For anyone confused because you were interviewed by a very young reporter, no, you have not fallen for some type of scam.
As part of their annual Stampede celebrations, BMO hosted their junior reporters program on Wednesday morning. The reporters, 10-year-old Ryder and nine-year-old Malti, spent the morning doing interviews and exploring the grounds.
“We’ve done a lot of interviews, I’m excited for the rides after this,” Malti told LWC.
The pair both said that in the first half of their day, they’d interviewed the CEO of BMO and this year’s First Nations Stampede Princess and served food at BMO’s pancake breakfast, among other things.
Above all else, while sipping a blue-raspberry lemonade, Ryder reiterated his co-reporter’s excitement for some afternoon rollercoaster riding.
Aside from their direct experiences as Jr. Reporters, Malti and Ryder are each set to receive $2,500 towards a BMO RESP, $1,500 towards supplies for their school, park entry for four, Calgary Stampede evening show tickets for four, and a western outfit, four ride passes, and food vouchers.
Leah Marrington, the Regional Vice-President of BMO’s Central Calgary Market, said that the Jr. Reporter position is highly coveted.
“The junior reporters are the highlight for us at the Stampede. Each spring, we put out a call to kids 13 and under in Alberta, and we ask them to write a story and tell us why Stampede is important to them and what it looks like to be a reporter for them,” she said.
“We get hundreds of submissions, we narrow it down to our finalists, and they get the opportunity to sit in front of some BMO executives and our sponsorship team and tell their story, and from there we pick two.”
As applications and demand have increased for the positions, adding more winners to the junior reporter program has been discussed, according to Marrington.
“It’s something that’s really fluid. It’s just super exciting for us to expose kids to the world of reporting,” she said.
“We’ve had one (Jr. Reporter) in the past, we have had two this year, so it’s an ever-changing evolution.”
Over the coming years, BMO’s goals are to get as many people interested in the program as possible.
“We want to make sure everybody gets the opportunity to submit their submission to us and we’ve been working really hard on doing that through our social media networks, through our branch networks, through our employees sharing the word,” Marrington said.
For now, Ryder and Malti have their sights set on a certain dragon-themed Midway ride.
