YOU know what is sad? It's leaving -and today marks the last day of my internship program.
I'm going to warn you firsthand that this would be lengthy and my essay may bore you, but I promise you one thing -- this story would be worth it.
June 25 was my first day in my internship. It was the start of carrying the burden of the name of my beloved school, Mindanao State University (MSU)-Marawi City, was put into my shoulders from that day onwards up until now. The pressure that was needed to suffice the altered expectations from me always lurked around the corner and the dreadful feeling of writing stories from a unique metacalculus every single day still felt like yesterday.
I'm not going to shower this story with sugarcoated words because, honestly, it was really hard. Terrifying narratives that was made up in my head always lullabyed me to sleep, the frustrations I put unto myself for me to improve. And that tearful moment where I seem to have put disappointments in their eyes made me question “where did I go wrong?.”
However, you see, the motivation that keeps me going is the phrase of Ma'am Stella during our orientation was “Always find the heart of the story, because everyone is a writer, you just need to think on ways to become better from all of them.” And from that moment on, I realized that, the heart of the story needs to come from within.
I need not to be negative, but instead, with each passing day, I enjoy. They say that experiences are the key to learning and so, I grow from these experiences. From that moment on, I felt fulfillment whenever reporters ask me to write beyond my capacity. I can often do two to three stories at some point with only a few revisions and it felt like my greatest achievement. It was a blissful moment where I gain their trust, and I felt truly honored to be given such.
Now, you know what's sadder? It's leaving the family inside.
I thought at first that I could never befriend people at the office, they were all so stiff and they were all too focused on writing. I could hear the clacking of keyboards and with their headphones on, it was as if they all had their own businesses to mind. As well as, during my first few days, I felt like they cared less for us, my co-intern and I, and we were simply ghosts in our assigned computer areas and going home afterwards.
As time passed by, I got to be supervised under different beats every week. I felt at home during press forums; eat-ups and fast walks to hurry and go to the event; and I get to have a peek of different and jolly personalities of beautiful, handsome, and smart reporters. Plus, there were bonuses whenever I get to experience their video shoots with cute photographers.
The whole team is a family. You could feel their exchange of laughter, a definition of a happy family. For me, this is home; for I am more than grateful to be a part of it even just for a short period of time.
This experience molded my confidence, my capability to talk to people, my skills in writing, meeting new faces and gave me a thorough beautiful background behind the success of Davao City since life is here. It also changed my perspective towards life in the media.
If you are going to ask during my first days or weeks, I would say that I could leave the place unattached, but right now? I'm getting teary-eyed because more than 240 hours or a month and two weeks is more than enough to tell people that the humans inside the successful print everyday are amazing hard working individuals.
Furthermore, I'm not writing this just only for the grades but also to everyone who is going to plan on having their internship program in SunStar Davao, and that is, you would eat your words if you would say that you'll never miss it, because just the thought of ending this internship program of mine is so hard to let go.
I'm going to end this by saying that I already learned to find the heart of the story, and that is not only on the story itself, not only within you, but also the family inside that molded you.
Abigail Joyce C. Cahiwat, MSU-Marawi intern signing off.