The best bit of my job is going in to schools and working with young people - they never fail to surprise me and I really value stepping out of the BBC bubble and meeting our audiences.
My visits are to find out what they want to get out of taking part in School Report and show them that it's all possible.
I didn't begin my career as a journalist or working with young people. I was a secretary and PA at the beginning; I've worked at Children's and Sport; I took my NCTJ journalism qualification when I was part of the Newsround team, It's important to point out that you start somewhere and your career is a journey. And sometimes you don't know where it's going to take you!
Often when you visit a school you become the VIP in the context of being from the BBC so it's important to reflect the different roles and departments - to help them past thinking that it is only about being on television.
They often haven't thought that we have lawyers, people working in finance, coders and project managers, for example. Career options and aspirations seems to be an increasing focus for many schools and so sharing my story has become an integral part of my conversation with students.
During my visits, I get them talking about what they think news is, and learning about this is good intelligence for me and my School Report and wider BBC News colleagues. I am there because I want to gauge what they know and what they want from us, as well as find out what is on their news agenda - what the current classroom currency is and what they care about.
I try and always keep it informal - sitting in a circle not with students behind lines of desks - so they don't think I'm some corporate person or this is another boring school thing. Teachers love that School Report is about team work, so when we've warmed up I'll ask a young person to take notes and, if appropriate, someone else to take photographs, and someone to work on some quotes from the session. This means the teacher has then got something to follow up on with them on once I'm gone.
I've said they always surprise me, but I'm no longer so surprised that the BBC isn't the first place that this age group looks for news and stories. Social media is an integral part of their world.
Popular subjects with them when they get warmed up are crime and we work on how this is relevant to them - for example feeling safe in their neighbourhood and in their lives; or the education system and their experience of the changes to it; and needless to say it is rare not to hear about how much they love vloggers, YouTubers and celebrities.
Mental health and wellbeing seems to be increasingly popular in a broader sense too - from anti-bullying and cyber bullying to annoying siblings; from exam stress to body image.
We look at how stories are all around them - with me reminding them often they are the story and news isn't always something 'other'. I worked with a group talking about sport and they didn't seem that excited about it until one of the boys revealed he is a karter and has this ion and hobby and they realised they had a story under their noses.
My role is to work with them as a journalist, and once we get warmed up they love a bit of industry jargon to add authenticity and realness to their reporting activities - for example when we start story-development they love the idea of a news peg. It gives them something tangible to work on and start investigating, if only relating to an event due to happen at their school.
They also often start to see personal stories, events and things happening in their communities with that in mind.
I like to help them see that news isn't something other - it's not what someone else makes and it's not just about someone else - I want it to be more about them, relevant to them, and with them.
School Report has a broader responsibility around media literacy. I find that even teachers won't necessarily question sources of news let alone the young people. If something is on Facebook or comes from something branded, they'll trust that it is true and real - as soon as something is from a big band it's perceived as the truth.
So, when I can I will also work with the groups on thinking about the source of a particular story, who has written something and looking at whether it is balanced and what the agenda is of the author.
This may not sound like rocket science but I think we often forget that we live and breathe the media landscape, story-telling - and schools don't!
You don't need to be a BBC journalist to volunteer with BBC School Report. We all have transferable skills to bring to School Report volunteering, and that's an important message for the young people, too.
And you can be a remote mentor - from your desk - being a sounding board for a teacher running the project in his or her class. We have this model because we know not everyone can get out from behind the desk in their role at the BBC but they still want to be involved in media literacy.
You can encourage them to realise their ambitions. We've had School Reporters interviewing Mark Carney, Angelina Jolie, Malala, the last three Prime Ministers and too many sportspeople to mention. It's true that sometimes the BBC brands helps to open some doors when young people ask for an interview.
But I hope it is also true that by meeting someone in person who works for the BBC they realise that it isn't all showbiz, remote and just what they see on the TV or iPlayer. Rather they can be part of it - whether by sharing a story idea through School Report or perhaps pursuing a future media career.
