The Sparkle Times: how one Lakewood 5th-grader is making it in the news business [Video]

LAKEWOOD, Ohio — Many newspapers around the country may be struggling, but journalism is alive and well at Lincoln Elementary school in Lakewood.

The school’s recent role in boosting local journalism is thanks to Emily Erker, a fifth–grader with a passion for the news who knows a good business opportunity when she sees one.

Erker started her newspaper, The Sparkle Times, on a whim because of a character she read about in a book; one of the series of Dork Diaries graphic novels.

“One of the characters made their own newspaper, and I was just like hmmm, that would be pretty cool. So I decided to try it out,” Erker said.

The name she says, was chosen because of her love of all things sparkle and glitter.

The first few editions were assembled from handwritten, photocopied pages that she made solely for her own family and friends. Over the summer between the fourth and fifth grades …