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Message From The GAAA President

Message From The President Of GAAA

24 December 2014
Dear fellow alumni,
Before I write about the alumni meeting allow me to greet you a joyful Christmas and a prosperous new year!
The meeting last 31 October 2014 was successfully held with VP Fernando Lagar presiding the meeting. I would like to thank him, secretary Antonieto Pujalte, the other board members and those who attended the meeting for all their enthusiasm and support. I would also like to thank those who provided the link to other websites for a wider dissemination of information about this meeting and our alumni homecoming.
In this letter, I would like to tackle 3 topics:
1.costume/torch parade
2.souvenir program
3.community activities
Costume/Torch Parade
Those who attended the meeting desired to have a costume/torch parade in addition to the parade where everyone will wear a t-shirt. Themes were suggested during and after the meeting. From among the suggested themes, may I suggest that we focus on the “History of Guinayangan” and show how our school and its alumni are part of that history. Let us identify 10 milestones (or sets of milestones) in the development and progress of our town and display each of them through a poster in designated places in our town where the parade will pass. Selected alumni with one person carrying the torch of knowledge or the torch lighting our path will lead the parade to the first milestone where another person together with another selected group of alumni will accept the torch and in turn lead the parade to another milestone. The same action will be done until the last milestone.
To give you an example, let the first milestone be the first settlement in our town. During the early occupancy of our town, the family of Matta, Molines and Tupas were the first to come by boats. Let some descendant of these families with one person carrying the torch lead the parade. Let them wear a costume that depicts the attire at that time.
Other milestones in our town are the establishment of the government, the construction of the church, health center, schools, etc. For Guinayangan Academy, we will request the children of the Garcia family to carry the torch to the milestone where foundation of GA is included.
The groups (TagaGuinayangan Yahoo group; Restore our sea endlessly Guinyanganin) abroad where our alumni are members have played an important role in our town through their help at the present time and to the future generation by creating livelihoods and safeguarding our environment such as the sea and the mountains. Let the torch be carried by one of them.
The other suggested themes–dances, comic/fantasy/real (heroes, scientists etc) characters, dresses/uniforms, environmental concerns, inventions, international/local significant events–can be incorporated in the period when these were created/popularized/occurring coinciding with that of the milestone to show the other historical events at that time. We can let the person or group of persons choose what they want to portray as long as it happened during the identified period.
The above suggestions will provide us with a very meaningful, significant, informative, hopeful, delightful, and unique celebration with less cost. All we need are pentel pens and materials to write the different milestones, creativity in using whatever materials we have to produce a costume and volunteers to offer their time to identify these events.
Mrs. Alodia Molines wrote a book on the history of Guinayangan. Mrs. Clemencia Cerilla Pujalte (her grandmother was a Matta) knows about our history also and the Tupas family are keeping a big family tree of the early settlers and the descendants of our town. Atty. Leovigildo Cerilla did a research on these early settlers. They can help us.
Souvenir Program
The idea of having a coffee table book for a souvenir program was brought in one of the discussions about the homecoming. May I suggest that the souvenir program will include the homecoming itself? We can ask the committee to prepare it in advance without printing but instead will be shown on screen during the homecoming for the approval of the alumni. If possible pictures taken during the actual event will be included at once. With the souvenir program not yet printed, a simple program of activities will be distributed during the registration.
In the souvenir program, let us include interviews about the high school life and perspectives in life of the first graduates e.g. Mr. Victor Eleazar or other earlier/prominent graduates. As a project, let us ask the current high school students to do the interview personally or through other means (skype, email) if the person is in a faraway place or let these chosen alumni write about the topics themselves. We also welcome volunteers to share about their memories of GA and their wisdom.
Community Activities
The suggested community activities are as follows:
ŸBazaar
ŸFeeding program
ŸKite making, coloring and flying
ŸMedical mission
ŸTown beautification by making plant containers
ŸCommunity food preparation for the bazaar
ŸRummage sale
ŸSharing, teaching or playing musical instrument
ŸSharing a toy and teaching a play
ŸSharing/Reading a book
ŸColoring of story books and drawing
ŸStory telling
ŸTeaching a hobby
ŸTeaching origami
ŸTree planting
These are ways by which we can bond with and be of help to our community. Some of these activities (kite activity, teaching a hobby etc.) may be done during the regular Foundation Day in March 2015 by the current students as their offerings/contributions for the celebration. GAAA can furnish them with some of the materials they need such as paper, crayons and strings.
We would like to ask your help by sending to GA your old but still functional items (clothes, furnitures, bags etc) for rummage sale the proceeds of which will be used for the projects of GAAA. We would like to request for story books and coloring books for children. The hardbound colorful story books will be kept after use for future reading activity.
There are doctors, dentists, nurses, physical therapists, medical technologists in our alumni. We hope that they will render service even for a half day for the medical mission. May we ask the help of Dr. Florencia Agno Vergara to lead the mission?
A comment was given by Ms. Rita Melendez that she will not be able to come but will send her donation. Thank you Ms. Melendez but I still hope you will be able to join. Other alumni may not be able to join also for valid reasons. We hope you and others will be able to watch the event through the help of someone knowledgeable for making event like this available online.
To give you an update about the contributions (P5,000/class) received for the homecoming the following groups paid:
a. Class ‘94
b. Class ‘89
c. Class ‘87
d. Class ’74
e. Class ‘84
I hope others will send their contribution also. Ms. Iluminada Cervantes Luterio from the USA volunteered to send the contribution of class ‘58. Thank you Tita Luming.
Thank you all for your patience in reading this letter.
Sincerely,
Corazon C. Buerano
Class ‘74

