How Maria left us counting all the way home

What they’ve learned

The remaining two teams among the five finalists in the Inquirer in Education-Nokia  My Dream Interview contest talk about their experiences interviewing businessman Manuel V. Pangilinan  and new media CEO Maria Ressa in this issue. Next Monday, we will be coming out with the first of the five interview stories written by the  finalist teams. At the end of the series, we will announce the  top two  interviews that have been entered in the global My Dream Interview Festival of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers.

We were all excited the day we were to leave for Metro Manila to meet a special interviewee.

The Quezon National High teachers bid us farewell. “Good luck, do your best,” they said. We squealed with delight and texted our mothers we were on our way.

Thinking about what we were going to do made us feel queasy. We were going to interview Ms  Maria Ressa, the world-class journalist who used to be chief of ABS-CBN News and Current Affairs and is now the CEO of Rappler.

The sight of the Antel Global Corporate Center in Ortigas made our hearts run wild. “We’re here!” We had come a long way from Lucena City.

The large office windows gave a picturesque view of the streets outside. Two large flat screen TVs were on. One was on CNN, the other was on the coverage of Chief Justice Renato Corona’s impeachment trial. The Rappler staff were either watching TV or working  on their laptops.

So this was the Rappler office—a very busy world.   And this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

Vivien tapped Danica and whispered, “That’s her!”

Danica whispered back, “Yes, it’s her.”

Ms Ressa approached us and asked if we could start the interview right away. We eagerly replied, “Yes!” We sat in a circle and immediately took out our  recorder, pens and our almost-memorized list of interview  questions.

Four student journalists and an English teacher in front of a seasoned journalist.  The interview started and we immediately felt at home. Ms Ressa talked softly and in a very welcoming tone. We could see why terrorists trusted her. Her voice had a life of its own and seemed to carry us to a far place.

Fifty-five  minutes passed and the one hour interview with Ms Ressa was coming to an end.

For Vivien, meeting someone as great as Ms Ressa was an honor.

What Angela remembered was that Ms Ressa talked mostly about corruption: “She kept telling us that we, the youth, were the superheroes, destined to defeat corruption. She gave us a lot of personal information (enough to write a book about her) and, of course, tons of advice.”

For Danica, it seemed like Ms Ressa “had a whirlwind of thoughts in her brain, little trails of information that led to larger life experiences. Maybe that was why she could not answer our questions directly. It took a lot of background and backstory before the main point was addressed.”

For Lea, the experience was beyond words. “I listened and she left nuggets of wisdom. We set out to interview her but we left with philosophical questions about our lives, about our country, about our future.”

In the van on our way home, the long drive gave us time to think about the famous journalist.

The atmosphere started to smell like home again. We had left the unfamiliarity of an overwhelming city.  Ms Ressa had bridged the distance with her comforting, challenging words.

“It takes 10,000 hours to be good at something,” she had said. The van zoomed past SLEX. Past coconut trees.

Four hours down, 9,996 hours to go.

Team Quezon National High School

Lea Z. Nuera

Angela Christine M. De Mesa

Vivien Joy P. Berania

Danica A. Brutas

Ramonito Elumbaring (coach)