It’s rare that you find a nine-year-old interested in news, and it’s even rarer that the same nine-year-old takes his interest for the news and turns it into an idea to begin a newscast at school. However, Latravion Peeples of Vaiden isn’t your average nine-year-old.
Peeples said he loves watching the news and seeing what’s going on in the world. One night, while watching the news, he got the idea to start a newscast at Marshall Elementary.
“Sometimes we can’t go outside if it’s too wet, too dry or too hot, and we have to stay inside, and we’re bored,” he said.
To fill in space when that happens, Peeples wanted to begin “Marshall Elementary: The Greatest School in the World,” a newscast by the students of Marshall Elementary.
He said right now he doesn’t know what he wants to be when he grows up.
“I want to be a lawyer, but I also want to be a teacher. But, I have my whole life to live, so I have time to decide,” he said.
Peeples enlisted the help of Jeremiah Flowers and took the idea to Tiffany McCaleb, a third grade interventionist at Marshall.
“When he told me his idea, I was on board,” she said.
McCaleb presented the concept to Principal Dr. Fletcher Harges, and the after getting the green light, the Marshall Elementary newscast was born.
The news team, which consists of students from third through fifth grades, are Peeples, Flowers, Sebastian Wells, Joann Rone, Jonathan Jimenez, and Alaysha Bouldon. Peeples said members of the team rotates being anchor, and now that students have seen the newscast, more students want to be involved.
“We include other grades, but it’s mostly third graders,” he said.
Peeples said the newscasts are diverse – each different and featuring things that interest the news team. Reporting the news from Marshall also has an added benefit, according to Peeples. He said working with the fourth and fifth graders gives him insight into what to expect for the next two years.
However, Peeples is adamant that he’s going to skip the fourth grade and go straight to the fifth.
“I’m not going to fourth grade. Next year, I’m going to fifth,” Peeples said.
He said he’s not sure how he’s going to skip the fourth grade, but he’s pretty sure he’s not going.
Peeples wanted to know how the reporter became interested in their story. She explained that McCaleb sent in Peeples and Flowers’ story about their new JTouch Interactive Boards to The Conservative. While interviewing Bouldon, who was chosen as Marshall Elementary’s Future Leader for Profile 2019, Mrs. Dorris McClain told a reporter about the presentation Harges and the Marshall Elementary news team was presenting at the Carroll County School Board meeting at the J.Z. George High School Band Hall.
The reporter combined both stories, and the students made the front page of The Conservative.
Peeples said it was exciting. “I’ve been in the paper before,” he said, adding that he and his cousins were pictured in a collage of the Vaiden Christmas Parade. “When I was at the Christmas parade in Vaiden it was like ‘Latravion Peeples, and his cousin are pictured,’ but I’ve never been in the paper like that before, it was interesting.
