Send-off Program of SBS (Buhi) Alumni Association to Good Shepherd Sisters

 

In 1963 the late Monsignor  Vicente Vargas together with four   Good Shepherd Sisters opened the first and only catholic secondary school in Buhi, Camarines Sur, called   St. Bridget School.  In 1968, after establishing this "exclusive school for girls " and  suffering  two strokes , the tireless and  energetic Monsignor Vargas left for eternity.    

Sr. Mary Agnes Katigbak, Sr. M. Ancilla Mendoza, Sr. M. Aimee Olaguer and Sr. Maryanne Terrenal laid the foundation for the school and have inspired generations of sisters to be involved in the ministry of education in Buhi.

Having graduated 7900 alumni in 55 years,   the Good Shepherd Sisters  entrusted St.  Bridget School to the Archbishop of Caceres, on March 23, 2018, and are now  leaving Buhi for good.  


On March 24, the present school population and the SBS Alumni Association had the send-off celebration. It started with a Mass led by the Archbishop of Caceres Rolando Tria Tirona and several of the Bridgetine alumni who are now priests. This was followed by a motorcade with each graduating class having its own truck or van. Upon arrival at the school quadrangle each grade level showed a modern dance demonstration.  

The St. Bridget School Alumni Association expressed their gratitude for the sisters following the junior high school graduation  [of 210 completers' ] with a dinner and program in the evening. The first part of the program consisted of a tribute from the parish of St. Francis of Assisi by the parish priest. The thank you response  was delivered by Sr. Maryanne, one of the foundresses who had arrived in 1963 and thus belonged to the parish  for 55 years. Then the local government of Buhi, through the first lady mayor, Ms. Margie Aguinillo, a true-blue Bridgetine, {batch 1991},  spoke on behalf of the local government unit, and adopted the Good Shepherd Sisters as daughters of the municipality . Sr. M Christina Sevilla, the school directress, thanked her for the overwhelming honor of the adoption.  Mr. Jaime Pantorgo, president of the SBSAA, presented the tribute of around 8000 Bridgetines to Sr.M. Regina Kuizon, the province leader of RGS Philippines-Japan. She in turn thanked the alumni, those present and those who could not make it, and invited them to continue to live out the values they had imbibed in St. Bridget School.

- Sr. Maryanne Terrenal RGS