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Saturday, March 19, 2005
The power of three and their pens
By Kathy Villalon Cinco
YES, they are the charmed ones, but no, they are not witches.
They are mortals and very young, but their pens wield such power that could someday spell greatness in the field of journalism.
They are the three students of Ateneo de Iloilo-Santa Maria Catholic School who were recently chosen among the 38 Iwag 2005 awardees, a prestigious award given by the Office of the Press Secretary through the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) 6 for their excellence in developmental journalism and community work.
They are Ripples editor-in-chief Japhet Gene Burgos, associate editor and Coriolis Effect editor Katrina Alfreda Tamara Intrepido, and Chinese-Filipino issue editor Lorenz Dominic Ong Lao, all senior high school students.
Ripples is the official student publication of Ateneo de Iloilo High School Department while Coriolis Effect is its science publication.
The three said that they feel over the moon for getting the award.
"We feel we deserve it because the school, through our coach and moderator, Engineer Herman Lagon, prepared us for such," Lao said.
Lagon, who is an awardee of Department of Education's Most Outstanding Campus Paper Adviser of the Philippines, revealed that the students were asked to submit their scrapbooks containing their resumes, awards, trainings participated, articles published, and community involvements.
"A big chunk of the criteria is the quality of the articles published and the journalism awards they received. Thirty-eight were selected in Western Visayas, half from the high school and half from college. Having one awardee per school is already a feat, having three is a strong statement. It's something to be proud of," he said.
In only three years, the Iloilo Jesuit school already produced seven Iwag awardees. The other four were 2003 Ripples editor in chief Pamela Joy Go, 2004 Ripples editor in chief Flora Antonina Rebadulla, 2004 Ripples Filipino and Lagasaw editor Carlo Sagge, and 2004 senior news, YCLC and on-line editor Nestonel Estrada.
Achievements
Getting the Iwag 2005 award is but one of the long list of achievements that Burgos, Intrepido and Lao have.
The soft-spoken Burgos recently received DepEd's Regional Achievers Award for Journalism and got the silver medal for Technical Support Services in the Radio Broadcasting Contest of the National Schools Press Conference (NSPC) in Surigao City.
This unassuming but hardworking Atenean is also a recipient of the school's St. Francis Xavier Service Award for Journalism 2005, Excellence in Journalism Award 2005; and Most Promising Feature Writer, Editorial Writer and Copyreader during the Golden Pen Awards in 2003 and 2004. He also represented Western Visayas in the NSPC 2004 held at Sta. Cruz, Laguna for Feature Writing (Filipino) and Desktop Publishing.
Intrepido, who loves to write about sports, people and the community, was fifth placer in sports writing (English) and second runner up in Radio Broadcasting during the Department of Education (DepEd) Regional Schools Press Conference (RSPC) in 2004; first placer in sports writing during the DepED Division Schools Press Conference (DSPC); and second councilor during the Rotary Boys and Girls Week celebration in 2004.
Aside from her collection of awards in various PIA and DepEd contests since grade school, Intrepido is also a recipient of DepEd's Regional Achievers Award in Journalism and the school's Excellence in Journalism Award.
Lao, on the other hand, is the virtual "publisher" of the Chinese Filipino issue of Ripples. He is also the vice president of the Student Council Executive Board, an active outreach member and lead anchorperson of the Ripples Radio Broadcasting team. He also received various gold medals since 2003 in different Photojournalism, Copy-reading and Headline Writing Contests of DepEd and the Regional English Circle.
Campus paper
What makes the trio's feat more convincing is the fact that they published their own paper and worked for it with less, if no supervision, at all.
Lagon, one of the moderators of The Ripples, said the students practically run their papers by themselves, having at least eight publications per school year and maintaining an official website (http://members.tripod.com/smcs_ripples) with real-time updates in the cyberspace.
"They do everything, including the delegation of assignments, calendaring of activities, editing and 'butchering' of articles, 'hands-on' lay-outing, and dealing with the printing press. They are the ones who decide what articles must be published, how much the publication will cost, and how many issues will be published. Should there be a need to raise more money to publish articles, they are the ones looking for means to make both ends meet. In fact, Ripples is a decent simulation of an actual student-empowered publication. And I am sure campus journalists learn more this way," he said.
Ripples, to note, publishes Lagasaw (Filipino), i Portfolio (Literary), Chinese-Filipino Issue, Coriolis Effect (Science) and other regular issues for June (tabloid), January (tabloid) and March (magazine). It also issues, in newsletter type, special papers for Valentines, Christmas, Intramurals and other special occasions.
"Our writers are given the chance to work as campus journalists through and through. We even go beyond journalism and learn more, on the process, in the areas of creative writing, broadcasting, public speaking, desktop publishing, photography, visual arts, marketing and management. Hence, for me, with all humility, I believe that every Ripples staff is an Iwag awardee," Lagon shared.
Burgos and Intrepido said that they plan to become journalists in the future. This, even after Lagon, a former Manila Times Visayas correspondent and a five-year regional newspaper editor himself, told them point blank that there is no money in journalism.
"I told them that it (journalism) is a painful ticket to financial success-unless abused of course-but it is surely a noble profession with open-ended influence and boulders of social responsibility. Nevertheless, being a journalist is a way of life, and journalism is a basic essential. Like food, everybody must have it no matter what one's profession is or will be."
Normal life
However, some might think that the three Iwag awardees, in order to be successful in both academic and extra-curricular endeavors, are probably nerds who prefer to stay home with their books or just dwell on the serious stuff. This is not so.
"We're just like any normal teenager. Yes, we study, but we party a lot, too! We regularly go out with our friends and enjoy our youth. In fact, even in our in-school journalism and creative writing trainings which we senior editors traditionally organize, we see to it that the proceedings are illuminating yet playful, lively and good-humored," Lao said.
Intrepido confirms this. "Play, pray and study hard. That's what Ateneans do. In my ten-year stay in school, there never was a time that I thought of leaving. For I see how the school prepared me. Winning or losing in journalism contests, or in any endeavor for that matter, is just incidental. What matters most is the journey that goes with it."
"The funny thing is I am now afraid I might miss all of these journalism stuff in college," the chatty Intrepido quipped.
Burgos, for his part, said, "we were formed by our school to live a healthy life and anchor ourselves with the 7 C's: Christ-centeredness, compassion, community, culture, conscience, character and competence."
"Hence," Burgos added, we see the Iwag award more of a confirmation on how the school and our parents excellently form us, into who we are today. In the end, we give all the glory and honor to God, no more, no less."
(March 19, 2005 issue)
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