Alumni push for change in classrooms and newsrooms

Just before Christmas, I got to visit with three alums of ThreeSixty – two still in college, one in her first professional job. Visits with our alumni always remind me of the return we receive on our investment in the voices, talents and questions of teens.

This time, I learned other things as well. Andrew Worrall, a talented young photographer at the University of Missouri, reminded me of the pull between the journalist’s traditional role as an observer and that of an engaged citizen.

Andrew was chasing fires as a news photographer one day when one of the firefighters asked why he didn’t help fight them. Andrew was happy to oblige. He’s unsure about his professional goals, but he is a proud volunteer fireman in Boone County, Missouri

Sisi Wei is a junior at Northwestern University, where she’s gotten interested in producing interactive graphics. She took a humdrum press release about symptoms of H1N1 from the university’s health services and converted it into a clever, online graphic that allows students to assess their own symptoms and decide whether they need a trip to the clinic. She turned humdrum information into an engaging, informative game that puts the user, not the writer, in charge.

And she raved about a video game that New York Times designers developed to allow users to see for themselves how dangerous it is to text while driving.

Sisi helped me see clearly why it’s critical to find new, more interactive ways to deliver important information to a generation so attached to its cell phones and video games.

Like students at the University of Missouri Sisi has been frustrated by the rigid silos and limited course offerings that prevent her from developing the skills and experience she’d like to have before graduating. She’s reaching out to professors and setting up her own internships to make that happen.

And Emma Carew, recently hired as a database reporter by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, described how eager she is to contribute the skills she developed at the University of Minnesota, at the Minnesota Daily and in a variety of internships to this venerable newspaper of the non-profit world.

Prodded by their eagerness to use new technologies to tell stories, I’m learning to text message — but not while driving.