NOTE: The reporter of this story also a volunteers with ThreeSixty Journalism
Students from Roosevelt High School, FAIR School for Arts, and DeLaSalle High School joined high schoolers from around the Twin Cities for three weeks in July to sharpen their skills in print and broadcast journalism by producing their own news stories with ThreeSixty Journalism in St. Paul.
ThreeSixty Journalism is a non-profit program at the University of St. Thomas that is focused on helping students from diverse backgrounds tell stories about their lives and communities. Through the program’s partnership with Blue Cross Blue Shield, racism in healthcare was this summer’s Multimedia Storytelling Institute theme.
Students were assigned topics focused on racism in healthcare and talked with leaders of local organizations to develop their stories. One group of students was assigned to look at how race impacts those who seek mental health care and talked with a therapist at Kente Circle.
The joint effort between ThreeSixty Journalism and Blue Cross Blue Shield allows student journalists to interrupt mainstream narratives around health by diversifying who tells the stories.
The multi-week institute included visits from local reporters, editors, producers and writing sessions with New York Times reporter Ernesto Londono. Throughout the institute, students worked in small groups to produce both print and broadcast stories which will be published in local news outlets in the coming weeks.
