Valley Springs student is new Scholastic ‘kid reporter’

ASHEVILLE – Budding journalist Jordan Mundy tackled her first assignment this week.

The 12-year-old Valley Springs Middle School student is one of the newest “kid reporters” for the Scholastic News Kids Press Corps. She was among 32 students selected from 200 applications from across the U.S. and in Puerto Rico, the Philippines and Thailand.

She’ll have the chance to write stories for Scholastic’s classroom magazines and its website.

“I just really wanted to do this, and it’s amazing that I got chosen for it,” Jordan said in an interview.

Jordan is the daughter of former WLOS reporter Susan Mundy.

“She had been exposed to it (journalism) because of me. But she’s really an excellent writer. She has always liked writing stories,” Mundy said.

Jordan also has enjoyed writing poetry, according to her mom.

And the middle-school student also tried her hand at reporting before — reporting for WSTS when she was a student at Estes Elementary and taking a turn doing the news at Koontz Intermediate School.

Jordan discovered the call for young journalists on the Scholastic website.

“She’s also very curious and excited about opportunities, so I think when she saw this on the website, she thought this might be exciting because they get to interview people and sometimes they might even be sent away on assignment,” Susan Mundy said.

The idea behind the Kids Press Corps is “news for kids, by kids,” according to a news release from the organization. In the past, the young reporters have interviewed politicians, entertainers and even the president.

“I want to show the world and my community what I can do. I just also want to show other kids that they can do this too,” Jordan said.

Before she was selected, Jordan had to submit an essay on why she wanted to be a kid reporter and also submit samples of her writing.

For her first assignment, she was tasked with highlighting an organization helping out in the community.

“My first assignment was to find an organization in the community that helps so I decided to do Santa Pal, which is an organization that helps kids get presents when they don’t have any,” Jordan said.

Jordan says she’s not sure if she’ll make journalism her career.

“I don’t really know,” she said. “There’s a lot of things I like to do, but writing is one of the top ones.”