Reviving our school paper in college remains the best thing in my education background.

When I entered the school I was, admittedly, still unsure whether I had picked the right college course. In my junior high school year my interest in writing peaked. Two enjoyable years in the campus paper followed. Most probably basing my choice on that, I went for Communication Arts since I was also interested in learning about mass media. And also because I procrastinated on my applications and missed out on my first school of choice, but didn’t want to wait a year or apply mid-term either, so I faithfully jumped in, enrolled and soon belonged to the best college family I’d ever had. But I digress…

I was sophomore when I got in the official college paper. It was generally exciting, if only for the idea of wielding the proverbial power of the pen at such an age. However, I found out that the paper had been prematurely shut down at the middle of the previous school year. Furthermore, it was discovered that school officials had been wanting to take over the paper for quite some time already… thus a quiet struggle between the students running it and the said officials who’d finally “won.” The creeps.

Soon it felt just like that: the school administration was in full control. It wasn’t good, at all. That kind of system went on until my senior year. It was at that time that I became chief editor, and it was that time that I resolved to change things: For one thing, the paper hasn’t been coming out regularly for the past years and I could feel the disinterest of the students themselves—and it shouldn’t be like that. It may have been just a student publication, yet it didn’t mean we were allowed to be lousy and just enjoy whatever prestige the label could add to our resumes after graduation.

So I rallied. Think Ces Drilon in a hostage crisis. Luckily my fellow staff members had the same sentiment and, cliche as it sounds, we worked hard to try and put the campus paper back onto the pedestal. It was a humble success, for there remained much to do when our tenures ended, but we were proud of our achievements: At the very least people actually began reading copies since then!

A lot has already changed for the better for The Lance. To date, I remain in service to the paper. Once a year we sit with the outgoing editors to help screen the incoming staff. I always look forward to it. It’s always a fun, wonderful visit.

And I never get tired reminiscing.