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Xavier School

Coordinates: 14°36′15″N 121°02′25″E / 14.604166°N 121.040347°E / 14.604166; 121.040347
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This article is about the school in Manila. For similarly named educational institutions, see List of schools named after Francis Xavier.

Xavier School
光启学校 (Chinese)
Senior High School building
Location
Map
San Juan
,
Metro Manila

Philippines
Coordinates14°36′15″N 121°02′25″E / 14.604166°N 121.040347°E / 14.604166; 121.040347
Information
Former namesKuang Chi School
TypePrivate, college preparatory school
MottoLatin: Luceat Lux
English: Let your light shine!
Religious affiliation(s)Roman Catholic (Jesuits)
EstablishedJune 6, 1956; 68 years ago (June 6, 1956)
Founders
  • Fr. Jean Desautels, SJ
  • Fr. Louis Papilla, SJ
  • Fr. Cornelius Pineau, SJ
PresidentFr. Joseph Haw, SJ
ChairmanJohnip Cua
Principal
  • Theresa Nebres-Ladrido
    (High school)
  • Jane Cacacho
    (Grade School)
  • Arlene Trinidad-Choo
    (Nuvali Campus)
GradesK to 12
Gender
  • All boys (San Juan Campus)
  • Coeducational (Nuvali Campus)
Enrollment4000+
CampusUrban
  • Main
    San Juan campus
    7 hectares (70,000 m2)
    64 Xavier St., San Juan Metro Manila
  • Satellite
    Nuvali Campus
    15 hectares (150,000 m2)
    Diversity Ave. Nuvali, Canlubang, Calamba, Laguna
Color(s)Blue and gold
  
AthleticsThirty teams in twelve sports
Athletics conferenceMMTLBA,[1] PAYA, FASAAPS, BEST Passarelle JAM
MascotHoofy the Golden Stallion
NicknameGolden Stallions
AccreditationInternational Baccalaureate, PAASCU
NewspaperStallion (High School), Hoofprint (Grade School)
AffiliationsJBEC[2] EDSOR Consortium
Alma Mater Song"Luceat Lux"
CEEB Code705640
Websitewww.xs.edu.ph
www.xsn.edu.ph (Nuvali campus)

Xavier School (simplified Chinese: 光启学校; traditional Chinese: 光啓學校; pinyin: Guāngqǐ Xúexìao; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Kong-khé Ha̍k-hāu; also referred to by its acronym XS) is a private, Catholic, college preparatory school run by the Philippine Province of the Society of Jesus. Its main campus is at 64 Xavier Street, Greenhills, San Juan, Metro Manila, Philippines. It has a southern satellite campus along West Conservation Avenue in Nuvali, Canlubang, Calamba, Laguna mainly aimed to serve financially challenged students. It is a K-12 school with a curriculum that includes a mandatory Chinese language program. It also offers an optional International Baccalaureate program in grades 11 and 12 to interested students.[3]

A Catholic institution with an English curriculum and Chinese studies, Xavier School continues educating Chinese-Filipinos as part of its original mission to evangelize them and promote their integration into Philippine society. Through its Grant-in-Aid program, the school also offers financially challenged but otherwise qualified students an opportunity of attaining a Xavier education.

Unlike other Chinese schools in the Philippines, Xavier School was founded as an all-boys institution. Its San Juan campus continues to admit only male students. Its newer Nuvali campus is coeducational.

History

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Many Jesuit missionaries who were expelled from China in 1949 found a new home and mission in the overseas Chinese communities in the Philippines. To facilitate their evangelization of the Chinese communities, the Jesuits decided to set up schools. One of those schools was in downtown Manila. Begging for donations by going door-to-door in Chinatown, Fr. Jean Desautels, S.J., a French-Canadian Jesuit who was part of the China mission, received financial aid from Basilio King and Ambrose Chiu, two Chinese-Filipino businessmen who wanted to help set up a Jesuit school for the Chinese.

