A group of elementary school students from San Diego’s San Carlos community has started their own mini newscast – complete with their own aspiring meteorologist who wants to be like NBC 7’s Dagmar Midcap.
“I have a mini Dagmar,” an email written by the girl’s mom read.
Midcap knew she had to meet her.
Madelyn and her friends from Dailard Elementary School started a newscast – their very own edition of NBC 7 News Today.
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Gwendolyn and Henry are the anchors, sitting together at a little table, reading the headlines – handwritten on a piece of paper. Natalie and Morgan report. Maverick handles sports.
Madelyn – with her red hair and all, just like Midcap – is the mini meteorologist who gives the forecast for San Diego County. She likes to deliver the weather via live shot, standing outside.
Midcap surprised the tiny news team by giving Madelyn a special shoutout during a recent NBC 7 newscast. The girl’s mom recorded her reaction.
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“A really unique young lady named Madelyn, and Madelyn is an aspiring meteorologist,” Midcap said during her First Alert Forecast. “And Madelyn, from what I’ve seen, you’re going to make it, girl. So, shoutout to Madelyn on the local newscast.”
Sitting on her couch, hearing her name on TV, Madelyn squirmed with excitement. At one point, she screamed with excitement.
But there was more on the horizon.
Midcap planned a socially distanced meet-up with Madelyn and her fellow kid-casters.
Madelyn’s friends told NBC 7 they were giddy when they heard Midcap’s shoutout on the news.
“All of us screamed last night when we heard you,” Natalie told Midcap at the meet-up.
“Yeah, we screamed when we heard about you talking about Madelyn and our school,” added Morgan.
Midcap asked the crew what made them want to start their own newscast.
“We started it because we wanted something fun to do after school to keep us busy and it’s really fun to do,” Gwendolyn said.
When asked what their favorite part of the newscast is, the kids gave a variety of responses.
“My favorite part is being the anchor,” Maverick said. “And it’s really funny when you mess up.”
Madelyn’s answer was no surprise.
“My favorite part is probably the weather because I like watching the weather,” she explained.
Midcap also asked the kid-casters crew about the challenges of putting together their newscast.
“The hardest part is memorizing our lines,” Gwendolyn said.
“I sometimes accidentally put the paper over my face,” Henry chimed in.
The rest of the team agreed on that one.
Midcap’s mini-me said she struggled with saying everything she wanted to say within her time slot. So, Midcap gave Madelyn some sound advice.
“Run through it. Time yourself a few times and take a stopwatch or have someone time you,” Midcap said. “And just get used to that length of time. Then tell the story the way you want to say it.”
“That sounds great!” Madelyn exclaimed.
And, like a pro, Madelyn gave it a whirl: “It’s partly cloudy today but sunny tomorrow. Back to you, Dagmar!”
