South Bay 12-Year-Old Chosen As Scholastic Kid Reporter

REDONDO BEACH, CA — A South Bay 12-year-old was chosen to be a Kid Reporter for Scholastic Kids Press, it was announced Monday.

Johnny Chen, a seventh grader from Torrance, is one of 50 kids ages 10 to 14 chosen for the award-winning program to cover "new for kids, by kids" with coverage of current events, breaking news, entertainment, sports, and more from their hometowns and on the national stage, the press release said.

Chen is a member of Model UN and plays soccer. He's fluent in Chinese, and his favorite book is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. His greatest passions are sports and reporting, he said.

Chen's stories will appear online at the Scholastic Kids Press website and in issues of Scholastic classroom magazines, which reach more than 25 million students in classrooms nationwide. The annual selection of Kid Reporters are based on writing ability, interviewing skills and attention to detail.

The application includes a typed news article, a typed essay that answers the question, "Why do you want to be a Kid Reporter?" and two ideas for stories about their community that they would like to work on as a Kid Reporter.

The 50 Kid Reporters are from 21 states in the U.S. and Puerto Rico, as well as Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, the Philippines and Thailand.

Kid Reporters work with an editor throughout the year and receive valuable, hands-on journalism experience through pitching stories and conducting interviews. Scholastic Kid Reporters have reported on national and global moments since the program began, covering five U.S. presidential elections, as well as other history-making events such as the Olympics, Tony Awards and National Book Awards.