In pursuit of seeking self-improvement in the field of journalism, as campus journalists, we play the role of acquiring knowledge to the best we can in order to serve the institution we belong. Through our continued sincere perseverance to know more of what’s given, we want to be more of what defines a true journalist.

The Torch Publication of Gov. Alfonso D. Tan conducted its first ever Alfonsos’ Campus Journalism Seminar-Workshop last October 13-14 with the special participation of the Senior High School journalists and Communication Arts students wherein five (5) invited resource speakers expert in the field of News Writing, Editorial Writing, Editorial Cartooning, Feature Writing, Science Writing, Online Publishing and Photojournalism were invited to impart knowledge to the 21st century journalists.

The two (2) day seminar-workshop was bannered with the theme: “Revitalizing Journalistic Skills of Students through Modern Journalism.”  Prior to the actual workshop, participants were given kits and a short program was made in which Mrs. Juris Rita Manaloto, the Head of the Corporate Communications and Promotions Office, gave her inspiring message to the participating journalists.

Mr. Danilo U. Omega, Education Program Supervisor (EPS) 1 in English shared his knowledge and expertise in the field of News Writing during the first day of the seminar. As the journalism coordinator of Tangub City for many years, he already had vast knowledge and learning in different forms of journalistic writing especially News. At the end of his discussion, he tasked everyone to make a news story about the said seminar-workshop and that he will choose who among the writers has the best article, both in English and Filipino. He promised that chosen ones will receive prizes from him. This encouraged the writers who even without experience in news writing, to try competing in order to receive recognition and as well as the learning embedded to it.

In the afternoon of the first day, Ms. Gretchen Shien C. Ramas shared her time to teach us about Photojournalism and online publishing. Before she started her formal discussion in Photojournalism, she showed different pictures with a question: “Is this photography or photojournalism?” Styles of capturing images and the rules should greatly be considered. To take pictures and apply what we have learn from her discussion, challenged us all. We were divided into 3 groups and she ordered us to be out on the field and to come back with 5 best photos of athletes participating in a game (because it was the city meet competition at that time, and a caption should be written depending on the language we will be using). Capturing moments of people without them knowing and to develop the uprightness of the writers knowing that behind the photo, nothing was made scripted was worth it. We learned that timing is the key to capturing great photos. The presentation of the said photos was made after half an hour of preparing them. Albeit most of the writers have no experience in photojournalism, their works were acknowledged and appreciated by the resource speaker.  Mrs. Ramas also made us construct a news article about the recently happening Tangub City meet with the said pictures (we presented) to be attached in the article. It should also be published online for the online publishing.

After Mrs. Ramas critiqued and discussed some points and angle to improve in our pictures (as well as its caption), at around 5:00 pm, the seminar ended.

The program started at 8:00 the next morning. With Mrs. Pinky Del Castillo, the school paper adviser of Sumirap National High School, as the resource speaker or the Editorial Writing, she shared to us different ways on how to provide a debatable title, an argument in the content and how to clearly establish a stand. She also showed works of her students as a guide for us in writing an Editorial article. During the workshop, she made us write an article about the issue of preventing the increase rate of pregnancy through separating students in a classroom base on their gender. After the lunch break, Mrs. Del Castillo proclaimed 3 winners with the best articles and “best title” (a special award), both I English and Filipino category.

After lunch break, the journalists preceded to Sports Writing and Editorial cartooning. Mr. Joselito Escala, the school paper adviser of Tangub City National High School was the invited resource speaker in these two events. With his years of experience in this field, he shared many tips and techniques in writing (Sports) and cartooning. He was able to make us visualize how should a Sports article be presented and how should an editorial cartoon be drawn. With every editorial cartoon he showed, we became informed about the symbolisms and the meaning of the elements that were being used in the drawing. He asserted that everyone can learn how to write a sports article because the skills of a sports writer can be learned, but only those who really have the skills in cartooning can make caricatures easily to any topic given to them. Though he also said, through determination and constant practice,  the skills of an Editorial cartoonist can be learned completely.

The last speaker was Ms. Mahalia Sultan. She discussed about Feature Writing and Science Writing. Before she arrived, she instructed us to write a feature about “Beauty in imperfections” and collected it minutes before she actually started her discussion. In her lecture, she pinpointed certain differences between an essay and a feature article. She even taught us to become creative and to always think outside the box. Ms. Sultan also taught us techniques in Science Writing but did not make us write an article about it. She even shared life stories that made us become curious about her journey. She showed us some of her works and also her favourite poem. The lecture ended at around 5:00 in the afternoon.

After every speaker’s lecture, they were then awarded with certificates in grateful appreciation in sharing their time, knowledge and expertise. We thanked them all with smiles and admiration in our hearts for their great effort in imparting knowledge to us, young journalists.

We have learned so much from the 2 day seminar-workshop. The things we have learned will forever be treasured and will be passed on to other journalists like us who we will meet along our path. What we have learned served as a vital foundation into diving deep into the real world of journalism. Thanks to our school administration for approving the conduct of this memorable event. Also, our warmest thanks to the student publication coordinator, Mr. Danilo A. Fajardo Jr. for always been working hard and supportive for the success of this event. To all the people who were involved in this Workshop, thank you for your full cooperation and participation.