A local Concord fourth-grader is one of 12 young journalism enthusiasts from across the country chosen to be on the Junior Council of The Week Junior, a national news magazine for kids.

Sam Sexton, 10, a student at St. John Regional School, loves reading The Week Junior so when he learned about the Junior Council he decided to apply.

“I thought I could have a bigger voice in the world and give people the news they want,” Sexton said.

As a junior council member, Sexton and 12 other students from across the country will spend the next several months learning from the magazine’s editors, brainstorming ideas and writing articles for the magazine. This year the student’s focus will be on animals – a big interest area for Week Junior readers – including topics like animal welfare, the mental health benefits of service animals, and the importance of environmental protection. Their work is fully remote. So far Sexton and his peers have read some bios and interviewed two of the magazine’s top editors in preparation for writing a story.

“It’s amazing to see such compassionate and determined children who want to make a real difference in the world,” said Andrea Barbalich, Editor-in-Chief of The Week Junior. “We’re excited to welcome this new Junior Council class and delighted to be able to give them a platform to use their voices.”

Sexton said he likes reporting because he has the opportunity to help people by giving them facts that they need.

“I like it because you get to interview people, and you get to know the person you’re interviewing,” Sexton said. “And then you get to write down the facts and put them in the magazine.”

Despite his young age, Sam Sexton is no stranger to interviewing high-profile people. While accompanying his dad Adam Sexton, WMUR-TV political director and host, during election season, Sam Sexton has had the opportunity to meet and photograph multiple presidential candidates, including now-President Joe Biden, the late Sen. John McCain and Sen. Amy Klobuchar. Occasionally Sam’s photos are chosen to be used in news stories.

In their applications, each Week Junior Councilor was asked to pick an issue that is important to them. Sexton, who hopes to be a politician himself when he grows up, said he cares about ensuring that every child can access a quality education.

“I want to make sure if you’re in a wealthy or not-so-wealthy community, that you can have a proper education with good music programs, good art programs and making sure you have the supplies like workbooks and books for your classroom and things to study with,” Sam Sexton said. “So you can get into a good trade school or college and then you can go have good jobs.”

After completing the junior council program, kids become eligible to participate in a junior journalist program, where they may be assigned to cover events or conduct interviews with experts or noteworthy people.

“I really hope that I can do it, because it sounds like a great opportunity to expand on what I already know about journalism and go more on the basics so I can be a very good journalist,” Sexton said.

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