CELEBRATION, Fla. – A local student is one of the newest kid reporters for Scholastic News Magazine, which is popular among elementary and middle school students for its content created by kids and for kids.
The Scholastic News Press Corps is made up of 45 kid reporters across the nation. Andrew Raymundo, 12, recently joined their ranks.
"The main thing I really like to report is daily events, things that happen. And I think if I get to do that in my future, that would be really fun," Andrew said.
The application process for the press corps involves submitting a headshot, one news article and two story ideas. Andrew interviewed two experts for his article about ocean pollution called "Drowning in Trash."
"And I wrote an article saying how pollution in the ocean is destroying ocean life and how we need to put a stop to it," he said.
The Celebration K-8 student said he really discovered his love of words in kindergarten, but it wasn't until a few years later that he caught the writing bug.
"And then in the third grade my mom got me a journal, and what I would do in that is I would write what happened every single day. I liked it at first and then I really grew to love it," Andrew said.
Andrew's father, Peter Raymundo, is a Scholastic Author. So when a letter arrived in the mail for Andrew, Peter actually thought it was for him because the envelope said "Scholastic Author."
"Then he was like, 'Oh my gosh, Andrew. You made it to be a Scholastic Kid Reporter!' And that was a really great moment," Andrew said.
Andrew is the only Kid Reporter chosen from Florida. The Scholastic News Magazine reaches 25 million students across the country. Andrew tells us he plans to continue journalism until he's in his 30s or 40s.