Harrison McGee has long dreamed of becoming a marine biologist.
But now, he may have another career option to consider: investigative reporter.
Harrison—a seventh grader at John Adams Middle School—was one of just 10 students nationwide selected to join the Scholastic Kid Reporters team for 2026-27. He’ll write about topics of interest to Gen Alpha for an audience of literally millions.
“I’ve always liked writing and journalism since I was a kid,” he tells The Sun. “I’ve put a lot of work into writing and it feels really good to finally be selected for something like this.”
Turns out, Harrison is no stranger to the media world. His mom, Katharine Gammon, is a freelance science writer whose work has appeared in The Guardian and The New York Times.
And two years ago, Harrison helped establish The Monthly Rogers, a student newspaper at Will Rogers Elementary School.
“In fourth grade, I was in an international school in Italy and I created my own newspaper there,” he says. “So when I came back (to Santa Monica) in fifth grade, I got a bunch of my friends and we all just started working and eventually it became a real thing.”
When Harrison isn’t sniffing out scoops, he tends to his pet snake, Riviera, competes on a city-run swim team, plays clarinet in the JAMS wind ensemble and acts in school musicals.
“It’s a lot of stuff to juggle around,” he admits.
One thing noticeably missing from his resume: he’s not enrolled in the school’s journalism program. There simply wasn’t enough room on his class schedule for another elective.
But that hasn’t stopped Harrison from contributing to The JAMS Journal.
“I basically called up the teacher and I was like, ‘Hey, can I write a story for you guys even if I’m not in the class?'” he remembers. “The teacher was like, ‘Yeah, sure.’ So I helped research this thing about microforests, and it got put in the newspaper. That was pretty fun.”
That story came in handy again last spring when Harrison applied for the Scholastic program. The rigorous selection process required him to submit multiple writing samples—including his microforest reporting—and navigate rounds of interviews to prove his chops.
Now officially on the beat, Harrison has already landed his first assignment. But readers will have to wait to find out what it is.
“I can’t tell you that,” he says with a laugh, keeping his initial story topic strictly under wraps.
Harrison expects his first national byline to land sometime in December.
Given the choice, he’d prefer to cover science –– perhaps climate change. Marine biology remains his career goal, though he hopes to write an adventure book, too.
“Writing has always been, and always will be, something that’s super interesting to me,” Harrison says.
For now, news of his Scholastic selection is still making its way through JAMS.
“Some of my friends have congratulated me,” he says, “but a lot of them just haven’t really noticed, which I think is pretty funny.”
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