SM St. Michael, Penampang

Infobox School
name = SM St. Michael, Penampang.


imagesize = 150px
caption = "School's Badge"
motto = Ora et Labora
"Pray and Work"
established = March 10, 1958
type = National Secondary School
affiliation = flagicon|South Korea Yong-ho High School, South Korea
district = Penampang
grades = Form 1 to Form 5
president = Hon. Richel Rick Foo
(Student Council)
principal = Marie Yong Pik Hua
head of school =
dean = Hiew Ying Herng (Language)
Jeniffer Asing (Vocational)
Judy Fung Siew Sin (Science and Mathematics)
Clarice Mumpin (Social Studies)
faculty = 80
staff =
students =
enrollment = over 1,000
athletics =
conference =
colors = Red, Yellow, Blue
mascot =
campus type =
campus size =
free_label = Yearbook
free_text = Michaelian
free_label2 = Parent-Teacher Association Yang-DiPertua
free_text2 = Right-Hon. Anne B Lasimbang
free_label3 =
free_text3 =
location = Kampong Dabak, Penampang
country = Malaysia
coordinates =
information =
website = [http://www.sabah.edu.my/sm.smich.ppg]

St. Michael's Secondary School, Penampang ("Malay: Sekolah Menengah St. Michael (SMSM), Penampang") commonly known as SM St. Michael is a notable secondary school in Penampang, Sabah, Malaysia. It was named after Saint Michael the Archangel.

Mill Hill missionaries built the school to spread Catholicism among the local Kadazan-dusun community, who were mostly animists. The school started with a bamboo building and continued onwards to become a major challenge for traditional top schools. During the beginnings, Catholic Priests lived and taught at the school. Following the independence of Sabah and Sarawak on September 16, 2008, the education given by the school became more secular.

The school is among the oldest in Sabah, built in 1890 but was officially established as a Secondary School in 1958. In the beginning, parents feared to send their children to the school but it went on to become a preferred school in Penampang to this day.

Notable alumni include Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, the Malaysian Minister in the Prime Minister's Department.

History

The school was built in 1890 by Mill Hill missionaries to convert the local people into Catholicism. The mode of transportation was then the Moyog River. This caused the present day St. Michael's church and the school to be built in Kampong Dabak, Penampang which was close to the river. The first school building was made out of bamboo. It was also a home to the church's priests. The bare ground was the floor and it was walled around 3 feet from the ground. The students used a slate and a block of limestone to write. The school was not a success, as most locals did not allow their children to go to school as they feared the British North Borneo Company would take their children as soldiers. Students paid their fees in rice, tapioca, yam, fruit and firewood.

The land which the school stands now used to be a paddy field. It was donated by the locals to the school. Despite the fact that the students shared their classroom with village goats, the school had a good reputation as students as far as Tambunan and Kuala Penyu came to study in the school. This caused the opening of a boarding school.

During World War II, the Japanese occupation forced the temporary closure of the school. However, the school was not badly damaged, suffering only from machine gun bullets. Reverend M. Henselmans applied to convert the school to a senior or secondary school on August 10, 1957 to provide the 53 students who were then in primary six with a post-primary school. The school was converted into a secondary school on March 10, 1958 with Penampang native Marcus Otigil at the helm.

The school rised slowly, with the older buildings replaced by newer ones over the years. The school reached its peak during the time Mrs Lorna Matthews was principal. During this time, the academic acheivements of the school were very good, and parents started to prefer the school until in some cases parents would appeal to the district education office to have their children schooled in SM St Michael.

Reputation

The school then continued to build a glorious reputation in Penampang, especially in co-curricular activities and student performance in academics. It also maintains a high standard of rigid rules.

Co-curricular activities

In Penampang, the school is renowned for their dedicated and hardworking athletes .Some athletes, like Jesyline Stevens, was qualified to represent Malaysia in the SEA games. Jesyline not only represented the country, but she also won the silver medal, beating other far more experienced competitors.

SM St Michael is also known to produce many singers. Two Akademi Fantasia (a Malaysian reality show) contestants, Velvet Lawrence Aduk and Stracie Angie Annam, previously studied at this school. The school's choir team is also working hard to beat the defending choir champions from SM St Francis Convent whom the team has been a long time adversary. During the 2008 District Level choir competition, a dispute arised on whether SM St Michael or SM St Francis won the competition. The judges voted in favour of SM St Francis, who then lost the State Level choir competition. A recorder mini orchestra also exists in the 2008 form 3 batch. The music movement is under the guidance of Mr Awang Masri.

SM. St Micheal is also the bench marked school of the Project Based Learning (PBL) project in Malaysia for winning the pioneering program at 2007. Other then that they also sent the team that won to the ICT Conference and Exhibition Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in conjunction with the 43rd SEAMEO Council Conference and 3rd ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting. Currently, the teacher supervisor of the PBL programme is Madam Jennifer Asing.

