“BELIEVE in the power of writing.”
This was the advice given by The Manila Times Chairman Emeritus Dr. Dante Ang to senior high school students of the National College of Science and Technology (NCST).
Ang gave a lecture on writing at the NCST campus in Cavite last week, sharing writing techniques and tips to aspiring writers.
He urged NCST senior high students to take up reading as a habit, saying this would help them expand their vocabulary.
The encounter with new words will lead to the discovery of their meanings, which will enrich their future writings, Ang said.
Ang also told NCST students not to be disheartened by failure.
“People aren’t perfect. We all make mistakes and we should learn from it. Just like in writing, even when you fail once, twice, thrice or more, we should not let it bring us down,” he said.
Failure is inevitable, he said, and people should learn to handle things in a different yet positive way. “Failure is the beginning of success,” he said.
Applied to the craft of writing, Ang said failure should motivate writers to write more and pursue their passion for writing.
Ang urged NCST students to hone their writing skills and consider writing for newspapers, which remain a very influential medium.
The Manila Times College (TMTC), founded by Ang, signed a partnership agreement with NCST in 2014 for a dual-degree program, allowing students from the latter to obtain a journalism degree from TMTC.