Instituto Cultural Tampico

The Instituto Cultural Tampico (ICT) is a private college founded in 1962 by the Society of Jesus in the city of Tampico, Mexico. Provides basic and middle education validated by the Secretaría de Educación Pública, and higher education affiliated with the Universidad Autónoma de México (UNAM) in accordance with the curriculum of Colegio de Ciencias y Humanidades (CCH). It was famous in Mexico and the US because later guerrilla leader Sub Commander Marcos (Rafael Guillén Vicente) studied here.Infobox Secondary school
name = Instituto Cultural Tampico

motto = "Duc in Altum "Put out into deep water "
city = Tampico
state = Tamaulipas
country = Mexico
type = Private
affiliations = Catholic, Jesuit
grades = 1–12
established = 1962
students = 3,000
principal = Carlos Velasco Arzac, S.J.
mascot = Wolf
colors = Gray and Maroon
website = [http://www.ict.edu.mx/ ICT]

Foundation

It was founded by a group of parents who attended several religious groups to create a college that would continue the catholic education given to their children at other private colleges of that time. It was the Jesuits who acceded to this request, under the direction of the priest Federico Chavez Peon, S.J. ensuring that the then inspector of the Province of Mexico, Lawrence O'Neill, S.J. processed and obtained approval from Rome.

The college is dedicated to the memory of San Luis Gonzaga, an Italian Jesuit beatified by Paul V on October 19, 1605 and canonized on December 13, 1726 by Benedict XIII, who declared him patron of youth.

The Instituto Cultural Tampico was first ubicated in an old house on colonia Altavista. Started operations on September of 1962 with only a dozen of male students to attend the first year. Gradually more and more students joined every year until all six high school grades were completed. Although, at the beginning the school accepted males only, years later females were accepted as well.

In the early 70's the ICT changed its facilities to a new campus at Avenida Universidad, where it is now. [Palomera, Esteban J.: La obra educativa de los jesuitas en Tampico, 1962-1987, ICT, México, 1990. ISBN 968-859-036-3.]

Today

Today, the Instituto Cultural Tampico teaches Kindergarten, Elementary and Highschool, on both morning and afternoon shift. Males and females may join, and it accepts any non-catholic students, which provides a rich diversity among the students.

Parents who acted as promoters of this project organized forming a board called "Impulsora Cultural A.C." who legally owns and operates the school. As most of the schools inspired on catholic education, the religious subjets taught at the ICT are not part of the official curriculum (SEP), instead they are handled as extracurricular. Its facilities house fifty classrooms, several auditoriums, a chapel, a theater, computer classrooms, a cafeteria, four laboratories, sport courts, and parking lots including an underground lot.

Praying House Villa Manresa

Named in memory of a town in Cataluña, Spain, where Ignatius of Loyola developed the Spiritual Exercises, the Villa Manresa was founded in 1982 by the sixth principal of the institute, Jose Quezada Guadeloupe S.J. in order to serve as a retreat house, where the community of the institute could conduct their activities in reflection, spiritual exercises, retreats and other general courses. It houses a chapel, auditorium, classrooms, bedrooms, dining rooms, kitchen, basic services and gardens.

Relevance

The importance of this Institution lies on the regional influence of their activities (social service, charity works, legal assistance to immigrants, retreats and conferences) and more over, in the important networks of ex-alumnis formed from ICT or any other Jesuit College

According to the watchlists carried by ex-alumni, thousands of them are actively engaged in various tasks ranging from religious activism to social discussion forums that have nothing to do with religion. Other ten thousands of graduates from all Jesuit colleges often create and maintain ties of brotherhood for life without carrying out any religious or social work.

Those who do remain within the Catholic movement, are often grouped into different organizations under the symbol ASIA (Antiqui Societatis Iesu Alumni) a Latin term which could be translated as "former student of the Society of Jesus."

In either case, these organizations are independent of the Institute and of the Company, are not part of its structure or are funded by them in any way. [www.ict.edu.mx]

References

External links

* [http://www.ict.edu.mx ICT] Official ICT website