Bacolod Tay Tung High School 3rd Year students, the Clarion Staff, and English teachers attended the Journalism Seminar-Workshop 2008 last July 4, 2008. The seminar-workshop was sponsored by the Clarion Staff which was organized and made possible by the efficient and energetic Clarion Adviser, Ms. Sharon Masa.

The event was divided into two parts – the Journalism Seminar and the Journalism Workshop. The Journalism Seminar, which was held in the morning at the Audio Visual Room (AVR), started at 8 a.m. with a prayer through a song entitled “Amazing Grace” led by Kara Erika Amaguin and Joan Rachel Lim of 4th Year B, followed by the opening remarks of Mrs. Elvira Peñaroyo, and the inspirational talk of Mrs. Dy Kian Bee. Mrs. Dy’s message truly motivated the students in discovering themselves, realize their potentials and accomplish their goals. This was also followed by the introduction of the resource speaker by Ms. Sharon Masa. The resource speaker was Ms. Maggie Mañego, Editor of SunStar Cebu and Consultant of SunStar Bacolod. Ms. Mañego earned her degree in Mass Communications and M.A. from the University of the Philippines and considered “writing” to be her intense “passion”. She conducted the seminar by defining the real meaning of Journalism, and presented the three general types of news articles namely the news story, the feature story, and the editorial or opinion through a Power Point Presentation. She explained the important characteristics and components needed to make good and interesting news, feature and editorial articles. Ms. Mañego also introduced the characteristics of a good journalist and accentuated the fact that journalism is simply the “love for words”. She finally ended her presentation with an interesting quote from Mark Twain: “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is like the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.” Indeed, Ms. Mañego had undoubtedly done a great job in imparting her knowledge about Journalism and in sharing her experiences in writing to the students.

Ms. Mañego’s second part training is the Journalism Workshop that took place at one o’clock in the afternoon in the library. It was participated by the Clarion Staff with Mrs. Sharon Masa, the Clarion Adviser. The main objective of the workshop was to develop and enhance the writing skills of the editorial staff for a better Clarion. Ms. Mañego discussed the essentials of writing good news and feature stories. She also explained the requisites necessary to create a good page design or layout. After the discussion, she made the editorial staff compose news and feature stories and come up with their own page layout. The students exceptionally did well by giving their best output in the said activities. The Journalism Workshop really served as a great training for the editorial staff in preparation for the challenges that are soon to face them along the way while working for the school publication.

Indeed, the Journalism Seminar-Workshop 2008 was a total success. It was exactly what the Clarion Staff had been dreaming to come true. If it had not been for the support of the Administrators, teachers, Ms. Sharon Masa, and Ms. Maggie Mañego, the event would not possibly have taken place. Nothing can ever be compared to the precious knowledge acquired by the students in the field of Journalism and the important lessons learned by the editorial staff in the realm of writing and publication. All was done for the students’ journalistic improvement and for the editorial staff’s enhancement. The entirety of these is, indeed, for the Clarion to propel for a better and well appreciated publication.