As a state spelling champion and honor student at Iola Middle School, Clara Wicoff has seen her name in print a number of times.
The proverbial shoe was on the other foot as the sixth-grader became a reporter herself during the school year for Time For Kids, a national news publication geared specifically for children.
Wicoff’s final assignment was on Month of the Military Child ceremonies at Fort Riley. It appeared April 26 on the timeforkids.com Web site.
For the article, Wicoff researched families of deployed servicemen before interviewing a handful of children whose parents were serving or had been killed in military duty.
“A lot of the kids were excited to see they were going to be in a Time For Kids article,” Wicoff said of the publication.
Wicoff was invited to participate in a press conference — one of only three media members allowed — with television and movie actor Gary Sinise of “Forrest Gump” and “CSI: New York” fame. Sinise was at Fort Riley with his Lt. Dan Band for a United Service Organizations concert April 23 as part of the ceremonies.
Becoming a kid reporter included an extensive application process. Wicoff wrote about her experience competing in the National Spelling Bee in May 2009 and about a backpack program sponsored locally by the Episcopal church.
She also suggested to Time For Kids editors articles she’d want to do if given the opportunity, including visiting with Patrick Carman, author of the “Atherton” and “The Land of Elyon” book series for children. Carman was in Iola as part of the “Iola Reads” campaign last October.
She was notified in August that she had won the job, and since then has written about Carman, the Fort Riley ceremonies, an interview with an acting troupe performing scenes from the “Ranger’s Apprentice” book series, an article abut Christmas gift ideas and a pair of book reviews.
With each assignment came plenty of research and pre-planning.
Wicoff pored through several “Rangers Apprentice” books before meeting with the acting troupe, which served her well. She also devised a series of color-coded questions to ask during the interview.
That preliminary work paid off as the interview progressed, Wicoff noted.
“She went in thinking she was going to see the play,” Lisa Wicoff, her mother, said. “Instead, she wound up talking with the actors about life on the tour.”
“I had to improvise,” Clara said.
Instead of reading questions from the cards, Wicoff let the progression of the interview dictate her next questions.
“They would say something, which would lead to my next question,” she said.
Wicoff was one of 12 junior reporters across the country this year. Two were on the west coast. Nine were on the east coast.
“I was the only one in the middle of the country,” she said.
THE REPORTING assignments were educational in other ways, Wicoff said.
For example, a photographer at the Fort Riley ceremony took time to show Wicoff how to best frame potential photographs.
“That was nice because Clara has always enjoyed photography,” Lisa Wicoff said.
She also learned the ins and outs about editing.
“I’d submit an article two or three pages long, and they would print a couple of paragraphs,” she said.
Wicoff also learned a few other tips about reporting.
“They don’t want you to be a part of the article,” Wicoff said. “They didn’t want me to put in my opinions. I’m not used to that. They also wanted me to realize that I’m writing for kids.”
That meant checking her extensive vocabularly at the door. The word “poignant,” for example, was changed to “moving,” by editors in her article on Fort Riley.
“It wasn’t a problem putting my opinions in the book reviews,” she added.
Wicoff also lamented a story idea or two that apparently were accepted, but given to other kid reporters, such as an interview with country music star Taylor Swift and another on the Discovery Channel’s “Life” series.
She has other story ideas if Time For Kids editors ask her to continue reporting.
She proposed doing articles about life for Barack Obama’s daughters in the White House and another on Olympian Michael Phelps. She’d also like to do another on the National Spelling Bee.
AS AN aside, Wicoff’s assignment in Fort Riley introduced her to Sinise.
“I’d never heard of him before,” she said sheepishly.
Even so, Wicoff and her family were so impressed with Sinise’s tribute to the troops that Clara will head to Kansas City after the school year ends to volunteer for Operation International Children, where she will help fill backpacks with school supplies for children in war-torn countries. The endeavor is sponsored by the actor.
