I’ve spoken at countless career days over 17 years working for a newspaper.

At one point I was up to about three or four events a year ranging from elementary to high school students. My favorite sessions happened when I was speaking to younger students because, although I didn’t have the cool props like the cops or the firefighters, at least they seemed to listen and be entertained.

One time when I was talking to an elementary class about what I do (at the time I was covering courts and crime), I had a young girl come up to me afterward and confess that she stole a pencil from one of her classmates. I promised her I’d try to keep it out of the paper.

I found at the high school level that the majority of students who were in the journalism room were usually there because their top two options were full and the school had to put them somewhere.

No matter who I was speaking to, however, it usually went the same way. When it came to question-and-answer time, it always started with how much do you get paid and do you get to meet any famous people?

A few weeks ago on a Friday night, I spoke to a local Girl Scout troop working on their media badge via Zoom and, unlike many of my previous engagements, they came prepared with really good questions about the business.

While I was asked some of the traditional questions such as what has been your favorite story and did you always know you wanted to be a reporter, I heard many things for the first time.

I was asked about credibility and fairness in the media, and how to distinguish if something is “fake news.” They also asked about how to keep big stories from leaking out to the public ahead of time. I usually don’t get into such heavy topics and I joked to my wife after it was over that it was the first time I started sweating during a question-and-answer session.

At the end of the day, it was refreshing to see a group so interested in journalism and a good chance for me to dive into some topics I don’t normally get to speak about.