The Philippine Information Agency (PIA) in the province of Siquijor has supported the Department of Education's work immersion program, enabling it to serve for the first time at least four vibrant, goal-oriented Grade 12 students from the Siquijor Provincial Science High School (SPSHS).

It is both a blessing and a great accomplishment to have them work at the PIA Siquijor Information Center, even for a brief time and in the face of other challenges they have to face, not to mention the tons of paperwork, research, portfolios, and other school projects they should comply. This also enables PIA to teach and imbibe in them the knowledge of how the agency operates in a real setting and better understand the art and significance of communication and responsible sharing of information. 

PIA-Siquijor is grateful to the school's mentors led by Principal Arvin Magpiong for recognizing PIA as one of their partners, as well as to this group of creative and smart students who accepted the responsibilities and took on the tasks and challenges thrown at them.

Why PIA? What are your expectations? What can you offer? 

Allow me to share the essays written on the first few days of their ten-day work immersion with the PIA Siquijor about their views and opinion of the program, their expectations, why they chose PIA, and what they believe they can contribute to the company. I have high hopes for them because they are from a renowned science high school that is known for producing intelligent and talented students.  Indeed, I was incredibly impressed by their attitude and approach towards work. Kudos to you guys! May your tribe increase. 

My views and expectations about work immersion

by Chrislin Barba

I am a Grade 12 student at Siquijor Provincial Science High School taking the academic strand Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS). As a HUMSS student, I am interested in writing stories, poems, and news articles. I want to know how information is being disseminated to a large audience and how to ensure that the information being conveyed is true and ethical. 

My views about work immersion are that it is essential for Grade 12 students as it allows us to experience the actual work in the workplace and learn new things. Work immersion enables the students to acquire and develop the skills of teamwork, communication, attendance and punctuality, productivity and resilience, initiative and proactivity, judgment and decision-making, dependability and reliability, attitude, and professionalism. It enables us to have a good attitude towards work and it hones our capabilities so that we can be prepared for any path that we will soon take. 

As a student who is interested and who has been wanting to improve her skills in writing, I chose the Philippine Information Agency as my work immersion agency. I am well aware that PIA is the official public information arm of the government of the Philippines and part of its mandate is to provide timely and relevant information to citizens.

The reasons why I chose PIA as my work immersion agency are that I want to improve my capabilities in writing and how to gather and disseminate relevant information to the public. I also want to experience different fields of information dissemination and learn techniques and tips for writing news articles. I believe that I can only accomplish all those things in this agency with the guidance and support from the PIA staff.

My expectations from this agency are that it can help me mold my capabilities along with my confidence in facing large numbers of people, as that is my biggest weakness. I believe that PIA will help me achieve more things than I expected to, as this kind of field is very interesting especially as it is relevant to what our government is doing. I expect a lot from my supervisors that they can help me learn and experience new things that can help me in the future if I ever choose this type of field as my career later on. 

Hopefully, my work here in this agency will give me more knowledge and experience, as experience is the best tool for learning quickly.  Work immersion is beneficial to us students as it serves as our preparation. 

Being able to observe and experience the work that I chose is a big opportunity for me, making it easier for me to choose my course in college as this program is similar to what I have planned to take. In time, I will learn critical skills in my chosen work immersion and enhance my repertoire as part of my experience. As of now, I will try my best to do my part to learn, digest, and reflect. 

Entering PIA 

by Ezra A. Calibo

I am a Grade 12 student of Siquijor Provincial Science High School in the strand of Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS). The work immersion program is implemented to expose us graduating students to real life work experience. This is an opportunity for me to acquire not only knowledge and skills but also further gain a sense of practicality and valuable experience in my preparations for my curriculum exit.

As HUMSS students, we are constantly given activities that help us hone our communication and critical thinking and understanding skills. The demands and expectations of this strand led me to bear in mind the essence of engaging myself in the awareness of issues concerning my environment and the people around me. So when the time came where we had to choose a workplace for our work immersion, the Philippine Information Agency (PIA) instantly came to my mind.

