After only two weeks of training, Pisay English TV broadcasting team swept three major awards in the recently concluded National Schools Press Conference (NSPC) 2017 TV Broadcasting Competition in Pagadian City, Zamboanga Del Sur on January 22-25, 2017.

    The team composed of seven scholars: Althea Mella and Justin Ashley Naval as news anchors; Geneva Israel as field reporter; Bruce Imperial as script writer; Kim Williame Lee, Jra and Marie Isabelle Padua as video journalists and editors; and Ariel Benjamin Olaes as executive producer and director, expressed their joy and surprise upon being hailed the 7th best high school TV broadcasting team in the country “since among the 18 competing teams from different Philippine regions, [they] were apparently the least prepared,” Olaes explained.

    “When the Best Anchor and Best Reporter awards were announced and none from our team made it to the Top 7 of each category, we already lost hope,” Olaes responded when asked whether they were expecting the wins. “But one of us, Bruce [Imperial, who served as the script writer], was certain that we will win a place at least in the Best Script category, and indeed our script won as the 4th best,” he added.

     Naval also expressed that they were already satisfied with the 4th place finish in the Best Script category and did not expect to win in any other category: “In fact, we thought we could already go home,” he quipped. “We were even laughing at the thought of expecting a Best Development Communication award [because] we were not that convinced with our output. So when it was announced that we won the first place, we couldn’t help going wild!”

    Coach and The Bicol Scholar adviser, Kemuel Joseph Buitizon, explained that competing in the TV broadcasting event of this year’s NSPC was quite a challenge since he was only informed barely a month before the competition and had to compose a team abruptly since Pisay BRC has no TV broadcasting team in the past.

    “It was the first time this event was competed in NSPC because it used to be a National Festival of Talents (NFOT) event competed by DepEd schools. We were actually disadvantaged since Pisay has never joined the NFOT before, but determination and passion made reaping awards possible for the team even if our skills, knowledge and experience were really way behind our competitors,” Buitizon explained.

     Aside from the wins of the TV Broadcating team, Pisay’s official student publication in Filipino, Arab-Adab, has also reaped two awards in the Best School Paper contest, namely: 3rd Best Editorial Page and 6th Best Features Page. Mary Ann Templado, Arab-Adab adviser, received the awards.