Preparing for the DSPC

            Yeah! Today is December 11, 2011-a day before the Division Secondary Schools’ Press Conference. Honestly, I’m excited and a bit nervous. The upcoming DSSPC will surely be exhausting on my part especially that I’ll be engaging myself in more than one event. I’ll be in Editorial Writing-English, Feature Writing-English, Radio Broadcasting-English, and Tagisan ng Talino. Well, in Radio Broadcasting, I’m somewhat confident since we had a series of practices in school last week. And perhaps, it’s already my second time to join in such competition. Meanwhile, I’m really nervous for editorial writing and feature writing.

I’m still thinking of what are the possible topics that they’ll give. So far, for editorial writing, I’ve made my preparations for subjects like “PNoy vs. SC”, “Hospital Arrest of CGMA”, “K+12”, “Sex Education”, and “Promoting Digital Literacy Through campus Journalism”-the theme of this year’s DSSPC. Hopefully, I will win in all competitions that I’ll be joining. God bless to the PNHS delegation for the 2011 DSSPC. Let’s make our institution proud and bring our banner up to the RSPC, and if possible, up to the NSPC!

Battle of Words

             Today has been a very significant day for me. This is because this is the day of the 2^nd Voice of the Youth National Oratorical Competition-Division Level. This competition isn’t an ordinary one. Why? Simple. This school year, the Department of Education had cut down all competitions up to the division level only except for the Schools’ Press Conference.

        However, the Voice of the Youth Oratorical Contest is up to the National level. And there’s more. There are cash prizes not only for the contestant but also for the coach and the school. Indeed, such competition is very exciting. And what makes it more interesting for me is its nature as a public speaking tilt.

        Yeah, I really prepared hard for this. I even sacrificed a contest today just for it. And that contest isn’t ordinary. It’s a math quiz bee! Take note, it’s a math quiz! And yes, Math is my first love. Giving that contest up had been a very crucial decision for me.

        Anyway, back to the topic. I woke up early in the morning and prepared my clothes for the competition. It was actually a barong tagalong. Honestly, I would have preferred a suit because wearing barong tagalog for me is so itchy! But then, I had to wear such attire for it suits the theme.

        The first part of the competition was the interview portion. And, I would say that it was fine. I was able to answer all their questions at ease. Maybe, it’s because I really want to engage in conversations. After the interview portion, we had our lunch for an hour.

        Then, after the lunch break, the delivery of the oratorical piece or the oration proper immediately started. My number was 16. Yeah, I was really disappointed with that. Actually, whenever I’m in speaking contests, I always wish to draw a middle number. But then, I could not do anything about that so I just had to wait for the 15 contestants to deliver their pieces before I can go down and deliver mine.

        The oration proper was fine. I was able to deliver my piece well. I didn’t forget even a single word in my piece. I didn’t go over or beyond the allotted time. Everything turned out to be fine.

        Then, the moment of truth came in. It was the announcement of winners. The emcees announced the 3^rd placer. It wasn’t I. Then, they announced the 2^nd placer. Yeah, it was me. I was quite disappointed with that because only the champion shall advance to the cluster level. When they announced who the champion was as well as his garnered score, my agony got severe! Why? It’s because I found out that the difference of his score with mine is just 0.04%. Yeah, it’s a very small difference. It was really disappointing on my part but I could not do anything since the decision was final and irrevocable. Anyway, I can tell myself that I did my best.

        And that ended my journey in the 2^nd Voice of the Youth National Oratorical Competition.

Why Did It Still End Up in a Tie?

              “Why did it still end up in a tie?” Yeah! This was my reaction a while ago as soon as I heard from our coach that we got First place in the Division Statistical Quiz Bee but unfortunately, we tied up with Bayambang National High School. Okay, to clear things out. I guess, I should better discuss everything which should start with the nature of the contest.

                Actually, the said contest is a group quiz. Our team composed of three members. Each of us must take a written examination revolving around statistics of course. Then, our scores shall be added and the team who gets the highest score shall be declared champion.

                In the end, as I said, we our total score was recognized the highest but together with another school. So, we ended up breaking the tie. There were 5 questions given which were answered orally. The first four questions were fine because it required computation. However, the last question dictated the tempo of the tie-breaking round. The question did not anymore require computation. The question given sounded like a definition so it was like an identification type question. And the answer was “GNP or Gross National Product”. Yes, we weren’t able to get the correct answer. So, we were proclaimed 1^st runners-up.

                Ugh! After that, the three of us thought that only if we got even just a single item, we must have been declared champions. Only if…But at least, we learned something and that is GNP. And that ended our voyage during the Annual Division Statistics Quiz.