A Chance, A Calling

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By Rjay Zuriaga Castor

I was only months away from graduation when Daily Guardian (DG) took a chance on me. I was not a journalism student, nor did I come from the usual route that leads to a newsroom. I was supposed to become a teacher, trained for classrooms rather than press briefings, lesson plans rather than daily deadlines.

What I had instead was experience shaped by passion: years of joining journalism organizations and contests during the COVID-19 pandemic, and time spent in our university student publication. Those early experiences planted the seed, but DG was the place where that seed was finally given room to grow.

It was March 31, 2023, when I submitted my documents and went through my interview. I was carrying more hope than certainty. Like many young people entering the workforce, I wondered if I was enough, if my background would be considered lacking, and if talent and willingness could outweigh the absence of a journalism degree. Looking back now, I realize that perhaps DG saw something in me before I fully saw it in myself.

That opportunity quickly turned real. My first assignment: covering the Guimaras Eco-Bazaar, a trade fair organized by the Department of Trade and Industry in Guimaras. It may have seemed like an ordinary event story, but to me it was the beginning of everything.

From there, my path led me to lifestyle coverage where I wrote about museum openings, art exhibits, cultural launches, and events that celebrated creativity. Later, I transitioned to the Provincial Capitol beat, stepping into the more demanding world of governance and public service. By late 2024, I became a full-fledged City Hall reporter, where consistency, speed, and a deeper understanding of local governance became essential.

In just three years, I found myself writing about the environment, energy, business, elections, disasters, infrastructure, budgets, and the everyday machinery that shapes life in Western Visayas. You can call me a general beat reporter, or simply an all-arounder.

But journalism did not only define what I wrote. It also expanded where I could go. My job as DG reporter became a passport to places I might never have reached otherwise — historic towns, public spaces, festivals, galleries, and communities carrying stories of their own.

The job also introduced me to people I once only admired from afar. Public figures, artists, leaders, advocates, and personalities I had seen in newspapers or online suddenly became people I could interview face-to-face. Journalism dissolved distance. It gave me the privilege of conversation and the reminder that behind every reputation is a human being with a story worth understanding.

Professionally, I was also given the chance to learn from the best. I shared spaces with veteran journalists whose discipline, instincts, and persistence became lessons in themselves. DG did not just hire me; it placed me in rooms where I could observe excellence and grow through experience.

With each assignment, trust followed. DG gave me stories I never imagined I would be entrusted with at that stage in my career. There were moments when the subjects felt too large, too complex, or too consequential for someone still finding their footing. But the newsroom gave me space to try anyway. Sometimes, all a young journalist needs is one institution willing to say, “You can do this,” before they begin believing it themselves.

That trust became formative. It shaped not only my skills but also my mindset. I learned to ask sharper questions, write with greater clarity, listen more intentionally, and think beyond surface narratives. Just as importantly, I learned to unlearn habits that no longer served me: fear of mistakes, hesitation to speak up, and the tendency to underestimate myself.

Of course, growth never comes without challenge. The newsroom tested me through deadlines, difficult interviews, unexpected assignments, corrections, criticism, and days when nothing seemed easy. But those pressures built resilience. My work at DG taught me to adapt quickly, think clearly under stress, and keep moving even when confidence wavered.

Everything, in many ways, happened fast. Perhaps that is the nature of journalism itself. News moves quickly, and those who choose this life must learn to move with it. One day you are new and unsure. The next day you are covering major stories and carrying the responsibility of informing the public.

Looking back now, the path I once thought separate from journalism no longer feels so distant. Teaching and journalism are built on many of the same foundations: the discipline to seek truth, the responsibility to communicate clearly, and the desire to help others understand the world around them. One informs through the classroom, the other through the printed page. Both are forms of public service.

When I pause to reflect, I do not just see assignments or bylines. I see an institution that took a chance on me, shaped by trust extended before certainty arrived. I see doors that opened to places, people, and experiences I never would have encountered otherwise. Most of all, I see how one opportunity became a long path of becoming — not just as a journalist, but as someone learning to carry responsibility through storytelling.

Our founding publisher, Sir Lemuel, once said, “You are the Daily Guardian.”

That line lingers — not because it was said, but because it became true in ways I only understand now. A newsroom does not only shape stories; it shapes the people who carry them. Just as DG, in its own early years, was carried and built by the people who believed in it, I, too, was shaped by the people and purpose that gave it life.