St. Theresa's College, Cebu City

Infobox_University
name = St. Theresa's College, Cebu City


established = 1 June 1933
founder = Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary
type = Private, Exclusive ICM
grades = Prep to College
campus = Don Ramon Aboitiz St., Cebu City
city = Cebu City
state = Cebu
country = Philippines
patroness = St. Theresa of Avila
colors = Blue and gold

St. Theresa's College, Cebu City, Philippines, is a Catholic institution of learning founded by the Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (ICM) on June 1, 1933 upon the expressed invitation of Monsignor Gabriel Reyes, then Archbishop of Cebu.

The college offers all levels of instruction for girls from preparatory to college. The missionary spirit of the Foundress, Mother Marie Louise de Meester, permeates the whole program of education of the institution. This spirit is characterized by a sincere love of God, loyalty to the Church, a great respect for the dignity of man and a genuine personal concern and involvement in the lives of people, especially the poor, the deprived, and the oppressed.

The institution first operated in Sikatuna Street, Cebu City, while adequate school buildings were being erected on the present site, bounded by General Maxilom Avenue, Juana Osmena Street, Redemptorist Road and Ramon Aboitiz Street.

In 1935, the first years of the Liberal Arts, education and Commerce courses were added to the elementary and secondary levels. Gradually, the three courses were completed and fully recognized by the Bureau of Education in 1940.

In 1957, St. Theresa’s College, Cebu City, became a Charter Member of the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU) and has satisfactorily maintained is accredited status.

About STC

Mission Statement

Participating in God's mission,St. Theresa's College, Cebu,conscious of present-day realities,commits itself to educationthat creates a culture of goodness,excellence, empowerment and equality,thus, nurturing young womento become transformational leadersin the service of gathering all in God's heart.

Patron Saint

Teresa de Avila, the first woman doctor of the Church, is the patron saint of St. Theresa’s College. Her life and writings are eloquent proofs of the courage, wisdom and virtue which the institution desires to achieve in her students.

Official Seal & Colors

The official seal of St. Theresa's College is a round white shield dominated by the Latin cross, the base which spreads out like two wings encompassing its whole width. The cross stands for the Catholic Church whose doctrines, ideals, and principles permeate the school educational program of the Institution. The three stars stand for the three theological virtues: faith, hope, and charity. The inscription around the shield “VIRTUTE, SCIENTIA, ARTIBUS FLOREAT”, expresses the wish that under the aegis of Catholic education, virtue, science, and art may flourish in St. Theresa's College.

The college colors- blue and gold- stand for courage and love respectively.

Incorporation

St. Theresa's College, Cebu City, was originally incorporated in accordance with Philippine Laws on March 29, 1935. After World War II, the Articles of Incorporation were duly reconstituted and with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Manila, October 1948. The transcript of these amended Articles of Incorporation was issued on September 8, 1949. In February 1991, the papers of Incorporation registered at the Securities and Exchange Commission were revised.

Until August 1991 the members of the Board of Trustees of St. Theresa's College, Cebu were the ICM District Superior and her Council. Today, St. Theresa's College, Cebu is governed by a separate Board of Trustees with ten (10) members, six (6) of whom are ICM’s and four (4) non-ICM's.

In 1984, an Ad Hoc Committee as formed to valuate ICM school programs with the end view of integrating the school into the community, particularly in relation to Christian community building and action for justice and peace. The ICM schools in the 1990’s continued on the path of being in solidarity with the massive efforts of the Filipino people and other Third World countries to become shapers of their own destiny as they work towards education to LIBERATION, JUSTICE, PEACE and SOLIDARITY. Here lies the social role of the Catholic school as a private institution of learning. The ICM schools in the new millennium respond to the challenges brought about by globalization like the preservation of Mother Earth, protection of the rights of women and children and promotion of fair labor practices.

Academic Programs

St. Theresa’s College, Cebu molds young minds to become WOMEN OF FAITH, CHARACTER and LEADERSHIP. Upholding a tradition of integral Catholic education that creates a culture of goodness, excellence, empowerment and equality, STC-Cebu offers

Pre-Elementary School

Grade School

Objectives

* To work towards an integrated Christian Life steeped in Gospel values and attitudes for the building of the Church of the poor.
*To promote integral human development and enabling relationships in the spirit of mutual respect, trust and love.
*To harness skills and competencies towards the attainment of a sovereign Filipino nation and transformed world-community.
*To instill a sense of mission for social transformation in the face of oppressive structures and inequalities.
*To form an enlightened citizenry who ascertain, develop and preserve desirable Filipino traditions and values.
*To develop a lifestyle that safeguards the integrity of creation.
*To foster a gender sensitive education that liberates women and men to a new partnership of shared responsibility at home and in society.

pecific Objectives

*To provide opportunities for integral human formation in the light of Christ’s teachings and the examples of the three women disciples, namely: Mother Mary, St. Theresa of Avila and Mother Marie-Louise de Meester.
*To develop basic knowledge, values, attitudes, skills, habits, beliefs and potentials that would be a positive contribution to the country and the global community.
*To instill a sense of mission and show concern for the last, the least, and the lost.
*To aspire to live simply and to be ecologically friendly.

