By Fr. Tito Caluag Philippine Daily Inquirer

In 1995, when I was starting my work as principal at the Ateneo de Manila High School, I was blessed with the luxury of coming into my job without needing to worry much about day-to-day operations.

I spent the time learning the ropes, so to speak, and starting the process of our coming up with a 10-Year Development Plan. One of the first steps was to interview the different stakeholders of the school.

I saw all our faculty, staff and representatives of the students, parents and alumni. For the fourth-year students, I got 10 students from each class and spent an entire period, which was then 40 minutes, conversing with them in my office.

The basic goal was getting their perspective of what made the Ateneo de Manila High School distinct, what it was we did best, etc.

My final question to the seniors was what it was in their high school experience that they would take with them as they leave, to cherish and always guide them as they move on in their journey. Almost all of the close to 90 seniors I spoke with said it was the Tulong-Dunong Program that they considered the defining moment of their high school experience.

Tulong-Dunong is a program of the Ateneo de Manila High School started by the late Fr. James OBrien, SJ, in 1975-1976, when I was a senior high school student myself. We did not participate in it, since only one out of our seven sections piloted the program.

In a few years, the program was implemented for all senior year sections. It was a combination of our religion and socioeconomic classes, with close to three hours a week dedicated to tutoring Grade 6 students from a nearby public school. Each senior student, on the average, tutored two groups of six to eight students per group in two 40-minute periods. Every Tuesday or Thursday, half of the fourth year sections would go to their assigned public school.

Aside from this, the high school students did home visits, an educational tour with their students and various programs in the public schools as part of their practicum.

I taught this subject for three years before I entered the seminary, and knew it was indeed a life-changing experience for many of our students.

See the article here:
Finding meaning in what is ‘not of this world’