Holy Cross College has always stood by and fought for the truth and the liberty that comes with it. Glaring proof of this is the establishment of the school’s TV program, Usapang Millennial, and radio station Radio Libertas, under the administration of HCC President Atty. Dennis C. Pangan.
The school has also been giving its full support to the four official student publications: Crucian Star, run by grade school campus writers; Crucian Ray, run by junior high school journalists; Crux Magna and The Crusader, managed by senior high school journalists and college student journalists, respectively.
This September 18 and 25, the school organized a two-part basic journalism training to intensify the journalistic skills of the campus writers.
Themed “Back to Basics,” the training focused on four categories: news writing, feature writing, editorial writing and photojournalism.
Intro to responsible journalism
Angelica Marie Simpao, assistant head of the multimedia department (MMD) and the publication adviser of the Crusader, kicked off the training with her lecture on the role of campus journalists and the basics of news writing.
“Let’s use this platform to inform, educate and entertain our fellow students and be of service to [them],” Simpao reminded the campus journalists in attendance. “Kaya meron tayong campus publications, it is a way for the students to voice out their opinions,” she added.
Jean Aquino, a public relations officer who writes feature profiles for clients, explained that a feature story should be well-researched and well-written so that it aligns with its objectives to “educate, entertain and have authority.”
For her part, former news producer and assistant marketing head of the HCC MMD Mikah Amparo discussed editorial and opinion writing. The lecture focused on the significance of having “informed opinion” and the responsible practice of the right to speak.
“Bakit tayo naging journalists? Because there are some things we want to say that [others] cannot. Simply because might not have the platform. Simply because they don’t have the courage. But we have those as journalists. We can exercise that by writing good news reports [and] especially good editorial pieces,” said Amparo.
On photojournalism, resource speaker Gerald Gloton centered on telling pandemic stories through a camera lens. Gloton is currently a photojournalist and reporter for Pampanga Provincial Information Office.
One of the challenges in being a journalist amid a pandemic, Gloton shared, is the restriction of movements. Despite this, “you have to treat this challenge [as an] opportunity,” the photojournalist advised.
He also tackled the basics of mobile photojournalism and maximizing smartphones to take pictures that tell relevant stories.
The speakers for this two-day seminar were campus journalists as students.
‘Crucial role’
HCC campus writers also shared their viewpoints on the importance of journalism and their role as young journalists.
“Meron din tayong crucial na role pagdating sa kanya-kanya nating community. That is to observe … Tagapagmasid, tagapagmatyag doon sa nangyayari sa ating society … Nagiging crucial ‘yun kasi maaari tayong makapag-contribute ng changes,” Aaron Sombillo, chief editor of the Crusader said during the seminar.
As of writing, there are 97 campus journalists in Holy Cross College from grade school through college. The publications are still accepting applications.
To read the latest issues of our campus papers, go to our homepage, then click the tab HCC Community Media.
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Holy Cross College is the leading higher educational institution in the eastern part of Pampanga. One of its core values is Libertas (Liberty), which the school upholds for the sake of true freedom.
To know more about the school with a heart, visit our official Facebook page.