It’s not every kid who can say she is the star of a television show, but for the 12 LearnaLots, working in front of a camera is part of their life.Though the LearnaLots television series has run since 1994, the current group of young people have only assumed their roles since the fall of 2010 after a lengthy selection process.Ten-year-old Bermuda High School student Zoe O’Connor was one of the lucky 12 chosen from over 100 applicants and explained the audition process.At the first stage, a general audition, between 100 and 200 youngsters told the interviewers a little about themselves and answered general questions like, “If you could meet anyone dead or alive, who would you choose?”She and approximately 30 other youngsters were called back for a second round, which involved a private interview. She was notified by letter of her acceptance. “Of course my parents opened it first,” Zoe stated. “When I saw ‘Good job’ and a smiley face at the bottom, I screamed. It was a normal day, so I didn’t think a phone call or letter would come in saying I was a LearnaLot.“I felt excited. I was bouncing up and down. I jumped on the couch.”Mya Gibbons, a Year 6 student at Warwick Academy, was equally excited to learn that she had been chosen to be a LearnaLot for the next two years.“I actually got the message via a text on my Mom’s phone,” she explained. “I wasn’t really expecting it, and when I read it, I screamed and jumped up and down, and eventually I calmed down.”The current season of six episodes has involved going behind the scenes to learn more about extreme sports, traditional Bermudian food, the performing arts, importing goods, alternative energy, emergency workers and St. David’s Island culture.Filming the episodes takes considerable time, and several times a month after school from 4pm to 5.30pm and sometimes on Saturdays, the LearnaLots gather with producers and camera crew to investigate another aspect of life in Bermuda.Experience is not essential; in fact that was one reason Zoe auditioned: “I didn’t have a lot of experience and I wanted some experience and it would look good on college applications.”Although she hadn’t been in front of a camera, she had been on stage as part of the Christmas pantomime chorus, so she wasn’t scared. For Mya, the opposite was true.“I’ve done lots of acting even at home,” she noted. “At Christmas, someone, usually my cousin, brings a video, and even if the camera’s forgotten, I put on a one-man show. This Christmas at my great-grandmother’s house (on my mother’s side) I put on a show about a girl who’s not very popular.”For Zoe, the best experience so far has been the episode about the performing arts.As she attends In Motion School of Dance, she was able to share some of the things she’s interested in. It was also the episode she narrated.“The voice over was one of my favourites,” Zoe declared. “You narrate one of the shows, and one thing I really like is putting on the head phones. My voice went all funny in my head. I heard myself on the computer.”The performing arts episode was also a favourite with Mya. At Daylesford Theatre they got to check out the lighting and sound booth, and the vice president of the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society told them a little about it.The most interesting thing Mya has learned is how to water-ski, as she’s never done anything remotely like it before. “It was totally new to me. It was my first LearnaLot episode. It was really fun,” she said.What’s it like to be a LearnaLot? “It’s a really good experience to have,” Mya elaborated. “You get to learn things with your friends.“Even if you’re not a LearnaLot, it’s still fun to learn new things. At first I knew only one person, but I made friends along the way.”