Ateneo de Naga University Request for Scholarship Assistance

To the Ateneo de Naga Alumni/ae in the USA:

Fr. Jack Phelan, S.J., now approaching 82, is fond of telling the story of his first arrival at the Ateneo de Naga. Coming through its gates, he was welcomed by Fr. Robert A. Bomeisl, S.J. Proudly, the latter pointed out the new Ateneo Gym in the emblazoned with Ateneo de Naga's Golden Knight. "That's a great gym!" he declared. Indeed, at that time, it was a great gym. "When there was a school Mass," Fr. Phelan recalls, "it was held in the gym. When there was a play, it was held in the gym. When there was a basketball game, it was held in the gym."

Progress in the University

The gym, of course, still stands, marked by its valiant Golden Knight. The Golden Knight today embellishes not only the old gym, but also the interior of the new Xavier Hall. Across Xavier Hall is the new baroque University Church of Christ the King; in back of this, the new Jesuit Residence. On the southern side of the campus, there now stands the Arrupe Hall; on the southeastern side of the campus is the new building for the civil engineering laboratories. Clearly today, the face of the Ateneo de Naga has changed, even though it is still dominated by the venerable Four Pillars. Other than the good old Gym, there are many more places in the Bagumbayan campus where one can hold important and happy events. With the exodus this summer of the High School to its sprawling new campus in Pacol, there will be even more space to optimize AdNU education on the high school, collegiate and graduate levels.

The new buildings, the upgraded Bagumbayan campus, the new and sprawling Pacol campus, certainly signify progress. We can only be grateful for that. But buildings do not make the university, people do. What is done at the Ateneo is Jesuit education. In the High School. In the Colleges. In the Graduate School.

The Flagging Economy

Unfortunately, the flagging economy in the Philippines is affecting enrollment all over the Philippines, including Bikol. Enrollment has decreased in schools across the nation; at AdNU, enrollment dropped from 6,046 in the 1st semester of SY 2001-2002 to 5,401 in the 2nd semester of SY 2002-2003 in the college level. What has increased are the queues for scholarships, the appeals for understanding in making payments to the school, the number of promissory notes - as well as the running costs for operating the university.

Responding to the difficulty of parents in making ends meet, the AdNU community together decided to tighten its belt and not raise tuition for SY 2002-03, even as salaries of faculty and staff increased normally. Unfortunately, the favor could not be repeated this year. Quality education demands not only competent teachers. It demands well-equipped laboratories, up-to-date libraries, competent faculty and staff, and programs for faculty and staff development. Without these, education fails to prepare students for today's world - and becomes more and more irrelevant.

AdNU has responded aggressively to the scholarship need by allocating more and more of its resources to scholarship support. After all, what would AdNU be if it could not make its Jesuit education accessible to poor but talented students in Bikol? In 2002-2003, scholarship assistance rose from a total of 1,145 (HS and College) to 1,354 (HS and College), without the amount of income for scholarship donations increasing.

Appeal for Support for Existing Provisional Scholars

It is in this context that I wish sincerely to appeal to our alumni/ae - especially those living and working in stronger economies like the USA - to increase scholarship support for poor but deserving students at the Ateneo de Naga. I ask you to support especially those students whom we have provisionally accepted as scholars because of their outstanding past academic achievements and promise, even though they or their families are unable to pay for their own tuition, fees, and often, living expenses in Naga. Today there are 200 such students at the Ateneo de Naga, 35 in the high school, 155 in the colleges, and 10 in the graduate school. Their names and backgrounds can be found on the websites of the Ateneo de Naga University www.adnu.edu.ph and of the Philippine Jesuit Foundation www.philjesuit.net. We ask you to generously commit yourself to support one or more of these.

