There’s a new ace reporter on the beat, and he’s a 12-year-old from Greenbank.

“When stuff comes up, I like to grab it,” said Kaj Lund Olsen, a seventh-grader at Langley Middle School. “It’s going to be really cool working in something like this.”

Kaj (rhymes with “pie”) is one of 37 new members of the Scholastic Kids Press Corps, correspondents from throughout the United States who will provide local stories for Scholastic News magazine and its on-line components.

The new additions bring the organization’s young staff to

54 reporters ages 10 to 14 across the nation who cover current events, breaking news, entertainment and sports from their hometowns.

The magazine is widely used in school classrooms. Its Web site (www.scholastic.com/kidspress) is the only on-line resource featuring news for students, by students.

Kaj was one of more than 250 students nationwide who applied for the positions. He was selected on the basis of a 400-word essay he submitted on the wonders of Whidbey Island and why he should get the job, and a subsequent interview. He’ll be on staff at least through next year.

“I wrote how Whidbey draws people with the strangest pasts,” he said. “A lot of retired people. They’re really amazing.”

He said his mother, Deb Lund, a writer of children’s books, learned of the Scholastic program from an e-mail.

“She signed me up, then asked me about it,” Kaj chuckled. “I’m always up for this kind of thing.”

“He’s always been interested in what’s going on around the island,” his mother said. “He thought it might be fun to be a reporter.”

Kaj’s father, Karl Olsen, is music director at Trinity Lutheran Church and a member of the venerable folk group The Brothers Four. He was also editor of his college newspaper.

“I think it’s a great learning experience for any kid that age,” Olsen said. “A chance to work as a reporter, learning the routine, getting used to deadlines, producing something when there’s not enough time.”

Kaj said his first assignment for Scholastic News is to contribute to a special “Kids and the Economy” report. He plans to write about Whidbey Island Share a Home (WISH), a nonprofit organization that keeps a roof over people’s heads.

“It’s a really good program,” Kaj said. “I’m sure the economy has definitely affected them.”

He said he hasn’t been given a deadline or story length, but so far he has written about four paragraphs. He’s not sure how often he will be assigned a story.

And although he hasn’t heard one way or the other, he doesn’t expect to be paid.

“I wouldn’t count on it,” he said, but he added: “I like to write, and this is going to teach me a lot of new stuff.”

Scholastic Kid Reporters have interviewed everyone from President Obama to the pop-star Jonas Brothers. Stories have featured First Lady Michelle Obama, Vice President Joseph Biden, Jill Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Bill Clinton; Sen. John McCain and his daughter Bridget, sports stars LeBron James and Tiger Woods, entertainers Taylor Smith, Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Will Smith, Jordin Sparks, Tom Cruise and Whoopi Goldberg and TV news personalities Rachel Maddow and Brian Williams.

Kaj has a number of other interests besides writing. He sings, and plays the flute, guitar and mandolin.

Last year as a sixth-grader, his essay on why Langley Middle School shouldn’t be closed so moved supporters of the school that Kaj was asked to read it at a meeting of the South Whidbey School District board.

“I was really nervous,” he said. “I hadn’t done anything like that before.”

But he said the experience should help him when he begins to interview strangers in his new job.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” Kaj said. “It’s really going to be fun.”

He said he has collected the necessary tools of the trade — pens, pencils, notebooks — but he’s not too worried about writing down quotes, even those from fast-talking subjects.

“I have a recorder,” he said.