Building the nation’s next generation of critical thinkers

When public school teacher Judyliza Panilag started serving as school paper adviser of Langtad Elementary School in the City of Naga in southern Cebu, one of her main goals was to develop winners among her pool of student writers in the annual campus journalism tilt participated in by different schools.

But after being exposed to the world of journalism through training and workshops in the last four years, Panilag said she learned that training the students to be writers also means building the next generation of watchdogs and critical thinkers.

“These children need to develop critical thinking skills and become socially aware at this stage in their lives because if we don’t do that, who will become the future watchdogs of our society?” said Panilag, the school’s English coordinator and the auditor of the School Paper Advisers Association of the City of Naga.

Panilag, along with fellow school paper advisers and coaches, partnered with Cebu Daily News to organize the Siloy Campus Journalism Workshop. Participants were 120 students from Langtad Elementary School, Cepoc Elementary School, Jaguimit Elementary School and Tagjaguimit Elementary School.

It was the first time the school invited media practitioners as speakers and facilitators for a campus journalism workshop.

Carmel Loise Matus and Cris Evert Lato, both correspondents of Philippine Daily Inquirer and its sister publication CDN, delivered lectures and workshops on news writing and feature writing while CDN photographer Lito Tecson handled the photojournalism session. CDN editorial assistant and sports writer Calvin D. Cordova shared tips and tricks on how to write sports news.

Future journalists

Participants are current and potential staff members of the official school paper, Kasikas.

Catlyn Rose Laurente, 11, started writing feature stories last year.

She hopes to become a writer in the future.

“I like to write stories which have impact on the lives of people. The kind of stories that will inspire people. Writers are there for a reason, and that is to gather information so the public will know,” said Laurente, a grade five student of Langtad Elementary School.

Laurente said journalists are important in society because they are responsible in telling the public the truth.

Her friend, Mike Lyndon Navales, 10, likes to write sports stories and is interested to interview Olympians and athletes who can inspire people to be better in their fields of expertise.

Navales said he learned that to be a journalist means paying careful attention to details and to always research about the subjects of the story.

“I am still hesitant to write because my grammar is not perfect, and everything is still new to me. But I think if I will continue to practice (writing), I will become better,” Navales said.

Panilag said what the students learned from media practitioners will further develop their writing skills and “will provide us with an edge” during the press conferences.
For Panilag, the school plays a crucial role in molding the students to become efficient information gatherers especially in the age of social media.

“Their exposure in campus journalism will help them distinguish which is real and which is fake because they are trained to get the facts, gather details, and verify information,” said Panilag.

 

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