After three years of construction since 2009, the SPCP Complex tore down its barricades to celebrate the Feast of the Immaculate Conception last December 8, 2011. Its fully built first and second floors housed the Grade School and High School Departments, several staff members, and a number of parents who took part in the said event.
The Living Rosary was a twist to the traditional procession done annually. Representatives from each year level, as well as from the staff, were chosen to be the “beads” of the human rosary. In between mysteries, there were interpretative dance performances by Grade School and High School students, similar to those by the different departments in previous years.
This was held on the first floor of the Complex, which is meant to be a basketball court. The high school students filled the second floor containing color-coded bleachers that provide a more efficient seating arrangement. Various courts for volleyball and badminton can also be found behind the bleachers.
The Marian celebration continued with the reenactment of the Coronation of the Blessed Virgin. Special guests, Atty. and Mrs. Carlo Baniqued, parents of award-winning alumni, were given the role of crowning the image of Mary while the entire SPCP community looked on and sang the Hail Mary. An institutional mass then succeeded the coronation.
Capping off the morning of Marian activities was the blessing of the new school statues – St. Joseph, the Virgin Mary, and St. Paul of Tarsus—and the first two floors of the Complex. The third and fourth floors, however, have yet to be furnished and opened for use. An auditorium with a 1,500 seating capacity and a gallery exhibiting students’ works will be on the third floor. Meanwhile, the school’s first and only indoor track and field oval will be on the topmost floor.
“What I’m most excite about with the Complex is the new theatre, where we would be able to stage productions with a bigger stage, backstage, and better lights and sound equipment,” said Bianca Isaac, the Public Relations Officer of Teatro Paulino, the school’s acting guild. “I’d like our audience to have a more spacious and comfortable seating as they watch our plays.”
In line with having facilities better suited to catering the needs of students and teachers alike, Visual Arts vice-president Victoria So said, “I’m looking forward to the gallery [that] they’re planning to have in the Complex, because through the gallery, the students’ artworks could be appreciated more since (we were told) that these would be displayed all year round [as opposed to being displayed only during the 3 to 4 days of school fair].”
The SPCP Complex is estimated to be finished by January 2012 in time for upcoming school events, such as the annual school fair titled “Siklab,” the Service Awards, the graduation of Grade Seven and 4th Year students, and other activities or assemblies.
Mrs. Bernadette Baniqued said, “We both think it [the Complex] is a beautiful, impressive, and functional project that will certainly meet the diverse needs of the SPCP community.”As a donor for the building of the Complex, she further expressed that “it feels fulfilling to share and see a dream come true.”
Aside from donations, many projects were executed to fund the Complex. The Student Coordinating Team launched three movie premieres: Twilight in 2008, Charlie St. Cloud in 2010, and Happy Feet Two last November. Through these, the entire SPCP Community joined forces to raise money for the Complex.
“I always enjoy raising funds for the Complex with projects like the movie premiere,” said Rebecca Tan, the SCT Public Relations Officer, “because not only do we create an avenue for Paulinians to have fun and bond with their families and friends, but we know that we’re doing something for the school that even future generations of Paulinians will get to use for their own benefit.”
Being more spacious than the preceding Chauvet Gym, the Complex is meant to be the venue for most, if not all, major school events left for this school year and the school years that have yet to come. It is meant to gather more than just the entire department, but the whole institution in celebration of events much like the Marian Celebration which aim to promote the oneness of the SPCP community.
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