The Willow Glen Resident

Photograph by Skye Dunlap

Enterprising Reporter: Glenite Jodie Younse's stint as a student reporter on KTEH's 'Real Science' program could take her on archeological digs and out to sea with marine biologists.

Local teen secures a post as a reporter on national TV show

Younse's poise and intelligence helped her to stand out above the rest

By Annette Ha

Jodie Younse is just like any other 15-year-old girl in Willow Glen. She likes to go boogie boarding at the beach. She likes to talk on the phone to her friends. She's been active in her high school drama program. Oh yeah, she's also a television star.

Well, maybe not yet, but soon. The Leland High School junior was chosen from a field of over 150 teenagers to be on KTEH's Real Science program. "I was just [auditioning] for fun," Younse said. "I didn't think it was going to go anywhere. I was so excited when I heard."

Though being in front of a camera is new for her, being in front of an audience is not. Since childhood, she has performed in school plays and community productions, including those at the San Jose Children's Musical Theater, now based in Willow Glen. "She's always loved the stage," said her father, Joseph.

This past summer, her theatrical interests took a slightly different turn when she became an intern at KTEH and was introduced to behind-the-scenes work. She grew to love operating camera equipment and doing floor-directing for the show Petpourri. According to her father, "she ate that up. She'd come home and talk shop talk to us."

The Real Science program will take Younse from behind the camera and into living rooms and classrooms across the country. Aimed at high schoolers, the show highlights careers in science and employs several teens to interview professionals in such varied areas as anthropology, computers, geology and chemistry. "If it ends in '-ology,' most likely we'll have a show on it," said KTEH spokeswoman Erica Nelson.

Though it airs in the evenings on Channel 54, the show is also piped into schools, where it has become a classroom viewing favorite. It is also carried by more than 200 public television stations nationwide. About nine kids are featured during the program's regular season, with each one doing two to three segments on a rotating basis. They usually stay for a year, though some have stayed on for as long as four or five.

KTEH held auditions in July because seven teen reporter positions opened up, along with slots on the station's Kid Clubhouse program. An open call attracted more than 150 kids, who formed lines wrapped around the studio building.

Younse heard about the open call through her mother and went to her co-workers at the station for more information. "As soon as I saw the show, I loved it," she recalled.

For the first audition, she stood in front of a camera and read three lines off the teleprompter. Younse doesn't remember doing particularly well, but she made an impression on the program's producer, Maura Daly Finney. "We wanted kids who had a presence about them," she said, "and Younse had a very interesting look."

The field was then narrowed down to 20 kids who were brought in for a callback. This time, Younse had to improvise questions in a mock interview with a crew member pretending to be an archaeologist. In a lucky coincidence, the topic used was Mesa Verde, Colo., a place Younse had recently visited. "I wasn't nervous at all," she said. "I actually felt pretty comfortable."

That confidence impressed Finney. "Younse could carry on a conversation intelligently," she said. That criterion "ruled out half the kids right away. Some just don't have the poise at that age."

Also, she looked natural on camera. "TV is an interesting thing," Finney declared. "A lot of kids who are very interesting in person don't come across that way on camera."

Younse was notified in September that she had been chosen. She has signed a one-year contract that pays $100 per episode. A typical season has 13 episodes, but each reporter does about two.

She starts filming in November, though her segments won't be seen until next season, the fifth of the program. The fourth season premieres Nov. 20.

Younse hopes to use her Real Science experience as a springboard to other, bigger projects in the entertainment world, and she'd like to model any career she might have on that of her namesake, Jodie Foster. "Being in front of and behind the camera, that would be my goal," she said.

After high school graduation, Younse wants to attend a college with a good film program, like San Francisco State or UCLA. However, for the present, she just wants to concentrate on making Real Science appealing to today's teens.

She seems unfazed by the prospect of being on a show that, in one typical episode, has its reporters go on location with a paleontologist in New Mexico, out to sea with a marine biologist, and into the Sonoran desert with an anthropologist.

According to Younse, "I just want kids to watch the show and say, 'Hey, I can identify with her. She's just like you and me.' "

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