Beneficiaries

The beneficiaries of SMSSAFF’s fund raising efforts are high school students in the hinterlands of Northern Phillipines. They are descendants of the group of tribes often referred to as cultural minorities, Igorots, Non-Christian tribes; and colorfully described (by the late Atty. Sinai Hamada), as those “rice-terracing, gangsa-beating, beetle-nut-chewing, tapey-drinking, and once-upon-a-time head-hunting tribes of Northern Philippines. Apparentlly, these students and/or their parents choose the Christian-campus based quality education offered at St. Mary’s School of Sagada over the free tuition fee offered by the public schools. The parents believe that inculcating their kids the tenets of Christianity will help mould them into becoming responsible law abiding citizens of the world. They believe that the quality education offered at St. Mary’s School of Sagada will give their children a better chance of finishing a college degree, pursuing higher education, a more competitive chance at landing a job, or a greater success rate in an entrepeunerial vocation (i.e., an owner owned business enterprise). The school initiated a shift from teacher- centered to student-centered philosopy of learning. Its core belief is that, since every students is unique, instruction must be individualized as much as possible to meet the needs of individuals as opposed to focusing on the needs of the majority or pandering merely to the gifted and talented. This was and will be undertaken in all components of learning, ranging from instructional methodology, curiculum, and teaching resouces, to infrastructure and finance. The yearly high college admission rates of SMSS applicants to the different colleges and universities in the Philippine seem to indicate that SMSSI is in the right direction. To all of you good humanitarian people of the world, please help SMSSAFF raise funds to sustain the efforts of SMSSI by sharing a little of your tax-exempt budget to said school. Thank you very much. The SMSSAFF team.