Aimed to foster appreciation on the field of DevCom and have a deeper understanding on their Media and Information Literacy (MIL) subject, the Development Communication (DevCom) Department of Xavier Ateneo opened its doors to the university’s senior high school students through a five-day Open House from September 9 (Monday).

Held at the department’s TV studio, the MIL students of XUSHS were introduced to the facilities and equipment DevCom students usually use to produce their media outputs for the community through a tour and a hands-on activity. The students listened to radio broadcasting outputs and actively participated in an impromptu TV production exercise.

In her welcome message, DevCom chairperson, Ms Rechelle Ann Barraquias challenged the students to use their learnings in MIL to go beyond the use and production of media, she said, “Information empowers people; information transforms people, especially those in sectors hardly reached by relevant information – the agriculture sector. And you can do this through communication.” 

Almost 500 students from 15 sections taking up the subject this semester came to visit the lab. These sections were handled by Ms Alexa Tan, Mr. Daryl Bacolcol, Mr. Art Mulawan, and Mr. Jade Alfie Sale.

Media and Information Literacy is a core subject “under the Communication Learning Area for Senior High School (SHS) at Grade 11 or 12 with one semester allocation.”

The XU DevCom Open House is an effort of the Development Communication Society (DevCom Soc) headed by its president, Jalen Elarmo.