August 16, 2021
In the Philippines, there are only a few private schools in high school that offer free education to students. In fact, when I searched it in Google nothing really appears except for one, and that is my high school alma mater, The Sisters of Mary School or SOM (Girlstown and Boystown). This school does not only offer free education for the least privileged children but also offers free lodging, free food, and clothing. In short, this is not only a typical school for students but a fine home as well.
Note: The details I will be presenting about my Alma Mater are purely my personal experience during my 4-year stay in school and my general observation 20 years ago. If there are some changes about the school as of this moment I am not so acquainted with it anymore because my last visit there was way back in 2011. I just want to write an article about my Alma Mater so that those who are not familiar with this incredible and amazing school will know how the school experiences a miracle every day.
About the School
The Sisters of Mary School was founded by Monsignor Aloysius Schwartz (see Father Al's Biography in this link: https://www.worldvillages.org/leadership/meet-our-founder-father-al/). The school was founded on August 15, 1964, with the main aim to serve the poorest of the poor. As of now, the school has six branches in the world namely: Philippines, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, Honduras, and Tanzania.
How to be Fr. Al's Child?
In order to study in SOM, one should qualify the following requirements:
The aspiring student should also pass the entrance exam and the interview by the sisters. After complying with all the requirements, the students will be scheduled to go to school to study. In my time staying there we were about more or less 4ooo students from the first year to the fourth year just in girlstown. As of this moment, the school has Grade 11 and Grade 12 students to conform with the K-12 curriculum.
The students can only see their parents twice a year. During visiting day on the first Sunday of September and during 2-week vacation that will usually fall at the end of the year (December), or at the beginning of the year (January). This was the setup before the global pandemic. But because of the pandemic, the sisters choose to have a student-parent virtual meeting to abide by the proper health protocols. The yearly vacation is also suspended to be sure of every student's safety.
The School's Sustainability and Facilities
The school sustains its need primarily from its benefactors the Non-Government Organizations or private institutions and individuals who want to share their blessings with the poorest children on the globe. These benefactors back up the students' needs in terms of food, clothing, monthly billing, maintenance of the school facilities, and of course for the monthly salaries of the teachers.
Normally the school in every branch has the following facilities:
1. Three buildings up to 7th floor
1st floor is the cooking and laundry stations. The sisters hired some people to prepare students' daily meals and laundry personnel to wash students' clothes.
2nd floor to 6th floor is composed of five classrooms where the students study in the morning and a dining area where the students could eat and sleeping quarters where the students can rest at night. It has also 2 big shower rooms that accommodate approximately 250 students per floor and a dishwashing area. There are also rooms for computer laboratories for computer subjects.
The 7th floor. On this floor, lies the chapel where the students could visit the creator during their free time, they can pray the rosary, read the bible, meditate, and reflect on themselves.
2.Two big gymnasia. These gymnasia are often used for song practice every Tuesday afternoon and Saturday morning to prepare for the mass on the next day. There are two masses per week every Wednesday morning and Sunday morning. There are also masses whenever the Catholic church celebrates special events like Christmas Day, New Year's Eve, Mama Mary's Birthday, etc. The gyms are also used if there is a catechism class that is usually conducted twice a week. They can also be used in playing ball games during P.E periods and playing time.
3.Culinary rooms. These rooms are used to hone students' basic food preparation and cooking skills. The students are also trained to do table skirting and other skills related to hospitality management.
4.Sewing building. This building is composed of two floors. There are sewing machines in this area such as electric high-speed sewing machines, special machines, and manual machines. They are placed on the ground floor. During the students' first year and second year, they must be equipped to do basic sewing operations and techniques including patterns for dressmaking. They are trained to do sewing their own dresses including the school uniforms of the students in Boystown.
5.Electrical Building. This building is used for lecturing basic electronics and basic electrical manipulations like series and parallel circuit wiring, soldering, and others.
6.Big Swimming Pool. This pool is situated at the center of the compound where the students can have their swimming lessons in their P.E subjects. This pool is also used for recreational purposes during students' free time.
7.Basketball courts. There are more or less 20 basketball courts located in every corner of the compound. You can actually find these basketball courts everywhere you go. Most of the students in SOM know how to play basketball.
Duties and Resposibilities of the Students
The sisters only stressed-out the following duties of every student in SOM:
Pray. Before getting up from bed, the students should always say their morning prayers together. Before eating and after eating each meal, the students should always say their thanksgiving prayers to God. Right after dinner and after the students cleaned their assigned areas, they will always pray the holy rosary in unison. Every Saturday or Sunday the students should attend the catechism and pray the stations of the cross. Every graduate of the SOM has two hard-skinned circles in each knee this is the result of kneeling during prayer time. But the students are proud of these circles because these circles are symbols of sacrifice. As the Bible says, "A prayer without sacrifice is dead".
Study. After taking a bath, there is a 30-minute study period before breakfast and at night time, after cleaning the assigned areas, there is a study time from 7:30 PM- 9:00 PM.
Work. Every after the meal the students are tasked to clean their assigned areas for 30 minutes time. The students will have general cleaning every Saturday afternoon usually from 1:00 PM to 3 PM. To motivate the students to clean efficiently the sisters usually have a cleaning contest for each family (by the way the students are grouped by a family saint. Each family saint should have at most 50 members). In my time, my family saint is "St. Grace". We were together with my dormmates for 4 years. I miss them so much already. It is a great achievement if the family will win in the cleaning contest because they will be rewarded by the sisters. They can go to the beach to unwind and to swim or they can visit the famous mall for window shopping. But right now they are not able to do these activities anymore because of the pandemic.
Play. Most of the time playing is heaven for students. Usually, students can only play during P.E. subject. Sometimes they can play in the afternoon after gardening. Most of the time they can play on Saturdays and Sundays in the morning and in the afternoon those are the only days they can play so much.
Those are the four duties that SOM requires every student to follow. By the way, there is also a general schedule to be followed every day, if students failed to follow the rules and the general schedule, they will receive the consequences-usually cleaning the comfort rooms or brushing the basketball courts under the heat of the sun. That is why the students should obey each rule to avoid receiving these consequences.
As I've said earlier, every day is a miracle in SOM since the sisters are purely relying on donations from charitable organizations and benevolent people to feed thousands of students every day. But never in a single day that the students experienced a shortage of food. That is why every day is a miracle on how to make the ends meet every day.
The sisters are highly paying so much attention to students' academic performance and their lifelong skills. They will always monitor the students' progress in the classroom that is why most of the graduates in SOM are competitive in academic aspects and lifelong skills.
The SOM never require the graduates to pay back. The sisters only remind the students to always become good children of God, to live by the teaching of the school, to be good examples to others. But today, most of the graduates of SOM have become the benefactors of the school itself. They help their younger brothers and sisters financially. Most of the time they are raising some funds to be given to the school because they believe that it is the only way to pay back the kindness the school had given to them.
The graduates were the beneficiaries before and the solid benefactors of the SOM today. Indeed, if you received kindness, you will inherit it, and it will circulate in your system and will contaminate the people around you.
Thank you for reading this humble article my dearest friends.
I am planning to write my next article about my 4-year journey in SOM.
Always be safe my dear and may God bless you and your family.
Love Lots,
Soledad 💕💕💕
Nice to see you here, mam Sol. Welcome to read.cash!