Junior journalists follow the beat of tomorrow
or the past three years, the Manila Bulletin (MB) has been consistent in its mission to make reading an enjoyable habit for kids through the annual MB Junior Journalists workshop.
The program, which combines educational, creative, and personal enrichment courses cum recreation introduces the kids to a new and broader concept and interest in reading and even involves them in actual newspaper production.
During the planning stage of this project, the MB’s Corporate Social Responsibility Department identified the benefits we wished to instil in every kid during the fourhour, eight-day activity. How can we present reading and writing as the main objective of the program without repelling off our target audience.
What we know is, since it was vacation time, we didn’t want the kids to say “keep us off the usual boring school stuff please.” We found ways to make the whole experience fun, entertaining, while not sacrificing the learning experience.
We listed traits such as building individual character, confidence and skills through a wide range of activities. We also wanted them to foster personal growth and impart the values of responsibility in their daily tasks. We wanted them to learn how to go outside their comfort zones, develop self-esteem and leadership skills and to discover new interests.
And to add further integrity into the whole program, we engaged our editors and heads of the different sections and departments of the Manila Bulletin organization to be the members of our faculty.
The next question was: how do we convince parents to enrol their kids? We figured that the program should have school related benefits such as that the learning they will get from this class can be very useful for their school projects and presentations, enhancement of their reading and writing skills, better English comprehension, improvement in self expression and awakening of their analytical mind.
What made this adventure gratifying was the happiness we saw on the faces of every