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
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.
