University of the Philippines Rural High School

Infobox Secondary school

established=December 3, 1927
name=University of the Philippines Rural High School
type=State school
city = Brgy. Paciano Rizal, Bay
state = Laguna
country=Philippines
principal=Prof. Gregorio Y. Ardales Jr.

The University of the Philippines Rural High School was established as a subsidiary of the Department of Agricultural Education (DAE, now Department of Agricultural Education and Rural Studies or DAERS) of the University of the Philippines College of Agriculture, pursuant to Sec.4 of Act 3377 of the Philippine Legislature which was approved on December 3, 1927. The school, with a vocational curriculum, served as a practice school for the training of teachers, provided secondary education in agriculture for those preparing for college, and trained intermediate school graduates in agriculture.

History

Classes in the UPRHS were first held in the present rooms of the Department of Agricultural Economics. A concrete one-story building with a multi-purpose hall, two classrooms, a kitchen and a sewing room was constructed in 1931. At present the building now houses the Southern Tagalog Agricultural Resources, Research and Development Consortium Office.

With the institution of Home Economics in 1939, the school had two curricula -- the Boys' and the Girls' Curricula -- which were basically the same except that the latter had home economics.

During the Japanese regime, the school continued functioning with the major curricular changes in the replacement of English and U.S. History with Japanese, Filipino, Language, Reading, and Character Education.

Until the latter part of the 1950's, the UP Rural High School served as a practice school for majors in Agricultural Education. With the abolition of the certificate program for Junior-Agriculture teachers, the adoption of the eight-week off-campus practice teaching, and the diminution of the twenty-hours-a-week field work, the school gradually gave up its original function.

In 1960, the vocational curriculum was changed to College Preparatory by adding more academic courses (English, Mathematics, Science, History) and shortening the periods in Agriculture and Home Economics to only four hours and twenty minutes a week. The Boy's and Girl's Curricula were combined into one in 1969.

On December 1970, the UPRHS moved to the newly renovated Women’s Dorm located in front of the St. Therese of Child Jesus Parish. The building provide a bigger library, chemistry laboratory, a kitchen, a sewing room, eight classrooms and faculty offices.

The School has implemented the 1960 curriculum up to 1999 with the replacement of the traditional history courses with Social Studies I (The Community), Social Studies II (The Nation), Social Studies III (Economic Development & Program), and Social Studies IV (The World: A Cultural Perspective), as well as the inclusion of the Youth Development Program (YDT) which covers Scouting, Physical Education, Music, and Citizen Army Training (later replaced by the Preparatory Military Training or PMT) as required by the Department of Education and Culture in 1972.

Since 1998, students, as prescribed by the present Department of Education, Culture & Sports, are now taking up Economics in their fourth year. World History, on the other hand, is now being offered to the juniors.

In 1979, Agriculture and Home Economics periods were further reduced to four hours a week. A change in the Mathematics curriculum was also implemented with the replacement of the traditional Mathematics courses with Math I (Modern Math), Math II (First Course in Algebra), Math III (Geometry), Math IV-A (Second Course in Algebra, part I), Math IV-B (Second Course in Algebra, part II), Math V (Introduction to Trigonometry), Math VI (Advanced Algebra), and Math VII (Introduction to Statistics). Advanced Mathematics classes have been offered starting school year 1980-81 to students who rate high in the math test of the entrance exam and later qualify in a test given to them.

In the school year 1999-2000, the Mathematics department proposed an amendment on the Math curriculum of UPRHS. To be implemented starting school year 2000-2001 are the courses Math 3-A (Advanced Algebra, formerly Math IV-A and IV-B) and Math 3-B (Geometry, formerly Math III). On the other hand, 4th year Math courses such as Math 4-A (Trigonometry with Introductory Calculus, formerly Math V & VI) and Math 4-B (Introduction to Statistics, formerly Math VII) will be offered starting school year 2001-2002.

The Science Curriculum has also been revised with a corresponding increase in number of credit units and number of class hours per week from three hours and thirty minutes per week with one unit credit to six hours per week with two units credit.

