WALLS OF GREATNESS
Miriam College High School paints campus walls to inspire students
To welcome the new school year, the Miriam College High School (MCHS) campus featured decals or wall designs to inspire its students and teach them the value of greatness as they start a year of learning.
Spread around are wall designs with words that encourage greatness. One area features the “9 Pillars of Greatness” which spell out the words Innovate, Inquire, Interact, Immerse, Initiate, Invent, Improve, Impact, and Inspire. The pillars are tangible reminders for the entire MCHS community, especially the young women it serves, of the manageable steps needed to make it great in this world. “Through these pillars, we link our learners and their mentors to the legacy of great- ness started by the Maryknoll Sisters who founded the school 89 years ago,” says Basic Education unit director and MCHS principal Dr. Edizon Fermin.
The pillars are arranged in such a way that one step, whether read from left to right or vice versa, ultimately leads to accomplishing the next one. They also signify each decade of greatness for Miriam College as it turns 90 in 2016.
Another plain wall comes to life with a yellow backdrop splashed with colorful handprints of all academic personnel, including the school president. Accompanying the design are the words, “Our Heads, Our Hands, Our Hearts, Our Girls.” This is an affirmation of the school’s learner-centered philosophy needed to carry out its mission as a venue for transformative education.
In a span of a month since classes have opened, the pillars have become so popular especially among students that they have found it irresistible to do a selfie or groufie in front of it. Some have even started tweeting about it. This call to greatness also echoes within the walls of the Principal’s office where the image of Mother Mary Joseph, founder of the Maryknoll Sisters’ Congregation, stands guard. Her image becomes a bold reminder of her and other Maryknoll Sisters’senduring legacy. These missionaries from Ossining, New York came to the Philippines in 1926 to establish communities of learning even in the farthest corners of the country.
“Through the sisters’ work of great selflessness, we walk with our learners towards creating their own stories of greatness as they seek to serve others,” Fermin concludes.
The theme of greatness will be carried all throughout the school year at the MCHS. These wall design hopes to complement the school’s goal of reminding the young women it educates that they are capable of greatnessin their classroomsand beyond.