SPJ @ CNHS: One of a kind

Jasper R. Catanduanes

In SY 2019-2020, Camachiles National High School in Mabalacat City, Pampanga creates history as it offers the first batch of SPJ students who were carefully selected through a tough qualifying examination.

Special Program in Journalism (SPJ) is one of a kind special program of the Department of Education (DepEd) which aims to develop the journalistic competencies and skills of student-journalists and to reinforce free and responsible journalism among educational institutions.

The program supports RA 7079 or the “Campus Journalism Act of 1991” concerning the development and promotion of campus journalism from elementary to tertiary levels.

Upon my assumption as the school’s SPJ coordinator, I embraced the idea of making our first batch of students equipped with the knowledge, skills, and experiences to affirm fundamental underpinnings of campus journalism.

This is to ready them to the real world of journalism – a world of critical and creative thinking, allowing them to enjoy the privileges of expressing one’s self.

With my first few months of daily encounter with my students, there are three things I learned, necessary for the improvement of the instructional practices in the curriculum. Allow me to use SPJ as an acronym.

1. Setting goals and objectives. A good writer has to plan everything. If he sets his mind to finish the task today, he has to effectively and efficiently manage time. Every seconds count. He has to read and read and read because you cannot write what you don’t know and you cannot know what you don’t read.

2. Patience is a virtue. Writing is a process. It is not an overnight skill. One has to undergo series of drafting, revisions, editing to achieve grammatically correct sentences which will turn into a paragraph and later to an article. Correct practice, proper mindset, and the willingness to learn are instruments to attaining effective written discourse.

3. Journalism is love. When you love something (or someone), you’ll never get tired of doing it. There’s no room for giving up. The purpose of campus journalism is to express, not to impress people and its readers.

With my humble experiences in campus journalism – from being a writer turned editor-in-chief, from being a coach turned school paper adviser, from being an ordinary classroom teacher turned coordinator of the special program – I hope this bunch of aspiring journalists will be exposed to various aspects of print and broadcast media.

Few years from now, I am personally confident that these young students will dominate press conferences, from division to national level. With mind full of knowledge and heart willing to learn, for sure, they will be the most accomplished individuals of their generation valuing the principles of truthfulness, accuracy, independence, fairness, impartiality, humanity, and accountability.

--oOo-

The author is SPJ Coordinator at Camachiles National High School, Division

of Mabalacat City, Pampanga.