Waverly Winchester says she has an inquiring mind.

"I like to ask questions, because it helps me know more about the world around me and the people in it," the Upper East Side resident said.

She remembers taking a walk with her mom one October day when she began taking notes on the Halloween decorations in her neighborhood. She was all of seven years old.  

"I wrote an article about all the spooky houses and I asked my mom to send it to a kids' news website, but there wasn't anything," Waverly said.

That's how Kids' News NYC was born. It's a website on which Waverly and other kid correspondents can post news about what's going on in neighborhoods around the city.

"It lets kids know that they have a voice in everything that is happening," Waverly said.

Since then, Waverly has interviewed a member of the Blue Man Group, reviewed "SpongeBob SquarePants: The Broadway Musical," and written about the Opry City Stage.

She carries a clipboard in hand and a printout of what she wants to ask. She can be a tough questioner. "You said 'floaters,' — what does that mean," she asks one interviewee.

She also isn't afraid to step in the shoes of her subjects.

Waverly's mom, Denise, set up the website and helps Waverly schedule interviews. But Waverly makes a lot of the decisions, like matching assignments to the kid reporters she thinks are best able to handle them.

"Usually, when your mom is working, and it's like Take Your Kid to Work Day, and she is the boss and the kid is the assistant. But she's working for me!" Waverly said. "Without my mom, I could not have made it come true."

 

Waverly would like to bring Kids' News NYC to other cities, although it is unclear who would pay for it.

She says her efforts and those of her fellow young reporters show that "kids do care what is going on."

"If something bad is going on, they might even want to help change something about that and might even make it better," Waverly said. "Kids are smart and strong in their own way — different from adults, but they can still help."

Helping and asking questions, too.