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 to broaden the pipeline to the nation's news media. SInce then, Mosaic has gathered a wide range of teenagers at San Jose State University for an intensive summer news workshop.
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.
Hannah Knowles, (Mosaic ‘13) shared the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for breaking news coverage, writing about the attempted Trump assassination. She’s now a national correspondent for the Washington Post.
Emily Hung (Mosaic ‘18) is a producer at MSNBC/Versant Media, covering the White House.
Talia Moore (M’14) is multidisciplinary storyteller, community organizer, filmmaker and journalist. Her documentary on trailblazing musician Sun Ra was shown in the 2025 Tribeca film festival. Her film “Fly With Me” about pioneering women flight attendants aired on PBS.
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, Local News Matters and KALW 91.7 public radio.. Stay tuned as we forge new media partnerships!
Where to find our work
Recent expansion
Mosaic has added storytelling via multimedia to our curriculum. Our students produce stories to post on TikTok, Instagram and other social media, to meet our audience where they are. Mosaic also offers paid internships to our alumni, with 1-on-1 coaching by journalism professionals. We run boot camps and offer in-class support for high school and college newspapers.
