Investigative Journalism signing off - sir Ron Gagalac

We had our last meeting of Investigative Journalism with Sir Ron (Gagalac) last October 16, 2011. He allotted 1 hour of our 3-hour clas with an inspiring discussion about the inner or enveloped lessons within our class aside from the lessons proper.

                He even referred to us as “his diamonds”. It was cheesy and touching at the same time. Haha! He explained, Diamonds are hard to be found. Diamonds would start as dirty stones that are even hard to be noticed. It would go through a lot of process and cleaning method before you see its beauty. And when it is made into a jewelry, it will forever look magnificent, like how Rose’s necklace was when it was found at the bottom of the sea. And that is why, “Diamonds are forever.”

                Like diamonds, sir Ron refined us into one. I will keep these all in my mind.

Think before you speak

It was apparently enclosed in every recitation that we do. The recitation depends on the hand outs that he would assign us every week. We would have one quiz and recitation before every class starts. And afterwards, he’ll have his discussion. He said, we had always done that. Even when we chose to say “pass”, he said that chuckling. He knows there is still knowledge on our minds, we were just overcame by fear and rattled.

Humility above all

“Magkakapantay-pantay tayong lahat dito” (We are all equal in this class) said sir. Even the smartest in this class if he did not study his notes, the usual loser in the class who studied would come first, he explained. He wanted us to not feel inferior with the class standing in each of us.

Independent

This one which he referred to us by not depending to our classmates to be able to pass the class. He took for example all of us who failed from the prelim and passed in the midterms. It was really disappointing the time he talked to us at the end of the prelim. He said if we’re still going to fail our midterms even if we perfect the finals, we’re still not going to be able to pass the subject. And that maybe motivated us.

Never assume and presume

        He quoted this “When in doubt, always ask.” He said never think that you will not attend the next class just because you thought there will be nothing new to do. He’s right, once in a while we had games/activities that are unannounced, still has something to do with the lesson. He also imitated my classmates’ usual statements, “Ay, akala ko walang current events [sa quiz]” (I thought currents events will not be included in our quiz) with a scratch on the head. :P

Now, with Hannah

Lastly,

Keep in mind, Service

                For him, one of the main points of the subject is to make us trained and convinced to do service for the country. Like him, he’s doing the service for the country as a reporter. And we witnessed that and would always will. Not just because we see him do his reports in the television but we have became part of it, in a way that he had skipped some of our classes and we are affected by it. Let’s say that we actually rejoice every time that happens, but afterwards he has first-hand lessons to share to us and I really appreciate those stories he shared.

I can only share so much in this blog post and there are a lot more stories and lessons sir Ron has shared to us, some are requested to be just between him and the class. He really has the passion both in teaching and as a reporter and I salute him for that. ♥

I cropped ate Kares here (sorry, ate Kares!) and tried to put some words. haha!

If I remember it right, he said something that goes, "Kung titigal ako, sino pa ang maghahatid ng katotohanan sa bayan." (If I would stop in what I do, who-else would bring the truth for the country.) He was referring to his job as a reporter along the risks it has.