| St Agnes Academy | |
|---|---|
| Academia de Sta. Ines | |
| Motto | Ora et Labora (Prayer and Work)[1] |
| Established | 1912 |
| Type | Private, Benedictine |
| Location | Legazpi City, Albay, Philippines |
| Hymn | St. Agnes' Academy Hymn |
| Colors | Navy Blue and White |
| Nickname | SAA Agnesians |
| Affiliations | Catholic Education Association of the Philippines, Bicol Association of Catholic Schools, Catholic Education Association of Legazpi, Association of Benedictine Schools |
| Website | www.agnesian.org www.saa.edu.ph |
St. Agnes Academy, founded in 1912, (formerly Academia de Sta. Ines) is a Benedictine-run school in Legazpi City; the oldest Catholic school in the province of Albay, Bicol, Philippines.[2][3]
The school provides education for kindergarten, preschool, elementary and high school. It is a sister school of St. Scholastica's College in Manila. The school is a co-educational institution. In its early history, St. Agnes was an all-girls school but in the 1980s its enrollment was opened to male students.
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St. Agnes was originally a convent of the local parish with two teachers before it was converted into a small school that taught religion and home-making.
In 1912, Rev. Fr. Juan Calleja, then parish priest of Albay and Vicar Forane, saw the need for its expansion. He then turned to the Rev. John B. McGinley, DD, Bishop of Nueva Caceres, for help. The bishop sought the assistance of the Benedictine Missionary Sisters of Tutzing in Manila and asked them to take over the administration of the school.
The bishop started the school with donations from friends and relatives in the United States. He even sold certain properties of the Diocese of Nueva Caceres, with its ecclesiastical seat located in Naga City. He was criticized for his actions since the money would be spent for a school in Albay.
On 30 May 1912, Benedictine Sisters M. Ferdinanda and M. Edilburgis arrived in Legazpi City. They administered and named the school as Academia de Sta. Ines (St. Agnes Academy). They chose the name because the patron saint of the school is St. Agnes of Rome and in honor of its major benefactor, Agnes, the aunt of Bishop McGinley.
In its first year, the school had 47 pupils and offered boarding facilities. It was run by Sisters Edilburgis and Alexia who also acted as teachers and supervised the boarders. Sr. Johanna joined them in 1913, and Sr. Pudentiana in 1914.
The high school department had a shaky beginning. It opened in June 1917 under Sr. Xavier, but suspended operations in October 1918, and again in December of that year when a typhoon destroyed much of the convent. The death in February 1919 of Sr. Xavier, its only teacher, forced the department to close, and its two third-year students were asked to move to another institution.
Again, Bishop McGinley and generous benefactors from the United States, especially his Aunt Agnes, came to the rescue. On 2 January 1920, the cornerstone of a new building on a new site was laid. On 22 February 1921, the new building was inaugurated and the school assumed a new name: St Agnes' Academy.
The high school department reopened in June 1921, with Sr. Augustina as Directress and teacher. A Music Department was established at the same time under the direction of Miss Trinidad Lacson, a graduate of the College of Music of St. Scholastica's College, Manila. A secretarial course was also offered.
The kindergarten opened in June 1922, under Mrs. Francisca Orteza- Benito, but it closed the following year when enrollment declined.
A free school was established at the site of the Academia de Sta. Ines in June 1925 with Sr. Johanna as principal. At the main school, special courses like drawing, painting, culinary arts, home decoration, floristry, lace making, embroidery and sewing were offered.
Spanish, German and French were also taught to those interested in these languages. From the earliest years, membership in the Solidarity of Our Lady was part of the Agnesian's training. The Agnesians was taught to look up to Mary Immaculate as a model of womanhood.
By the third decade, teaching catechism had become part of the Agnesian's life. Sister Hedwig, the first Filipino Benedictine nun and pioneer of catechistical work in the province, was the guiding light for this activity.
The kindergarten reopened in 1930 and on 1 June 1931, a new Home Economics building was inaugurated.
SAA remained open during the early 1940s despite the effects of World War II. However, because the American "liberators" were bombing Legazpi continuously at the time, the school closed on 25 September 1944.
