Two Greatest Lessons You'll Learn from RSPC

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As a student journalist and school paper adviser for more than 21 years, I still cannot claim that I am one of the best in my field. The trend is constantly changing, and success still remains elusive. However, what I know for sure is that I have seen it all.

I have seen how some school paper advisers and student journalists rose to fame in a whim, but sunk in anonymity the following years.

I have also witnessed how some started being taunted for not reaching standards, but patiently endured the pain and humiliation of disappointment until they learn the tricks of the trade, and to this day, stand the test of time.

If you are a student journalist, you know that lady luck favors you when you reach the Division Presscon.

But when you reach the Regionals, even with that little doubt that you will make to the Nationals, you begin to understand what ‘survival of the fittest’ truly means.

There are two lessons that I have learned from participating in the RSPC for many, many years.

Victory is a verification that you have the talent, dedication and passion because you are exactly where God wants you to be.

On the other hand, failure does not mean that you do not have it in you, it can only mean two things: Either God is still nurturing you for the proper time, or He is pointing you to another direction.

Victors can go with the spur of the moment and shout to the world that they have emerged triumphant. However, they must remember that success if fleeting, and in two to three weeks’ time, nobody will remember, until nobody will care.

Weepers have the ‘license’ to feel and ‘grieve’ for the pain of disappointment. If you do not feel the great pain of failure, it only means that you did not do everything. 

Others may say that you will not regret everything if you gave your best.  But for me, the intensity of the pain of failure is the best measurement of the amount of effort you have put into hard work.

You feel the pain because you gave everything. That alone is a badge of honor, and a marker to start where you tumbled when you go to battle again.

Indeed, one who will compare the life of a scholastic journalist to a roller coaster ride knows nothing.

A scholastic journalist is someone who hangs on a cliff of life, falls, recovers then comes back to hang in the cliff again.

Above all, success in this field is fleeting. Like what films are to movie stars, a scholastic journalist is only as good as his last publication. There will always be someone inferior to your talent, and there will always be someone who will be superior to you.

That is something that will never change, even if you partake in a million RSPC’s.