podcast
CNN 5 Good Things
How about a break — for your ears? At CNN, we know the news can be a lot to take in. So each week, 5 Good Things offers you a respite from the heavy headlines and intense news cycle. Treat yourself to something fun and uplifting every Saturday as we share the bright side of life from all over the globe.
Meet the Olympic Athletes Already Making History
CNN 5 Good Things
Feb 7, 2026
The Milan Cortina Winter Games have begun, and some athletes have already made history. We tell you how one state went from the bottom to the top for fourth grade reading and math. A project born out of a family’s loss hopes to save lives by publishing letters written by strangers with reasons to stay. This shellfish was extinct for over 200 years in Dublin Bay until now – and the reason it’s back might surprise you. Plus, a teenage boy is being called a hero after a family kayaking trip turned dangerous.
Host/Producer: Krista Bo Polanco
Producer: Eryn Mathewson, Joshan Chana
Showrunner: Faiz Jamil
Senior Producer: Felicia Patinkin
Editorial Support: Samantha Lindell
Episode Transcript
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:00
'Hey there! Welcome! I'm Krista Bo Polanco and this is CNN 5 Good Things. Happy Super Bowl weekend! Before we jump in, I wanted to give you a little extra goodness with an update on a story that we covered last week, which is that the father-daughter duo from Maryland won the Grammy for Best Children's Album, making Miss Aura V the youngest Grammy winner ever. Here are some other stories that'll make you smile.
'Kim Luckett-Langston
00:00:22
I'm a firm believer that if you pour into the teachers, they can pour into students.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:00:27
The state was one of the worst for a kid to get an education, and now it's one of best. Then you'll hear some stories from over the pond, like how this seafood delicacy can clean up more than your plate. And this hopeful corner of the internet exists for people who feel hopeless. And it all started with one brother's loss.
Ben West
00:00:44
We've potentially stopped what happened to our family from happening to someone else's family. That is one of the most incredible things that I will ever be a part of in life. Plus...
Austin Applebee
00:00:56
I just said, all right, not today, not today, I have to keep on going.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:01:01
This teen channeled Thomas the Tank Engine to save his stranded family. And we're all cheering on US ski star, Lindsay Vonn, so when we come back, hear about some other athletes making history at the Winter Olympics.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:01:19
'The Milan-Cortina Winter Olympic Games are underway in Italy, and after more than a decade on the bench, NHL players will be back on the ice. The league's players have had to sit out the last two Olympics because of regular season conflicts and then because of Covid. So New York Rangers player Vincent Trocheck is pumped to play for Team USA.
Vincent Trocheck
00:01:38
'I think the NHL is the best league in the world and the best players in the world play in the NHL and you want to see the best-on-best just like you do in every other competition.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:01:46
'And these women will have already made history before the first medal is even handed out. Laila Edwards from Cleveland, Ohio is the first Black woman to ever compete on the U.S. Olympic hockey team. On Thursday, she helped Team USA beat the Czech Republic 5-1 in its first prelim match. The 22-year-old told CNN, this is a dream 12 years in the making, ever since she watched Team USA play their rival Canada in the final.
Laila Edwards
00:02:10
Just gave me chills. I want to represent my country, the highest level, play in the sport I love.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:02:16
She hopes she can return the favor and inspire others.
Laila Edwards
00:02:19
You know, if a little Black girl sitting at home and sees me on the TV playing at the Olympics, she's like, wow, you know, Laila did it, I can do it too.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:02:27
'And 17-year-old ski racer Tallulah Proulx is the youngest athlete and the first woman ever to represent the Philippines at the Winter Games. The Filipino-American will compete in both the Giant Slalom and Slalom in Milan.
Tallulah Proulx
00:02:40
I'm super excited too and proud to be able to represent such an important part of my identity.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:02:47
And even though Snow has never been recorded in the Philippines, and only six athletes before her have ever competed in the country, Tallulah says the support she's received from Filipinos around the world has been overwhelming.
Tallulah Proulx
00:02:59
At the Olympics and representing the Philippines like opens up like a whole new exposure to like sports and what it can become.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:03:10
Not that long ago, Mississippi ranked at or near the bottom in fourth grade reading and math.
