"You educate a man; you educate a man.
"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible
As I promised, here is the Heritage Room of the Ateneo de Manila Grade School where yesterday's mural is located. The room displays mementos from the school's 150-year history, and statues of the Immaculate Conception, the school's patroness, and St. Ignatius of Loyola, the founder of the Jesuit order which runs the school. Another room off to the right, which I wasn't able to take a photo of, features portraits of all past headmasters of the Ateneo Grade School, who have all been Jesuit so far. If I'm not mistaken, the Heritage Room was built soon after the school celebrated its sesquicentennial in 2009.
The mural inside the Heritage Room of the Ateneo de Manila Grade School shows images from the 150-year history of the school. Based on this, the school has had four seals since it was first established as the Escuela Municipal de Manila in 1859. It also has had two special, double seals. One was to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the school, and the other its 150th—its sesquicentennial, which filled this blog back in 2009.
There is an old story by Ateneo de Manila Grade School teacher Mr. Juan Javier which explains how the Holy Guardian Angels became the patrons of the Grade School and the special guardians of young Ateneans. The story takes place at Padre Faura, during the term of Fr. Henry Lee Irwin SJ as Headmaster.
The Halili-Cruz School of Ballet was established in 1985 by Shirley Halili-Cruz. This is the main studio along Quezon Boulevard, but they have four other branches in Metro Manila, three of which are within the campuses of academic schools.
The chapel of the Ateneo de Manila Grade School is called the Chapel of the Holy Guardian Angels. Very fitting patrons for a school full of young boys.
The coat of arms of Claret School of Quezon City includes the motto of the school, Scientia maxime cum virtute, which means "Knowledge is best with virtue." Their website explains that "This phrase has been adopted by the school as its own motto to embody the search for knowledge and the promotion of intellectual growth, which is made more sublime with the practice of virtue." The school is named after its patron, Saint Anthony Mary Claret, who founded the Congregation of the Missionary Sons of the Immaculate Heart of Mary in 1849 in the city of Vic in Spain.
CITY DAILY PHOTO THEME DAY: FACADE • When the Jesuits decided to move the main campus of the Ateneo de Manila from Padre Faura in the City of Manila to the no-man's-land that was Loyola Heights in Quezon City in the 1950s, the first structure they had built was the gymnasium. It served as the storehouse of construction materials for the other buildings. Now called the Blue Eagle Gym, after the university's mascot, it continues to be the most visible landmark of the Ateneo de Manila—if only because it is currently the only building that can completely be seen from the road. And, yes, the design of the Blue Eagle Gym really is based on the lowly quonset hut. That inexpensive, prefabricated shelter served the Jesuits and the school well after World War II.
For as long as I can remember, this was the location of the Infant Jesus Kindergarten School. There is no longer any sign, so I assumed that it is no longer here. But a Google search for the school still points to this address (or one in Hamilton, Ontario), so I'm in a bit of a quandary. Maybe I should ask my husband to walk there during a school day when he doesn't have a class to help me satisfy my curiosity.
When you put a civic-minded violinist in a province devastated by the eruption of a volcano, you get something like Casa San Miguel in the province of Zambales. In 1993, violinist Alfonso "Coke" Bolipata merely wanted to uplift the spirits of his province mates—still reeling from the eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991—by bringing art, music, theater, dance and film to town plazas, orphanages and hospitals. In 1996, a dozen young local children began learning how to draw and play the violin under one of the mango trees in the Bolipata compound. Now, Casa San Miguel has more than a hundred students in music, drawing, painting, photography, film, and creative writing.
KFC gets into the act of congratulating our new graduates. The academic year in the Philippines begins in June and ends in March. This sign was hanging on a window of Claret School of Quezon City.
A curious find at the University of the Philippines - Diliman: the silhouette of the statue "Oblation" standing on a stylized eagle, painted on the road. I have no idea what it's all about.
Two of the Philippines' most popular mobile phone service providers have cell sites inside the Quezon City campus of Ateneo de Manila University, located on a field near the Manila Observatory. Part of the deal is, the observatory gets to place some of their weather and atmospheric instruments on the towers. The spindly tower on the right, as well as the white and brick building beside it, belongs to the observatory.
The Delta Lambda Sigma sorority of the University of the Philippines - Diliman is more than 65 years old. The wooden frame of their cork board in one corridor of Palma Hall looks like it's as old as the organization. I like it.
The mural on the second floor of the University of the Philippines - Diliman's Palma Hall features scenes from the country's long history of fighting for freedom—against the Spanish, Japanese, and Americans, then against the Martial Law regime of Ferdinand Marcos. The figure in the middle is the sculpture called the Oblation, which has become the state university's symbol.
When I was much younger, Miriam College in Quezon City was called Maryknoll College, after the missionary Maryknoll Sisters who founded the school. For most of its history, it was a school exclusively for women (and I think it is again, but I'm not sure). Management of Maryknoll College was transferred from the religious order to lay administrators in 1977, but it was only in 1989 that the name was changed. "Miriam" is the Aramaic name of Mary, the mother of Jesus and the school's patron, and is also a tribute to Sr. Miriam Thomas Thornton MM, who devoted fifty years of her life to the school. Miriam College has academic programs for preschool up to postgraduate levels, offers adult education classes, and has a school for the deaf.
The majestic simplicity of a single, enormous white Christmas star is appropriate for the majestic simplicity of the main entrance of the University of the Philippines (U.P.) – Diliman's Palma Hall, with its soaring, three-story high rectangular columns. The building is named after Rafael Palma, U.P.'s fourth but first Filipino president, and is currently the home of the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. The small but colorful stars flanking the stairs are suggestive of the young students which populate its rooms and corridors.
The children from the poor communities served by the Ateneo de Manila University—and this big little kid—who attended this year's Lights for Hope Christmas outreach program were treated to a wonderful performance from Wanlu, a puppeteer and ventriloquist who provides entertainment for many events, and who appears regularly in local television shows. Wanlu heard about the outreach program and volunteered himself and one of his sons, who is also a puppeteer. This puppet's name is Nicolo and he's an incorrigible joker, mercilessly teasing Wanlu every chance he gets. He also has the sweetest singing voice I've ever heard from someone made of wood.
The Ateneo de Manila University officially opened its celebrations and events for the Advent and Christmas season last night, and we were treated to a lovely performance by the Blue Symphony at the Sacred Heart Plaza of the Church of the Gesù.