I AM a product of San Fernando Elementary School and I have always been proud of my alma mater and what it stands for throughout the years. I am just torn, between disappointment and happiness with the so-called "Sentanryu" or "100 years tana king SFES" celebration that the school is preparing for, with the theme “Ulyan at Balikdan, 100 Banuang Dinalan.”
I am happy because a grand alumni homecoming is long overdue, with a lot of SFES alumni doing well all over the world. It is the first time in recent years that such an event is being organized. For this I commend the entire school and SFES community.
What disappoints me is the lack of concern on which centennial are we really celebrating. For us in the city, we commemorate the founding anniversary as a town and as a city of San Fernando, the birth or death anniversary of a hero, the foundation of an important building or structure.
I believe and stand by what I say that the Centennial of the San Fernando Elementary School deserves no less than a marker from the National Historical Commission of the Philippines. However, I do not think there have been attempts on the part of organizers to look into the actual dates, despite our efforts to reach out to them to establish the very reason why an SFES centennial is being celebrated.
A similar incident happened before when Pampanga High School commemorated its 50th or golden anniversary in 1962, the point of reckoning being the first graduates of 1912. But the school and alumni had this corrected, albeit almost 50 years later, with a well-planned and well-publicized year-long PHS Sentenaryo in 2008. Let us learn from this and not make the mistake of waiting for a hundred more years to look into the accuracy of our celebrations.
History is always in the process of writing and rewriting itself, as long as new proofs are presented. Let us not make a mistake of teaching our thousands of elementary students, especially those currently enrolled at SFES, that it is the centennial of the school when we are not even sure it is. Add to this the tens of thousands of alumni who really think it is the centennial. Let's not insist on calling it as a centennial when it is not, or when we are not sure it is. I just hope that our efforts, time, and resources are worth the celebration.
A centennial can only be celebrated once even if it is long overdue, a grand homecoming on the other hand, maybe done every year if we choose, since batches will have significant anniversaries of their graduation years annually.
To my fellow SFES graduates, happy homecoming, but not a happy centennial!