Today's CNN 10 Transcript

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CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Hello everyone, I'm Clare Duffy in for Coy Wire and welcome to a fresh episode of CNN 10 on this Thursday, November 5th.

Today we will time travel to ancient Greece, show you a one-of-a-kind study abroad program, and highlight an enormous effort to keep one community from going hungry.

But first, our top story, this year's U.S. midterm election results, which featured a wave of historic first. It was a big night for Democrats who won back the majority in both the Senate and House of Representatives, which means in January, Democrats will have full control of Congress for the second half of President Donald Trump's term.

While some races are still too close to call, history has already been made on both sides of the ballot. New York Congressman Hakeem Jeffries is now on track to become the first Black Speaker of the House in our nation's history. He would be second only to Vice President J.D. Vance in the line of presidential succession.

In the Senate, Michigan's Abdul Al-Sayed is projected to become the nation's first Muslim senator, and Minnesota Lieutenant Governor Peggy Flanagan is expected to become the first female Native American senator.

South Carolina's Annie Andrews will become the Palmetto State's first ever elected woman senator. Iowa State Representative Josh Turek, who was born with spina bifida and has used a wheelchair his entire life, will become the Hawkeye State's first senator with a permanent disability.

And history wasn't just made on Capitol Hill, but in governor races across the country. Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms is projected to become the first female Black governor in U.S. history. Florida Republican Congressman Byron Donald will become the Sunshine State's first Black governor.

Texas State Representative Gina Hinojosa will become the state's first Hispanic governor. Ohio, California, New Mexico, Tennessee, Nevada, and Wisconsin all made history as well, electing Black, Latino, Native American, or women governors for the first time.

So, you may have heard of a mail-in ballot, but did you know astronauts can cast their ballots from the stars? NASA astronaut Anil Menon showed us how he voted in this year's midterm elections at the International Space Station.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANIL MENON, NASA ASTRONAUT: Welcome to Space Station where today we have the privilege of being able to vote here as well, just like you on the ground. This is my room that doubles as a voting booth for me. Inside of it is my computer where I was able to fill out an electronic form and send it to Harris County. So, I could vote today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUFFY: According to NASA, once an astronaut fills out their electronic ballot, the document, quote, "flows through NASA's tracking and data relay satellite system to a ground antenna." From there, the votes are then sent to mission control, then on to the county clerk.

It's time for 10-second trivia.

The ancient city of Troy was located in what modern-day country?

Is it Greece, Cyprus, Turkey, or Syria?

If you said Turkey, you are not horsing around. Archaeologists agree that Troy, best known as the setting of the Greek myth of the Trojan War, is located in present-day Turkey near the Strait of Dardanelles.

You may have seen the ancient city of Troy on the big screen this summer as the Odyssey-dominated box offices, but the city at the center of Homer's epic poems is more than a myth. In fact, you can visit it for yourself.

Our Leroy Ah Ben bin explored the ancient ruins where archaeologists meet mythology, complete with not one but two Trojan horses.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEROY AH BEN, CNN PRODUCER: You've probably heard the story, Helen of Troy, Achilles, a 10-year-long war, and a certain giant wooden horse. But Troy is more than just a legend.

I'm here on an archaeological site just outside of Canakkale in northwestern Turkey, and I'm here to find out exactly what's left.

And here's where things get a little complicated. There really was an ancient city here, but did things happen just as Homer described? Well, that's where the line between history and legend gets a little blurry.

And if the ruins require a bit of imagination, this place helps fill in the gaps. The Troy Museum brings together thousands of years of archaeological finds from Troy and the surrounding region, and suddenly the ancient stones from outside seem a little bit more human.

There are in fact two models of the Trojan horse in Canakkale. One outside the museum, the other in the middle of the city, which was a set piece from the 2004 movie.

So, we don't know whether the Trojan horse was real, but when you get a chance to climb inside a giant wooden horse, you climb in.

OK, looks like a lot of stairs. Here we go. Exactly how many soldiers do you think they could actually fit in here?

