Cedar Rapids sixth-grader reports for Scholastic

CEDAR RAPIDS - Bridget Gustafson, a sixth-grader at Prairie Creek Intermediate School, does not think she will be a journalist when she is older.

'I want to be a kindergarten teacher,” she said during a recent school day. 'I love kids and watching them grow.”

Despite that wish, Bridget, 11, is spending the year reporting and writing stories as a member of the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps.

According to Scholastic, 35 youth between the ages of 10 and 14 were selected for the program this year. Bridget is the only Iowan participating.

Bridget said her teacher, Michelle Anderson, a literacy and social studies teacher at Prairie Creek, encouraged her to apply to Scholastic.

'She thought I could handle the responsibility of writing articles,” Bridget said, adding she enjoys writing because 'it's a way to let me pour my feelings out.”

When applying, Bridget had to submit an essay and interview a member of the community. She chose to interview Cedar Rapids Mayor Ron Corbett, she said.

Bridget said she got the call that she had been accepted to the program in September.

'My mom said, ‘Bridget, this is your month,' because I had just found out I was in Opus Honor Choir and got accepted to leadership camp in DC this summer too,” she said. 'My mom told me not to get a big head.”

Bridget said Anderson helps her with story ideas and finding sources. In November, she had the opportunity to attend the Democratic Party's presidential debate at Drake University in Des Moines.

'It was very nerve-wracking,” Bridget said. 'I had to be in a room full of 100 reporters from all over the world.”

One of those reporters, she said, was a woman named Heidi, from Norway, who told her about Norwegians' perspective of the terrorist attack in Paris.

Bridget said she didn't have time to meet any of the candidates, because she and her father were tired, but if she gets the chance, she would love to talk with Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

She also really would like to talk to President Barack Obama about what he wants to do after he no longer is in office.

Not all of her articles have to be about politics, Bridget said. On a recent day, she was interviewing Prairie Creek social studies and literacy teacher Katie Brown about a canned food drive at the school.

'What can be done about food insecurity?” Bridget asked the teacher at one point.

'Wow,” Brown said, pausing for a moment to think about her answer. 'Look at you digging deep.”

Bridget said she probably won't write more than 20 articles this year. Her stories, as well as those from other kid reporters, can be found at http://kpcnotebook.scholastic.com/.