10-year-old Vanessa Radke of West Seattle gets to “skip school on Monday,” as her mom Sara Satterlee put it, for what you’d probably agree is a good reason — she’s flying to New York to be on NBC’s nationally broadcast TODAY show. Sara says her daughter – an Alki Elementary School student and former West Seattle Hi-Yu Festival Junior Princess – has made it to the final 16 in the show’s “Kid Reporter” contest, and will be interviewed live on the show Monday. Contestants were asked to put together a video report and mail it in; we asked Sara about Vanessa’s entry:
Her submission was videotaped with her father a few weeks down at Alki Beach. She did a quick one minute bit on how to conserve water. The video starts out with her intro about water with the back drop being Puget Sound on the sandy shores of Alki Beach. She then cuts to her in her grandma’s kitchen telling her viewers that there are just three simple steps everyone could follow that could help everyone. Scene fades to her brushing her teeth, and her explaining the importance of tuning off the water while brushing It then fades into a dishwashing session and Vanessa tells her audience that they need to fill the sink, turn off the water, wash the dishes, and then rinse. For the final few scenes it is apparent from her wet hair and that she is wrapped up tight in a robe that she is fresh out of the shower. As she walks across the living room she describes to her viewer that by cutting your shower back by only one minute, saves water. As she wraps up her video she recaps how three simple steps can help so much.
Sara says a producer interviewed Vanessa by phone yesterday and then extended the invite to them to fly to NY for the show – they’re flying out Sunday, then returning right afterward on Monday. You’ll get the chance to vote for her to make it to the next round: Checking TODAY online, looks like this is the second week they’ll be featuring a group of four semifinalists on Monday, opening the voting by text message, then announcing the winner from that group on Wednesday; then in early November there’ll be another round of voting after the group of finalists is set. Besides getting to report for TODAY, the winner gets a Caribbean cruise. (Here’s the first group of semifinalists from last week; an Oklahoma girl got the most votes in that group.) TODAY airs on KING 5 here in Seattle, 7-11 am weekdays (we’ll be checking to see what time Monday you’re likely to see Vanessa).
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