The Eyes, Ears, and Voice of a New Community
During his junior year, Eric Min ’22 swapped his job in the Caf to try working for Chips. It changed everything. “I totally fell in love,” he says. “I loved the atmosphere. I loved the job. I loved everything about the industry.”
Eric Min '22 covers a range of stories as a multimedia journalist for KTTC in Rochester, Minn.
He decided to pursue a visual communication major and spent spring of 2021 interning through the Rochester Semester. During this time, not only was he living through the tense first year of the pandemic—he was also watching his home country of Myanmar/Burma suffer a military coup and the violence that followed. While navigating tumultuous reports from home, Eric interned with Collider, an organization that supports local early-stage entrepreneurs. He embedded himself in the community and focused on sharing how small business owners were surviving Covid.
He says, “It was a very, very difficult time for me, doing a job I’ve never done before, learning a lot, but also struggling with what was going on.”
What Eric didn’t know at the time was that even while he was wracked with worry for one home, he was planting the seeds for a future one. “That internship was just so perfect—I can’t even explain what a great fit it was. It really was a catalyst for all the things to come later on,” he says.
Eric spent the year after graduating from Luther honing his skills at Decorahnews.com, then headed back to Rochester for a job as a multimedia journalist at KTTC.
Eric Min '22 records stories in the field and reports live on air for KTTC.
But less than a year into his new role, Eric is flourishing. And he’s trusted to cover important, sensitive stories, like a tribute to Rochester native Adam Finseth, a first responder who was killed in the line of duty.
“It was a really sad day for Rochester,” Eric says. It was also a really busy day for Eric. “I had to turn in my story for the 5 p.m. show, but I couldn’t get my interviews until 3:30, so I literally had an hour to do it. I was running on pure adrenaline, just pure instinct with this story. I got my interviews, shot my video, ran back to the station with the car, and then wrote all of the script, edited all of the video, and uploaded everything. And then I changed my clothes to a suit and presented on air.” His piece betrayed none of the harriedness of the day, but was instead full of professionalism, respect, and compassion.
While the job of a journalist can be intense, it can also be the fastest route to engaging deeply with a new home. Within two months, Eric says, “I really built a community, built relationships with a lot of people who know me. Now I’ve covered so many stories—happy and sad, soft and hard news—I feel very good about the connections I’ve made.”
Check out Eric’s stories at kttc.com/authors/eric.min/.