MCC HS Class 2018, the school’s first group of senior high school graduates, excelled in college with seven of them earning Latin honors (one summa Cum Laude, three magna cum laude, three cum laude) upon their recent graduation from their respective courses.

“Glory and honor to God for blessing our first batch of K to 12 graduates,” Lowella Barsabal, coordinator of the MCC senior high school, 12-Galilee adviser and math teacher, said after learning of her former students’ achievements. “We thank the Lord for sustaining batch 2018, for helping the seven of them excel.”

“The school’s campus may look ordinary, but the Lord works in mysterious and amazing ways,” she pointed out.

“Congratulations, students for a job well done,” MCC principal Pastor Daryl Servano said. “We also thank our dear teachers and staff for rendering quality education. All praises and glory to the Lord Jesus Christ!”

With the latest additions, the number of MCC high school graduates with Latin honors from 2014 to 2022 alone has reached at least 33.  During this eight-year period, there were a total of at least eight magna cum laude, 24 cum laude as well as one Summa Cum Laude among MCC high school alumni.

This school year, Stephanie Gonzales received the highest academic distinction as summa cum laude in Secondary Education-English at Univ. of Negros Occidental-Recoletos.

Magna cum laude were Anne Marielle Belandres (Secondary Education-English, UNO-R), Jessa Mae Martir (Criminology, UNO-R) and Kynah Rhea Fuentes (Secondary Education-English, Univ. of St. La Salle).

Cum laude were Cherry Ann Carpio and Renjiela Mae Castro (both Hospitality Management, VMA Global College and Training Centers) and Hannah Jane Garfin (Elementary Education, La Consolacion College-Bacolod).

The salutatorian of the College of Education, Gonzales finished with a general point average of 95.55% to qualify as summa cum laude, one of eleven at UNO-R this school year.  She was also the recipient of the Philippine Association for Teacher Education of Region VI’s Outstanding Pre-Service Teacher Award for the BSED level.

After graduating valedictorian of her elementary class at Blessed Margaret of Castello School in Silang, Cavite, she enrolled at Mandalagan National High School for Grade 7 before transferring to MCC the following year.  In 2018, she topped the 43-member graduating class in senior high school, finishing with high honors.

“Spending my two years in senior high school at MCC was unplanned but a blessing. Since I, myself wasn’t sure of the course I was going to take in college, spending the last two years of my high school life in the MCC helped me realize the right track for me, thus, helping me reach this version of myself,” she explained. “Also, my two years were also blessed because it helped me better connect with God making Him guide me to the right path He created for me.”

According to her, becoming summa cum laude was “unexpected”.  “I have never been that diligent when it comes to studying,” she revealed. “In fact, I would always work to beat the 11:59 deadline,” she added. “So I never expected that I would be able to achieve such academic excellence and I was only eyeing cum laude honors.”

“But by God’s grace, I achieved it and for that, I am forever grateful,” she concluded.

Almost all of them studied for six years at MCC, from Grades 7-12 during the transition to the K to 12 curriculum.  In senior high school, they were enrolled in the General Academic Strand which was offered at MCC before it was replaced with Accountancy, Business and Management (ABM) and Humanities and Social Sciences (HUMSS).

In college, all of them excelled in academics as consistent dean’s listers as well as in extra-curricular activities.

Former MCC student government president, Belandres served on the UNO-R Supreme Student Government as College of Education governor (one term) and as executive vice president (two terms).

Martir, a cadet major and administrative officer of the school’s Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps unit headed the College of Criminal Justice Education student body as student governor. She was also Best Case Study Awardee, and Professional Criminologist Association of the Philippines (PCAP) Most Deserving Graduate in Criminology Awardee.

Editor-in-chief of The Spectrum, the USLS student publication, Fuentes was a recipient of the Department of Public Information Region VI’s IWAG Award for excellence in campus journalism. She was also an exchange student to the Seogijapranata Catholic University in Indonesia.

Castro was the vice president of the VMA Chorale which was a Grand Prize Winner during the International Youth Music Competition for February 2022 in the Large Group Performances category.

Carpio headed the VMA Culinary Club (president) and the VMA Campus Ministry (vice president) while Garfin served the LCC-B Student Government as assistant secretary and treasurer.