St. Agnes' Academy (Legazpi)

History

St. Agnes was originally a convent of the local parish with two teachers before it was converted into a small school that taught religion and home-making.

The first decade - 1910s

In 1912, Rev. Fr. Juan Calleja, then parish priest of Albay and Vicar Forane, saw the need for its expansion. He then turned to the Rev. John B. McGinley, DD, Bishop of Nueva Caceres, for help. The bishop sought the assistance of the Benedictine Missionary Sisters of Tutzing in Manila and asked them to take over the administration of the school.

The bishop started the school with donations from friends and relatives in the United States. He even sold certain properties of the Diocese of Nueva Caceres, with its ecclesiastical seat located in Naga City. He was criticized for his actions since the money would be spent for a school in Albay.

On 30 May 1912, Benedictine Sisters M. Ferdinanda and M. Edilburgis arrived in Legazpi City. They administered and named the school as Academia de Sta. Ines (St. Agnes Academy). They chose the name because the patron saint of the school is St. Agnes of Rome and in honor of its major benefactor, Agnes, the aunt of Bishop McGinley.

In its first year, the school had 47 pupils and offered boarding facilities. It was run by Sisters Edilburgis and Alexia who also acted as teachers and supervised the boarders. Sr. Johanna joined them in 1913, and Sr. Pudentiana in 1914.

The high school department had a shaky beginning. It opened in June 1917 under Sr. Xavier, but suspended operations in October 1918, and again in December of that year when a typhoon destroyed much of the convent. The death in February 1919 of Sr. Xavier, its only teacher, forced the department to close, and its two third-year students were asked to move to another institution.

The second decade - 1920s

Again, Bishop McGinley and generous benefactors from the United States, especially his Aunt Agnes, came to the rescue. On 2 January 1920, the cornerstone of a new building on a new site was laid. On 22 February 1921, the new building was inaugurated and the school assumed a new name: St Agnes' Academy.

The high school department reopened in June 1921, with Sr. Augustina as Directress and teacher. A Music Department was established at the same time under the direction of Miss Trinidad Lacson, a graduate of the College of Music of St. Scholastica's College, Manila. A secretarial course was also offered.

The kindergarten opened in June 1922, under Mrs. Francisca Orteza- Benito, but it closed the following year when enrollment declined.

A free school was established at the site of the Academia de Sta. Ines in June 1925 with Sr. Johanna as principal. At the main school, special courses like drawing, painting, culinary arts, home decoration, floristry, lace making, embroidery and sewing were offered.

Spanish, German and French were also taught to those interested in these languages. From the earliest years, membership in the Solidarity of Our Lady was part of the Agnesian's training. The Agnesians was taught to look up to Mary Immaculate as a model of womanhood.

The third decade - 1930s

By the third decade, teaching catechism had become part of the Agnesian's life. Sister Hedwig, the first Filipino Benedictine nun and pioneer of catechistical work in the province, was the guiding light for this activity.

The kindergarten reopened in 1930 and on 1 June 1931, a new Home Economics building was inaugurated.

The fourth decade - 1940s

SAA remained open during the early 1940s despite the effects of World War II. However, because the American "liberators" were bombing Legazpi continuously at the time, the school closed on 25 September 1944.

The nuns stayed at the Academy, serving the more than 150 families that had sought refuge there. On 31 March 1945, disaster struck. The Americans had been dropping incendiary bombs all day. One bomb fell directly on the main building, killing Mother Superior Clodesindis, Sr. Edilburgis, the oblate Sr. Gertrude, and seven more people. And they were all gathered around the statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus when the bomb exploded. The school burned and razed to the ground.

Like a phoenix it rose from the ashes only three months later, through the efforts of Archbishop Pedro Santos and the leadership of Sr. Hedwig and her colleagues. The reconstruction of SAA continued apace after that. A dormitory and refectory for the Sisters came up in 1946. The children's dormitory was redone in 1947, the hall and industrial workshop were enlarged, and the library and chapel were rebuilt in 1948.

The 1950s up to present

Maintaining the standard of education at a high level was always the goal through SAA's ups-and-downs. By the 1950s, the school had entered what some refer to as the "golden era of champions – in academics, athletics and drama." Class '56, at the forefront of the BACS championships of 1956, is proud to have contributed to that era.

In 1950, the first student publication in Bicol, The Agnesian, was established. The year 1960 saw the inauguration of the Sta. Maria Building, which houses the elementary department. In 1968, with the completion of the Sto. Niño Building, the Nursery and Prep divisions were opened.

In 1975, a multipurpose building was blessed. A huge covered court was added subsequently, as were a thousand-seat gymnasium and an audio-visual center. Through the decades the school population had been rising. From the three high school graduates of 1923, for example, the total number of students had grown to 2,245 by the time the school celebrated its 65th anniversary in 1977.

SAA quickly met the challenge posed by the measurement of excellence in education in the form of accreditation by external authorities. On 17 January 1974, the Grade School Department was granted Level I accreditation by the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU), the fifth GS department in the country to be given that honour.

But in the early 1980s the school was having problems, and her reason for being was being called seriously into question. Her finances had run aground, her scholastic performance was not up to par, and she was losing students to other schools.

It took the Benedictine Community's deliberate decision not to phase her out and the unwavering efforts of Sister Lydia Villegas, with SAA through most of the 1980s and Superior from 1985–1988, to turn her round. Making the high school co-educational was one of the measures taken to keep enrollment at break even level. The first boy high-school graduates held their heads up proudly in 1987.

By the time SAA celebrated her diamond jubilee in 1987, it was bursting with new life. Once again at the forefront of academic excellence, the High School Department achieved PAASCU Level II status in 1993, 10 years after receiving its first accreditation in 1983. A new laboratory was added in the late 1990s.

In 2006, its 94th year of life, SAA continues to be its dynamic self, with enrollment expected at least to equal the previous year's level of 2,586. Of these, there were 151 boys and 135 girls in pre-school, 600 boys and 607 girls in grade school, and 425 boys and 668 girls in high school.

Notable alumni