The Silliman University Senior High School (SUSHS) will officially have a home when its new building is inaugurated at 9:00 a.m. on December 6, 2023.
Designed by SU Department of Architecture faculty, the SUSHS building is located beside Dr. Romeo P. Ariniego Art Gallery and houses 24 classrooms, with each one being able to accommodate 40 students.
Asst. Prof. Kemmons Kilat, SUSHS principal, said that the faculty, students, and staff are relieved and happy with the completion of the building.
“We very much welcome the development. Finally, we have a home,” said Kilat.
When SUSHS opened in June 2016, it was the only school in Negros Oriental that offered all tracks in SHS: Academic with all four strands (Accountancy, Business and Management; Humanities and Social Sciences; Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics; and General Academic); Sports; Arts and Design; and Technical-Vocational Livelihood.
Without its own building, SUSHS shared the faculty and facilities with the different colleges and departments in the University. Asst. Prof. Myla June Patron, associate dean of the College of Education (COE), said that the arrangement enabled students to experience college-like learning.
“This generous sharing of resources has afforded Senior High School a distinguished faculty, comprising esteemed college professors who are experts in their respective fields,” said Patron.
Since its opening, SUSHS has catered to an average of 1,500 per semester, necessitating a building of its own.
“While we acknowledge the communal support given to the Senior High School, we have consistently nurtured the aspiration of forging its own distinct identity and claiming a space it could proudly call its own,” Patron said.
The building was completed in 2023, two years after its groundbreaking on January 14, 2021.
Dr. Gina Fontejon-Bonior, dean of the COE, said that having a home is more than having a space.
“A place is not just a space. A place is agentic. It brings people together. It forges collective identity. It deepens relationships. It creates memories,” said Bonior.
It is hoped that with the new SUSHS building, more students get to experience the SU campus life.
“The building stands as a space where stories get created every semester, every year. May the faculty, students, and staff who occupy it create wonderful memories that strengthen the idea of Silliman spirit and may more students contribute to the enhancement of a unique Silliman identity,” said Asst. Prof. Jane Annette Belarmino, vice president for Development, Enterprise, and External Affairs. (Jameela Mendoza/SU OIP)
