Founded in 2001, Pinellas County Schools’ Journeys in Journalism program is a magnet program offered at Melrose Elementary School, John Hopkins Middle School and Lakewood High School.
Emphasis is on learning through doing, with students creating and publishing the Manatee Messenger, the J.Hop Times and the Spartan News Network newspapers.
Through Our Eyes, an annual exhibition at The Studio @ 620 gallery, provides students, families, neighbors and community leaders a chance to see students’ words and photographs professionally exhibited on the walls of an art gallery.
In 2017, Pinellas County Schools broke ground for a new, 75,000-square-foot facility for Melrose that features high-tech classrooms, a community center, student dining hall, art and music labs, a TV studio and space for after-school programs.
John Hopkins won prestigious National Scholastic Association Pacemaker Awards in 2015, 2016, and 2017.
In 2016, Lakewood’s journalism program won National Scholastic Association Pacemaker Awards for its print and website work.