High School

Objectives

*To develop a Christian Filipina who is discerning, reflective, and responsive to the economic, political, spiritual, and sociocultural challenges that she encounters in her life; and who is becoming a living witness to the kingdom values of truth, freedom, love, justice, and peace- through the inspiration of the most Holy Trinity and the lives of Mother Mary, saint Theresa of Avila, and other valiant women-to fulfill God’s dream for all.
*To view and understand the heritage of the past in the light of the present events and to identify one’s specific role in the Filipino journey towards speculating the future and actualizing a transformed world community which is truly human, just, free, peaceful, and true.
*To enhance communicative competencies and literary appreciation of the students in order for them to express what is alive, meaningful, and true as their response to the challenges brought about by media in the modern world.
*“Paunlarin ang pagpapahalaga at paggamit ng sariling wika upang makatulong sa pagpapanatili at pangangalaga ng ating kultura at kalinangan sa gitna ng mga pagbabagong umiiral sa lipunan para sa pagtataguyod ng pambansang pagkakakilanlan.
*To provide venues for the enhancement of scientific knowledge and the development of skills, values, and attitudes to promote a culture of peace, and to preserve and conserve the earth’s resources.
*To enhance the mathematical comprehension, appreciation, learning, and skills for accurate, analytical, and logical thinking towards a greater capacity to make generalizations and applications relevant to social issues; and to be responsive to the rapid change in technology.
*To provide an intensive learning and skills in home economics, management, and computer programming to mold the students into women disciples with desirable attitudes and habits, with personal and social values, and who discriminately keep abreast with the latest technology so that they become transformed leaders-living meaningfully, loving, and growing in their family, in the community, and in the world at large
*To provide the students with opportunities and avenues in recognizing the elements of music and to further enhance their capacity to understand, appreciate, perform, and reproduce music of every kind and from different cultures.
*To enhance a poised and an integral well-being of individuals and groups through various creative and youth development training activities.
*To encourage active, meaningful, and committed participation in community-oriented projects and activities in local, national, and global issues.
*To provide proper guidance and counseling towards self-identity, clarification of values, development of positive attitudes and habits for self-directed and properly motivated options in life.

College

Liberal Arts

Aims at promoting the cultural development of the students by helping them illumine their cognitive and affective life so that they become persons empowered for self-reliance and social responsibility.

*Bachelor of Arts in Communication
**Major in Corporate Communication
**Major in Media Communication
*Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
*Bachelor of Science in Psychology
**Major in Counseling Psychology
**Major in Industrial Psychology

Education

Aims at forming Christian women educators who have the passion for excellence and the heart for goodness in order to transform society

*Bachelor of Secondary Education
**Major in English
**Major in Mathematics

*Bachelor of Elementary Education
**General Education
**Pre-School Education
**Special Needs Education

ocial Work

Aims at facilitating the formation of social workers who are imbued with a deep sense of respect for the dignity and worth of the human person and of social responsibility and who are equipped with skills, strategies, and orientations needed to effectively establish partnership with people in challenging unjust structures to build a just and humane society.

*Bachelor of Science in Social Work

Management & Accountancy

Aims at providing the students with a thorough professional training anchored on solid Christian principles and ethics in the fields of accounting and management.

*Bachelor of Science in Accountancy
*Bachelor of Science in Business Management

Certificate of Proficiency in Education

Designed for students who wish to take the Licensure Examination for Teachers in the Pre-School, Elementary, and Secondary Levels, but whose educational qualifications are not those degrees expressly prescribed in the law. This program provides the student the opportunity to pursue teacher education. The program has recently been redesigned to reflect the state-of-the-art knowledge base in teacher education.

Diploma in Teaching Special Education

English Proficiency Course

Product

Women leaders who are....

*competent and confident in their respective fields of endeavor
*innovative in adopting to new forms of learning environment.
*practitioners and promoters of communal discernment as a way of life and as a mode of working and relating.
*actualizing and promoting global ethics that speaks of the values of justice, peace and the integrity of creation.
*have a preferential option for the poor with a strong disposition for the empowerment of women.
*adept in the use of media and technology.
*advocates of excellence
*catalysts of change.

Community Involvement

Rationale

The Community Involvement Program (CIP) of Saint Theresa’s College Cebu is an expression of the school’s missionary spirit as inspired by Mother Marie Louise de Meester, in her undaunted apostolic life, love for the poor, daring spirit and a strong sense of mission. It is meant to nurture the service orientation of the school’s social thrust, and to raise the level of consciousness and commitment of the entire school community to be in dialogue with the people in their inspirations and the school community’s life values.