PBL Team of 2007 (Researched on Heredity and Variation Specifically on Down's Syndrome)

* Jenny T. Sibini (Team Leader)
* Jubili Anilik (Video footage And Website Design)
* Aarathi (Analyzing Research)
* Flavia Kong (Report Assessment)
* Roderick J. Tojimoh (Poster Design)
* Adeldra R. Godfrey (Project Research)
* Tessa M. Chiuh (Presentation Development)

PBL Team of 2008 (Corals and Coral Reefs)

* Petrina Alam (Team Leader)
* Jessy Jiloris (Video footage)
* Jillian Celine (Website Design)
* Shane R. Peter (Multimedia Design and Presentation Design)
* Ornel B. Yanggau (Report Assessment)
* Cassandra Danielle (Poster Design)
* Hawford Sinpong (Project Research)
* Junia Anilik (Project Research)Each team member held a solid position in the team, specializing on his/her own skills and also learning new skills from the other members.In the end being able to utilize the Nine Intelligence.

ACTology Drama Competition (2008)

*Celine Clare
*Leona Wai
*Colette Wilfred
*Jessica Elizabeth
*Shannon Lojingon
*Brenda Augustine
*Bellinda Debra
*Yvonne Apain

This competition was hosted by Petrosains. All participating group must present a theatrical performance based on Science theme:Energy. St.Michael school was the only school chosen among all the schools in Penampang district.Fierce competitors were SMK Balung,SM Stella Maris and SM Sung Siew,Sandakan. Competiton was held in the mid-year of 2008. This drama team was guided by none other than Mdm. Jennifer Asing and Miss Chua Poh Huay. St.Michael school chose Geothermal energy which won 2nd place on the regional level,held in UMS.

When it comes to public speaking, usually Kanivanan M. Chinniah is sent to compete. In 2008, the school managed to make it to top positions in a number of academic activities such as debating and project based learning.

Other then that the school also allows students to show off their talents.

The students and teachers from SM St Michael are highly dedicated as they usually stay after school to practice for a competition.

Religious Activities

The School also does youth activities such as weekly prayer so that students stay in check Mentally, Physically and also Spiritually.

The Christian Fellowship club of the School also plays an important role in managing the spiritual development of the student-body.

Academics

The school is still performing well academically . In the 2007 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) exams, the school achieved its best SPM result with GPS of 4.33. The highest scorer from SM St Michael, Juliza Jahimin, recorded 11 A1s and 1 A2.

Strict Rules

The school practices a strict discipline policy, where they put emphasis on uniformity.

The prefect system was scrapped in 2008 and was replace by the Student Council, which is now led by Richel Rick Foo as president. Members of the council are appointed by teachers and not by students. The student council has a similar role to the prefect board, but in addition to enforcing school rules they are also the students conduits to voice out their opinion to the school administration.

Sisterhood with Yong-ho High School, South Korea

SM St Michael fostered a relationship with Yong-ho High School, South Korea and ended their participation in the KDCA-ISEP exchange program. They dubbed the relation a sisterhood and organized a English Camp for South Korean students who arrived in Sabah in July 2008. SM St Michael's students are scheduled to go to South Korea in November or December.

Students from SM .St Michael who have join the exchanged student programs are as follow :

Year 2006

* Raymond Dayan
* Juliza Jahimin

Year 2007

* Terry Lojingki
* Yvonne C. Chia

Environmental School

The current principal, Madam Marie Yong Pik Hua is a well known ambitious lady who was transferred from SM St Michael's rival, SMK Datuk Peter Mojuntin upon the retirement of Mr Fidelis Insing. She has been known to be environmentally friendly and thus she aims to turn the school into "an environmental sustainable school by the year 2010", which will be her year of retirement.

As a result, SM St Michael has undertook massive changes and attempted enter the Malaysian Book of Records.

Principals

* Marcus Otigil (1958 - 1961)
* Fr. Roger McGorty (1962 - 1963)
* Fr. M. Harley (1964 - 1965)
* Fr. John Rooney (1966)
* Fr. W. Van Gastel (1967 - 1970)
* Shenton de Rozario (1971)
* Ritamma Joseph (1972)
* Hin Tian Chin (1973)
* K. V. Joshua (1974 - 1982)
* Katherine Philip (1982 - 1986)
* Gan Lee Ping (1987 - 1990)
* Chandran Vengadasamy (1990 - 1992)
* Range Majikol (1992 - 1995)
* Lorna Mathews (1995 - 2003)
* Fidelis P. Insing (2003 - April 30, 2006)
* Marie Yong Pik Hua (2006 - present)

References

# "Michaelian 2007" (school magazine)
# "Michaelian 2006" (school magazine)
# "Michaelian 1999" (school magazine)