Maryhill College Lucena City

Marian Education with the Maryhill Spirit in the Maryknoll Tradition


The history of Maryhill College dates back to 1938 when the first Maryknoll Sisters (Sr. Mary de Chantal, Sr. Maria Concepcion Sr. Matthew and Sr. Maura Shaun) arrived in Lucena, with the prodding of the then Bishop of the Diocese of Lipa, Bishop Alfredo Verzosa. Fr. Ulric Arcand, a Canadian priest, together with Don Daniel Marquez were at the helm in the construction of the first school building which was to be named “Lucena Catholic School”, and eventually re-named as Maryknoll Academy.

With only 250 students, the Maryknoll Sisters’ administrative skills, executive abilities and spiritual depth propelled the school into one of the best Catholic Schools in the city. The first graduates were conditionally approved by the Bureau of Private Education due to the school’s closure at the outbreak of World War II in 1941. Maryknoll Academy re-opened in 1945 and obtained Government recognition of the elementary and secondary courses in 1946.

From 1947, the Maryknoll expansion program took off swiftly, with some additional sisters in the administration, namely, Sr. Robert Marie(1953-1955), Sr. Stephen Marie(1956-1958), Sr. Carmen Eser(1959-1962), Sr. Joseph Aileen(1962-1968) and Sr. Ancilla Marie(1968-1973). In running the school, the Maryknoll Sisters focused on the achievement of their objectives:

to lead souls to God
to train the minds of the youth entrusted to them by providing solid Catholic Education that would fit them for the life to come, and
to form a lay apostolate among the youth who would fearlessly and intelligently keep the faith alive and realize their responsibility to share it with others.
Moreover, physical expansion of the school became necessary, with the growing student population, so the Maryknoll Sisters initiated the construction of a two-storey extension building along Paz St. (now Profugo St.) in 1958. The year 1969 saw the construction of a 3-storey annex building, adding 9 new classrooms. About fifteen years later, in 1984, another extension was built behind the Cathedral’s Rectory for additional classrooms, enclosing the quadrangle which served as the venue for flag raising ceremonies, Physical Education classes and formation area for the Cadets and Cadettes.

The outreach programs of the school took the form of opening a high school(also named as Maryknoll Academy) which catered to the sons and daughters of the barrio folks in Ilasan, Tayabas, about 15 kilometers away, in 1968.This school in Ilasan was an extension of the main campus in Lucena City. The school lasted until 1976 when it became the San Roque Parochial School, managed by the Parish Priest. In the same year, a Night secondary and vocational school was also began in the main campus in order to serve those who were working during daytime. There was an initial enrollment of 76 composed of house helpers, tricycle drivers, and sales ladies. The Maryknoll Night School ran up to 1979. Still in the year 1968, the school started the annual celebration of its foundation anniversary through a “beauty and brains” search, dubbed as the “Queen of Hearts”. This yearly event, which lasted until 1988, also served as fund raising projects, under the auspices of the PTA.

The year 1973 ushered a challenging transition when Maryknoll Academy was turned over to the Diocese of Lucena represented by Roman Catholic Bishop, Bishop Alfredo Ma. Obviar. This was due to the change in the Maryknoll Sisters’ mission from running of schools to helping in the pastoral concerns of the Church. Thus the administration was entrusted to the laity and the school took its new name, Maryhill Academy in 1976. The first lay administration (Ms. Lourdes C. Glinoga, Directress, Mr. Victor M. Panopio, High School Principal and Mrs. Corazon Z. Belarmino, Grade School Principal) proved that they could live up to their new and huge responsibilities when the High School department was granted Accreditation in 1975 by the Philippine Accrediting Association for Schools, Colleges and Universities (PAASCU).



In 1977, Maryhill Academy became one the founding institutions which composed the Lucena Diocese Catholic Schools Association (LUDICSA) under the guidance of the then Bishop Jose T. Sanchez of the Diocese of Lucena. When Bishop Ruben T. Profugo took over as Bishop of Lucena in 1982, Maryhill Academy continued to grow in population, remaining true to its vision-mission, goals and objectives and living up to the academic standards and the spirit of service perpetrated by the Maryknoll Sisters.

As part of a holistic type of education, the school went into major productions like “Fiddler On the Roof” in 1978 and “Maryhill Goes Broadway” in 1992, aside from the yearly theater productions by the Drama Club and Teatro Arko.



Recent Developments

The year 1996 marked an important milestone in the history of Maryhill Academy. The Commission on Higher Education granted the approval to open a tertiary level after one year of thorough preparation undertaken by Dr. Bernardita C. Dural, upon the mandate of Bishop Ruben T. Profugo. The school’s name changed for the fourth time when it became Maryhill College. The College Department opened with 37 students. Initially, the courses offered were: Bachelor of Arts major in Environmental Studies, Advertising Management and Economics, Bachelor in Secondary Education major in Values Education, English and Social Studies, Bachelor of Science in Business Administration major in Cooperatives and Marketing. For the succeeding school year, Bachelor of Science in Secretarial Administration and the two-year Computer Secretarial courses were added.

During the incumbency of Most Rev. Bishop Emilio Z. Marquez as the school’s President and Chairman of the Board, since 2002, together with a new set of Administrators, Maryhill College has embarked into major decisions, namely, the fusion into one Basic Education Department, the construction of the covered court and the construction of a three-storey building with 14 classrooms, a big library and administrative offices, adjoining the main building.

On its 68th Foundation Anniversary in February 2005, Maryhill College presented another major musical production, the “Wonderful Musical World of Disney” consisting of about 350 students, alumni, teachers and parents in the cast and crew. Directed by a well-renowned alumnus in the field of Theater, Mr. Felino Tanada, the production proved to be a great success, seen by an audience of about 10,000 students and teachers from all over Quezon province.

Today, the legacies of the Maryknoll Sisters stand as a towering monument for everyone to revivify the past years with memories. The school boasts of a long list of outstanding alumni, some of whom are namely, the incumbent Mayor of Lucena, Hon. Ramon Y. Talaga, Jr., Ambassador Ronald Allarey, Prof. Josephine Fabre, of the MSEUF Concert Singers, Businessman, Mr. Ric Pascua, some priests, Rev. Msgr. Alfredo La O, Fr. Jose Dural, Fr. Renato Naca, Fr. Maxell Aranilla, Fr. Andre Quirijero and some nuns: Sr. Marie Christelle Zaballerio, MM, Sr. Amelia Omaña, MM and Sr. Mary Beatrix, ocd.