Inspiring tomorrow's journalists
The Story of Mosaic
A 30-year Journey
When Mosaic embarked as a high school journalism workshop focused on Latino students, the prospect of reaching its 30th year seemed unlikely. Co-founder Joe Rodriguez, uncertain about the program's survival after its first year, vividly remembers the moment when the inaugural Mosaic class went home with their newspaper.
"That was one of the proudest mornings of my life," Rodriguez reminisced.
In 1993, Rodriguez, along with journalists Donna Kato, Manny Gonzalez and Rosana Madrigal, established the Mosaic Journalism Workshop during a time when non-white voices were scarce in mainstream news media. Their vision: immerse teens in a two-week whirlwind of real-life reporting experiences.
A summer tradition: An intensive summer news workshop
Since then, Mosaic has gathered a diverse mix of teenagers at San Jose State University for an intensive summer news workshop. In a short time, high school students transform into working journalists, navigating interviews, tight deadlines and multiple rounds of editing.
"We wanted to give students the experience of a real newsroom," co-founder Donna Kato said.
​Amanda Rivas, who went on to become a project manager at KNBC-TV in Los Angeles, expressed gratitude for the self-assurance that Mosaic instilled in her: "It helped me in so many ways with confidence. Going out there, cold-calling people — it’s not easy. And to be able to do that when I was 17 was really, really cool."
Journalistic Success Stories
Many of our 600-plus alumni have pursued careers in journalism and related fields. Some have exceeded our wildest dreams.
This year, Hannah Knowles, Mosaic ‘16 and Washington Post reporter, shared a Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage, writing about last year’s attempted Trump assassination.
Tomás Mier, Mosaic ‘15, a pop and Latin music reporter for Rolling Stone, has become an influencer with more than 150,000 followers on TikTok. He appears in the news as well: Good Morning America interviewed him about the NFL choosing Bad Bunny to perform at the Super Bowl.
Emily Hung, Mosaic ‘18, is a producer at MSNBC/Versant Media, now covering the White House.
At present, recent Mosaic alumni are pursuing journalism at USC, Cal State-Monterey Bay, UC-Irvine, San Jose State, De Anza College, University of Nevada-Reno and elsewhere.
You can find our stories on the websites of Mosaic, the Mercury News and KALW 91.7 public radio, our podcasting partner. Stay tuned as we forge new media partnerships!
Where to find our work
Recent expansion
Mosaic now offers paid internships to our alumni, getting coached 1-on-1 by journalism professionals. We run boot camps and offer in-class support for high school and college newspapers. We’ve added multimedia training, and we have more exciting plans coming!
