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Social Involvement


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).

Institutional Projects & Initiatives

THE BLUE PLATE PROJECT

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.

SUMMER OF SERVICE PROGRAM

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.

SHARE A BOOK, SHARE A BRIGHTER TOMORROW CAMPAIGN

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.

PARTNERSHIP WITH THE AMERICAN WHEELCHAIR MISSION

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.

Students' Social Involvement Activities

SATURDAY SOCIAL INOLVEMENT ACTIVITIES

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.

SERVICE LEARNING PROGRAM

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.

MAGIS OUTREACH

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.

CLUB and STUDENT ORGS S.I. ACTIVITIES

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.

Faculty Social Involvement Activities

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.

Social Involvement Featured Articles