Students Launch NMC Voice Paper
‘It was a great chance for me to make my dream come true’
Students of Nadi Muslim College have finally launched a newspaper club, to produce NMC Voice.
The basic idea was to instil and grow the students’ media literacy skills, says Chungki Lee, a year 12 international student who is the brainchild of the project.
“I have always been thinking to create a newspaper club in school because I’m interested in journalism and I wanted Nadi Muslim College students to develop their English skills and their ability of media literacy,” he said.
“I thought it was important for students to train themselves from an early age to grow their ability in media literacy. Reading a school newspaper will encourage students to read a normal newspaper like the Fiji Sun. I thought this was the first step for the students to learn what newspapers are all about.
He added that in March, this year he found out that the school is providing a seventh period for the students to do club activities.
There are a total of 20 students who are part of the club.
“It was a great chance for me to make my dream come true, so I started recruiting members to the club.”
Mr Lee uses Microsoft Word, to carry out the layout and design of the newspaper.
NMC Voice
NMC Voice will only focus on the events within their own school which would attract student interest and provide useful information and stories about those in the school. It would be a newspaper only for Nadi Muslim College.
Interest in Journalism
Mr Lee is a part-time reporter with Fiji Sun as a building phase toward his career pathway.
According to him, when he was in Korea, his dream was to become a football player.
“I joined the ‘Daejeon Citizen’ under 12 football club in year 5. Daejeon Citizen Football club is a K-league (Korea professional football league) team.
Though a talented center-back, he had to quit football as he tore the meniscus in his knee which halted his pursuit of that dream.
“I had to find something else I love, which was reading sports articles. Then I decided to study journalism and I found it very interesting, especially sports journalism.
“And also I like the rapid change in the media environment that would affect peoples’ lives massively. This is another point which caused me to have a lot of interest in journalism,” he said.
Career path
His first goal is to attain a qualification major in Media Communication and Journalism at the University in Korea before he becomes a journalist.
Partnership with Fiji Sun
He moved to Nadi and through Edupia (Fiji) Co Limited, he joined Fiji Sun as an intern.
“They knew I was really into journalism and newspapers which was a great honor to me. Joining one of the biggest newspapers in Fiji was like a ‘dream come true,” he said.
“I met some good friends and journalists at the Nadi bureau who guided me through what newspapers and journalism were all about and how to write a good article. The motivation has been great.
“I had the chance to write an interesting story and as my article was published in the newspaper, I officially became a part of Fiji Sun.” he said