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NEW XAVIER ATENEO SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL. The main building will house the classrooms, interfaith prayer rooms, laboratories, audio-visual rooms, student lounges, clinic, and administrative offices. Image supplied by Arch Ernest Martin Soriano.
Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan is constructing a green campus for its senior high school in Pueblo, completing its basic education cluster in uptown Cagayan de Oro City.
The new campus will implement environment-friendly technology in its buildings and operations. Among its salient features are the following: a sewerage treatment plant, rainwater collection system, natural ventilation, and sky gardens. They are designed to reduce the overall impact on the environment and human health.
“Our mission is to make Xavier Ateneo Senior High School the ‘Senior High School of Choice’ in Mindanao and beyond,” university president Fr Roberto C Yap SJ said in his message during the groundbreaking ceremony held on Saturday, June 23.
“Besides the quality of an Ignatian and Ateneo education in our senior high, we want to provide our students with a world-class campus, a new home for the Xavier Ateneo Senior High School community,” he added.
SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL OF CHOICE. University president Fr Roberto C Yap SJ tells the crowd at the groundbreaking ceremony: “Our mission is to make Xavier Ateneo Senior High School the ‘Senior High School of Choice’ in Mindanao and beyond." Photo by Gene Gerard Verona.
Green campus
At the heart of the campus will be a chapel, to be built between the north and south wings of the main building. The structure connecting the two wings will house the school's faculty, administrative, and maintenance offices. To promote efficient energy use, the new classrooms and offices will be using T5 and led lighting and an inverter-type air conditioning system.
Their cafeteria will boast indoor and outdoor dining areas for students and parents, faculty and staff, and guests.
Architect Ernest Martin Soriano, the master designer of the new campus, made sure that air will flow freely within the buildings. He designed the sky gardens to provide insulation by absorbing the sunlight and reducing extreme temperatures.
Water tanks will also be installed to store rainwater collected from the rooftops for the sprinkler system and industrial use.
'CAFET'. The new XUSHS cafeteria will boast indoor and outdoor dining areas for students and parents, faculty and staff, and guests. Image courtesy of Arch Soriano.
Sports development is also emphasized in the dynamic student life at XU Senior High School with their own gymnasium (that could fit two basketball courts) and areas for practice and other activities.
The newly-inaugurated Xavier Ateneo Sports Centre is also located nearby. XACS features a basketball court with 2 sub-courts for practices, retractable bleachers (2,000+ seats), four badminton courts, semi-Olympic-size swimming pool with shower area and locker rooms, track and field oval (8 lanes), regulation-size football field, and parking spaces for over 200 vehicles, among others.
New home
The main campus along Corrales Avenue in the city’s downtown has been hosting the senior high classes and activities since 2016 (the start of the rollout of the K-12 educational reform) up to the present academic year.
Due to the K-12 program, the university had no college freshmen and sophomores in school years 2016-2017 and 2017-2018, hence, their classrooms were used instead for the senior high classes.
Yap shared that the university board had planned a construction of an SHS campus in Pueblo de Oro at the start of the implementation of the SHS program in the Philippines.
The plan is now being realized. “After three years of careful planning and waiting, we are finally moving the senior high school here [in the uptown],” Yap said.
“The tertiary campus now caters to our first batch of K-12 graduates, our new batch of college freshmen.”
COMMUNITY. Guests from the business circles of Cagayan de Oro City, XUSHS faculty and staff, administrators, alumni, and student leaders (from XUSHS Central Student Government) take part in the groundbreaking of the new XUSHS campus. Photo by Verona.
XU's advancement director Rodelo AB Reyes also launched the naming rights program for the new campus. He invited the guests to sponsor a classroom, laboratory, or a building which will then be named after their family name, business, patriarchs, or matriarchs.
“In this program, ang pangalan niyo ay may forever,” Reyes quipped.
“Even if an entire complex is taken by one donor, its components can still be [named after] other donors,” he said as he explained the process of the naming rights and mode of donation.
Guests from the business circles of CDO, XUSHS faculty and staff, administrators, alumni, and student leaders (from XUSHS Central Student Government) witnessed the groundbreaking, led by the Campus Development Office. The contractors, represented by Celso Dioko, and project managers, represented by Roger Antonio (SP Castro Inc) were also present at the event.
In his closing remarks, VP for administration Edison Sasoy thanked everyone who attended and encouraged them to continue their support for the present and future endeavors of the university.
The event culminated with the community singing of “On Crusaders.”
The new senior high school campus is expected to be finished in May 2019, in time for the next academic year.∎ (By Stephen Pedroza)
XUSHS GYMNASIUM. Sports development is also emphasized in the dynamic student life at XU Senior High School with their own gymnasium (that could fit two basketball courts) and areas for practice and other activities. Image courtesy of Arch Soriano.
Video by Project Lupad
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ALGCIT WELCOME MASS. Xavier Ateneo welcomes its first batch of ALGCIT scholars with a mass presided by university president Fr Roberto C Yap SJ.
Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan warmly embraced its inaugural batch of scholars of the Andrew L Gotianun Sr Center for Integrated Technologies (ALGCIT) Senior High School on the 1st of May, Feast of Saint Joseph the Worker.
In his message to the 140 scholars and their parents, Xavier Ateneo president Fr Roberto C Yap SJ said: “St Joseph is the perfect patron saint for ALGCIT because here he was, a carpenter, he worked with his hands, he worked with wood, with nails. He worked with the materials of the Earth to create useful things for the people. In many ways, that is really the call of tech-voc, the call of the industrial technicians that ALGCIT wants to produce.”
ALGCIT, an endowment from the Gotianun Foundation, provides full academic and residential scholarships to competent yet financially-disadvantaged youth. Tuition, matriculation, board & lodging, books, uniforms, and other school fees are all covered by this generous program.
