WASHINGTON — Reporters have deadlines, but some have to get their homework
done first.
They’re the official Kid Reporters, chosen by Scholastic to write and produce
stories for the publisher’s classroom magazines.
Ainsley Felter of Falls Church, Virginia, has joined the 32-member kids’ press
corps. Students from Texas to Thailand round out the group of young
journalists.
Felter, who is 13 and in the 8th grade, looks forward to her first assignment.
Who’d she like to interview most?
“One Direction,” she
says without hesitating.
She singles out Harry Styles as the band member with whom she’d
like to speak.
“They’re kind of big right now, and they have a new
album coming out.”
Felter’s interests range from pop culture to politics. She’d also like to
interview President Barack Obama.
What would she ask him?
“What’s his plan to try to get back the seats,” Felter says, referring to the
recent Senate seats the GOP wrestled from the Democrats.
She’s not sure journalism will be the field for her, but when Felter heard
about the positions opening up at Scholastic, “I gave it a shot.”
Felter enjoys writing and offers advice to her peers struggling with
assignments.
“Just get your ideas down onto a paper, that’s what I do. Once I
have most of my ideas down, I go back and I edit. I rewrite and revise.”
While Felter will be assigned stories through a Scholastic editor, she has
some stories of her own. Hers is a military family, and that’s meant plenty of
traveling.
“I was born in Japan,” she says.
The family has lived in Hawaii, now in Falls Church. Pretty soon, they’ll live
in Baku, in Azerbaijan.
Still, Felter thrives on the moves, as she explains in her Scholastic bio: “I
would love to learn more about unique cultures.”
WTOP’s Kate Ryan contributed to this report. Follow @WTOP on Twitter and WTOP on Facebook.