Lance Evans
00:03:15
Prior to 2013 and leading up to 2013, we were 49th and 50th in literacy and mathematics in the nation. And what happened is Mississippi just decided to have an honest conversation with itself about the academic success of our students.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:03:31
State Superintendent of Education Lance Evans says that conversation led to a major legislative push to improve kindergarten through third grade literacy, and it paid off.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:03:40
On the National Assessment of Educational Progress, AKA the nation's report card, Mississippi's fourth graders' raw scores saw a huge jump in 2024. The state had climbed to ninth in reading and 16th in math for fourth graders, even as scores fell in much of the country. But that's only part of the story. Because when the Urban Institute adjusted those scores for poverty and other socioeconomic factors, Mississippi came out number one in the nation for fourth grade reading and math.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:04:09
So to echo some lyrics from a Drake song, they started from the bottom now they're here. And a lot of it had to do with changing how to teach kids to read with an approach called the science of reading. It's based on over five decades of research that draws on how the brain learns to read and write with an emphasis on phonics, vocabulary, comprehension, and more. The state also raised their academic standards and overhauled teacher training by using literacy coaches to work directly with teachers.
'Kim Luckett-Langston
00:04:35
I'm a firm believer that if you pour into the teachers, they can pour into the students and so having that assistance readily available in the schools, having the trainings that teachers have access to, whether virtually or in person, I think has made a huge difference.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:04:52
'Kim Luckett-Langston is the principal at Hazlehurst Elementary School, located in a rural area 35 miles south of Jackson, where census data shows 58% of kids live in poverty. Since starting, she says reading proficiency at her school has nearly tripled, from 12% to around 35%, which is why she's calling this a marathon, not a miracle.
'Kim Luckett-Langston
00:05:12
While I celebrate that growth because all growth should be celebrated, our goal is to increase that because 35% means that there's 65% who are not.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:05:23
'There's still work to do. Especially addressing teacher shortages and extending reading and math gains to older grades. But Principal Luckett-Langston says what's happening here and across Mississippi challenges a long-held assumption.
'Kim Luckett-Langston
00:05:36
Districts that serve populations like ours are just kind of written off. And so if we can show that given our population, given our teachers, given resources and or lack thereof, if we can show growth, everybody can.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:05:57
My Instagram Reels algorithm fed me this next story, and I'm so glad it did, you'll see. But I do wanna warn you, we will be talking about suicide, so please take care. Eight years ago, Ben West from London had his entire world shatter when his younger brother, Sam, unexpectedly took his own life.
Ben West
00:06:18
I guess the best way to explain Sam is probably the least likely person you'd imagine to be struggling with what he was struggling with. On the outside he was talented, creative, outgoing, funny and had loads of friends and that was who he was.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:06:34
Ben has made it his life's mission to advocate for better mental health resources and awareness. And every year on the anniversary of Sam's death, January 21st, he tries to follow this rule he set for himself, which is the best way to try to deal with a bad day is to do something good. So this year, he created Reasons to Stay, a website where people at their lowest can read a hopeful and encouraging letter written by a stranger who cares and vetted by mental health professionals.
Ben West
00:07:00
Honestly, I had such low expectations for this and I said, if I can get a hundred letters written by the end of the week, that will be a good result. In about seven days we had over 200,000 letters, over 10,000 people had written a letter.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:07:14
In the two and a half weeks since the website's been live, over 700,000 letters have been written and Ben's already seen its impact.
Ben West
00:07:22
I had a message that someone, we can say very confidently, wouldn't be alive if they hadn't seen that letter. And obviously, their journey is not going to be straightforward, even though they've survived that night. We've potentially stopped what happened to our family from happening to someone else's family. And wow, that is one of the most incredible things that I will ever be a part of in life.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:07:47
To me, the most touching part about this is how words from people you've never met can make such a lasting impact.
Ben West
00:07:55
When you're reading a letter from a stranger, you're all reading that letter to yourself. It's not necessarily coming from the person that wrote it. What these letters unlock is that little tiny advocate, that little voice, that angel on the shoulder, and it just allows them to say those words that you needed to hear. Usually, the letters focus on two things, loving what makes you different and being around the people you love. And I think in that moment, that's such a special thing to hold on to.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:08:26
If you want to read the letters or write one yourself, head to reasonstostay.co.uk. Help is available if you or someone you know is struggling with suicidal thoughts or mental health. In the US, you can call or text 988, the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, and for support outside the US, the International Association for Suicide Prevention and Befrienders Worldwide have contact information for crisis centers around the world.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:08:54
Oysters are a delicacy around the world. But in Dublin Bay in Ireland, the shellfish disappeared more than 200 years ago, thanks in part to industrialization. And that's a problem because oysters aren't just aphrodisiacs. They're something underwater ecosystems depend on.
