Skye’s the restrict: The 11-year-old reporter represents Georgia on the national stage

Publishing giant Scholastic selected 11-year-old Skye Oduaran, from Griffin, to join the company’s award-winning international youth journalism program, Scholastic Kids Press.

The company announced its Kid Reporter class of 2022-23 in a press release last Wednesday. The list consists of 29 students aged 10-14 years.

Scholastic Kids Press brings children together from around the world to interview influential public figures and gain journalistic experience by covering local and national current affairs. Scholastic will feature the inexperienced reporters’ work in multiple issues of Scholastic Magazines+, the company’s series of periodical publications aimed at pre-K-12 students. The Kid Reporters’ stories are also published online.

Kid reporters hail from all regions of the United States. Five students were chosen to represent the South; Oduaran is the only kid reporter from Georgia. This year’s reporter class also includes eight international students from Mexico, New Zealand and many Asian countries.

Oduaran (above) completed her application in just two days. The application included a news article, a list of possible story ideas, and a personal essay. photo submitted

Oduaran said she learned about the program while reading a Scholastic newspaper in her fifth-grade classroom. From elementary school, Oduaran knew that she wanted to channel her love of reading and writing into her future career, becoming a journalist and giving a voice to under-discussed public issues.

“After reading the work of other kid reporters, I knew right away that this was the perfect opportunity for me,” Oduaran said.

Oduaran’s parents said Skye completed the Scholastic Kids Press application in two days, which included a news story, a compiled list of possible story ideas and a personal essay.

“Skye is intrinsically motivated,” they said. “She sets goals, works hard and loves to compete! Applying to be a Scholastic Kid reporter was her idea and she made it happen.”

Scholastic started the program in 2000 with the goal of motivating K-12 students to take an interest in the nation’s presidential election. Suzanne McCabe, editor at Scholastic Kids Press, said the company used a “news by kids, for kids” approach to journalism to achieve this goal.

“When children can put themselves in another child’s shoes, understand their experiences and see how they have similarities and differences, and think about how to handle a situation, it really sparks interest [in journalism]’ McCabe said. “Or it may inspire them to become reporters or to investigate the world a little more deeply than they did [previously].”

Over the past 22 years, the program has diversified its news content, encouraging kid reporters to cover topics that interest them. Past students have written about sports, entertainment, current events, and issues specific to their communities.

Oduaran said she is interested in reporting on politics, government, education and the environment at the local and national levels this academic year. Skye is also passionate about immigration, as she believes that many of the difficulties immigrants face entering the United States receive minimal media attention.

“I look forward to sharing the achievements of the current leaders in our country to inspire children my age to dream big and achieve greater things,” Oduaran said.

As Editor of Press, McCabe works closely with all Kid Reporters, helping them come up with story ideas, interview sources, draft articles and take photos for finished pieces.

McCabe became an editor in 2014, but has worked with Scholastic since the program’s birth around the turn of the millennium.

McCabe said that Scholastic’s kid reporters not only leave the program gaining real-world writing and reporting experience, but also possessing the ability to think critically and approach news from an unbiased perspective.

[Kid Reporters] learn how to look at a story with new eyes, to listen to everyone and see where the facts are taking you, instead of coming up with prejudiced ideas about the story,” McCabe said.

Oduaran said she hopes the experience will enhance her writing, research, analysis and communication skills and familiarize her with the habits and environment of professional journalists. She also aims to improve her soft skills over the course of the program, with a particular focus on interpersonal skills, creativity and personal responsibility.

Oduaran’s parents said they hope the program will broaden Skye’s horizons and help her determine the career path she wants to work towards.

“As parents, we know that as Skye researches and writes, she will hone her skills and use every opportunity as a learning experience,” they said. “We know she has unlimited potential and look forward to seeing where she goes from here.”

Graduates of the Scholastic Kids Press program tend to pursue careers in journalism as they reach adulthood. McCabe said she stays in close contact with former Kid reporters, some of whom have found work at major publishers and broadcasters like Politico and NBC News. Other kid reporters, McCabe said, started student newspapers in their local high schools after dropping out of the program. Some of these former kid reporters also mentored middle school students interested in journalism and taught them to start their own school newspapers.

Going forward, Oduaran plans to combine her interest in journalism with her other passion: the law, to advocate for Americans, both citizens and noncitizens, whose civil rights are threatened or violated by law. Skye’s aspirations don’t stop there, however. She also intends to enter the world of politics once she comes of age, eventually aspiring to run for President of the United States.

“The 2048 election will be the first presidential election that I can vote in because I will be 38 by that time,” Oduaran said.

McCabe said she looks forward to working with Skye next year as she covers events in Griffin, in the state of Georgia and across the country.

“She says she’s going to be President of the United States,” McCabe said. “I’ll hold her to that.”

Recognition: This article is one of a series of articles produced by The Atlanta Voice with support from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative for Word In Black, a collaboration of 10 black-owned media outlets across the country.