Letter of Fr. President to the Alumni/ae

To Our Alumni/ae in New York, Chicago, Seattle, San Diego, Los Angeles and San Francisco:

This last round of December visits was certainly high risk.  Could we at all achieve our goal?  First, there was the financial crisis that threw cold water on many hopes and dreams.  Would people at all be receptive to an appeal from the Ateneo de Naga High School?  Secondly, it was December, in the weeks just before and just after Christmas.  People, we knew were busy  preparing for Chr istmas, preparing for the New Year.  Would they at all bother to come?  For a while in Naga, I'd developed cold feet and was severely tempted to call the trip off.  But when Blessie suggested this to you, you encouraged us to come nevertheless.  So we came.  Greg flew into New York from Manila.  I flew in after my meeting in Rome.  It was Greg's first time in the United States.  It was his first experience of New York's skyscrapers and subways, Chicago's architecture and -16C weather, Seattle's snow and Philippine Center, Los Angeles' sprawling freeways, and San Francisco's Golden Gate;  in his free time, he even made side trips to Washington DC, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon accompanied by former teachers and a bevy of nieces and nephews.  But we were most heartened by the warm welcome we received everywhere - in the home of Nilda Lagoza in New Jersey, in Little Quiapo in Chicago, in the Philippine Center in Seattle, in Mr. Raul Ballesteros residence in Los Angeles, in the home of Jonee and Puri Magdaraog in San Francisco.

Thank you for allowing us to share with you our "Images of Growth" at the Ateneo de Naga.  We are now an autonomous university;  we have just been re-accredited by PAASCU as Level III (unique to AdNU in Bikol), we are recognized by the Commission on Higher Education for excellence in Education, Entrepreneurship, Business Management and Information Technology.  We have a great new College of Nursing, a new program of Civil Engineering.  We produce students awarded nationally for their quality and achievements.  Our college enrollment is healthy; our scholarship program robust.

You also allowed us to tell you we still run the best high school in Naga - if not in Bicol.  It is a Jesuit high school.  We have the best faculty, the best facilities, and the best studentry in Naga. 

But we also shared our concern with you that the population of the high school has been steadily decreasing.  We believe this is because the suddenly improved education in the public schools, which charge next to nothing, too easily convinces people that what they get for free is equivalent to what they get in Jesuit high school education.  It is not.  We believe we do it best.  And we do want to share the best with the best students of Bicol - especially if they come from financially challenged families.  

This is why we appealed to you to support high school scholarships - through Golden Knight Scholarships, Four Pillars Scholarships, or simply by setting aside a fixed amount monthly for our Scholarship Solidarity Fund (visit:  www.adnu.edu.ph). You responded with interest, enthusiasm and generosity.  Thank you so much!

In case you do not have you own 501(C)(3) organization, may I remind you to make your checks out to "The Philippine Jesuit Foundation" and earmark them (on the lower left side of the check) for the Ateneo de Naga University.  e.g. "AdNU Golden Knight Scholarship," or "ADNU Scholarship Solidarity Fund".  For the latter, please instruct your bank to send a monthly check of the same amount to the Philippine Jesuit Foundation.  This is the cleanest and safest way to effect regular payments into the solidarity fund.  For security reasons, we will not give out the particulars of our account.  

There was risk involved; thank you for making the risk worthwhile!  It was a cold winter;  thank you for your warmth and hospitality!  There was a financial crisis;  thank you for your generosity! There are myriad ways of helping others in these hard times;  thank you for deciding to support scholarships in your alma mater, the Ateneo de Naga High School!  Thank you for having us over!

Gratefully in Our Lord,

Fr. Joel