The Young Journalist

We give students the tools to become intellectuals, through reading comprehension and prolific writing.

The mission of The Young Journalist is to nurture intellectual curiosity and instill a lifelong love of writing by mentoring fourth and fifth-grade students in the creation of their very own published bylines.

Our Approach

Our mentors teach the “tools” of journalism: email, online research, copying and pasting in Word, citing sources, downloading publishable images, creating a news broadcast, proper sentence structure, paraphrasing, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary and most importantly, conceptualizing how the research will become a published article. The students read out loud biographies of journalists such as Marjory Stoneman Douglas, E.B. White, Gwen Ifill, Hunter Thompson and Richard Engel, to inspire them. This also educates them in journalism’s many styles and helps them build a rich and expansive vocabulary, which enhances their writing.
Click to Read Past Works

Our Impact

0 %
Graduates
1
Schools
1
Students Since 2018

Help The Young Journalist Make A Difference

Supporting Young Journalists
63.5%

Our FY22 donation goal is $100,000 by December 2022

Donate Here
Using a developed curriculum, the Young Journalists Mentors help grow writers, and through their writing help grow readers. It emphasizes reading to support writing and writing to support reading. Reading, be it through research or absorbing other journalist’s writings, and each other’s writings, supports further writing. The Program meets 29 of the Language Arts Florida Standards (LAFS) for grade five. Below you will find all our mentors and a little bit about them!

Our Mentors

Cassandra Neal

Greetings, my name is Cassandra and I am a graduate of the University of Central Florida. I took up Communications and Conflict as my career after majoring in Journalism at Indian River State College. I have 12 years of experience with mentoring children ages 9-11. I have written for the newspaper and I am also a children's book author.

Angela Elgert

I am hard-working and dedicated. I have two children including my special needs son. Time spent raising them taught me resilience and patience as well as problem-solving. I spent years as a teacher for special needs children. I am a firm believer that if a child cannot learn the way we are teaching, then we must learn how to teach them. I have had a lifelong fascination with the written word which is why I finished college with a BA degree in English from the University of Miami. Finishing college while raising two children taught me the importance of time management and resolve. My lifelong experiences and learning, have combined to fill me with the understanding that no situation is impossible, and when life looks chaotic, I can answer it with kindness.

Adda Cisneros

Majoring for broad journalism. Passionate about helping others, helping them reach their greatest point while having fun along the way!

Bonnie Brown

B.A, Business Administration Miami Dade College. Second grade tutor, St. Helen's Catholic School, Vero Beach, FL. External Studies Department Saint Edward's School, overseeing all after-school and summer programs. Office Administrator Youth Guidance Mentoring Academy. "The most enjoyable part of working at Youth Guidance was seeing the impact their programs had on children and substituting as a group leader when needed."

Cindy Schwarz

Cindy Schwarz started compiling and writing the ‘Look Back in Time’ column for Press-Journal in 2007. The thrill of writing a weekly, local history column led to a degree in English and Journalism which then lead to freelance feature writing. Many of her stories tell the hands-on work local people do to advance the community and its people. 

Meet Our Team

Our Team

Visit our newsletter

Read our updates and releases about the program. 

Join Us