Type Jesuit, Catholic Director Orlando Castillo | Rector Jose Maria Andres, SJ Gender Coeducational | |
Established 1594; 423 years ago (1594)
Refounded 1948 Grades Infant; Primary & High (6+5) | ||
Xavier College, Panama, (Colegio Javier) is located in a suburb of Panama City and traces its current presence to 1948. It is coeducational, pre-primary through high school, and is run by the Society of Jesus.
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History
Xavier College was founded by the Jesuits in 1594 in the Old City of Panama. Beginning as a grammar school, it grew into a university with degrees in philosophy and theology. In 1671 pirate Henry Morgan brought this early incarnation of the school to an end when he destroyed the city. The faculty of philosophy and theology was resurrected in 1749, but closed in 1767 with the suppression of the Society of Jesus.
Not until 1948 was the new Javier College opened behind the church of San Francisco in the Old Quarter of the city, with 200 students from first grade through the first year of Sciences and Letters.
In 1954 the primary school was moved to a new building in Perrys Hill (Perejil) in Bella Vista and the high school was moved there in 1956, with a combined capacity for 1000 students. A gym and chapel were added in 1966.
The year 1970 saw the creation of Social Service Javeriano in response to the renewal in the Catholic church and Society of Jesus. More than 60 summer camp sessions followed, with the theme of evangelization and forming "men and women in the service of faith and promotion of justice."
In 1972 a kindergarten, shop and restaurant, audiovisual room, and fleet of buses were added to the facility. In 1975, the school began taking girls in first primary, becoming completely coeducational by 1986.
In 2010, after 55 years at the Perejil campus, Xavier College moved to Clayton, a perch on the cliffs overlooking the Panama canal.
Notable alumni include Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela and Stanley Heckadon-Moreno,
Activities
Sports facilities at the college include a multipurpose gym-auditorium, basketball court. fitness center, swimming pool and children's pool, regulation football fields, and rama sports football.
The current social service projects are required in grades 10 and 11. The program began with simple building projects to benefit the poor in rural areas: latrines, aqueducts, agricultural works. It grew to the construction of school buildings, chapels, and roads, with hundreds of students participating. The process of human and Christian formation begins in pre-primary, with activities like workshops, spiritual retreats, and solidarity and ecological groups.