For 1st interview workshop, Inquirer sends in a Marine

The almost 100 kids who attended the Art of the Interview workshop given by Inquirer in Education (IIE) last week found out a real action hero could very well be their dream interviewee.

Conducted at the Inquirer building, the jampacked afternoon workshop was designed to complement the global My Dream Interview competition that could take them to Madrid, Spain.

The kids, aged 11-16, came from the National Capital Region and neighboring Southern Tagalog provinces. They were homeschoolers and students of public and private schools brought together by a desire to spend a few hours of their summer vacation learning a new skill.

Participants listened to guidelines on how to prepare for an interview, what to do during an interview and how to draw out what would be most useful for the story from the large amount of materials generated by the interview.

At the invitation of workshop speaker Fe Zamora, a senior Inquirer reporter, Cololel Ariel Querubin graciously agreed to be the afternoon’s interview “lab rat.”

Querubin is one of the most decorated Filipino soldiers in history and a member of that elite corps of recipients of the Medal of Valor, the highest award given by the Armed Forces of the Philippines for “heroism, gallantry in action and sacrifice beyond the call of duty.”

With the honesty and candor of innocent young minds, the participants, who prepared for the “encounter” by writing down well-thought-out questions, challenged the battle-scarred officer to explain what he thought he could have done for the country had he won as a senator in the last elections.

Another asked if, after everything he had done, he felt he had lived up to his principles. Yet another asked how he felt about killing people.

Even his personal life did not escape scrutiny, with one girl wanting to know if he succumbed to the charms of Australian women while studying Down Under. (Querubin smilingly assured her he was a “one-woman man,” who remained faithful to his wife.)

The retired Marine officer, who had been given up for dead when he and his men were fired upon by troops loyal to Cory Aquino as they tried to storm Camp Aguinaldo at the height of the military uprising against her government, boldly faced the barrage of questions from the eager inquisitors.

His young audience was obviously moved when he said plainly and firmly that his love for country remained undiminished and his willingness to die for it unwavering.

The interview could have gone on and on, with Querubin gamely parrying the questions, had time permitted.

The free IIE interview workshop will be held Monday in Cebu City at the Cebu Daily News building for students of the Visayas. It was brought to Baguio City over the weekend for the northern Luzon students.

The My Dream Interview contest is co-presented by IIE and Nokia in cooperation with Maynilad, Inquirer.net, Radyo Inquirer and WAN-Ifra, the international body behind the global My Dream Interview Project, which is supported by the Fundación Acindar of Argentina and The Interview People.

The contest is open to teams of four students 11 to 15 years old plus a teacher coach. Each team must choose a prominent person and write a set of 15 questions for their dream interviewee.

For complete mechanics, visit www.inquirer.com.ph or e-mail [email protected].