After soliciting the fund sufficient to buy a piece of land for the school campus, the Jesuits proceeded to negotiate with land owners in downtown Manila. At 3:30 pm on December 15, 1955, Fr. Desautels closed a deal and purchased a land, an hour and a half before the 5:00 pm deadline set by its seller. The group of Jesuits led by the late Frs. Jean Desautels, Louis Papilla, and Cornelius Pineau went on to found a School and named it Kuang Chi School after Paul Hsü Kuangchi, a 16th-century Chinese nobleman and Minister of Rites during the Ming Dynasty who converted to Christianity and supported its spread in China.[4] On June 6, 1956, in a converted warehouse in Echague, Manila, the school opened its doors to its initial batch of students – 170 children of Chinese immigrants in the Philippines. The school was renamed later on as Xavier School after St. Francis Xavier, co-founder of the Society of Jesus and one of the first leaders of Jesuit missions in China

The school celebrated its Golden Jubilee in 2006. Hoofy, the school's mascot, was in attendance during the celebration. In 2023, Fr. Joseph Haw, SJ was elected president of the school and in the following year, assumed the position of school president after the end of the term of Fr. Aristotle Dy, SJ.

School of Excellence

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Being a Jesuit school helped establish the school's reputation. In 1960, Xavier School transferred to a 7-hectare property in Greenhills, San Juan, then only an area of rice fields and grasslands. Within a decade, the outlying areas became home to many Xavier families. The campus is a complex of 12 buildings housing over 4,000 students from nursery to high school.

It is one of the few basic education institutions in the Philippines to receive a 7-year accreditation, the longest possible period,[5] and one of only three institutions, along with De La Salle University and Ateneo de Manila University, to receive the Level III accreditation[6] for both the grade school and high school by the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges, and Universities. In January 2010, Xavier School was granted International Baccalaureate (IB) World School status.[7]

Admissions

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Admission to Xavier School is extremely competitive. Generally, students enter Xavier as kindergarten students. "Boys" may also try to be part of the student population as high school freshmen (Grade 9), by taking the Xavier High School Entrance Examination. Transfer students are occasionally accepted but the requirements are incredibly high.[8]

Athletics

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Xavier School fields over thirty teams in twelve sports including basketball, football, badminton, volleyball, swimming, among others.[9]

Mascot

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In 1973, the school put forward a contest to create a mascot. From several nominations from various students, the Stallion was chosen to represent the students that the school bred. Years later, the official caricature of the school Mascot, Hoofy, was created in the school year 2002 to 2003. It was designed by David Gonzales of the class of 2005.[10] A life-size model of Hoofy goes around campus, is available for performance at special events.

Awards

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  • Xavier's Dance X is the champion of the 2006 Skechers Street Dancing competition (High School division).[11]
  • The Xavier Football club won 3rd place in the 2006 Alaska Football Cup.[12]
  • The Xavier School team, composed of David Hwang, Zachary Sy, and Philbert Tan, all of Batch 2019, bested hundreds of students across Southeast Asia in the 2017 University of Technology Sydney (UTS) International Technology Innovation Competition. Representing the Philippines, they won the Judges’ Choice Award for Streetflow, a smart streetlight system.[13]
  • The Xavier Debate Team, the school's official debate club, boasts an impressive track record in national debate tournaments. At the Philippine Schools Debate Championship (PSDC), the largest debate competition in the country, the team has claimed championships in 2007, 2012, 2016, and 2017, with grand finalist placements in 2006, 2011, 2018, and 2019. Additionally, at the National Asians High School Debate Championship (NAsHDC), the second largest debate tournament in the country, the team won consecutive titles in 2006, 2007, and 2008, and were grand finalists in 2005, 2019, and 2024.

Incidents

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Sometime past noon on November 12, 2014, a Grade 11 student from Xavier High School was seen sitting on the ledge on the fifth floor of the school building. The school authorities immediately called the San Juan City Rescue Team, the Philippine National Police (PNP), and the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP) for help. After about an hour of speaking to the authorities, the boy agreed to get back inside the building.[14] Based on the police investigation, the boy wanted to jump off the building due to family problems.[15] The incident was recorded by ANC as authorities are seen attempting to convince the boy to not jump. The video and the news article published by ANC news has since been since deleted as of December 20, 2021. Many speculate this to be forced censorship by Xavier School authorities to protect the reputation and name of the school.[16]