David Lawlor
00:09:09
So an oyster is a keystone or a foundational species that performs this kind of multifaceted function of ecosystem services and what a lot of people, myself included, call them as climate heroes.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:09:22
David Lawlor is the founder of the Green Ocean Foundation, a nonprofit that reintroduced about 18,000 oysters in the Dublin Bay about three months ago. Not to eat them, but to let them do what they do best.
David Lawlor
00:09:33
So what an oyster does is it filters water at a rate of 190 liters of seawater per day. When you have an oyster population, the water becomes clearer and that clear water allows sunlight to penetrate the seafloor, which in turn helps seagrass and seaweed beds to photosynthesize. So this habitat is really important from a habitat for fish to come in and spawn, which in term helps create prey for mammals and birds and bigger fish.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:10:04
So not only do oysters clean the water and help restore marine habitats, but oyster reefs also protect the coast from storm surges. Who knew they're so small but so mighty? David said this experiment has been working so far and similar restoration projects are happening around Europe and in the US. But what struck David most was how grassroots the efforts became, driven by dozens of volunteers stepping up.
David Lawlor
00:10:27
It's almost an antidote to climate panic. And this is a great way of actually taking positive action, which is local, transparent, and authentic, and doing it in a really meaningful way.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:10:41
One more quick break, but you'll want to stick around for this next story.
Joanne Applebee
00:10:45
Everything goes through your head as a mom. Did I make the wrong decision by sending him? I would have never went, because I wouldn't have left the kids at sea, so I had to send somebody.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:10:52
'Hear how a 13-year-old stepped up at a do-or-die moment and saved his family stranded at sea.
Austin Applebee
00:10:59
I just said, all right, not today, not today, not today. I had to keep on going.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:11:04
'This 13-year-old boy, Austin Applebee, swam two and a half miles, or four kilometers, in rough, choppy waters to shore to get help for his mom and his two younger siblings after the family was swept out to sea. Local police say the family went kayaking and paddle boarding in Quindalup off the western coast of Australia last Friday, when conditions suddenly turned dangerous. CNN affiliate 9 News spoke to the family about the life or death ordeal.
Joanne Applebee
00:11:31
It seemed nice and calm to begin with. The waves got a little bit higher and the waves kept coming and getting stronger.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:11:39
With their kayak filling up with water and no boats nearby, Austin's mom, Joanne, made an impossible call.
Joanne Applebee
00:11:45
One of the hardest decisions I ever had to make to say to Austin, try and get to shore and get some help. Everything goes through your head as a mom. Did I make the wrong decision by sending him? I would have never went because I wouldn't have left the kids at sea, so I had to send somebody.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:11:57
The firstborn set out to get help in his kayak. But when that started flooding, Austin ditched it and his life jacket and swam for it.
Austin Applebee
00:12:04
I just keep swimming. I do breaststroke, I do freestyle, I do survival backstroke. I think at one point I was thinking of Thomas the Tank Engine, you know, trying to get the happiest things in my head, trying to make it through. I hit the bottom of the beach and I just collapsed. And then after that I had to sprint two kilometers to go get to the phone.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:12:29
That's a little over a mile, and at this point, mind you, it's been several hours since he left his family, so Austin has no idea whether his mom or his younger brother or his sister were still alive. But rescue crews eventually found them safe and sound.
Austin Applebee
00:12:43
I thought it was fake. I didn't believe it. I was really happy, but I couldn't process it of how they survived.
Joanne Applebee
00:12:52
I'm speechless at his efforts, but at the same time, I knew he could do it. He's absolutely amazing. Me and his dad are super proud.
Krista Bo Polanco
00:13:04
'All right, that's all for now. Thank you so much for listening. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and if you did or didn't, let us know. Give us a call, 404-981-2293. We'd love to hear from you. And as always, join us tomorrow for the next edition of CNN One Thing, wherever you get your podcasts. Have a good day, take care. Till next time.
