Two DLA pupils qualifies in the Mardunong Spelling Contest. At least two DLA pupils of the 14 delegates sent to the Mardunong Spelling Contest elimination round held on Sept. 1, 2011 at Villanueva Elementary School, Palapala, Dasmarinas City qualified in the semi-finals.  They are Claude Jean Regala, Gr. 6 and Patrick Kjell delos Santos, Gr. 5.  Only 150 pupils were taken from the 600 contestants coming from both public and private schools.  The Mardunong Spelling Contest is an activity sponsored by the Dasmarinas City Government.  The semi-finals is scheduled on October 13 for the Elementary level.

PTA officers installed.  The officers of the PTA for this school year were installed during its 2^nd General PTA Meeting on Sept. 9, 2011 at the SCCD Multi-Purpose Hall which was also the scheduled distribution of report cards for the 1^st quarter.  Led by the president, Mr. Renato Ajero of Gr. 1 Homeroom, the officers were installed to office and prayed for by Elder Emma Acuna who served as the installing officer on behalf of Pastor Ronell Hernandez.  Proposed projects were presented such as amplifier to upgrade the current sound system and fire alarm.

LCSMC FEB meets SCCD-DLA.  The Formal Education Board represented by its chairperson Rev. Leng Lubang and Conference Minister Rev. Teh Padillo met with members of SCCD and DLA School Board on Sept. 10, 2011 at the SCCD Multi-Purpose Hall as part of the educational campaign on the newly approved Formal Education Manual addressing local church and church-founded schools relations.  This manual, which took almost two years of drafting before it was presented and approved during the 13^th Annual Session in May of this year at UCCP Buenavista, was significantly influenced by the experiences of SCCD in relation to its school, the DLA.  Teacher Nanette Barzaga who served as DLA School Board Corporate Secretary for three consecutive terms also sits in the LCSMC FEB and contributed in the drafting of the said manual.

DUPS renamed CDAPS.  The Dasmarinas Union of Private Schools (DUPS) was renamed CDAPS  or City of Dasmarinas Association of Private Schools to make it consistent with the cityhood status of Dasmarinas and mark the start of fresh new leadership correcting  lapses in the past.  The newly elected president of CDAPS is Dr. Laura Campos of Blessed Mary Academy.  Meanwhile the Dasmarinas City Schools Division just celebrated its 1^st year anniversary in September as a separate division office of the DepEd.

Spiritual Formation Week (SFW) 2011 focuses on Children’s Rights.  This year’s Spiritual Formation Week had for its theme, “Let the Little Children Come” adapting the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) 2011 Vacation Church School material which provided the biblical dimension of the Rights of Children as stipulated in the Convention of the Rights of Children in which the Philippines is the 31^st signatory to the said international agreement.  Held on Sept. 26-30, 2011 various activities were lined up to reinforce and deepen the theme.  Winners in the contests will be printed in next month’s issue as they were still ongoing as of writing of this article.  In preparation for this week-long program the DLA faculty and staff went on a retreat last September 16, 2011 at Saquilayan Residence in General Trias, Cavite.  This has been an annual tradition with school personnel first studying and reflecting on the SFW daily topics.  Pastor Ronell Hernandez being the School Chaplain led this retreat assisted by Teacher Cristy Gervacio who developed the post-Chapel Service classroom Bible lessons.

Contest Winners in the Spiritual Formation Week held on September 26-30, 2011