Alumni Spotlight: Samantha HoangLong’s unique path to journalism

Samantha HoangLong grew up in Savage and attended M.W. Savage Elementary and Eagle Ridge Junior High before graduating from Burnsville High School (BHS) in 2017. She reflects fondly on her experience in District 191 schools and at BHS, where she embraced a variety of opportunities including National Honor Society, BurnsvilleStrong, Bowls for BrainPower, choir and theater. 

These experiences helped foster a love for her community. She believes that it was her involvement in these clubs and extracurricular activities that developed her leadership and communication skills. 

“I think my leadership skills were really honed through BurnsvilleStrong,” Samantha reflected. “We worked on initiatives that connected us with our school community, whether it was putting encouraging notes on the bathroom mirrors or handing out valentines to bus drivers.”

Discovering a passion for journalism

At BHS, Samantha had little interest in taking language arts classes. She remembers having a strong interest in sociology and civics, and credits her Advanced Placement (AP) and College-In-the-Schools (CIS) classes, along with a public speaking class, for equipping her with invaluable communication skills.

“The anxiety of presenting information in a concise and effective way in high school has stayed with me — and has helped me,” she shared.

As a junior, Samantha got involved in College Possible, a college access and success program offered at BHS. Through College Possible, Samantha learned about a summer camp that would develop her writing skills. In the summer of 2016, she joined the ThreeSixty Journalism program based at the University of St. Thomas (UST), and discovered her passion for journalism. In 2017, she was named the ThreeSixty Scholar and received a full-tuition scholarship to study journalism at the university.  

“I actually didn’t love English, which is ironic because I’m in journalism now,” joked Samantha. “But that program changed everything for me. It was my first exposure to a newsroom, and it ignited my passion for telling stories that matter.”

The experience also helped Samantha secure leadership roles with Tommie Media, UST’s student news organization, and internships with Under Told Stories Project, Blue Cross Blue Shield, Star Tribune, MinnPost and FOX9.

Finding purpose in reaching Minnesota’s diverse communities through storytelling

Upon graduating from UST a semester early, Samantha landed a part-time news reporter position for Ampers/KMOJ Radio, as part of its "Racial Reckoning: The Arc of Justice" project. She covered major news stories, including the George Floyd murder and subsequent protests, the Derek Chauvin trial and the killing of Daunte Wright. A few months later, she joined FOX 9 KMSP-TV as a news content writer. During her stint there, she monitored and reported on breaking news, such as former Brooklyn Center police officer Kim Potter’s trial and COVID-19 mandates in the Twin Cities. The experience of being immersed in some very pivotal moments in Minnesota’s history helped to uncover Samantha’s passion for connecting communities through news.

Though she appreciated the knowledge gained and skills developed through these experiences, Samantha realized, however, that she was not meant to be a reporter. She had been working at FOX9 for several months when she received a call from the Sahan Journal and was offered a job as the organization’s first Audience Growth Manager. 

“Sahan is a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to reporting on Minnesota's immigrants and communities of color,” Samantha said. “I feel like it’s very mission driven and that's very core to why I joined journalism in the first place.”

As the child of Vietnamese refugees, Samantha grew up noticing that representation within mainstream stories was missing.

“At school, we were always learning about things from the American perspective. In learning about the Vietnam War, we never really heard stories from the Vietnamese perspective, and I think I always felt that other perspectives were an absent narrative both in the classroom and in the news.”

 The lack of representation, especially within the media, fueled Samantha’s desire to tell the stories of the communities she serves in an inclusive, nuanced way.

With two years under her belt at Sahan Journal, Samantha is dedicated to developing strategies and creating engaging content to expand the organization’s reach and deliver the news in a variety of ways to diverse communities. 

“I'm able to help make news more representative and make sure that it's covered in a nuanced way,” Samantha said. “So, I think I'm really grateful to be working in a newsroom where those are kind of our core values. I guess, for me, working in journalism has been my way of making a difference in the world and helping change the narrative behind Minnesota.”