10-year-old Sycamore girl selected for international journalism program

SYCAMORE – A 10-year-old aspiring Sycamore writer will get some hands-on career experience after she recently was selected as one of 28 kids across the world for the Scholastic Kids Press program.

The student journalists are between 10 and 14 years old and come from 17 states and eight other countries, including Australia, Canada, China, Japan, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and South Korea.

Evy Bingle, 10, of Sycamore, is one of five in the Midwest selected for the prestigious international reporting program for the “News for Kids, by Kids” 2023-24 academic year, according to a news release from Scholastic.

“I want to use my voice to share stories that inspire curiosity, build community and encourage positivity,” Bingle said in the news release.

She said she wants to be a pharmacist, author or marketing executive.

For now, she’s already got her pencil to the paper as part of Sycamore School District 427′s Spartan TV program, an initiative for all grade levels in which students pitch, produce and publish their own newscasts across the schools.

Bingle serves as news anchor for her monthly Spartan TV program. Out of school, Bingle said she likes reading, cheerleading, skateboarding, water skiing and playing video games.

Scholastic Kids Press program participants get real-world news-gathering experiences, with stories that spotlight a range of local and worldwide topics with interviews done by the students.

Bylines will appear in the Kid Reporters’ Notebook found on the Kids Press website and in select issues of Scholastic Magazines+, which reach more than 13 million students in U.S. classrooms, according to Scholastic.

“Over the past 23 years, the Kids Press program has helped students better understand their world by sharing stories about events that matter to them and their peers,” Suzanne McCabe, editor of Scholastic Kids Press, said in a news release. “Now more than ever, it’s important for young people to cultivate media literacy skills, which will help them analyze information and stay informed.”

During the 2022-23 program year, Scholastic Kid reporters covered the G7 summit in Japan, San Diego Comic-Con, National History Day and hotly contested runoff elections in the U.S., among many other topics, according to the news release.

Students also have interviewed multiple influential figures, including Nobel Peace Prize recipient Malala Yousafzai; CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper; Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Lin-Manuel Miranda; conservationist Jane Goodall; former first lady Michelle Obama and President Barack Obama; and Captain Underpants and Dog Man creator Dav Pilkey.