Wow, look at the view! How the Trojans managed to get this inside the city walls, I have no idea. So, Troy, definitely real. Giant horse? I'll let you decide.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DUFFY: Imagine trading your snow boots for a surfboard or your cowboy hat for a subway map. That's exactly what some U.S. teens are doing through a free exchange program that doesn't require a passport. All it takes is a willingness to live life in an entirely different community for one week.

CNN's Nicholas Blatt showed how one non-profit is changing the way some teens see America.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AMRAN YASIN MUSE, FROM WILLMAR, MINNESOTA: This is the first time I've been away from home. The first time I went on an airplane.

NICHOLAS BLATT, CNN PRODUCER: Amran is from Willmar, Minnesota.

IVY ATKINSON, FROM HERRIMAN. UTAH: And I look up and it's like a mountain.

BLATT: Ivy from Herriman, Utah.

ATKINSON: Crazy. Everybody tells you, oh this is the time in your life. You need to meet new people, go see new things, but I don't know how. And so, really doing this right now has been incredible.

BLATT: They just graduated high school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You remind me of my best friend.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh bro, she's so -- she looks so cool.

BLATT: And they've been thrown together with eight other teenagers from around the country to have a heck of a lot of fun and return home having learned something special.

ALEX TYLER RANA PRESSLEY, FROM JASPER, TEXAS: I'm also the first person to come out this far from my family. I know that they're proud of me for doing it.

BLATT: This week-long trip is free and part of the American Exchange Project. Started six years ago by David McCullough III, who got the idea after his own life-changing trip across the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're going to miss you.

DAVID MCCULLOUGH III, AMERICAN EXCHANGE PROJECT FOUNDER AND CEO: Goodbye.

BLATT: Which gave him a front row seat into how this country became so divided and offered one potential solution.

MCCULLOUGH III: There's an antidote to prejudice. It's connection. Connecting with people under the right circumstances.

BLATT: The exchange now happens in 55 locations across the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am going to Arkansas.

BLATT: And is paid for by grants and individual donors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going to Maine.

BLATT: Nearly 600 kids participated this year.

MCCULLOUGH III: We send them for free to an American hometown that is culturally and politically and socioeconomically very different from the one that they're growing up in.

BLATT: Harley Hardman traveled from her home in Lake Charles, Louisiana to Anchorage, Alaska last year.

HARLEY HARDMAN, WENT TO ANCHORAGE, ALASKA: My experience in Anchorage, Alaska was absolutely mind-blowing. It was definitely something that altered my brain chemistry. Never in my life would I have thought I would be able to hike a glacier and like stick my arm into the glacier water.

Every time I look back on my trip to Alaska, I'm always wondering what ways can I push myself out of the box like I did while I was in Alaska.

MCCULLOUGH III: I think that a week in another town ought to be as common to the high school experience as the prom. I think what we're working on should be America's next civic coming-of-age ritual.

YASIN MUSE: Everyone I met was very unique. Putting that all together, it feels like a mixing pot of wonder.

ATKINSON: Meeting new people and hearing about their life experiences and it just made me realize how little I actually know about the people who I share America with.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DUFFY: Today's story getting a 10 out of 10, a New Jersey high school creating a field of dreams and a feast for those in need.

Howell High School in Farmingdale, New Jersey just won the 100-yard food challenge, an initiative started by a non-profit called Dermer Dreams. Together, the community of Howell filled up 45,000 bags of groceries, collecting over a million pounds of food or enough to fill their entire football field.

According to Feeding America, about one in eight people experience food insecurity across the state and these yellow bags will be donated to food pantries and neighborhood delivery markets this week. When young people come together to make a difference in their community, that is a recipe for a touchdown.

All right, superstars, I've got time for two shout-outs today. The first one is going to St. Patrick's School in Wadsworth, Illinois. I got a really kind note from a listener of my podcast. It sounds like we've got a family of Terms of Service and CNN 10 fans at St. Patrick's. We appreciate you.

And this next shout-out is going to Dr. Miller at Wydown Middle School in St. Louis, Missouri. Happy belated birthday and thanks for including CNN 10 in your classroom.

And thank you for spending part of your day with us. My friend Coy will be back tomorrow. I'm Clare Duffy and this is CNN 10.