KENNEDY SPACE CENTER — Zoey Romero is only 12 years old, but in her new job as space reporter this week, she got to do something most reporters have yet to do. She was able to tour Blue Origin’s New Glenn factory.

“We got to see where all the rockets and the stages are made,” said the student who attends Cornerstone Charter Academy in Orlando. “They were actually huge, and it was really exciting to see.”

Romero was standing in the rocket garden at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, one of eight children from across the United States who won a contest to become members of the SpaceKids Press Squad, the brainchild of Central Florida nonprofit SpaceKids Global.

When asked to compare them to the likes of the Gemini- and Mercury-era rockets at KSC, Zoey used her new descriptive skills of reporting.

“These are tiny little models compared to the ones in the factory,” she said.

It’s been a whirlwind week for Zoey and her fellow student press members, who range from ages 8-12. They were able to tour United Launch Alliance’s facility on Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, and actually watch Thursday morning’s launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket only a couple miles from the pad.

And on Friday morning before touring KSC, they were able to interview SpaceKids Global founder Sharon Hagle who had just returned to Earth after she and husband Marc’s return flight to suborbital space aboard a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket.

Zoey said they were able to ask the Hagles questions over Zoom using the skills taught this week by professional broadcast journalists.

“It was fun. One of my questions was what was the difference from the second time she went on one vs. the first time,” she said. “They did an experiment, and NASA actually asked them to do an experiment while they were in zero gravity — to tie a knot.”

Zoey revealed that they were able to tie that knot, but also that they spent most of their short time weightless in space looking out the New Shepard windows.

“Which I would understand, if I was in space, I would definitely look at the view,” she said.

Despite learning space journalism skills this week, if she were to ever work in space, Zoey said she might actually want to pursue cooking instead.

“There’s so many other careers that you could do other than being an astronaut in the space industry,” she said. “Like I could, because I actually like to cook as a hobby, and that would actually be pretty fun to do in the space industry too, because, you can make new foods for the astronauts.”

Learning journalism skills, though, was an interesting endeavor this week, Zoey said.

“It feels actually pretty exciting, having all the cameras at you like you’re just the main character,” she said.

Now in 7th grade, she found out about the contest from the Boys and Girls Club of Central Florida, but her interest in space began at Sally Ride Elementary School in Orlando.

“I had this really amazing teacher that would teach us amazing things about space and science, and that’s where I fell in love with space,  That’s what made me want to enter this contest,” Zoey said about the school’s science teacher Beatriz Berriz. “I just want to give her a little shout out.”

Tobias Becker, 10, a 5th grader from Ronan, Montana, also enjoyed talking to the Hagles, asking them what it felt like to be in zero gravity.

And wondering if two trips to space was enough?

“She said she did want to go back to space,” Tobias said. “She said if she could take anything with her. What would it be? Her dog.”

The SpaceKids Global mascot, Saba the Space Dog, was also on the Zoom call.

Tobias enjoyed playing the role of space reporter but said he has other plans for his future.

“My plan is to become a rocket scientist and help build rockets,” he said, but also noted “I wouldn’t mind if they asked me to go up to space.”

The other SpaceKids Press Squad members come from West Virginia, Indiana, North Dakota, Washington, Colorado and New York.

SpaceKids Global CEO Marryann Barry, who took over the role from Sharon Hagle about two months ago, said she’s been passionate about space for four decades, and putting together the program for these kids may have required a lot of moving parts, but it has been worth it.

“What we did here in these past few days, with these kids from all over the country, the press squad has been one of the most impactful experiences that I’ve seen on children,” Barry said. “It was a curated experience for kids who were already showing an interest, but lived in places (where their) ability to be exposed and immersed in the environment is limited.”

The approach of teaching the kids skills and putting them amid major space industry and space tourism storylines was a novel approach, with results that have left her emotional, she said

“Honestly, I’ve cried a lot,” Barry said. “Because this type of work has been my whole life. And I listen to children who because they are really interested in math or other things, sometimes in their schools, some of the other kids maybe aren’t as kind to them, and they have found something here that has validated them.”

She said the eight children have bonded over science and space after having previously only met during Zoom meetings.

“I’m gonna cry again, because it is one of the most beautiful things, and they’ve created their own little tribe,” Barry said. “Being able to do this and bring these kids together and see what has happened just in the two and a half days has been heart filling for me and in all honesty, awesome.”