Youth Blog

March is Teen Tech Month at the Saint Paul Library. The library will be offering a variety of workshops for teens on many tech-related topics, at library locations all over the city. Attend one of these Teen Tech Workshops to learn new skills and have fun! SPNN Youth Open Lab will be leading the Spoken Word Workshop on March 12th and the Storytelling Through Short Film Workshop on April 2nd. We hope to see you there!

For several years, SPNN Open Lab (SOL) has given local youth the opportunity to work on producing short videos in a free-form environment. Each Monday at SPNN, youth producers drop-in at the media lab to work on everything from documentaries to music videos, with the support of our youth programs staff.

Beginning this year, SOL is coming out of the media lab and going into the community. One day a month we’re holding workshops at neighborhood branches of the Saint Paul Public Library on topics like spoken word videos, PSAs, and storytelling through film.  

For over a decade, SPNN has been helping youth learn how important media is to democracy. Each January, the Twin Cities’ YMCA Youth in Government (YIG) program brings together 1,500 Minnesota youth to hold a model assembly session at the Minneapolis Hilton. For three days, these enthusiastic young people learn about the democratic process through first-hand experience.