Golden Knight and Four Pillars Scholarships

Do so by sponsoring a Golden Knight Scholarship or by participating in a Four Pillars Scholarship. A Golden Knight Scholarship connects one donor to one scholar; a Four Pillars Scholarship connects four-donors to one scholar. For the Four Pillars Scholarship, four individuals declare themselves prepared together to sponsor one scholar, or one individual pledges one-fourth - one Pillar - of a scholarship, and the Admissions and Aid office looks for the other three pillars to complete the scholarship. Scholarship sponsors may pay either in lump sum, or in annual or monthly payments until the scholar graduates.

Golden Knight scholarship sponsors may name their scholars from the list published by the school based on extensive screening and interviews or from their own knowledge of poor but deserving students. Similarly, four Four-Pillars sponsors together may do the same. Once a scholar is awarded a Golden Knight or Four Pillar scholarship, both the scholar and the Admissions and Aid office will maintain personal contact with the scholarship sponsor until graduation, unless, of course, this is not desired by the sponsor(s).

Affordable, Doable, for Less Than You Think

When I first broached this idea to a small gathering of our alumni in New York (Edmundo 'Munding' Arellano, Ramon 'Monching' Constancio, Josefino 'Jojo' Borja, Enrique 'Bodji' Amador Jr., Enrique 'Jing' Alpaño), it was well received. After all, the Golden Knight Scholarship could cost less monthly than a dinner for two in New York, and the Four Pillars High School Scholarship could cost monthly less than a movie and subway ride. It was agreed that even if times are hard in the U.S., times are yet harder for those in Bikol trying to study. Therefore, wouldn't it be wonderful and a great gift for the Ateneo de Naga if every alumnus or alumni in the U.S. would sponsor at least one Golden Knight or Four Pillars scholarship? Such would be a tremendous help to the Ateneo de Naga as it continues to make quality Jesuit education available to those who have less in life!

Challenge to Massive Scholarship Support

When I first became President of the AdNU and visited alumni/ae groups throughout the USA and Canada, I was made to understand that our alumni/ae were suffering from donor fatigue. When the Ateneo de Naga was in crisis fighting for its life, Fr. Rolly Bonoan, my successor, challenged the AdNU Alumni to help. And they did help. From the volume of donations that have been received (or not received) by the AdNU since then, my impression is that the donor fatigue can no longer be too great. On the other hand, the economic malaise today brings genuine dangers to the AdNU, even as it must continue to sacrifice to pay for the 100-million peso loan it took out to build the new High School. Scholarship assistance will help not only poor scholars, it will help the Ateneo de Naga itself continue to progress in providing Jesuit education in Bikol where the magnitude of poverty continues to be highest in the Philippines. I now challenge the AdNU alumni/ae to help in this crisis with massive scholarship support. I appeal for the AdNU alumni/ae spirit and energy that has made the AdNU alumni/ae second to none in the world. Let it be energy expended generously - "without counting the cost" - directly for scholarships, so that scholars and the AdNU may benefit more from this energy than the traditional benefit-dinner or benefit-concert. In this manner, may the Kingdom of God be served first - primum regnum Dei!

How to Sponsor a Scholar

Should you decided to sponsor a Golden Knight or Four Pillars scholarship at the Ateneo de Naga, kindly make your checks payable to the Philippine Jesuit Foundation and earmark them "AdNU Golden Knight Scholarship" or "AdNU Four Pillars Scholarship". Send these to the Philippine Jesuit Foundation (PJF) at 130 Beekman St., New York, NY 10038. The PJF will issue you a tax-deductible receipt. You may also use the PJF website www.philjesuit.net to make your payments and follow up on them.

Dios Mabalos!

Thank you for your patience in reading this. Thank you in advance for supporting a scholar at the Ateneo de Naga, and getting your friends and relatives to do similarly. Thank you for keeping Ateneo de Naga and its needy in your hearts. Dios Mabalos po! May the Lord repay you kindly! May you reap His hundredfold both in this life and in the next.

Sincerely in Our Lord,

Fr. Joel Tabora, S.J.

For the
Greater Glory of God
in the Philippines
 

© 2003 Philippine Jesuit Foundation