(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.

To officially begin this interview, may I ask what's your primary language that you feel most comfortable
using? Well, it depends for what purpose. For me, it's usually English. So English, okay.

So perfect. Ma'am, may I know your full name for this interview? My full name is Miss Sita. It's a married
name, right? But I don't have a valid ID for this married name.

Ah, Sita. Yes, ma'am. Nice to meet you.

How young is Miss Sita? Twenty-eight. Oh, twenty-eight. So very young, ma'am.

Do I still need to say my full name? No, it's okay, ma'am. You can just be known as Miss Sita. Miss Sita, who
is twenty-eight, how long have you been in your profession? And if you can, what is your profession? How
long, ma'am? Since twenty-eight, ma'am.

Seven years, ma'am. Seven years. So you've been a teacher for seven years? Yes, seven years, ma'am.

May I ask where? So, I started in Native Progressive High School from twenty-eighteen until December
twenty-twenty-one. So, after that, I started working in Native National High School. But, okay, since on
May twenty-twenty, there was a problem in the eighth grade.

So, I started in Native Progressive High School in twenty-eighteen. Twenty-eighteen until December
twenty-twenty-one. After that, I started working in Native National High School from January twenty-
twenty-two up to present.

Although on paper, it's March twenty-twenty-two because there was a problem in the HR, the division
office. They had a misunderstanding. Officially, it's March twenty-twenty-two.

Okay, ma'am. So, you've been working in Native National High School for more or less three years. So, is it
okay if you can describe what a typical day or week is in Native National High School and what are your
roles? What would be a typical day or week in Native National High School? How can I describe it? Well,
it's challenging.

Even just the thought of working in Lazy High. It's the biggest high school in the region. And it's the most
popular school in the region.

So, it's challenging with the thought that I have to live up to the expectation of being one of the teachers
there. So, I really have to do my best. It's not relaxing.

It's not relaxing. That's right. Yeah, but it's not as scary as I thought it would be when I was still not
working there.

Yeah. Because before that, I used to hear stories that it's challenging. But actually, working there, it's not
as scary as I thought.

So, ma'am, from what I understand, you're a teacher at the same time. What are your extracurricular
activities? Well, I coach the student journalists there. I'm sorry.

One more time. I coach the student journalists there. So, they're the Late Agent.

It's a competition. Coaching for the journalism in Leyte High, can you remember any memorable
moments? It could be good or bad, but despite it being hard, there must be some memorable moments
that you want to share. Well, the most memorable moments are training with my mentees and then
winning with them.

Those are the most memorable memories. So, with that memory, would you like to say something else?
Oh, you were asking also the negative side? Yeah. You can share, ma'am, if you want to divulge in that.

It was just the preparation for press conferences and the provision that we're getting. For example, we
have to attend the press conference outside the region or in the nationals, and then the budget is not yet
there. Sounds very common.

And then, in school, whenever we have to train students, we always have to shell out money. There's no
budget for money there. Let me ask about that.

It's usually financial problems. So, that seems to be a common thing, especially in public or government.
They always reimburse us.

They expect us to participate in these activities, but they don't. We have to spend our own money first. So,
yes, ma'am.

We still do it because it's our love, our commitment for the students. So, from what I'm understanding,
one of the main problems that you face is financial burden and pressure. Aside from that, do you
encounter problems on the student side or on the admin part of this exchange? Do they have problems?
Are they also supportive or not? When it comes to student publication? Yeah.

What do you mean? Supportive in what? In the admin or the students. What kind of problems do you
encounter with them? In what aspect? Do the students lack people? Are they not motivated? Do they lack
seminars? Are those problems usual? I was just wondering if you face the same issues. In a general sense,
not just in student publication? No, I mean in your mentees.

Ah, okay. So, problems with the admin. Do you have any? It's the same.

Financial. Sometimes, we have to shell out our own money. For example, in faculty, we have to shell out
our own money just for us to be provided with that.

Then, in the janitor, we have to shell out our own money just for us to be provided with that. Aside from
the financial aspect, the slow action towards alleviating the burden of teachers. Teachers are always
feeling overloaded with tasks.

Instead of focusing on teaching, we have to do a lot of documentations. It's a positive thing. Some people
have died.

But they're saving money. They don't want to hire people for that. Compared to other countries, they're
always focused on teaching.

That's right. Despite all those complications and problems, what kind of deadlines do you have in your
student publication? Do you release newsletters every semester? What seems to be your schedule for the
entire publication? Well, usually the strict deadlines that we have are the ones that are connected to the
press conferences. It's really strict.

It requires us to sign a school paper. That's really the requirement. There's a memo.

But in school, we have our free time when we can post, when we can produce. There's no condition that if
we don't do this or that, we won't be able to provide anything. It's just when we're going to publish.
But despite that, we still try to produce. So despite all of that, do you think you're able to handle your
deadlines? Yes. With respect to the press conference, yes.

