San Agustin Learning Center of Bay

🏫❤️ FOUNDER'S CORNER: HOLDING ON

Yesterday, news broke that LPS, one of the oldest private schools in Bay, Laguna, would be closing its doors permanently.

Like many others, I was shocked and saddened.

While I did not have the opportunity to work closely with the school, I knew of its presence in our community. For many years, it served generations of students and families, and for that alone, it deserves our gratitude and respect.

As someone who continues to navigate the realities of running a private school in these challenging times, I also understand, even if only in part, how difficult such a decision must have been. No school is built overnight. Behind every school are years of sacrifice, dreams, sleepless nights, and countless lives touched along the way.

To the founders, administrators, teachers, staff, students, parents, and alumni of LPS—thank you. ❤️

Thank you for the lives you have touched, the opportunities you have created, and the role you played in educating generations of children in our community. Your legacy will continue to live on through the people you helped shape.

Perhaps the news struck me differently because for the past several years, our own school has also been fighting a difficult battle for survival.

As founder, I have often likened SALC to a child I brought into this world more than two decades ago—a child who suddenly became very sick.

There were days when it felt as though the school was in the ICU, fighting for its life. And like any parent sitting beside a hospital bed, I found myself holding on, whispering, "I'm here. Keep fighting."

The truth is that there were moments when letting go seemed like the easier decision. Financially, emotionally, and physically, it would have made sense.

But how do you walk away from something you have loved, nurtured, and sacrificed for over so many years?

So we kept going.

We kept going because parents continued to entrust their children to us. 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦

We kept going because pupils continued to fill our classrooms with laughter, curiosity, and hope. 📚✨

We kept going because family members and friends quietly stood beside us. 🤝

We kept going because former pupils, former teachers, and members of our community would send messages at exactly the moments when giving up felt only a hairline away.

Those messages mattered more than they probably realized.

In 2025, we made one of the most difficult decisions in our history—to close our Grades 4 to 6 levels.

It was not the ending we had imagined for those children. We had hoped to accompany them until Grade 6 before sending them off to a new chapter in their school lives.

Even now, I still feel a small ache whenever I see some of them wearing different school uniforms.

But I also know they are growing, learning, and thriving, and that matters most. 🌱❤️

The struggle for survival remains real. Every school year still feels like a leap of faith. The future remains uncertain.

Years ago, I imagined someday passing this school on to someone who would love it, care for it, and continue its mission. Whether that day will come, I do not know.

The pandemic taught me not to look too far ahead.

So today, I choose to live in the present.

I choose to be grateful for every child who walks through our gates. 🚸

I choose to be grateful for every family that continues to believe in us. ❤️

And I choose to keep holding SALC's hand as it continues to hold mine.

Because as I try to keep it alive, it is also keeping me alive. 🏫❤️

For as long as we are given the opportunity to serve children and families, we will continue to give our very best—to help raise young people who are not only academically prepared but also responsible, compassionate, productive citizens who can contribute meaningfully to our country. 🇵🇭

One day at a time.

One child at a time.

One school year at a time.

🙏 Thank you to every pupil, parent, teacher, staff member, alumnus, alumna, family member, and friend who continues to walk this journey with us.

Your faith in SALC has helped keep the dream alive.

**FOUNDER'S CORNER**

🌱 Why I Still Believe Children Should Start School Early

One of the educational philosophies that has greatly influenced me as a teacher and school founder is Dr. Maria Montessori's concept of the *Absorbent Mind*. Montessori observed that from birth to age six, children possess an extraordinary ability to absorb knowledge, language, habits, values, and skills from their environment with remarkable ease.

Over the years, I have seen this truth unfold in our own SALC classrooms.

When the K–12 program was introduced, many families understandably reconsidered the number of years their children spend in school. Since there are now two additional years of senior high school, some parents choose to enroll their children only at the Kinder level before entering Grade 1.

Of course, every family must make decisions based on its own circumstances. But from my experience as a teacher, principal, and school administrator, I continue to believe that the preschool years are among the most important years in a child's education.

These are the foundation years. 🏫

During these early years, children are not only learning letters and numbers. They are developing habits of learning, listening, concentrating, following instructions, solving problems, working with others, and becoming independent. These skills become the building blocks upon which future learning rests.

A strong foundation gives children the tools they need not only for Grade 1 but for all the years that follow. 🌟 Ideally, by the time they reach higher levels of schooling, they have already developed the confidence, discipline, and learning strategies that allow them to face new challenges more independently.

That is why I encourage parents to view early childhood education not as an added expense but as an investment. 💚 Starting school at age three or four and spending two to three years in preschool is not simply about getting a child to read early. It is about maximizing a unique window of development that will never come again in quite the same way.

The benefits may not always be immediately visible, but years later, they often reveal themselves in a child's readiness to learn, adaptability, study habits, and love for learning.

As educators, we build foundations. And in my experience, strong foundations make all the difference. ✨

"The years from birth to six pass quickly, but the foundation built during those years can support a lifetime of learning."

FOUNDER'S CORNER

Last June 4, I found a letter by our school gate.

Attached to it was a rolled stack of papers containing the first chapter of an unfinished novel. The author was not a stranger but one of our own—a former pupil whom I have known since he first entered SALC as a preschooler and who graduated from our Grade 6 class in 2013.

Along with his two sisters, he spent much of his childhood growing up within our school community. Since then, he has graduated from college with a degree in Medical Technology, yet every now and then, he and two of his classmates still find time to visit and catch up.

In his letter, he shared that he had been working on a book and asked if I would be willing to read the first chapter and give my honest feedback.

I read all eleven pages in one sitting.

The chapter, titled Safe Frequencies, introduces Leo and Maya and explores the quiet ways people find comfort, understanding, and belonging in one another. As the chapter closed, I found myself wondering where the story would go next. Would it remain a slow-burning romance and drama? Would it become a thriller, a mystery, or even science fiction? The possibilities seemed endless.

What impressed me most was the author's gift for description and emotional insight. A few lines stayed with me long after I finished reading:

"Social interaction, even with people I liked, had always carried an invisible invoice—an exhaustion tax that I had to pay in full the next day."

"She was reclaiming the physical territory of her life."

"For years, I had felt like a stray balloon with a frayed, dangling string, floating aimlessly through social spaces, terrified of the wind, terrified of the next sharp edge that would pop me."

"I was woven into the fabric of her thoughts. She was actively learning the complicated, hyper-specific map of my needs, not because she had to, but because she wanted to make sure her space was always prepared for me."

Whether this novel is eventually completed or not, I hope its author continues to write. Anyone who can produce an engaging eleven-page opening chapter that leaves readers wanting more possesses something special: a voice worth developing.

As educators, we often celebrate grades, awards, diplomas, and careers. But sometimes, a former pupil returns with something different—a story, a dream, a piece of art, or a glimpse into who they have become.

Those moments remind us that education is not only about what students achieve. It is also about who they become.

Thank you, Erick, for allowing me to be your first reader. It was an honor.

— Ms. Wennie
Founder
San Agustin Learning Center of Bay