So you want to be a journalist?

When I was a kid, if you answered yes, maybe you could work on a mimeographed newsletter. Or in high school, maybe something printed on newsprint. But the idea that you could get your story out to the world would have been almost unthinkable.

Well, today, despite all the negative news you hear about newspapers, more and more young people seem to want to work on them. Journalism schools are turning students away.

Even kids as young as 8 are already testing their typing. That's who YourHub.com/nextgen is for. As I hope most of you know, YourHub.com is our two-year-old "citizen journalism" initiative, with more than 40 Web sites and 18 print sections covering the seven-county metro area. The sections feature the best stories, photographs, calendar events and opinions from the Web sites, where only people 14 and older are permitted to post. It's easy, if you haven't tried.

YourHub.com/nextgen gives younger children their own site. And they're taking to it like copy editors to commas.

I saw for myself on July 27, when our Newspaper in Education department held its annual summer teacher conference at Arapahoe Community College. This year, for the first time, youngsters from the fourth through eighth grades were invited.

They started by listening to reporter Kevin Vaughan and me talk about what it's like to work at a newspaper, where we get our ideas and what they should do if they want to become a journalist.

When I asked how many of these bright kids did, nearly all of them shot a hand up. OK, it was early and they might have been afraid I'd be mad at them if they didn't. But by the end of the day, it was obvious many of them were serious. One said, "This was the best day of my life."

I can't tell you how encouraging that is to me. I promised the kids I'd give them feedback on their work. Here it is in one word: Wow!

I'm impressed.

Especially by one girl, who described herself on her blog as "a very talkative brunette that is totally excited about starting junior high next year." She lived up to the rule that journalists tell the truth. (Now don't be cynical. It's what we try to do, even if you think we fail some days.)

Her take on "Youth Journalism Day" was that it was "kinda fun," but "pretty boring. Just try sitting through the hour-long lecture on something that only adults know about (or understand)."

By the end of the day, the students had produced a range of work, including stories about the keynote speaker, Stevan Kal-mon, and photographs.

It was obvious that they had picked up how to use YourHub.com just like that. Remember, I told you it was easy.

I'm thinking of hiring one writer, a 14- year-old who on his blog said he's been reviewing movies for four years. Here's his take on The Simpsons Movie, which he gave an A+.

"D'oh!! The Simpsons have been around for twenty years now, and Microsoft Word's Spell Check still doesn't recognize 'Simpsons' as a real word. Ay Carumba!

"My quibbles with spell check aside, let me just come out and say this: The Simpsons Movie is undoubtedly a comedy Masterpiece. It's everything you could ever hope a Simpsons movie to be, and then some."

The students started the day with Kevin and me. They ended it with our YourHub.com editor, Travis Henry. He saw the students teaching the teachers a lesson: Don't underestimate us.

It was clear many of these kids have what it takes, even the brunette who thought we were boring.

I enjoy participating in this event every year because, as hokey as it may sound, we think of teachers when we're putting together the paper. We ask ourselves whether a teacher would be able to use what we've done in a classroom.

We and the teacher can be partners, at least when things are working well.

So let me give this last piece of advice to the students: Listen to your teachers when they tell you spelling is important.

They're right. If you go back and look at your work, you might see room for improvement.

As good as you are, and you are good, you can always find a way to be better. That's why good writers write and then rewrite.

So keep at it.

And I hope you parents out there help other young people join in. As I said, it's easy. And, yes, it's safe.

John Temple can be reached at editor@RockyMountainNews.com or by mail at 101 W. Colfax, Suite 500, Denver, CO 80202.

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