I attended MPR’s design sprint and tested my thinking on my feet

The Toaster hosts an abundance of entrepreneurial events every year. Usually focused in the business or STEM worlds, however on Oct. 21, MPR came to the Toaster.

Students from across disciplines gathered for Voices for Impact: A Minnesota Public Radio Design Sprint, an event designed to spark creative solutions for one big question: How can we increase engagement with the news in an ever-changing digital world?

It’s a simple question with a complex answer.

I discovered that complexity firsthand while working with my teammates: a finance major and a computer science major. Our university experiences couldn’t have been more different, yet we had just an hour to come up with an idea that might reshape the way people connect with the news.

The workshop, hosted in partnership with the Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship, took full advantage of the Toaster’s collaborative energy. Guiding us through the evening were Kate Ryan Reiling and Theon Masters, both of whom work in innovation and entrepreneurship for MPR.

From the outset, Reiling and Masters encouraged us to lean into the absurdity of some ideas. They reminded us that nothing was off the table when it came to innovation. The goal wasn’t to perfect ideas—it was to let creativity flow freely, with refinement coming later. The mindset was intended to free us from the pressure of being “right” and invited us to think boldly.

As a journalism major, I had a great time leaning into my curiosity. We were asked to repeatedly question other groups and teammates about their news consumption habits. In the complex and fast-paced news cycle, what drives them away and what brings them to read a full story.

We searched for common issues or desires and built our concept from there.

While I don’t think our group came up with the next revolutionary idea, the experience was valuable. The design sprint offered a rare space to think beyond traditional methods of dispensing public media and consider how entrepreneurship and creativity can shape the future of information.

By the end of the night, I had gathered more information about innovation and what makes the news worth it for students. I am constantly inhabiting spaces filled by other journalism majors and it is easy to fall into a bubble of the same information.

The emerging voices project by MPR helped me hear from a variety of students about their relationship with the news and let me tap into an entrepreneurial spirit (turns out I love thinking on my feet).