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Madrid -- Tenth Anniversary of the Senara Communications Workshop

Senara High School, a corporate work of Opus Dei in Madrid, has celebrated the tenth anniversary of its “Communications Media Workshop.” Since the 1993/94 school year, more than 300 girls aged 16 and 17 have taken part in the workshop. A number of them have gone on to get degrees in the field of Communications Science and are now working in the media. Others are studying journalism and advertising in various Spanish universities.

This initiative seeks to foster in young people an intelligent and critical attitude towards the means of communication, and above all to show them the importance of a solid human, ethical, intellectual and technical formation to be a good professional in the information sciences. Students receive theoretical and practical classes and visit various media: a national newspaper, a prestigious radio broadcasting company, and a television chain. These visits enable them to get to know the work of journalists from close-up. “In addition to learning how to read a newspaper and to have good criteria when selecting television programs,” one of them said, “it’s very interesting to meet journalists at first hand and see how they work.”

During the year they also prepare a radio program entitled The spontaneous hour, which is taped at the school and broadcast on the Madrid student network Radio Enlace. The students write the informational material, narrate the program, conduct the interviews and select the music. They learn the importance of timing in radio, the need for correct and pleasant diction, and the value of a good title. At the end of the workshop, a professional journalist comes to the school to hand out the diplomas to the students and to provide some good advice for the future journalists.

Romana, n. 38, January-June 2004, p. 91-92.

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