San Francisco 5th graders test out their skills as news reporters
SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- Fifth graders at St. Anthony Immaculate Conception School in San Francisco's Mission District recently had a chance to learn about news reporting. ABC7 News reporter J.R. Stone visited their school and gave them a chance to report inside their classroom. Some talked about soccer and football, others brought up Roblox games, and some asked their classmates about Kim Kardashian.
Talking to kids about being a reporter or newscaster is fun, but letting them do it themselves is even better.
"Hi, I'm Edwin Hernandez!"
"My name is Valentina Ramirez."
"I'm Scarlett Quintero."
"I'm Edward Vega from ABC Channel News!"
"I love rain because you can play in it," said Hernandez.
VIDEO: 4th grade class in Alameda publishes 'Anti-Bias ABC's' about inclusion, acceptance
This is the first time that many of these kids have ever held what we call in the biz, a stick mic.
And it didn't always go perfectly.
"My name is Ashley and I'm reporting," is what one student said as we recommended she hold the microphone a little closer to her mouth.
With practice, the 5th graders in Ms. Cristina Flores's class did loosen up. Ashley even told us her favorite part of the classroom.
"The library right here," she said.
And we quickly learned that each student here truly has an imagination of their own.
"I'm Jean Carlos Santos and I like Roblox because there are millions of games, maybe even billions but who knows."
"My favorite YouTuber is SniperWolf. My favorite videos is when she talks about TikTok."
"I'm reporting on the book series 'Heroes of Olympus.' One reason why I like the book series Heroes of Olympus is because I like Greek mythology in general," said one student.
Yes, everyone eventually had something to say, once we found their passion.
"My name is Michael Gonzalez and I have two bunnies, one brown and one white," said Gonzalez.
Maybe a couple of future sports broadcasters too.
"I'm Elijah Mitchell recording in the World Cup and Messi just scored a goal against Barcelona," said Mitchell.
"I like to play football and one time when we won against the Vikings, I made about four sacks and two touchdowns," said another student.
Even switching roles and getting questioned by someone with a microphone was a first for these kids.
"Are you lying to us?" we asked one student. His response was simply, "Yes!" as the class erupted in laughter.
But perhaps when they questioned each other, the journalist in each of them really came out.
"I'm going to be interviewing her about the Kardashians," said one student to which her friend replied, "That's random!"
The next lesson will surely now have to be on length of presentation.
But for some, like our new friend Valentina, maybe a podcast or YouTube show would allow for some of her extra thoughts.
"My favorite book is 'The Last Dream to London.' One of my favorite things from 'The Last Dream to London' is that it is very informative, and it has a lot of details that inform us about what the book is about," said Valentina.
At the end of the day, the kids at St. Anthony's told us they enjoyed reporting, and most agreed that interviewing each other was easier than talking on camera all by themselves.
If you're on the ABC7 News app, click here to watch live
