Junior journalists hit the 2016 campaign trail
WASHINGTON -- You might think Kaitlin Clark is any other shoe leather reporter covering Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, but she's not. Kaitlin is just 11 years old.
She's among the 20 on assignment for Scholastic News, providing a kids-eye-view of the political process.
Fourteen-year-old Gabe Ferris learned that sometimes you score the big interview when he got an answer from Republican front-runner Donald Trump.
But he also learned, like the rest of us, that sometimes you don't get the interview. Ohio Governor John Kasich didn't respond to his question.
"It's just the nature of the beast. You're not going to get every interview I guess, so onto the next candidate," Ferris said.
And anyway, Gabe's colleague, Maxwell Surprenant, had already spoken with Kasich and filed a blog post.
"There's lots of issues that affect kids: the environment, education, the economy. That's one of the reasons I really like my job, is I get to tell other kids about that," Maxwell explained.
Scholastic has had a volunteer kids press corps since 2000. Since then, the job has evolved.
They're juggling the multi-tasking demands of campaign coverage -- shooting videos, taking notes on iPhones, and of course, tending to their Twitter feeds.
As for making political predictions, Kaitlin has seen enough of the cycle not to. "I think it's just a level playing field right now and we'll find out Tuesday night."
Cub reporters, making civics class look like child's play.