1. CULTURAL ARTIFACTS HEADED HOME

The Vatican has agreed to return 62 cultural items that were taken from Indigenous communities in Canada more than 100 years ago, including a special Inuvialuit whale-hunting kayak. These items were sent to Rome in 1925 for a huge missionary exhibition, and some were described by the church as “gifts,” though many Indigenous experts say they were taken without real consent. The return comes after years of pressure from Indigenous groups and the Canadian government, and it connects to Pope Francis’s apology in 2022 for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools, which tried to erase Indigenous cultures and caused thousands of deaths. The artifacts will first go to the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops and then to the Canadian Museum of History, where Indigenous leaders will lead the process of figuring out exactly where each item belongs. Some Indigenous scholars say this is an important step toward reconciliation, but they also argue that the Vatican still needs to be honest about how these objects were taken and what other items might still be in its collections. Imagine you are either a young person from one of the Indigenous communities getting an item back or the kayak itself “coming home” after a century; write a detailed diary entry that explains how you feel about the Vatican returning these objects, what questions or worries you still have about the past, and why having cultural items back in the community matters for identity and memory.

2. HOTEL’S SUDDEN CLOSURE LEAVES GUESTS STRANDED

Sonder was a company that ran trendy short-term rentals and boutique hotels in about 40 cities and was once valued at over $1 billion, even partnering with Marriott and joining its Bonvoy program. But the company grew too fast, struggled to make a profit, never fully recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, and had technical and business problems integrating with Marriott’s booking systems. In November 2025, Sonder suddenly shut down, filing for bankruptcy and closing its hotels with almost no warning. Guests around the world woke up to letters telling them to check out in a few hours, found locked doors, and got disconnected phone lines when they tried to call for help. Some people had their money refunded but were left scrambling to find last-minute rooms that cost much more, and many said they felt abandoned by both Sonder and Marriott, even though they trusted the brand partnership to keep their bookings safe. Think about what happened to travelers when Sonder suddenly closed and then write a short “travel advice column” for classmates that explains the risks of depending on one company, suggests at least three smart steps people can take to protect themselves when booking hotels or rentals, and uses specific examples from the article to support your tips.

3. JUDGE SHIELDS UNIVERSITY FROM TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S THREATS

A federal judge in San Francisco, Rita F. Lin, ruled that the Trump administration cannot threaten to cut research funding or demand huge payments from the University of California in order to force it to change what is taught or who is admitted. The university system, which has about 560,000 students and staff and gets around $17 billion a year in federal money, had been under heavy pressure as the administration accused elite colleges of being too “woke” and antisemitic. Judge Lin found that officials were using funding threats as a “coercive and retaliatory” way to push their own political viewpoints onto campuses, violating the First Amendment’s protection of free speech and the 10th Amendment’s limits on federal power over states. She said faculty and staff were already censoring themselves by avoiding topics they feared might be seen as “too left,” which is exactly the kind of chilling effect the Constitution is supposed to prevent. The ruling blocks the government from tying money to demands like screening out international students for “anti-American” opinions or forcing universities to rewrite their curriculum to match the administration’s preferred beliefs, and it could change how settlement talks over more than $1 billion in proposed payments move forward. Explain in your own words what “academic freedom” and free speech mean in a university setting, then write a persuasive paragraph arguing whether you think the judge’s decision will help protect students’ and teachers’ ability to study and discuss controversial ideas, using at least two specific details from the article as evidence to support your position.

4. INDIGENOUS SPEAKERS LEAD CLIMATE TALKS

At this year’s big United Nations climate summit in Belém, Brazil, Indigenous people from across the Amazon and other regions showed up in larger numbers and with a stronger voice than ever before. Leaders and youth activists traveled by bus and boat for weeks, holding ceremonies along the way, to highlight how mining, drilling, and deforestation are damaging their homelands and harming the global climate. In Belém, they organized panels, cultural events, peaceful sit-ins, and dramatic protests, including raising a giant inflatable cobra to symbolize their “demands” for climate money and land rights. Many Indigenous leaders argue that securing legal control over their territories is not only about justice but also one of the best ways to protect forests and biodiversity, since research shows their lands are often better preserved. While Brazil’s president, Lula, has promised to support Indigenous land demarcation and some countries have pledged money and recognition for Indigenous territories, activists say progress is slow, legal challenges are common, and governments still approve projects like oil drilling that threaten their communities’ survival. Compare the way national leaders and Indigenous leaders talk about climate solutions in this story by writing a paragraph that describes at least two specific things Indigenous communities are asking for, explains why they say these demands are good for both their people and the planet, and ends with one thoughtful question you would ask a world leader about including Indigenous voices in climate decisions.

5. TEENS DEVELOP TECH FOR AFFORDABLE HOUSING SEARCHES

Two 17-year-olds from Brooklyn, Beckett Zahedi and his classmate Derrick Webster Jr., created a website called Realer Estate to help New Yorkers find affordable and rent-stabilized apartments, something the city itself has never provided in a clear, simple tool. Beckett was inspired by his father’s stressful apartment searches after a divorce and by a school unit on the housing crisis, so he spent months teaching himself to code using YouTube and A.I. while Derrick built an email system for users. Their site pulls public data and real estate listings, matches addresses to rent-stabilized buildings, and uses an algorithm to label apartments that seem “undervalued” compared with similar places. Even though the project is still a work in progress and the teens are juggling homework and college applications, Realer Estate has already drawn tens of thousands of visitors, attracted small investments, and even helped at least one buyer go into contract on a home. City officials and housing experts praise the teens for solving a problem adults and agencies have struggled with, and the students hope to work more closely with the city to improve tools for people searching for an affordable place to live. Pretend you are a reporter for your school newspaper and write a profile of Beckett and Derrick that explains what problem they noticed, how they used their skills to build a solution, what challenges they faced along the way, and why their project matters for ordinary New Yorkers trying to find a place to live.