Date: 15 January 2015
Weekly Memorandum No. 2016 – 1.3
TO: AdZUHS Community
FROM: Father Principal
1. Principal’s Message:
It has been a month since we received the results of the recent PAASCU re-survey visit. Our school was given a “clean” level re-accredited status for the next five years valid until December 2020. This means that the accreditation was given with no conditional requirements such as progress reports or interim visits within the five-year accreditation status.
As of this writing, the reports have not yet arrived, so we can not determine the best features cited by PAASCU in their two-day visit.
It’s a general PAASCU knowledge that this new status will enhance the prestige and credibility of our school as the accreditation allows full administrative deregulation from DepEd. This independence gives our school greater flexibility in implementing curriculum reports and other innovations to ensure that students get the highest level of high school education.
More importantly, the process provides the school the structure and stimulus to continue improving through a rigorous system of peer evaluation and self-assessment.
While accreditation can be difficult, we go through the ritual to improve ourselves. We can always be blinded by many things, our pride, our false self of self-importance. A lot of work and planning lies ahead, with a view to move forward and make our school even better.
Again, my congratulations and gratitude to the entire Junior High School community: the students and parents, teachers and staff, alumni.
2. Faculty and Student Activities
a. Mr. Honey Rod Alfaro will be in Cebu on January 19 to February 1, 2016for the 51st International Eucharistic Congress. The congress aims to promote an awareness of the central place of the Eucharist in the life and mission of the Catholic Church, help and improve our understanding and celebration of the liturgy, and draw attention to the social dimension of the Eucharist. Sr. Ronette Rubio, SRA, will be the HS Campus Ministry Office OIC.
b. Ms. Rosie M. Hong will be on leave from January 18 to 23, 2016; she reports back to work on January 24 during the AdZUHS Family Day.
c. Mr. Roderick Balucahas been invited to be a speaker in a conference in Naga City, Camarines Sur, on January 23, 2016. This first (of four) conference is sponsored by REAP (Resource for Educators and Academic Professionals) in partnership with Rex Bookstore, Inc. It is aimed to cascade Kto12 21st century literacies in schools and classrooms. This initiative will hopefully help transform education in the country, thus further enhancing our educators’ skills.
d. Mr. Rey Reyes, AP for Finance and Administration, will be on paternity leave from January 13 to 19.
e. Congratulations to the following AdZU Junior High School students who participated in a regional inter-high school competition sponsored by the University of the Philippines Jambangan(UPJ) held at the Red Cross Youth Hostel on January 9, 2016:
i. On-the-Spot Essay Writing ContestEnglish Category – Second Place
Aeryne Chloe DR. Cabahug 10 – St. Ignatius
ii. On-the-Spot Essay Writing ContestFilipino Category – Third Place
Maeca Czarina P. Pansensoy 10 – St. Ignatius
iii. Quiz Bee – Fourth Place
John Louize F. Guban 10 – St. Ignatius
Lee Alec C. Salasa 10 – St. Ignatius
Robert Aldwin F. Fernandez 9 – St. Xavier
3. Activities and Events for January 18 – 24, 2016.
f. January 18, Mon. * 7AM: Monday Assembly
Sponsors: AbotKamay and Junior Economics Society Moderators: Ms. Beverly Tampipi& Mr. Giovanni Jasmin
* 8AM: Ateneo Promenade Practice (Pairing) Venue: Lobby
In-Charge: Mr. Baldomero with Grs. 9 & 10 Moderators
g. January 19, Tue. * 1:30 PM Academic Management Team meeting
* Special Exams for Students who missed the 3rd Quarter Exams
h. January 20, Wed. * 7 AM Gr. 8 Regis Class Mass Moderator: Ms. Mary Lucel Sumatra
* Special Exams for Students who missed the 3rd Quarter Exams
i. January 21, Thu. *
j. January 22, Fri. * 7 AM Gr. 9 Xavier Class Mass Moderator: Mr. AbduraufBaldomero * 7:30 AM (Day 1): Overnight recollection for Gr. 10 Brebeuf
k. January 23, Sat. * 12 NN (Day 2): End of Overnight recollection for Gr. 10 Brebeuf
* 8AM – 12 NN Outreach program for Lunzuran Elementary Pupils
* 8AM – 12 NN Bag-of-Learning-Project Culminating Activity for students of Sta. Barbara Elementary School and Sibulao National High School. (c/o Socio-civic cluster and the DanzarAtenista together with the Social Action Office). Venue: FANCC
* 8AM – 11 AM AM: Ateneo Promenade Practice Venue: Lobby In-Charge: Mr. Delos Reyes with Grs. 9 & 10 Moderators
* 1PM – 4PM: Ateneo Promenade Dance Practice Venue: Lobby In-Charge: MAPEH Department
l. January 24, Sun. * 3PM – 10 PM: AdZUHS Family Day
3PM – 4PM Registration at the HS Lobby
4PM – 5PM Holy Mass at the High School Lobby
5PM – 7PM Program/Games
7PM Dinner
8PM – 9PM Games/Surprises/Raffle Draw
4. Teach Us How To Pray: Praying with Icons
James Martin SJ
It wasn’t until I was a Jesuit novice – at age twenty-seven – that I spent any time thinking about icons, the stylized portraits of holy men and women that are part of the spiritual traditions of Eastern Christianity. In our novitiate chapel was a lovely icon of Jesus that was painted (or “written,” to use the correct term) at a nearby Orthodox monastery. For two years “Christ the Lifegiver,” with a gentle-eyed Jesus holding a Bible in his left hand and offering a blessing with his right, kept me company while I prayed. His serene gaze always helped to calm me down. Without knowing it, I had started to pray with icons.
In its truest form, iconography conforms to several ancient practices. Certain symbols and colors are used to convey the particulars about the man or woman portrayed; and the icon’s creation flows from the iconographer’s life of prayer (and sometimes fasting).
One of the most common definitions of icons is that they are “windows into heaven.” As one iconographer told me, their underlying purpose is to bring you into the presence of Jesus, Mary, or the saints and to allow you to gaze upon them as they gaze upon you. Of course you are not praying to the icons themselves; you are allowing the images, and the prayers of the person depicted in the image, to draw you into a more contemplative state. And in that state you can draw closer to God – the source of inspiration for the iconographer, for the saint portrayed, and ultimately, for you.
James Martin is a Jesuit priest and author of Between Heaven and Mirth, The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, and My Life with the Saints.