On June 21, 1999, UPRHS moved to its new home at Brgy. Paciano Rizal, Bay, Laguna. Until this day, the school is still recognized “as a state university high school of high academic achievement and of strong commitment to its continuing task in molding the youth." (cite book |coauthors= UPRHS Class 1982 |title= A Path to Gold )

Past Notable Student Achievements (National and International Level)

*Philippine Math Olympiad (March 5-7, 2001 - UP Diliman, Quezon City)
**"Allan Joseph Larona, Rizza Lynn Ponce, Ralph Carlo Tinio, Finalist"
*KAPNAYAN National Chemistry Quiz Contest 2000
**"Sigfred Lajara, Lawrence Allen Tria, Jose Paolo Tapay, Rizza Lynn Ponce, Gerard Macalalag - 6th Place National Level"
*Batang Pinoy Nationwide Tennis Tournament, 1998
**"Bernardino Alpuerto II, champion"
*1st Philippine National Chemistry Olympiad (May 19-21, 2001 - Xavierville, Cagayan de Oro City)
**"John Meynard M. Tengco, Champion"
*9th INTEL Philippine Science Fair (February 14-16, 2005 - UP Diliman, Quezon City)
**"Vittorio Lloyd Salac, Herbert Hoover Young Engineer Award and the Microsoft Engineering Award"
*5th Philippine National Chemistry Olympiad (March 10-12, 2005 - Ateneo de Manila University, Quezon City)
**"Brian James S. Aggangan, Champion"
*Philippine National Science Fair (1980 - Pangasinan)
**"Nelso Montañano, Jose T. Calderon Jr., Victor de Padua, Champion, awarded Outstanding Young Scientists, Ministry of Science, 1980"
* Ramon Magsaysay Essay Writing Contest
**"Raymundo V. Lucero, Jr.", Champion
*57th Carlos Palanca Memorial Awards for Literature
** "Kathleen Teresa M. Ramos", (3rd Place, 2007)

Notable Alumni

*Emerlinda Roman, First Woman UP President
*Clare Baltazar, National Scientist and Professor Emeritus of Entomology
*Antonio 'Tony' Mabesa, Movie, Television and Theater Actor
*Lizbeth de Padua, Neurologist and Bb Pilipinas-Universe 1976
*Ebe Dancel, lead vocalist, Sugarfree
*Lemuel Cuento, Tenor. Lemuel studied at the Hong Kong Academy of Music and earned his diploma in Opera Performance at the Vienna Conservatory. His voice teacher was Sylvia Greenberg. He has since performed Tamino in The Magic Flute, Hans in The Bartered Bride (Smetana), The Duke in Rigoletto,Alfredo in La Traviata , Ubaldo in Armida (Haydn) and Fenton in The Merry Wives of Windsor. In 2004, he was engaged at the theater in Pforzheim, where he essayed various roles like Don Carlo, Florestan in Fidelio, Rodolfo in La Boheme, Cavaradossi in Tosca, Jim Mahoney in Mahagonny, Lensky in Eugene Onegin, Canio in I Pagliacci, Luigi in Il Tabarro, The Steersman in The Flying Dutchman as well as classical operetta like Paganini, The Duke in A Night in Venice and Edwin in Czardasfürstin. Other roles he has done include Aliatar in a rarely done opera called Pelagio by Saverio Mercandante (performed in Guijon, Spain) and Hoffmann.

References

*"Our Story", the Ruralite Volume XLIV No. 2-3, July-August 2000
*"Paragon", [http://www.geocities.com/uprhs2001] , the UP Rural High School Class of 2001 Website
*"Ruralites reap science awards", UPLB Horizon, March 2006
*"Biographies Section", Invictus, UPRHS Class of 2002 yearbook
*" UPRHS Journalism Club SY:06-10
*"Ilao, S.A.L. "Our Story: A Peek at RHS History". "The Ruralite" July 2000 & August-September 2000
*"A Path to Gold. UPRHS Class 1982.