It is geared towards the realization of the institutional vision, mission and goal based on the integration of curriculum, research and community involvement. CIP is a partnership of the school with communities, characterized by mutuality as expressed in activities based on common concerns. Partnership means that CIP is the work of everyone, the CIP personnel, the whole school and the partner communities as well.

Background

The CI program is based on the commitment of STC-Cebu to provide a ‘transformative education that is discerning and reflective, geared towards the empowerment of the school community and a spirituality that promotes truth, freedom, justice, love and peace’..

As part of the whole educational program of ICM schools, the Community Involvement Program promotes the ICM vision-mission, and STC institutional goal which draw inspiration from Mary in her Magnificat and from Mother Marie Louise de Meester, foundress of the ICM congregation, who was imbued with deep interior lofe, undaunted apostolic zeal, love for the poor, daring spirit and a strong sense of mission.

Through CIP, St. Theresa’s College continues to be on solidarity with the massive efforts of the Filipino people, with the Third World countries and the poor all over the world to transform the world community. Through a liberating and transformative education, STC continually listens to, discerns with, and reflects on the development of history and the signs of the times, living as one community with compassion, justice and discernment as a way of life.

Through community building activities, the students contribute to the general welfare and improvement of the quality of life of the members of the community while learning the values of social responsibility and service. On the other hand, the partner communities provide valuable learning experiences for the students through exposure and interaction with real life situations of people in the depressed communities.

Tapping the rich human and academic resources of the three departments, namely the Grade School, the High School, and the College, CIP is a service program in five partner communities focused on addressing issues of women and children, and care for the earth.

Programs and Services

* Education on current social issues and community situation.
* Exposure and immersion activities
* Seminar trainings in community development and volunteer work
* Formation and strengthening of core group leaders both in school and community
* Community, center and school-based projects/initiatives (e.g. remedial and tutorial classes, income generating projects, community theater groups, environmental care campaign, waste segregation and recycling, fora, symposia, etc.)
* Processing and recollection
* Research and information
* Networking and linkaging

Nature: Spiral Growth of Involvement

CIP’s spiral growth of involvement is a framework that is applicable both to the school and partner community in establishing mutual relationship. We consider that each person has different levels of readiness for involvement and can grow, as the individual undergoes different experiences that can deepen his/her commitment for involvement.

CIP’s spiral growth of involvement starts with INFORMATION. This level aims that a person be equipped of the correct understanding and right attitude towards any given situation, event or phenomena so as to act appropriately in accordance to Christian teachings. This level involves activities such as orientation, seminar training, exposure and community visits, and discussion, for a, data gathering, and information dissemination and other educational activities.

The next level is FORMATION. Once the person is knowledgeable and guided by what she/he is capable to do in a situation, it is inevitable that the person is drawn to participate or to be involved to make the situation better. To contribute in whatever way it can be significant. In the process, change is happening to the person. By going out of oneself, by repeatedly doing constant visit to communities and agencies, immersion, participation in people’s life activities or services of agencies, reflection and processing sessions.

Ideally, the next level is TRANSFORMATION. Transformation happens when there is now the desire for voluntary involvement in people’s struggle. There is a heightened concern for the need of others, especially the underprivileged, a genuine personal transformation, and a natural expansion of one’s involvement to family, locality, parish and country.

Objectives

* To provide opportunities for relevant and meaningful involvement, to help strengthen the school and partner communities’ sense of mission and appreciation for service.
* To establish and nurture the developmental partnership of the school with communities, characterized by mutual growth and dynamic interactions.
* To assist in developing and raising readiness for involvement through capability building seminars and trainings; processing/integration; guidance and evaluation
* To coordinate with CLF Program for continuous reflection and discernment, in order to remain attuned in the movement towards personal formation
* To help in the preservation of the integrity of creation through projects for environmental care and protection
* To actively contribute in the formation of women leaders as advocates of truth and genuine service
* To continually assess the established partnership with communities that they are in keeping to the values of interdependence and mutuality

Notable People

Alumnae

*Gretchen Barretto - Actress, singer
*Pilita Corrales - Singer
*Monique Lhuillier - Filipino fashion designer based in the United States
*Daisy Ba-ad - Playwright-director, motivational speaker, training specialist based in Cebu
*Gwen Garcia - Governor of Cebu
*Haide Acuña - News anchor, lawyer

Faculty Members

*Leo Lastimosa - TV newscaster, journalist

ee also

St. Theresa's College, Quezon City

External links

* [http://www.stc.edu.ph/ St Theresa’s College, Cebu City] - official site
* [http://www.staa-cebu.org/ STAA] - Saint Theresa's Alumnae Association

* [http://www.af-usa.org/projects_list.asp?type=organization&value=%22SAINT%20THERESA'S%20COLLEGE%20MANILA%20FOUNDATION,%20INC.%22] - St. Theresa's College Manila Foundation, Inc.