I am aware how PIA is involved in the dissemination of information regarding government programs, projects, and services. The nature of its work mainly focuses on development communication and the provision of timely, accurate, and truthful information. With these, I believe my work experience with PIA will initially develop me as a student who will look at the world with so much eagerness to learn and grow. I know I will be in for a ride with the paperwork, writing, reporting, video presentations, and many more. I trust these will help me in my future endeavors in the career path I would take. I look forward to learn more about the work of PIA and that my ten-day experience be filled with new information and adventure.

The PIA can help mold me into a student who will make great use of her competencies and will face work with a positive attitude and enthusiasm. This stage is yet another part of life's intricate and complex process and I will gladly explore every part of it.

Why PIA is right for me?

by  Charliz Grace Angelique Gom-os

The work immersion program gives opportunities to Grade 12 students to be able to develop their abilities. The program also lets students have a taste of work and use their knowledge and skills to contribute to their work.

When discussing where we would wish to experience our immersion, my teacher had asked me why I wanted to have my work immersion in Philippine Information Agency (PIA) Siquijor. I’m a HumSS student, and I have grown to love reading and writing ever since I was a kid. I chose PIA because everything about it piqued my interest in reading and writing and disseminating news.

PIA, as an institution that values information dissemination, can help me hone my skills in writing and collecting valuable information. I know that I can have the opportunity to enhance my capabilities in reading and writing and get to utilize it to help me in accomplishing daily tasks. Also, I have immense respect for the work they do for the Siquijodnons and wish to learn from them in terms of information dissemination.

Being able to create and share news is something I really like to do, and being in an environment that practices information collection and dissemination is a dream of mine. I also know that in this field, I will meet many talented, respectable, and smart people whom I can look up to and follow their teachings.

I have high hopes and many expectations that I know will be met. One of my expectations is to learn new things and practice my skills. Writing and information dissemination have so much more to it than what meets the eye. I truly want to learn and be taught everything this field has to offer. It won’t be a walk in the park but I know I’ll get to learn something valuable and collect worthwhile experiences. I expect to be able to learn how the PIA operates, such as how they collect the news and how they write and share it, being a reliable source of information in Siquijor. 

Lastly, I expect to finish this immersion being knowledgeable enough to know how to write news reports, be a better writer, and learn how the PIA manages to be an important voice of Siquijor. I know with the many talented and amazing people in this field, I can be equipped with the knowledge that I need to finish this immersion with much more learnings and improvements in my abilities that can help me in the future.

Getting real world experience, knowledge

by Mairi Isy R. Kilat
 

“Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”

When we talk about our future, some of us are terrified, while others are eager, because no one knows what lies ahead of us. On a regular basis, work immersion helped me grow stronger and be more resilient.

As a Grade 12 student pursuing the Humanities and Social Sciences strand, it is critical for me since it helps me to get real-world experience and knowledge. In my viewpoint, work immersion is an educational tool that helps students improve their skills in a variety of vocations, enabling us to grow as individuals for a brighter future.

Through work immersion, students are exposed to and familiarized with the working world in their area of study to improve their abilities. We were fortunate to be selected as the first group of SPSHS students to participate in a work immersion program with the Philippine Information Agency in Siquijor.

Because it was still new to me, PIA was not eally my first choice. However, when I learned that PIA is associated with news dissemination, my ears perked up immediately. I have high hopes for the PIA staff in terms of honing my abilities and preparing me to work someday. I'm anticipating a very welcome and wonderful atmosphere to surround us, and I'm hoping that everything goes just as planned. Everything takes time. I am confident that the Philippine Information Agency-Siquijor team will lead us to accomplishing our goals for this work immersion program. (RAC/PIA7 Siquijor with essays from SPHS work immersion students)