XAVIER ATENEO LEADER. In his message to the scholars, university president Fr Roberto C Yap SJ says, "Bring with you your faith in God as you go on your adventures and learning experiences here at Xavier Ateneo.”
Yap shared: “As we celebrate this feast and welcome you, our ALGCIT scholars, the story of St Joseph tells us that working with our hands, to labor, is a very beautiful thing that deserves much respect and dignity. This feast emphasizes the value and dignity of work. … It is the vision of ALGCIT to produce industrial technicians who will make useful things for our economy, for our society.”
Xavier Ateneo’s ALGCIT aims to champion technical and vocational education, provide profitable employment options or entrepreneurial opportunities for its graduates, and contribute to the country's social and economic growth.
Yap also left the scholars with an advice: “I am sure that your experiences in ALGCIT will be full of challenges, full of difficulties, but the key thing to remember is that God has given you this opportunity to get an education from Xavier University. In spite of all the problems you will encounter, put your trust in the Lord. If you trust God and you will do your best, God will protect you, help you, and never leave you. Bring with you your faith in God as you go on your adventures and learning experiences here at Xavier Ateneo.”
PARENTS AND SCHOLARS. The parents accompany their children during the welcome program for the ALGCIT scholars, who came from various areas of Mindanao.
ALGCIT is the university’s response to the need for a comprehensive program that helps students acquire skills, knowledge, and character formation necessary to develop their professional careers that are strongly grounded on Jesuit education, the Ateneo way.
The program is a highly specialized three-year Tech-Voc Senior High School where the first two years are allotted for academics and coursework, while the third year is primarily for industry internship.
In the face of globalization and the K-12 reform in our country’s educational system, ALGCIT puts its resources into honing the technical skills of the students in four globally in-demand specializations: (1) Automotive Servicing, (2) Computer and Electronics Technology, (3) Energy and Power System, and (4) Mechanical Design and Fabrication.
At the end of the three-year program, the students are expected to graduate world-ready, with international and national standard competencies, and formed with magis (a philosophy of excellence) and cura personalis (care for the whole person).
NEW SENIOR HIGH STUDENTS. XU Senior High School Central Student Government serves as the host of the welcome program for the ALGCIT scholars.
Xavier Ateneo’s ALGCIT Senior High School is located inside XU's Manresa Complex along Fr William Masterson SJ Avenue, Upper Carmen, Cagayan de Oro City. It is strategically located in an emerging area for foreign and local investors and sprawling subdivisions in the uptown portion of the city.
The current XU Senior High School Central Student Government hosted the welcome program for the ALGCIT scholars, who had fun interacting with one another during the GTKY games. School administrators, faculty, staff, parents, and guests were also present in the said event.
The ALGCIT scholars are temporarily housed in the three existing Manresa dormitories while waiting for the completion of the ALGCIT Dorm 1.
At present, they are attending a three-week-long Summer Enrichment Program, hosted by the XU Junior High School and SHS administration, to prepare them for the first semester of Grade 11.∎
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INDUSTRY FORUM. Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan holds industry forum for partners of the Andrew L Gotianun Sr Center for Integrated Technologies (ALGCIT). Supplied photo.
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY, Philippines — To strengthen its partnerships with various industries in the region, Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan conducted an industry forum earlier this month where opportunities and challenges on technical-vocational education were discussed.
The forum drew together representatives from various industries, from food manufacturing to automobile and power distribution to shipping, to gather their sentiments on how to improve tech-voc education and to foster collaborations with the newest senior high school of Xavier Ateneo — the Andrew L Gotianun Sr Center for Integrated Technologies (ALGCIT).
Among the topics discussed were the industry needs, internship assignments, students’ safety in the workplace, interpersonal communication, labor policies and standards, and opportunities for an enrollment-to-employment program.
Company representatives were also able to share their best practices and strategic plans to help improve the curriculum of ALGCIT and project the demands of industries locally and globally. A representative from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA), university administrators, faculty, and staff were also present in the said forum.
“We are grateful to our partners who are here today, for sharing with us your insights, challenges, and opportunities for collaborations,” said ALGCIT director Engr Eliseo Linog.
“We cannot do it on our own. We cannot do it without the industries.”
TECH-VOC EDUCATION. ALGCIT director Engr Eliseo Linog expresses his gratitude on behalf of Xavier Ateneo to the company representatives who attended the industry forum and for sharing their insights and aspirations for tech-voc education in this part of the country. Supplied photo.
An endowment from the Gotianun Foundation, ALGCIT provides full academic and residential scholarships to “competent yet financially-disadvantaged youth.” It aims to champion technical and vocational education, provide profitable employment options or entrepreneurial opportunities for its graduates, and contribute to the country's social and economic growth.
ALGCIT is a highly specialized three-year tech-voc senior high school where the first two years are allotted for academics and coursework, while the third year is primarily for industry internship.
In the face of globalization and the K-12 reform in our country’s educational system, ALGCIT puts its resources into honing the technical skills of the students in four globally in-demand specializations: (1) Automotive Servicing, (2) Computer and Electronics Technology, (3) Energy and Power System, and (4) Mechanical Design and Fabrication.
Xavier Ateneo, through ALGCIT, seeks to respond to the need for a comprehensive program to help tech-voc students acquire skills, knowledge, and character formation that is grounded on Jesuit education, necessary to develop their professional careers.
“There is a gap between the demand and supply of skilled workers (tech-voc graduates) in the labor market, there is a gap between industries and schools,” Linog said.
In closing, he urged the industry partners, “We need to share our experiences and form partnerships to address the concerns in tech-voc and close the gap.”∎
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