The nuns stayed at the Academy, serving the more than 150 families that had sought refuge there. On 31 March 1945, disaster struck. The Americans had been dropping incendiary bombs all day. One bomb fell directly on the main building, killing Mother Superior Clodesindis, Sr. Edilburgis, the oblate Sr. Gertrude, and seven more people. And they were all gathered around the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus when the bomb exploded. The school burned and razed to the ground.
Like a phoenix it rose from the ashes only three months later, through the efforts of Archbishop Pedro Santos and the leadership of Sr. Hedwig and her colleagues. The reconstruction of SAA continued apace after that. A dormitory and refectory for the Sisters came up in 1946. The children's dormitory was redone in 1947, the hall and industrial workshop were enlarged, and the library and chapel were rebuilt in 1948.
Maintaining the standard of education at a high level was always the goal through SAA's ups-and-downs. By the 1950s, the school had entered what some refer to as the "golden era of champions – in academics, athletics and drama." Class '56, at the forefront of the BACS championships of 1956, is proud to have contributed to that era.
The year 1960 saw the inauguration of the Sta. Maria Building, which houses the elementary department. In 1968, with the completion of the Sto. Niño Building, the Nursery and Prep divisions were opened.
In 1975, a multipurpose building was blessed. A huge covered court was added subsequently, as were a thousand-seat gymnasium and an audio-visual center. Through the decades the school population had been rising. From the three high school graduates of 1923, for example, the total number of students had grown to 2,245 by the time the school celebrated its 65th anniversary in 1977.
SAA quickly met the challenge posed by the measurement of excellence in education in the form of accreditation by external authorities. On 17 January 1974, the Grade School Department was granted Level I accreditation by the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU), the fifth GS department in the country to be given that honour.
But in the early 1980s the school was having problems, and her reason for being was being called seriously into question. Her finances had run aground, her scholastic performance was not up to par, and she was losing students to other schools.
It took the Benedictine Community's deliberate decision not to phase her out and the unwavering efforts of Sister Lydia Villegas, with SAA through most of the 1980s and Superior from 1985–1988, to turn her round. Making the high school co-educational was one of the measures taken to keep enrollment at break even level. The first boy high-school graduates held their heads up proudly in 1987.
By the time SAA celebrated her diamond jubilee in 1987, it was bursting with new life. Once again at the forefront of academic excellence, the High School Department achieved PAASCU Level II status in 1993, 10 years after receiving its first accreditation in 1983. A new laboratory was added in the late 1990s.
In 2006, its 94th year of life, SAA continues to be its dynamic self, with enrollment expected at least to equal the previous year's level of 2,586. Of these, there were 151 boys and 135 girls in pre-school, 600 boys and 607 girls in grade school, and 425 boys and 668 girls in high school.
As a Roman Catholic school, St. Agnes' Academy use a saint's name to call its classes or sections, except in school year 1998-1999 whereas Filipino virtues were used in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the 1898 Philippine Declaration of Independence.[4] The school offers the following educational curricula levels to a total of 2,586 students (as of 2006):
(colloquially Kinder-1 or K1)
It refers to the first formal academic classroom-based learning environment that a child customarily attends in St. Agnes. It begins around the age of four to prepare for the more didactic and academically intensive kindergarten, the traditional "first" class that school children participate in. Pre-Kindergarten is not required. On the other hand, it acts as a way to prepare children to better succeed in the kindergarten.
(colloquially Kinder 2 or K2)
It refers to the form of education for young children which serves as a transition from home to the commencement of more formal schooling (which is either Pre-School or Grade 1, depending on the student's level). Children are taught to develop basic skills through creative play and social interaction. It begins around the age of five.
(colloquially Prep or Preschool)
The preparatory division is part of the school's elementary department. It begins around the age of six and considered as the stepping stone to elementary education or Grade 1. It focuses on the following areas:
(colloquially Grade School)
This department starts from Grade 1 until Grade 6. Students will achieve academic excellence and will prepare them for secondary education. The following subjects are taught in all grades or levels:
(colloquially High School)
This department starts from First Year (Freshman) until Fourth Year (Senior). Students will achieve academic excellence and will prepare them for post-secondary or tertiary education. The following subjects are taught in all years or levels:
Elective
Students are required to have at least one elective course. The program was introduced to increase the student's productivity, knowledge and competitiveness. The program, which is for free, offers courses in the following field:
An independent structure is provided in the Grade and High School Departments, respectively, for the following:
As a Roman Catholic school, St. Agnes' Academy observes the church's holidays and celebrates it with the Holy Eucharist (Mass). The school also celebrates Mass every first Friday of the month.
