Dagupan to hold children’s summit in journalism

DAGUPAN CITY – It’s all systems go for the three-day first-ever Children’s Summit on Journalism from Jan. 29-31 to be held at the Stadia in Barangay Lucao here with about 30,000 expected participants from different schools in Dagupan.

The project, a joint undertaking of the city government and the Department of Education (DepEd) is another first in this city, similar to the ones previously held summits on health and music in the past two years.

The summit, which has as theme “Empowering the millennials for nation-building through campus journalism” will be historic and the grandest because it will be the biggest so far with the number of participants and speakers from the national and local media invited to share their experiences and skills to budding journalists, according to Mayor Belen Fernandez, brainchild of the project.

“We thought of doing this project because we want to give journalism a push in this city, especially that Dagupan is a center of media in Pangasinan where most of local newspapers, radio and television stations operate,” Fernandez said.

There is also a long-time contest by the DepEd from the city, regional to national levels where students compete in journalism, she said, adding that this will prepare and equip their students with the necessary skills at no expense to them.

“We want our students to excel also in journalism similar to what we are doing for them in sports where their standing has tremendously improved in various competitions in the past years since our administration started to give them the necessary support,” Fernandez said.

The summit will be facilitated by the DepEd with Schools Division Superintendent Lorna Bugayong as chairman and it is open to high school and senior students from public and private schools and to Grades IV and V in the elementary level in this city.

Pangasinan fourth district Rep. Christopher De Venecia, who is himself a millennial journalist being a Young Star columnist of The Philippine

STAR and Chalk Magazine Lifestyle editor, is the keynote speaker.