By Kevin Alaban | April 7, 2021
As classes shifted to online distance learning, Portal 2021 Editor-in-Chief (EIC) Dezella Faye Gonzales admitted difficulty in managing the yearbook. However, she mentioned that they have two proposals already for solving problems, especially with pictorials.
“It’s hard before, but it’s even harder now that we have to come up with a new plan and strategies on how to develop the yearbook,” Gonzales explained as she highlighted the changes in their approach to meetings, information gathering, and dissemination as ‘very new and very broad’.
Gonzales said that, unlike the previous years where department editors would go to the colleges themselves to distribute the necessary information sheets, department editors now go to the challenges of ‘creating Facebook group chats and a lot of Google forms.’
“It’s hard to gather data na jud itself even if face to face kay absent [ang student] ana, how much more even online na dile ma reach ang graduates,” Gonzales said.
Among all the graduating students, Gonzales admitted having the most difficulty collecting data from Early Childhood, Elementary, and Graduate Studies students.
The EIC compared the situation to ‘a juxtaposition phase, that has young and old.’
“Graduates from early childhood and elementary are minors so they cannot have their own Facebook account or cannot access their email,” Gonzales emphasized.
For the past few years, the main studio for pictorials and photoshoots of the graduates was OK Photo, located near Silliman University.
However, for 2021, as of writing, Gonzales said she cannot yet provide ‘an exact plan or structure on how the photos or the pictorials would go about for the graduates because they are still going to have a bidding.’
Portal 2021 had a pre-bidding last March 26 and the proper bidding would be on April 12. From the pre-bidding, six bids were received as the yearbook publisher while three photographers bid for the pictorials and photoshoots.
The Portal 2021 EIC confirmed that two proposals for the pictorials and photoshoots of the graduates who are not residing in Negros Oriental were already submitted for approval by the Office of Information and Publication.
However, Gonzales mentioned that they would not disclose it yet, as the proposals are still pending approval.
Just a suggestion lang po.
Parents are paying for the tuition fee. Is it possible to leave them a note about the yearbook or call a meeting through online for the instructions? Other parents also have connections and that can be a way to spread the message. Allowing parents to join and be part of a page/group may be of great help, too. I think some were already updated by the Silliman pages. Why not use it as a way to reach the parents?. And I think its best to ask for parents details, have a meeting with them online, ask them to join Silliman page/group the next enrollment to make it easier for everyone if there are important matters like this.