Amidst pandemic, academic struggles: Who is ‘outstanding stude-journo’ Lorente?

FRANCINE IVANNA GABAY

OUTGONG EDITOR-IN-CHIEF JIBRIL Alleen Lorente was recognized as one of the Camilo Osias Arts Festival (CAMAF) Ten Outstanding Student Journalists, ranking fourth among campus journalists across the country, announced last March 27.

The said competition was organized by The National, the official publication of the National University, where Lorente also ranked fourth in News Writing and sixth in Editorial Writing, making him the lone Bicolano qualifier in the said group of awardees.

“We were gathered in a single Zoom meeting with our cameras on so that they can see us as we make our entries. We were all subjected to three writing tests: news, editorial, and sports writing. Then, a Google Drive folder for each participant was shared where we can place our outputs,” Lorente said in an interview.

He also shared that since he never had the opportunity to join the National School Press Conference during the face-to-face setup, joining CAMAF was a great opportunity for him to see what a national-level competition looks and feels like.

“I joined the competition because I had a bit of free time, and it was a national event. The fact that there were not that many opportunities to compete also made me join even more, especially that there was no registration fee,” he continued.

Aside from the said competition, Lorente also joined national competitions that were also conducted online, such as the Ditto Sarmiento Journalism Cup, where he ranked eighth in Feature Writing, and the National Campus Press Olympiad.

Lorente, who is currently in Grade 12 under the Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) strand, is not new to these kinds of competitions since he entered the field of campus journalism when he was still in the fourth grade.

“My first role was a photojournalist, then I became a copyreading and headline writer. The latter of which sent me to my first RSPC in Grade 6. I kept that role until Grade 9 since I became a news writer a year later. As a news writer, I managed to reach the top 5 in DSPC for two years in a row: 4th during Grade 10, and 2nd in Grade 11. Grade 11 also marked my first and last RSPC in high school,” he shared.

Lorente joined the publication the moment he entered Senior High School where he also served as the assistant head for #Breakaway, Pantograph’s intramurals special coverage, before becoming the EIC for School Year 2020-2021. He broke the three-semester hiatus in the Principal’s List when he became an awardee of such in 2019 when he was just a grade-11 learner.

“The special coverage for the 2019 intramurals was the first time I saw firsthand that ‘The Pantograph really does things differently than what I initially expected.’ It was such an interesting sight to see our issues being posted on our social media and Issuu accounts since it is the culmination of the pubmily’s efforts. Our articles will be read by people. As an EIC, it also gives me relief that ‘Finally, we’re done. For now, that is,’” he continued.

According to him, his academic performance benefitted from the skills that he learned as a campus journalist making it easier for him to write essays and research papers though there are times that he would joke about leaving the publication if he needs to write lots of articles.

“I already decided to join the publication since Grade 10, so when classes started last 2019, it was the first organization I approached when [the] recruitment opened. While I did consider the extracurricular points, I valued my time and my state even more - if I joined the publication and joined more organizations that needed much of my time, my commitment to those organizations would clash with one another, which might affect me negatively because of the stress and such,” Lorente shared.

He stressed that the SHS administrators must revisit the handbook and change the current pointing system since the members of the publication will only have an extra-curricular point if they were able to publish physical/online releases during the school year.

“I think it should be considered. After all, we don’t just write articles. We come up with the topics to write, we find people to interview. During our typhoon coverages, we still try to post updates even if the electricity goes out. During the COVID-19 watch, we wait for the official updates so that we can make ours. We don’t just write and edit, we also lead the staff,” he explained.

Lorente also said that campus journalists might run the possibility of being red-tagged, especially that the publication has been writing articles critical of the government since then. He’s also worried that trolls might attack the publication considering that they have more than 13,000 followers on Facebook.

“We emphasized heavily on the facts and evidence that each published article contained. Are those correct? Valid? Unbiased? Do we have enough evidence to support our claims? And so on,” Lorente shared.

Despite the implementation of the AntiTerror Law, he still encourages aspiring campus journalists to join the publication especially if they have the passion to write, learn, and help people through it.

“If you have the commitment to your publication, then what are you waiting for? In campus journalism, you don’t wait for good things to come, you are the one who looks for them. As someone who has been a campus journalist for years, I believe that it is worth a try,” he asserted.