ThreeSixty Journalism

You’re invited! 💜

Join us as we celebrate the hard work and powerful stories of our ThreeSixty Journalism students at the 2026 College Essay Showcase! Students will take the stage to read their college essays and share their voices with family, friends staffs, volunteers and community members.

Date: Thursday, August 13
When: Programs begin at 1:30 p.m.
Where: University of St. Thomas, Schoenecker Center, Room LL06
Reception to follow

RSVP by August 11 the link will be in our bio. We hope to see you there!

What does youth mental health look like in Minnesota today?

Last week, ThreeSixty Journalism student reporters began a three-week reporting journey to answer that question through our Multimedia Storytelling Institute sponsored by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota.

Students are investigating topics ranging from looksmaxxing and social media pressures to va**ng as coping , the healing power of art, and more. Working alongside professional journalists and media mentors, they'll produce written and social stories and TV packages.

Join us on July 22 for a showcase presentation at the University of St. Thomas from 1:30-3:00pm. Students will premiere their work, reflect on the reporting process, and share what they discovered.

RSVP by July 21: bit.ly/MSI26Showcase

Last week, for the first time in the history of our radio camp partnership with Minnesota Public Radio, every one of our 10 students produced a story that aired on All Things Considered (and then ran twice more on MPR News over the weekend!).

Building quality youth programming that gets youth voice mainstream attention takes time and sustained investment. For years, our camp has evolved alongside journalism itself. We've experimented, learned, refined, and kept showing up together.

This year, in a single week, our young journalists researched, interviewed, and reported from the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games in Minneapolis, wrote and recorded their own scripts, and edited their own final pieces. They produced timely stories with empathy and rigor on a tight deadline. Listen here: https://www.mprnews.org/story/2026/06/26/mpr-news-radio-camp-2026-reports-on-special-olympics-usa-games

This program is powerful because people with influence choose to invest in the brilliant, diverse youth that call Minnesota home. Adults open doors, share expertise, and help our youth build resumes and bylines that reflect their talent. The youth say yes to public service journalism and work tirelessly to get the job done, building a whole new community in the process.

Thank you to the champions who made this year’s radio camp such a success. The most powerful programming happens in partnership, and radio camp is a primary example. We are proud to be part of it.

MPR News Radio Camp reports on Special Olympics USA Games Radio Camp is an annual weeklong teaching event hosted by MPR with partner ThreeSixty Journalism.

Gloria Ngwa is our 2026 Saint Paul Jaycees Reporting Intern! She will spend the summer working at Sahan Journal, a newsroom dedicated to covering immigrants and communities of color in Minnesota.

Gloria’s deep roots in community and drive as a young journalist stood out to Chao Xiong, Director of Editorial at Sahan.

Gloria, a rising junior at the Northwestern University Medill School, is from the East Side of St. Paul. A graduate of Washington Tech High School, Gloria began her journalism journey with ThreeSixty as a freshman. Since then, she has deepened her skills and leadership at Listen Up Youth Radio, SPEAK MPLS, and the Center for Broadcast Journalism.

Gloria joins three other ThreeSixty alums in the Sahan newsroom: Katelyn Vue, Dymanh Chhoun, and Samantha HoangLong.

Congrats, Gloria!

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Thanks to funding from the Saint Paul Jaycees Charitable Foundation, ThreeSixty Journalism offers this paid summer internship to a young person connected to our programming who demonstrates commitment to a career in journalism and civic life in Saint Paul.

Chicago! You showed up and out for our student journalists!
Our Youth Leadership Board and staff recently returned from our second annual national journalism learning trip where we spent several days immersed in Chicago’s civic spirit and vast local news ecosystem.

Our first stop was the city’s front porch, Navy Pier, where we visited WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times. The best part? Students were invited to watch the morning news show In the Loop live behind the scenes with executive producer Dan Tucker. Thank you Meg Flynn and Tracy Brown for making it happen!

From there, we headed to Injustice Watch, where editor Jonah Newman and reporter Carlos Ballesteros (thank you!) gave students an inside look at investigative reporting and the human stories often hidden inside big data sets. Everyone walked out the door knowing how to make a FOIA request.

Next, we traveled to Northwestern University Medill School, where our students received a tailored-to-them admissions presentation (thank you Dan MacKenzie and Michael Spikes) and connected with ThreeSixty alumni Dallas Downey, Gloria Ngwa, and McCall Vickers who are all studying journalism there.

And of course, no journalism trip is complete without exploring and reporting on the ground. We took an architectural boat tour, ate dinner in Chinatown, caught a showing of Les Miserables, and interviewed an indie film programmer before watching a screening at the historic Davis Theater.

Travel expands a young person’s worldview and so does journalism. Getting to do them together in one of the most vibrant and innovative cities in the world was an immense privilege. Thanks to the many, many people who helped us plan this one-of-a-kind experience.

And…stay tuned. Every student had a reporting assignment, and stories from Chicago are on the way.

It’s time to make one of our favorite announcements of the year…

Margarita Rosales Alarcón has been awarded our 2026 full-tuition scholarship to study emerging media at the University of St. Thomas!

Margarita participated in more than TEN ThreeSixty programs during high school, including serving on our inaugural Youth Leadership Board.

Her reporting has explored immigration, education, gun violence, addiction and recovery, and has been published by Sahan Journal, The Minnesota Star Tribune, the Pioneer Press, MPR News, MinnPost, and more.

She is thoughtful, courageous, deeply committed to her community, and exactly the kind of truth-teller our world needs.

Read more about Margarita here: https://threesixty.stthomas.edu/meet-threesixtys-2026-scholar/

We can’t wait to see where this next chapter takes you, Margarita, and we’re with you every step of the way. Congratulations! 🎓

Meet ThreeSixty’s 2026 Scholar - ThreeSixty Journalism Margarita Rosales Alarcón has been awarded a full-tuition scholarship to study at St. Thomas.

“We’re here. We matter. And we want to be taken seriously by adults.”

"We need to be heard about our struggles, mental health, school pressure, and not always feeling supported. A lot of us are dealing with things people don't see."

That’s what Rochester high school students reported in our first-ever pop-up journalistic podcast workshop last week.

In partnership with MPR News and Rochester Public Schools, students were exposed to audio journalism and given the tools to create it in a single day at MPR’s office in Rochester.

Working with seasoned pros from MPR News and ThreeSixty, ten students researched, reported, and wrote an original podcast episode: Speak Up Minnesota: Rochester edition.

The result is an honest and student-driven reflection on what youth believe they need to be heard about.

🎧 Listen: https://open.spotify.com/episode/5LjQBij8D6NfHHt54AhwvS?si=OeN-kw5MTkCrQTvzKSLihA

This is what’s possible when young people have education, tools, and the platform to tell their communities stories.

Interested in doing something like it in your community? Reach out!