Today was a big day for ThreeSixty’s News Reporter Academy students! They met their interview subjects, who were on campus at the University of St. Thomas College of Arts and Sciences on Tuesday. Putting the skills they learned Monday into practice, students spent the morning interviewing their subjects and listening to their stories. Special thanks to BlueCross BlueShield Minnesota Center for Prevention for their partnership in this process.
Industry professionals acted as writing coaches for the students throughout the day. They answered last-minute questions, sat with students through their interviews, and assisted them in transcribing and beginning to write their stories.
In the afternoon, students had a lesson about story structure and looked at examples written by current and former ThreeSixty employees.
Here are the student reflections for Tuesday, July 16:
David Xu – Wayzata High School
The best part of my day was interviewing my source, Jake Riley. He was a very nice and interesting person that was very passionate about his craft. I learned a lot about dancing and was inspired to pursue my passions. Next time I interview someone, I will try to have more of a conversation instead of a Q & A. I want a more natural interview that is more relaxed and light-hearted.
I am excited to continue writing my article and work with professionals to improve my writing. I am looking forward to publishing my article and refining my writing skills. I feel that I can write a good article with the help of my peers.
Ilhaan Dhegadub – Park Center Senior High
The best part of my day was actually the interviewing part because Mary Uran, the Co-Founder of ‘Girls on the Run’ told me a lot of really great things about the program. I never knew they provided so many great things to the young girls, even sports hijabs! Learning such great things like that makes me so excited to work on the article.
Something I would like to change is when I’m interviewing someone, I would like to prepare more questions. I ran out of questions during the interview which was something I wasn’t very proud about. I did get some really great answers though! As for how I’m feeling about writing my article, I’m pretty comfortable about it. I was really nervous at first but now that I have an outline, I feel so much better about writing it! I’m pretty excited about it as well.
