Five campus journalists of MDSF’s Sagradan Penpushers will be heading to Cagayan de Oro City this coming July after being crowned as champions in Online Publishing-English in this year’s edition of the Regional Schools Press Conferences (RSPC) held in San Jose City National High School in the City of San Jose, Nueva Ecija last May 27, 2023.
Kaycee Cruz, Eda Robles, Hannah Ponsaran, Phoebe Salvador, and Ram Tenorio emerged as victors as they bested all of Central Luzon’s best of the best online publication teams coming from the 20 divisions of Region III. After weeks of hard training courtesy of the combined efforts of the Schools Division of Bulacan and MDSF, they were able to deliver a scintillating performance during the contest despite of the internet connection woes brought by the impending arrival of typhoon Betty.
“For me, it’s more of chemistry of the team over competitiveness,” said Cruz. For Robles on the other hand, “Aside from being competitive, it is also important to have fun while working on the task to forget the pressure that the team was experiencing.”
For Ponsaran, an incoming senior high student and a presscon rookie, “It helped me gain a lot of confidence and experience that I can utilize with the team in the Nationals and for next year’s press conferences.
“We are very grateful for all the support given to us by the school, from the logistics to prayers and emotional support. And with the skills that these campus journalists have, we were able to build that chemistry that did not only revolve in competitiveness, but with the team camaraderie as well. Yes, we may be having fun during trainings, but each one of them knew their respective roles and once the simulation begins, they are all in career mode”, said Sir Vhon Joseph Solomon, the School Publication Adviser (SPA) and coach of the winning team.
After two weeks of much deserved rest, the online team is back on its intensive trainings as they will take a shot of the elusive crown in the National Schools Press Conferences (NSPC) slated this coming July 17-21 in Cagayan de Oro City, as Region X being the host this year.
“We’ll make sure that we will be very prepared to compete, and we promise to do our very best being the representative of our school, Team Bulacan, and Central Luzon”, said Tenorio being the lone male team member.
Aside from the Online Publishing team, the school’s Collaborative Publishing English team also competed during the RSPC in Nueva Ecija. Though falling short of the podium finish, the team of Alexis Nuesca, Rency Santos, Khrista Inot, Gielenne Salvador, and Rhys Malacas made the school proud of their performance in the said category. The Collab team remains a contender next year as Nuesca and Santos still a part of the core group.
“The Penpushers will definitely be back next presscon season, and we will assure the Sagradan community that we’ll remain a force to reckon with in the field of campus journalism, and in the upcoming press conferences in the future. Not just to compete, but to show everyone the essence and importance of campus journalism. For now, our focus is to deliver our best performance in the Nationals”, said SPA Solomon.