2018 DIVISION CONFERENCE ON SCHOOL PAPER MANAGEMENT

The Schools Division of San Juan City held a three-day Conference on School Paper Management last May 2-4, 2018 at the SDO Conference Hall, San Juan.

The scheduled conference was planned last April 11 when Mrs. Marnelli B. Tolentino, Education Program Supervisor in English, and Mrs. Eulafel A. Pascual, Education Program Supervisor in Filipino called for a meeting with the School Paper Advisers from eight public elementary schools, one private elementary and the lone public secondary school in San Juan.

This conference aims to improve teaching strategies in Journalism, enhance the knowledge of the School Paper Advisers and to present school paper examplars.

The initial total number of slots for the participants was 25 from 2 delegates from each school (1 for Filipino and 1 for English).

Mr. Virgilio A. Santos gave the welcoming remarks and inspirational message during the opening program. After the program, the conference immediately proceeded as the first speaker, Richard Reyes – Photographer from Philippine Daily Inquirer, shared his expertise in photography. He also gave some key pointers on how and what to shoot. Mr. Reyes discussed the kind of photos that should be used in the school paper and how these affect the readers.

When the discussion was over, the participants showed their possible banner photos for the upcoming school year for their respective school papers. Mr. Tan and Reyes critiqued each photo and gave certain reminders.

The second speaker was Mr. Ramon Rafael Bonilla, a Sports Reporter for Business Mirror. He tackled the common mistakes of what kind of news articles must be seen in the front page. Mr. Ramon also gave an exercise for the SPAs to test their levels in terms of writing a news article.

Later on, Mr. Bonilla shared his knowledge in writing a sports article. In this session, he deliberately emphasized the secret ingredients for a winning sports article. And as what the most of the sports writers always tells that a sports writer must not become biased whenever covering a sport event. The SPAs had the chance to present their work and was critiqued afterwards.

During the second day of the conference, a very ecstatic writer and layout artist for FAR Publications – Mr. Reggie Rey Fajardo, imparted his skills in poetry and prose and opinion writing.

Mr. Fajardo challenged the SPAs in a five-minute poetry writing from a theme of “Wala akong maisip.” Most of the SPA’s blissfully cited their thoughts for the said theme. He also added that it is important to use the unlimited mood for creativity whenever writing a poem.

For his second part, Sir Reggie discussed the “nut graf” style of writing an opinionated article. Each SPA submitted their opinion for the approaching SK elections this May as part of the activity.

In the afternoon, a very young, talented and promising Writer/Researcher for PNP-Public Information Office – John Christopher Rafols, presented essential tips in making a radio broadcast script. Although it was too long to discuss, he managed to add the steps in writing a TV Broadcast script.

To test whether the SPAs learned something from him, he gave them one hour to prepare a five-minute radio broadcast script from five different news articles and perform it live. The SPAs performed their best to show that San Juan City is capable of forming a competitive radio broadcasting team in the next 2 years.

On the third day of the conference, they really reserved the best for last. Mr. Raymund “Rhandee” Garlitos, considerably one of the best in the country in the field of Journalism for 15 years and counting, took the floor to discuss the “YESes and the Nos” inside a school paper.

“Kung gusto niyong manalo, maglabas kayo ng issue o problema hindi puro panalo at pagdaraos ng mga activities sa school niyo. You have to be unique,” Mr. Galitos emphasized during the conference.

He briefly tackled some important information when writing a powerful editorial article for the school paper. Mr. Garlitos opened the floor for questions at the end of his session to address the concerns and queries of the SPA’s.

Mr. Alvin Hizon – Junior Media Analyst for Isentia PH an Online Editor for Kicker Daily News, was the last speaker for the conference. With his remarkable background in lay-outing, he shared some tips on how to effectively balance and select appropriate news inside a school paper. Mr. Hizon also gave some advices in writing a Science news article and Science Feature story. After the tips given by Mr. Hizon, the SPAs presented their school paper examplars. The entire group gave some comments on each presentation.

Mr. Garlitos and Alvin Hizon gave the final comment and tips on what are to be seen in a potential winning School Paper.

Mrs. Tolentino and Mrs. Pascual awarded all the speakers and the participants during the last day. Selected participants received a special award for being top-notched in every given activity.

The food served in three days (Lunch and PM snacks) were on time and healthy. The SPAs will have their chance to share what they have learned from the conference as the School Year 2018-2019 opens in June.

Photos from the Event: