Pleasant Hill Girl, 12, Selected As 'Kid Reporter' For Scholastic News

Erika Hazlett, a 12-year-old from Pleasant Hill, was named by Scholastic News Kids Press Corps™ today as one of the 32 new Kid Reporters, ages 10 to 14, to join the country’s oldest and largest student reporting program.

Erika and the other young journalists will report “news for kids, by kids” with coverage of current events, breaking news, entertainment stories, and sports events from their hometowns and on the national stage.

The 32 Kid Reporters hail from 20 states (three from California), with international correspondents in Puerto Rico, the Philippines, and Thailand.

The new reporters were chosen by the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps editors from more than 200 student applications, which required students to submit a news report about their local community, ideas for future stories, and a personal essay explaining why they would like to be a Kid Reporter.

Erika Hazlett’s bio

Erika Hazlett lives in California and was born in 2002.

• Erika plays the viola.
• She is a member of the Girl Scouts of America.
• She has served as a volunteer for several organizations, including the Special Olympics.
• Erika would like to become a speech and language pathologist to help people like her younger sister, who has autism.

“My grandmother [who was a newspaper reporter] instilled in me the importance of paying attention to current events and not being afraid to speak my mind.”

“The Scholastic News Kid Reporters’ stories are a terrific way to engage students with news reported by kids their own age. They’re an invaluable complement to the articles inScholastic News® magazines and on Scholastic News online, which put contemporary news in a context that’s relevant and age-appropriate for young readers,” said Suzanne McCabe, Editor of the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps. “I’m really looking forward to working with our new team of Kid Reporters and seeing them grow as young journalists.”

In the past, Kid Reporters have interviewed politicians, entertainers, authors, sports stars—and even a sitting President, Barack Obama. They’ve also gathered “Tips from the Pros” from such journalists as Brian Williams and Soledad O’Brien.

For more than 14 years, the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps has delivered “news for kids, by kids.”

The Kid Reporter videos and reports will appear in issues of Scholastic’s classroom magazines, which are read by more than 25 million students in classrooms nationwide, and be available on their news site.

The 2014-2015 members of The Scholastic News Kids Press Corps are:

Arizona

Jack Olsen – Scottsdale

California

Erika Hazlett – Pleasant Hill

Jeremy Hsiao – Walnut

Ruby Roth – Los Angeles

Colorado

Amyla Posey – Parker

Florida

N’Jhari Jackson – Tampa

Bobby Sena – Orlando

Hawaii

Julian Ibarra – Honolulu

Illinois

Ysabelle Buenavista – Hoffman Estates

Justin Cose – Evanston

Iowa

Hailey Alvis – Donnellson

Louisiana

Samuel Davis – Shreveport

Maine

Gabriel Ferris – Winslow

Massachusetts

Julian Targete – Canton

Michigan

Benjamin Duckworth – Saline

Minnesota

Ryan Stoltz – Eden Prairie

North Carolina

Jordan Mundy – Asheville

New Jersey

Alexis Williams – Chatham

Joshua Yi – Milltown

New York

Adedayo Perkovich – Brooklyn

William Russell – Sound Beach

Juliana Yu – New York

Madison Medina – Bronx

Ohio

Kyra O’Connor – Dublin

Pennsylvania

Abigail Wilson-Kageni – York

Texas

Krishna Chandrasekhara – Irving

Utah

Anika Bruce – South Jordan

Virginia

Ainsley Felter – Falls Church

Talia Marshall – Charlottesville

Philippines

Georgia Limcaoco – Makati

Puerto Rico

Lara Santana – San Juan

Thailand

Chayanuch (Wendy) O-charoenrat – Nonthaburi

The full list of Kid Reporters, along with their bios, can be viewed here.

--Photo and information courtesy of Scholastic News