Just after the Grade School closing ceremony on March 20, 2024, a fire broke out in the main campus building. No injuries were reported and the fire was out within an hour. A Facebook post by the school stated that the cause of the fire was yet to be determined, and as of May 2024, the cause of the fire has not yet been disclosed.[17]

Notable Alumni

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Further reading

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ MMTLBA
  2. ^ JBEC
  3. ^ "Xavier School Celebrates 10 Years as an International Baccalaureate World School -". January 7, 2021. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  4. ^ Martin Gomez. "Mena, S.J. Santos. "December 15, 1955". Luceat Lux: The Story of XavierSchool. 2005". Xavier School. Archived from the original on July 19, 2012. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
  5. ^ PAASCU website Archived January 19, 2010, at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ TOWARDS 21st-CENTURY LEARNING AND CHARACTER FORMATION. "Xavier School » TOWARDS 21st-CENTURY LEARNING AND CHARACTER FORMATION". Xavier School. Archived from the original on November 3, 2011. Retrieved October 17, 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ Xavier School. "Xavier School: Now An Authorized IB World School". Xavier School. Archived from the original on November 3, 2011. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
  8. ^ "Acceptance rates for Kindergarten, Freshmen and Transfer Students." Testing and Research Center, Xavier School, 2005
  9. ^ Olivares, Rick. "Xavier School sports book launched". Philstar.com. Retrieved August 7, 2022.
  10. ^ Gomez, Peter Martin. "Xavier School Institutional Identity Book", 2005.
  11. ^ "Dancing nerds – Inquirer.net, Philippine News for Filipinos". Opinion.inquirer.net. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
  12. ^ Martin Gomez. "Xavier School – Xaverians Bag Awards Left and Right". Xavier School. Archived from the original on July 18, 2012. Retrieved October 17, 2011.
  13. ^ Sy, Steven (June 12, 2017). "Xavier School students bag double awards from Int'l Technology Innovation Tilt". Inquirer Lifestyle.
  14. ^ Coconuts Manila (November 13, 2014). "Xavier School student threatens to jump off building". Coconuts Manila.
  15. ^ mmalabanan (November 16, 2014). "Xavier Student Threatens To Jump Off School Building". DailyPedia. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  16. ^ "The Elicit - Article 1". sites.google.com. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  17. ^ Sarao, Zacarian (March 20, 2024). "Fire breaks out at Xavier School in San Juan city". INQUIRER.net. Retrieved May 7, 2024.
  18. ^ a b c "Meet the Exemplary Alumni of Xavier School -". November 23, 2018. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  19. ^ "List of Filipino Nobel laureates and nominees", Wikipedia, October 13, 2024, retrieved October 17, 2024
  20. ^ "Professor Larry Que elected to the National Academy of Sciences | Department of Chemistry | College of Science and Engineering". cse.umn.edu. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  21. ^ "Amb. Francis Chua is first recipient of PCCI's highest award". Manila Bulletin. Retrieved October 3, 2024.
  22. ^ "Francis Chua leads opening of UDM's Technology Wing". bilyonaryo.com. May 6, 2024. Retrieved October 3, 2024.
  23. ^ "Board of Directors - Bank of Commerce". www.bankcom.com.ph. June 7, 2024. Retrieved October 3, 2024.
  24. ^ a b c d "Sy Foundation supports Xavier School Nuvali". Philstar.com. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
  25. ^ "SM Prime's Hans Sy speaks about disaster risk reduction at UN forum | PreventionWeb". www.preventionweb.net. April 24, 2013. Retrieved October 3, 2024.
  26. ^ a b "Xavier School, Inc. Welcomes Fr. Joseph Haw, SJ as 7th President -". August 16, 2024. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  27. ^ a b "PressReader.com - Digital Newspaper & Magazine Subscriptions". www.pressreader.com. Retrieved October 17, 2024.
  28. ^ "Ateneo de Naga University", Wikipedia, September 25, 2024, retrieved October 3, 2024
  29. ^ a b "The Itchyworms go Mandarin with reimagined version of 'Ayokong Tumanda' – listen". The Itchyworms go Mandarin with reimagined version of 'Ayokong Tumanda' – listen | Bandwagon | Music media championing and spotlighting music in Asia. July 30, 2019. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
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