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Message From The President Of GAAA

August 15, 2015

Dear all,

On behalf of the officers and members of the board of trustees of Guinayangan Academy Alumni Association, I would like to thank all of you for your all-out support to our grand alumni homecoming held last June 12-15, 2015 in celebration of the 75th Founding Anniversary of Guinayangan Academy (GA). To be more specific, we give our most sincere thanks to

The children of Mr. Guillermo and Mrs. Victorina Garcia, namely Dr. Archie, Sir William, Dr. Elsa, Ma’am Guina and Ma’am Cret (Only Sir William was not able to come during the homecoming due to health reasons and he opted to stay in the US with Ma’am Cely; Dr. Archie came with Ma’am Bebe, Dr. Elsa with Sir George and Ma’am Cret with Sir Manny.),

The heads and members of the different working committees, class coordinators and our adviser Ma’am Guina,

All alumni, including those who spent at least a year of their high school years in GA, and our former teachers who attended (They came from different parts of the world­ —Canada, Germany, Japan, USA and different parts of the Philippines such as Cebu, Ilo-ilo, Aklan, Palawan and the northern to southern parts of Luzon including our town.),

Those who actively disseminate the information about the homecoming and campaign for attendance,

Those who donated/contributed cash or in kind (A complete list will be posted later),

Those who were not able to attend but extended their help through their donations/contributions, information dissemination, suggestions, moral support etc,

The academic and non-academic staff of GA and the current students for the help in the physical arrangement of the school, preparation of materials for the registration of participants, manning the registration, etc. and for their joining the parade and other activities,

The organizers of the 50th homecoming and board members of the previous alumni association headed by Ma’am Helen Torres (This well-organized 50th homecoming provided us ideas and materials for the recent 75th homecoming.),

The local government headed by Mayor Cesar J. Isaac III for the support in keeping peace and order and other forms of support including the provision of the narra tree that was planted in GA ground to commemorate the celebration of the 75th Founding Anniversary of GA,

Father Redentor Barsaga, a native-born priest from our hometown who gladly accepted the invitation to celebrate the mass and bless our homecoming,

Our townmates who cheered and welcomed us during the actual events, and,

Those who prayed for our success.

We were able to succeed in this recent homecoming because of our love for our

alma mater and its founder, Mrs. Victorina Garcia,

classmates and our teachers,

youth (and our concern for their future) and,

our community.

We were able to succeed because we were able to

pool all our positive attitudes,

reinforce our efforts and concerns for each other,

volunteer without counting the cost,

strategize how we could gather the alumni across ages and distance, and

respond properly to constructive criticisms.

Although during the planning stage, we were limited by distance from each other, health conditions, busy working activities and financial constraints etc., these did not deter us from meeting some goals at every step of the way.

This homecoming not only paved the way for the reunion of classmates, teachers and best friends who had not seen each other for decades but also paved the way for families or clans to reunite. For those of us who for a long time had not seen our town and attended its feast day in honor of St. Aloysius Gonzaga, this homecoming gave us also the more reasons to come .

Our trust and faith in God and with each other and our hope made this event a reality with lots of surprises at each bend along the way and spontaneous genuine happy response during the course of events. We were indeed delighted. What a happy event!

At the very start of the planning, we prayed for guidance and we were indeed guided accordingly. Even if we were not able to accomplish some of the activities we wanted, we were led to other desirable activities.

Let the success of this event be for the glory of God the Father through His Son Jesus Christ.

I hope to write again later to share with you some of the previous happenings, update you about all the contributions and donations including the King and Queen fund, plan for the election and many other things.

Sincerely,

Corazon C. Buerano





Guinayangan Academy Brief History

Secondary Education in the municipality did not exist in the early 1920’s. Most seventh grade graduates have to go to Manila or Lucena to pursue their studies. In most cases, only a few were able to continue their studies, not until the mid-thirties, when Mr. Vicente Vilar opened the first private high school, the Southern Tagalog Institute. Many students took advantage of the opportunity to pursue secondary courses in this institution. High school graduates in those days were the employed in government offices as clerks, or teachers in the elementary school. The Southern Tagalog Institute did not last long.


And in 1940, the Guinayangan Academy was founded by Mrs. Victorina R. Garcia, with a handful of students. The war between America and Japan stop educational pursuits in all levels for three years. After liberation, the Academy resumed classes in rented building until it moved to its present site.

Being the only source of secondary education in the area, the enrolment in Guinayangan Academy gradually increased and reached an overwhelming population of almost a thousand from 1960 to 1970. Starting with only three instructors in 1941, it reached a total of 15 faculty members in 1970. In a span of more than 70 years, the Academy produced successful professionals


 
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