But when it comes to the publication in school, the posts or printed output, sometimes it depends on the
editor-in-chief. I'm curious. What is your role exactly in student publication? What's your position? Well
now, coach.

Coach. Just a little, this is what happened. In the past years, we had a lot of school paper advisors.

And then, just last year, I think it was around summer vacation, we all sat down and I think we said, we
were able to get an advisor for English and for Filipino. So it's not me, it's someone else, so I'm just
supposed to be a coach. Until now, it's not official because we haven't yet received a memo about that.

It's supposed to be a memo from the school principal. Until now, it would still be considered a school
paper advisor because we haven't yet received a memo. But it's supposed to be, from what I've read last
year, it's supposed to be just one advisor.

Hmm. On written paper, we don't have one yet. But for the advisors, the main role is just to be a coach.

Hmm. For those who are working on paper, it's usually the big post last year advisor. Yes.

Because I've heard a lot of challenges like financial, especially financial. May I ask, why do you still
continue being a coach despite all of these challenges? Well, the number one reason is the passion is
there. Yes.

And then, of course, the second reason is for career growth. Yes. It's a plus point when you participate in
those.

And it's also for promotion, especially when we win. We can use it for documentation, as an additional
documentation for our promotion. That's it.

But, yes, it's a mix of those two reasons. Passion for journalism and then for helping students. And then at
the same time, it's also for ourselves, for career growth, additional learning, and then for promotion, of
course.

To be frank, we're working, we're trying to earn for a living. Yes. So, if we get promoted, we get more
money for our family.

Yes. And that's right. So, I'm also curious, when you're a coach, right now, from what I can gather, how
many people are you coaching? Well, right now, it's just one because it's the only one left.

In the press conferences, only one person is required in the region and the national conference. Wait.
Yeah, only one proceeds, but top five are mentioned.

But you have coached more than one student, even in the past? In the division level, I used to coach more.
And then the awarding comes, whoever wins, especially the top one, that's the only one who can proceed.
So, right now, I'm only coaching one student.

Because he's the only one. He's the only one who can proceed to the national level. The NSPCC is only 19.
So, he's been winning since the division level. He's always the top one. So, based on your success, ma'am,
because that's already a very successful feat, what are the key components or training techniques or what
do you do to be at that level as a successful campus journalist and coach? Well, really, the training.

Being disciplined with the schedule. They really have to arrive on time. Aside from that, research.

Research, yes. What we bring to our meetings and trainings, they come from our researches. We study
what went wrong, what went right, how did the others win in the national level, in the regional level.

On the internet, what's the standard now, what are the standard symbols, like that. Research and
discipline. It's just in the trainings, you know, showing up when it's required already.

Yes. Aside from that, Luna. From both sides, from the coach and the student also.

So, no matter how good I am, if the student is not participating well, doesn't have initiative, he really won't
win. But the good thing about Menti of mine is that he really has initiative. He studies on his own.

Even when I don't. Sometimes, we don't get to train, there are days that we don't get to train. He's
researching on his own, he watches YouTube videos, he talks to people, he messages strangers.

He really, he's just trying to get information. He tries to be polite with them. So, it's to be initiative.

It takes two to tango. That's right. I forgot to ask earlier, what do you coach, junior high or senior high?
Well, the student is senior high, but in the conferences, they don't say junior high level or senior high level.

So, it depends on the high school. So, regardless if he's junior high or senior high, he's still in the high
school category. But the student that I'm training, he is senior high.

He's already graduated actually. Let me check. Okay, so that's a lot of information that I can gather from
this interview.

Actually, we're almost near the end of our interview. I just have one more question to ask if time still
allows. Okay, sure.

If you could design a training program for coaches like you or new advisors, what would you teach them?
Under journalism? Yes, if you could teach the new you, the future you, what would you teach them? I
need more context. For example, they will become advisors also? Yes. They will become advisors also? Yes.

And the training, the ones who will attend are coaches? Yes. Not students? Not students, people like you
today. Okay.

So, since it's about school paper, about school journalism, it has to be related to the topic of journalism.
Because we cannot train our students if we ourselves are not equipped with the knowledge. So, we have
to make sure that most of the coaches or advisors are knowledgeable.

So, it has to be about journalism and all the branches and fields under it. It will be a training about campus
journalism, especially about news writing because it's the most important one. We will have to invite
experts on those fields, veteran journalists who can share their experience.

It's really going to be about the basics of campus journalism. Especially, not all advisors are English majors,
not all of them are English teachers. At least English teachers because they have a background already.
We have a subject of campus journalism in college. I don't know if Ma'am Montallana or others are older
than me, but in our batch, we have that subject of campus journalism. So, I believe that covers all my
questions.

Do you have any questions? Yes, ma'am. Do you? No, that was it. So, thank you very much for your time.

I'm going to pass over the phone to...

(Transcribed by TurboScribe.ai. Go Unlimited to remove this message.)