2 minute read
Budding Journalists
By Samantha Abela
Education is not simply factual recall, addition of sums or a list of academic prizes. It is an experience that we live, a set of skills obtained by dipping our feet in unchartered waters with an open and inquisitive mindset. This was exactly the case for a number of Middle School students who took up a journalistic challenge posed by Ms Audrey Gauci, Young Reporters for the Environment coordinator in Malta.
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Henry Wang (Yr8), Jake Delia (Yr 7), Cikku Grioli (Yr 7), Samuel Schiavone (Yr 7) and Sean Friggieri (Yr7) went down to the Birgu Local Council and attended the ‘Responsible Coastal business Network Awards’ that formed part of the Zero Future Programme coordinated by the international NGO AKTI in partnership with GSD Marketing Ltd.
The students were briefed a day before and prepared questions for a number of important speakers at this event. They were greeted by the Birgu Local Council Mayor and upon arrival they prepared their tools of the trade: mobile phones, cameras, clipboards and pens. Displaying with pride their press pass, they approached first Ms Maria Micallef CEO of GSD. They also interviewed AKTI spokesperson and representative of the Responsible Coastal Business
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Editorial Know then thyself
October and November are important months for body consciousness. In an age when size zero and six-packs dominate the perception of an ideal (if frequently unachievable) body image, there is another form of body consciousness which can and should be promoted. This refers to checking breasts and testicles for cancer.
Cancer is a great leveler, transcending in its deadly grip age, gender, religion, class, sexual orientation and whatever other differentiation humanity can devise. The only way we can fight it is by being on the look out for it. Hence Pink October (Breast Cancer) and Movember (testicular Cancer).
Gone are the days when these things were not discussed in front of children. Today, specialists teach children, always within the age-appropriate limits, how to take care of their bodies. As they grow older we also teach them about the other genders. We believe that, once the initial giggling fits are over, information will stick. That information may, one day, save a life.
So, do not be afraid of a little embarrassment. Speak you your children, frankly. What’s a little discomfiture against the saving of a life?
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