One morning in December, more than a thousand students of Sisters of Mary School (SOM) Boystown and Girlstown in Silang, Cavite, sat upright and proper to listen to not one but two very important inspirational speakers.
The first was no less than the Education Secretary himself, Bro. Armin Luistro. The second, United States Ambassador Harry K. Thomas Jr.
The education secretary, an alumnus and a former president of De La Salle University, exhorted the graduates to soar like eagles.
In his message, on the other hand, the US ambassador said, “Whatever you do, wherever you go, come back. And if you can’t come back, give back.”
The Sisters of Mary have combined the commencement exercises of their high school with the graduation rites of the SOM Technical Education Institute’s third batch of students.
SOM, which was founded by Msgr. Aloysius Schwartz in 1985, has served as both school and home for these graduates who came from poor families. The congregation runs similar charity programs in Korea, Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil and Honduras.
Donations from generous people provide not only for the education of the more than 11,000 students at the SOM campuses in Cavite and Cebu, but for food, clothing, shelter and other needs as well.
In addition to the required academic subjects in high school, the students are also given more hours of training in vocational skills.
The girls learn dressmaking, industrial sewing machine operation, steno-typing and bookkeeping, electronics, advanced dressmaking, basic computer systems, and culinary arts.
The boys are trained in electricity and electronics, machine shop and welding, computer technology (CADD), auto mechanics and driving, and mechanical processes.
After the commencement rites, the students regaled their guests with a cultural presentation.