Mrs. Mary Francis V. Yap
Social Involvement Coordinator
Magis Greetings!
The Social Involvement Office is tasked to design, implement and evaluate the Social Involvement Program of Sacred Heart School – Ateneo de Cebu. As a Jesuit school, SHS-AdC firmly believes that student-formation is geared towards finding God in all things. In this light, the social involvement activities of the institution are designed to heighten social formation that seek to imbibe among students the core values of the school particularly compassion.
Through outreach and various community engagement activities, SHS-AdC commits to its share of gradually transforming society in the spirit of the Ignatian ideal of Magis. Thus, an Ateneo-Hearter is an academically excellent person who also has the passion to lead and the heart to love and serve others especially those who are marginalized.
The Social Involvement Program includes but is not limited to school-community relations (with students, faculty, staff, parents and alumni), social action and social awareness activities as well as community-based projects in the light of the school’s thrust as articulated in its Vision-Mission.
I invite all students, faculty and staff, parents and alumni of Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu to actively participate in the school’s social involvement activities. In this special Jubilee Year of Mercy may we “look forward to the experience of opening our hearts to those living on the outermost fringes of society: fringes modern society itself creates” (Misericordiae Vultus, 15).
The Blue Plate Project is Sacred Heart School-Ateneo de Cebu’s version of a school-based feeding program (SBFP) for malnourished and undernourished pupils. As a purposive feeding program, it aims to provide 100 Grade School pupils with free mid-day meals. Its current recipient institution is Cubacub Elementary School.
The Summer of Service (SOS) Program is a values formation program through voluntary work exposure in companies owned by alumni of SHS-AdC. It is jointly sponsored by the SHS-AdC Alumni Association and the Social Involvement Office. For four weeks, the student-volunteers would report to work for four hours from Monday to Friday. Part of the volunteers’ earnings would be contributed to a scholarship fund for 140 pupils of Carreta Elementary School and 60 pupils of Canduman Elementary School.
A year-end initiative wherein students would donate their books to the Social Involvement Office. The books would be distributed to public schools, day care centers, religious congregations in charge of youth apostolate and the schools in the Jesuit Bukidnon Mission District.
In partnership with the American Wheelchair Mission and the Alumni Office, SHS-AdC, each year, gives or distributes more or less 400 wheelchairs and other assistive devices to PWDs or Senior Citizens.
Designed as a ladderized Formation Program from Grade 7 to Grade 9, students would be asked to spend the entire morning of a Saturday with an identified partner community. Grade 7 students go to Gasa sa Gugma; Grade 8 students are assigned in Lower Tipolo Urban Poor Community and the Grade 9 students go to Brgy. Umapad’s Daycare Center.
The Service Learning Program (SLP) is part of the Grade 10 curriculum that aims to provide Ateneo-Hearters the opportunity to share their knowledge while appreciating their capabilities as mentors to younger (Grades 6 and 5) pupils in a public school. Working within the framework of “education as a human capital” SHS-AdC invests in tutorial sessions with the hope that the English and other supplementary lessons of the SLP would enhance the learners’ grasp of their lessons particularly in terms of comprehension.
The MAGIS Outreach is a voluntary Social Involvement activity which classes may opt to organize on top of the required Saturday Social Involvement Activity (for grades 7-9) or the Service Learning sessions (for grade 10). It seeks to provide additional opportunity for students to undergo social formation that would enhance their experience in the Saturday Social Involvement Activity or the Service Learning.
Clubs and students’ organizations participate in the school’s social involvement activities in various ways depending on their organizational objectives, skills or specializations. It seeks to enable students appreciate the importance of sharing their talents and skills to the wider community especially among those who are in greater need.
The school’s faculty and staff participate in the school’s social involvement activities through subject area initiatives and the Faculty Club. By participating in the school’s service to the broader community they strengthen and deepen their Ignatian spirituality as lay partners.
Educating for solidarity, says Pope Francis, supposes not only teaching to be good and generous but also creating a mentality that thinks in terms of community. Inspired by the Holy Father’s words of wisdom, the students of Grade 9-Jogues went to Brgy. Tabunan, Cebu City for a Magis Outreach. Beginning last school year 2014-2015, High […]
“Salamat kaayo sa inyong tabang” (thank you so much for your help) were the common words I heard from the residents of Sitio Calbasaan, Minglanilla, Cebu. On January 9, 2016 a team of teachers revisited Calbasaan and conducted a monitoring of the Liter of Light Devices (LLD) that were distributed to around fifty households on […]
“The Eucharist calls for a third world war against poverty . . . against cruelty (where) poor children scramble for scraps from the table.” This was the message of Cardinal Charles Bo of Myanmar who was the Pope’s representative for the 51st International Eucharistic Congress (IEC). In response to this challenge, the Grade School and […]
Great dreams come true if God wills it and if we commit to do our share with love, kindness, generosity and hard work. On August 24, 2015 Fr. Manuel A. Uy, S.J. led the opening of The Blue Plate Kitchen in Cubacub Elementary School. Fr. Joel Liwanag, Director for Formation, officiated the blessing which was […]
After a month of preparation, finally, The Blue Plate Project was launched on July 30 right in time for the celebration of the feast of St. Ignatius of Loyola. Over fifty pupils from Cubacub Elementary School attended the Eucharistic celebration that was presided by no less than Father Provincial Antonio Moreno, S.J. After the communion, […]
Responding to the challenge of Pope Francis “to go to the peripheries” and help those who are in greater need, Sacred Heart School – Ateneo de Cebu opens in this year of service The Blue Plate Project. It is SHS-AdC’s version of a purposive and School-based Feeding Program that targets about a hundred pupils who […]
The Social Involvement Office spearheaded the commencement of this year’s social involvement activities in its five partner communities. Two sections had parallel social involvement activities on July 11. Grade 7-Bellarmine took the lead in another round of Saturday-of-Service in Gasa sa Gugma Home for the Sick and the Elderly. Grade 8-Berchmans was the first class […]
CFA-NEHEMIAH AND GASA SA GUGMA. Faithful to the spirit of Jesuit education “to form men and women for others”, Grades 7 and 8 students had their separate outreach activities on January 10, 2015. Grade 7 St. Peter Claver under Mrs. Eunilyn Seroylas-Chua (class adviser) went to Christ for Asia-Nehemiah, an orphanage in Quijada, Guadalupe, Cebu […]
The school offers not only excellent education but also forms servant leaders for the greater glory of God. 
Jesuit education promotes the holistic growth of an individual. The student is given experiences and opportunities that develop his spiritual, moral, psychological, social and intellectual development. Through these experiences, he learns to find God in all things. His education, gifts and talents are always directed towards the service of God and others and in this way he can become a person of excellence, leadership and service.