The Agnesians hold a triduum which means three-day prayer on the feast of their three main patron saints, St. Benedict, St. Scholastica and St. Agnes, respectively.
The Angelus is being recited everyday before lunch by the whole school. And everyone is expected to remain silent (if not reciting the prayer aloud) and movement is discouraged while the prayer is being recited.
Every Monday, a Morning Praise is being held in the Grade School and High School Quadrangles, and from Tuesday to Friday, the High School Department practices Lectio Divina, wherein you will read and reflect on a bible passage/s.
Every Second Tuesday of the month, the students have their Basic Ecclesiastic Community or Faith Sharing wherein a bible passage is being given to reflect on and they share their experiences, reactions, etc. to the other students.
After recess, there is a two-minute silence to prepare the students for the next class. And another two-minute silence after lunch before they pray the Midday Prayer.
At dismissal, the St. Benedict's Prayer for Peace is being recited before the students go out of the classroom.
The school also has a Student Involvement Program wherein the students participate in outreaches, etc.
On 1 April 1945 at 1100 hours, the Third Portable Surgical Hospital disembarked from the USS LSM 203 onto the beach at Legaspi Port in support of the 158th Regimental Combat Team assaulting the port…
After a brief reconnaissance of the area…it was decided to establish … installations on the grounds of St Agnes' Academy, on the north side of Route #1 about half way between Legaspi Port and Legaspi…By 1530 hours on D-Day or 1 April our hospital was in operation.
We received six patients during the afternoon, all of them medical patients since there were no battle casualties until that night or early the next morning. This was the first time in our combat history that we had an opportunity to make use of a building in setting up our hospital.
The main building of St. Agnes' Academy had been left with only the charred walls standing after the bombing and strafing attack the day before our landing. Three of the nuns had been burned to a crisp and the charred bodies could be seen in the main hall of the building.
However, a two-story residential building of the Academy, just to the west of the main building, was very slightly damaged and could be adapted to our needs. There were two large rooms and a small verandah on the ground floor. We used the verandah as a receiving and shock treatment pavilion, the smaller of the rooms as a surgery and the larger as a ward for the most seriously wounded casualties.
The second story of the building consisted of three rooms, one of which we used as a laboratory. The other two were used to store the civilian possessions, furniture and so forth, which had been scattered throughout the house. The remainder of the hospital was set up in tents on the Academy grounds. Three ward tents for the patients were pitched in front of the ruins of the main building. Three squad tents for the enlisted personnel, one squad tent for supply, a large wall fly for the kitchen and two small wall tents for the officers were pitched to the right of the ward tents, in front of the building that we were using as surgery and ward.''
There were two heavy long wood tables in the house and these served very well as operating tables. The 506th Medical Collecting Company (less detachment) was set up on the Academy grounds adjoining us on the east. As soon as the hospital was established everyone turned to digging a foxhole for use that night. The night proved to be an unpleasant one. Before dark the Japs began shelling the troops in Legaspi, only a few hundred yards from where we were, with artillery, rockets and heavy anti-aircraft guns.
This was our first introduction to Japanese rockets and it was somewhat demoralizing. There is a weird, almost unearthly "whoop" when they are launched, followed by a variable period of silence before the contact explosion which is like the heaviest of artillery.
Most of the men never did get used to the whoop and the suspense of the silence following it ... We remained in this …location from 1 April to 28 April, an unprecedented length of time for us to retain one position in combat…From 1 April to 28 April we operated on one hundred fifteen major battle casualties... On the morning of 28 April we evacuated all remaining patients to the 71st Evacuation Hospital, struck camp and at 1000 hours departed for Camalig, Albay…"''
- Extracts from the report of the Third Portable Surgical Hospital of the United States Army on its activities on 1 April 1945, the day after SAA was bombed.