BRIEF HISTORY
St. Louis College Valenzuela is devoted to the education and development of productive and responsible citizens molded in Christian-centered values – through proper formation and example – for the benefit and betterment of Filipino society at large.
Established in 1976 as the Philippine College of Technological Resources (PCTR), the school was founded by the educator Jose C. Olivares, who also served as the school’s first president. When actual operations began on 14 February 1978, it had facilities and amenities for secondary school and college.
A year later, the administration of the school was passed on to Emmanuel J. Olivares.
The decade of the 1980’s ushered in a demand for skilled labor in the Philippines and abroad. Recognizing an opportunity to improve the options of financially-strapped Filipino youth for employment and financial security, the college introduced technical-vocational courses.
In 1983, Agnes O. Luciano assumed the presidency. She continued to work for the continuous development and expansion of the college. A variety of short courses were also created for the benefit of out-of-school youth and enterprising homemakers through the assistance of the Rotary Club of Valenzuela.
In 1986, PCTR offered pre-school (Nursery, Junior and Senior Kindergarten), and primary school education on campus. By the end of the decade, the enrollment for the primary and secondary schools expanded dramatically, and school administrators had to meet the challenge of providing quality education up to the tertiary level.
By 1992, courses in Information Technology were offered, and in 1994, the college introduced a new course in Hotel & Restaurant Management. It was also during this period that the school expanded its facilities for laboratories, lecture rooms and libraries.
By the mid-1990’s, an opportunity for PCTR to link with St. Louis University (SLU) and its affiliated schools presented itself after a consultation with the Belgian Roman Catholic missionary order Congregatio Immaculati Cordis Mariae, the schools’ administrators. The order, better known as the CICM Missionaries, have a proven track record since the 19th century in providing its schools with exceptional training and support in faculty development, graduate studies and Christian formation.
In 1997, PCTR was admitted as an affiliate school of the St. Louis Educational System, under the SLU Superintendent of Schools. (At present, however, the Office of the Superintendent of Schools is vacant and inactive.) Within the year, PCTR formally changed its name to St. Louis College Valenzuela.
In 2002, Raymond O. Luciano assumed the presidency of St. Louis College Valenzuela with the death of Agnes O. Luciano. Since then, a continuing program of expansion and modernization has seen the addition of a new site for a pre-school and elementary school along Barangay Ugong in Valenzuela City, and the installation of a new fire alarm system, closed-circuit security cameras, emergency lighting and a Wi-Fi system inside the main campus. The modernization program has also covered the school’s science laboratories, library and audio-visual facilities.
Today, St. Louis College Valenzuela has matured into an educational institution that the city of Valenzuela can be proud of. Its faculty is a richly diverse group of men and women dedicated to promote a Christian-centered education for a new generation of Filipino youth ready to face the challenges of the 21st century. Its students, coming from a broad cross-section of Filipino society, are active participants in the promise and the future of the Philippines, and their contributions to the Filipino dream as productive and responsible citizens will surely be a measure of distinction for all.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
We believe that every human being has the capacity to develop his intellect and free will. Academic excellence at St. Louis College Valenzuela is not solely focused on the acquisition of knowledge and the upgrading of skills, rather, the institution shall also provide the proper venue for the pursuit of wisdom which becomes the basic source from which the students discern, judge, and act on the different facets of reality.
We believe that in all areas of academic life, the process of discerning truth is guided by a clear and critical study of the objective conditions of reality. Truth is consistent with the purpose of law and justice and enhanced by a free exchange of ideas.
We believe that the achievement of the fullness of its Christian orientation is primarily founded on the inculcation of the virtue of charity among its students. St. Louis College Valenzuela shall train its students to be men for others with awareness of the economic, political, and socio-cultural realities in the local and global contexts. The institution likewise empowers its students so that they become active participants in nation building as well as catalysts of change, knowing fully well that Christian benevolence is realized only through the outward manifestation of genuine concern, strong commitment and decisive action for the benefit of the others in particular and the society at large.
OUR COLORS
Yellow represents those who seek wisdom or SAPIENTIA.
Green symbolizes selflessness and charity or CARITAS.
Blue symbolizes truth or VERITAS.
OUR SYMBOL
The CROSS and the DOVE signify our mission as a Roman Catholic educational institution to propagate the Gospel.
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The SUN rising with its spreading rays stand for opportunities put into good use of God-given talents in service of our fellow men.
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The BOOK, TORCH and LAUREL stand for knowledge that enlightens and inspires because it is based on truth.
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PEOPLE symbolize the partnership between the school, the family and the community in the total education of every child.
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OUR PATRON SAINT
ST. ALOYSIUS GONZAGA
March 9,1568 - June 21,1591
The Patron Saint of Students
As the eldest son of the Marquis Ferdinand Gonzaga, St. Aloysius Gonzaga was cradled in luxury and reared among the din of arms.
His mother destined him for the church, but his father for a military career. As a boy, Aloysius was often left in the company of soldiers, from whom he learned various coarse expressions. When he innocently repeated these at home, his tutor severely reprimanded him, and all his life Aloysius deeply regretted what he regarded as a great "sin."
At the age of seven he began to recite the Office of the Our Lady and other devotions, kneeling on the bare floor. At the age of nine, when at the court of Florence, he made a vow of perpetual chastity. When his father sent him to the courts of Mantua, Ferrara, Pama and Turin, hoping to tone down his piety, he lived like a monk, dating several days a week and rising at midnight to pray.
At the age of 13 he was appointed page at the Spanish court but far from being beguiled by its pomp and pleasures, he showed such modesty and recollection that it was said he did not seem to be made of flesh and blood. When he expressed his wish to join the Jesuits, his mother happily approved, but his father became furious and threatened to flog him.
To break his son’s vocation he sent him to the courts of Northern Italy, but Aloysius remained unmoved. Finally his father yielded, and at the age of 17 Aloysius became Jesuit novice in Rome. Six weeks later his father died an edifying death, having completely changed his worldly mode of life.
Aloysius became an ideal religious; his modesty, friendliness, and recollection made him appear like an angel in the flesh. His special delight was to perform the lowliest tasks in the kitchen. During an epidemic of the plague in Rome, he nursed the sick, instructed them, and performed the meanest services. He contracted the diseases, but recovered, only to fall victim after a time to a slow, weakening fever. But as long as he could, he rose at midnight to pray on the bare floor, propped between the bed and the wall to keep himself from falling.
At the approach of death, he was overjoyed and cried out "We are going, gladly." When he died he was only twenty-three years old. Pope Benedict XII proclaimed him the patron of young students, and Pius XI named him patron of youth in 1926.
His feast is celebrated June 21.
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Edited from the original written by Rev. Fr. Roger Tjolle