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Audio Transcript

Mollie Halpern: More than 200 fifth- and sixth-graders join the FBI as junior special agents.

FBI employees have mentored students at five schools in the Washington, D.C. area over the past eight months.

During their training, kids learned to be good citizens, students, and the importance of being physically fit and staying away from drugs and violence.

Gaby Martinez Rodriguez is a sixth-grader at Bucknell Elementary School in Virginia.

Gaby Martinez Rodriguez: We would train with two FBI agents or we would go on field trips in Washington or we would have meetings at least every month. So the meetings basically taught us important lessons like cyberbullying, and the field trips showed us historic places.

Halpern: Trina Washington, a special agent in charge at the Washington Field Office, says that the program is part of bridging gaps between community and law enforcement.

Trina Washington: Our youth really is our future, so it’s important that we have strong communications with them.

Halpern: Students took a pledge of duty in a graduation ceremony at FBI Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Junior Special Agents is one of many FBI youth-oriented programs. Visit fbi.gov for more information.

With FBI, This Week, I’m Mollie Halpern of the Bureau.