St. Robert Bellarmine Center for Learning

The yearly pet show, an activity primarily aimed to extend the lessons of the preschoolers in Science was once again a hit among the pupils despite the relatively small number of pets this year as compared to last year’s event.

Pupils from the preschool and grade school levels were encouraged to bring their pets last October 21, Wednesday and have them on display for the day.

The three puppies during that day, Jamina Joaquin’s “Mutley”, Carl and Chelsea Gonzales’ “Coco,” and Raymond, Gino and Sabrina Bernal’s “Goldy” were a crowd pleaser as well as Sean Basto’s cuddly short- haired bunny, “Comet.”

Birds and fishes as always number the most, while not lagging too far behind were the turtles brought by Allyson Reyes (Prep) and Neil Maramba (Nursery).

The bird lovers this year were Lilian Aiza Gubatan (Toddler) and brother, Gero Sebastian (Kinder), Hans Ferrer (Kinder), Ken Patryk Chua of the Grade I and Terence Rosario of the Grade IV.

Fishes of varying shapes, breeds and sizes were brought by Khier Matthew Bravo (Nursery), Benedict de Venecia (Nursery), Mikee Ugto (Nursery), Althea Tinquico (Kinder), Elijah River Febreo (Prep), Angela Aguinaldo (Grade II), Nathan Matthew Barredo (Grade II), Francis Aeron Tinquico (Grade II), and CJ Sta. Maria (Grade III).

View Pictures of Pet Show 2009.

Delayed by a few days because of Typhoon Pepeng, Scholastic Books Inc. opened its book fair in the school last October 15, Thursday. The week-long activity had the company promoting and selling books to the school’s populace.

The pupils who have been waiting for the company’s return since the first book fair sponsored by Scholastic were quite happy with the book selections this year. They immediately noticed that there are more books and book titles.

Michelle Ann Rabelas from last years’ sales group was once again part of this year’s book fair. She along with Romano Librea manned the booth from October 15 – October 21. Jonathan “Reggie” Habla, another member of their group, held a story telling activity for the preschoolers and primary level pupils last October 20, Tuesday.

View Pictures of Scholastic Book Fair 2009.

In a show of community spirit and service, the SRBCL community as one donated a van load of food and old clothes to the typhoon victims of “Ondoy” last October 7, not knowing that a mere two days after, the city itself will be affected by Typhoon Pepeng.

Donors from outside the SRBCL community mainly close friends of Teacher Renee, and a few of the SRBCL families responded to the call for a second round of donations, for victims closer to home.

Cash donations collected was enough to make 235 bags of rice with assorted groceries, 150 of which went to Barangay Boquig of Bonuan, one of the most water-logged areas of Dagupan City during the typhoon, and the remainder of the grocery bags went to some selected families in Mangaldan and the families of the SRBCL faculty severely affected by the calamity. Mrs. Balbina Reyes, a longtime resident of Barangay Boquig and grandmother of SRBCL pupils Gene and Glaiza Reyes, acted as coordinator for their area, while Teacher Anna Aguinaldo was in-charge of selecting the families in Mangaldan.

SRBCL is extremely appreciative of the generosity of Ms. Annabelle Arceo, Ms. Susan Capalaran, and Ms. Natalie Yap.

View Pictures of Donations for victims of Typhoon Pepeng.

Class cancellations due to Typhoon Pepeng resulted in the adjustment of previously scheduled activities.

Herewith are the new dates:

ACTIVITY                                 OLD DATE                NEW DATE
1.    Pet Show                              Oct. 9, Fri                Oct. 21, Wed
2.    Book Fair                             Oct. 12 – 16             Oct. 15 – 21
3.    2nd Quarter Exams          Oct. 16, 19- 20       Oct. 23, 26, Nov. 6 and 9
4.    UN Celebration                Oct. 28 (Wed)            No Change

•    Exams schedules have already been distributed and are posted on the school’s bulletin boards.

Typhoon Pepeng (International Name: Parma) left a swath of destruction through most of Pangasinan and nearby provinces last October 9- 10. The rains fell non-stop through much of Thursday afternoon and Friday, forcing the dams around Northern Luzon to open their gates and release some water to relieve the waters’ pressure. Unfortunately, either through lack of fore warning, or apathy, a lot of people were left unaware, getting themselves caught in the rampaging flood waters.

The massive flooding that resulted inundated even places formerly left untouched by floods, the area around SRBCL being one of them. In all its years of existence the school not once experience any form of flooding except during Pepeng’s wake.

Vigilant of flood alarms, the school’s administration and some of the faculty had more than enough time to transfer important and valuable school equipment and records to safety before six to eight inches of flood water totally covered the school’s ground floor.

Constructed almost a meter higher than the main road SRBCL fared better than most of its neighboring homes and structures. At the height of the storm the school provided shelter to no less than twenty families counting among them a grandmother in her eighties and a two-day old baby.

Not a day passed after the flood waters subsided, SRBCL was able to wipe, scrub, and disinfect all traces of the flood from the premises. So much so that by Sunday, October 11, the school was more than ready to welcome the students back the next day.

View Pictures of  Typhoon Pepeng.

Responding to an appeal to donate food and clothing for the victims of Typhoon Ondoy, which severely affected parts of the National Capital Region (NCR) last September 27, the whole SRBCL community showed its overwhelming generosity, support and cooperation.

With a mere two days notice, the school was able to collect and pack enough goods to fully load a utility vehicle.

The Grades V and VI classes accompanied by Teachers Renee, Chris and Michael went to the ABS- CBN compound last October 7 to deliver the goods that were collected from the SRBCL families. The school chose ABS- CBN Foundation’s Sagip Kapamilya to handle the distribution of the donation to the affected families.

In exchange for their helpfulness, the staff of ABS- CBN, especially DJ Macky (Ms. Sheryll Palaganas) of 94.3 MOR, an affiliate of ABS-CBN gave the pupils a tour of their facilities and were even given a few minutes “on air” to say their greetings and give their short messages.

View Pictures of SRBCL Donation to Ondoy Typhoon Victims.