95th grand alumni homecoming

Still Standing Strong at 95

On the morning of January 5, the streets leading to the Provincial Capitol was a buzz with anticipation. People doing their early morning chores hurriedly looked out to the streets at the first sign of commotion outside, at the glimpse of multicolored hubub that was parading the normally busy streets of Batangas City.

Those that missed the odd commotion wondered afterwards what had just passed by; and those who saw it, were met with grandiose portrait of the young and old wearing colorful shirts and slowly traversing the roadway. Perhaps the onlookers didn’t know it, and perhaps they did- nevertheless, one could visibly surmise that they were Bridgetines.

And so was the start of the second day of the much-anticipated Grand Alumni Homecoming last Janury 4 - 5 in the St. Bridget College campus.

Spearheaded by Grade School Batch 1983, the festivity was themed, “Let Your Light Shine Towards 2013…….. and Beyond”.

The day before the grandiose parade took place, the event had already started with a medical mission at the SBC Grounds from 8:00AM to 12:00 NN. Dra. Myleene Lat, Dra. Dina Lucero and Dra. Regina Blando headed the alumni doctors in giving free consultations and check-ups and medicines.  A “Bingo For A Cause” followed afterwards in the Batangas City Quadrangle headed by Mrs. Popo Tan Abrahan, Mrs. Vanesa Balmes Aquino and Mr. Renato Maligaya, proceeds going to the fund for the SBC Auditorium Restoration Project.

By 7:00 AM the next day, January 5, the Alumni had already assembled at the Batangas Capitol wearing color-coded shirts imprinted with an image of the school mascot ” Bulak the Sheep”. They paraded through the city and arrived at the SBC campus by 9:00AM, when socials have been scheduled to begin. Important guests, Associate Justice Angelina Sandoval Gutierrez, HS 1954, and Lipa Diocese Archbishop Ramon Arguelles, GS 1957, delivered inspirational messages. Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales, also a distinguished alumnus, concelebrated a thanksgiving mass with other alumni priests. To consumate the celebration, a retro - themed gala event was held at the SBC gymnasium, where the Alumni danced their hearts out well into the night.

The election of the 15-member Board of Directors of the St. Bridget College Alumni Assocaition of the about 1,000 alumni homecomers was a highlight of the day. Those elected were: Atty. Marlo Arcinas, Kristine Balmes, Dr. Emilio “Jun” Berberabe, Eduardo Borbon, Celia Joyce Caedo, Dra. Jocelyn Malaluan Cruz, Benia de Chavez, Atty. Victor Reginald Dimacuha, Consorcia “Cora” Magboo Gonzales, Associate Justice Angelina Sandoval Gutierrez, Dra. Belinda Soriano- Kalaw, Sonia Velasquez Mayo, Eloisa de Loyola- Portugal, Vice- Mayor Jose “Joe” Tolentino, and Luis “Chito” Uy.

Nobody could have predicted that SBC would be waht it is now. What once started as St. Bridget Academy established by Irish missionaries in 1913 has become one of the most prestigious schools in the region, emancipated by the desire to learn and to let our light shine. St. Bridget College has produced 28 RGS, 15 priest and 32 Sisters who joined other Congregations.

They flocked back to what they call home- to the classrooms that once were their playgrounds; to the hallways that once were thier pavements; to the blackboard and armchairs that somehow still bear the semblance to years past. The envoys of the Bridgetine spirit recalled and reminisced, with tears and with laughter; with regret and satisfaction, with a sort of nostalgic embrace that enveloped the campus and the silent whisphers of ” Let your light shine”.