sets an example for me.”
Quote: “I am passionate about helping people that are sick.”

Kid Nation premieres Wednesday September 19th at 8/7c on CBS.