Site of new AJHS Classroom Building blessed

The site blessing ceremony for the new Ateneo de Manila Junior High School (AJHS) Classroom Building was held at 9:00 am on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The facility will rise on the area to the right of the St Stanislaus Kostka Chapel, in what was formerly the left wing of the Montserrat/Grade 9 area.

Attending the event were members of the Ateneo de Manila Basic Education community and Central Administration, together with those involved in the building’s design and construction. From contractors Will Decena & Associates were Engr. Wilfredo Decena (CEO) and Engr. John Lerry Decena. From project manager MSG Gridlines was Arch. Eugene Sta. Ana (Head of the Business Department). Designer consultant LPPA Design Group was represented by Arch. John Oliver Venegas. From the University’s Central Facilities Management Office (CFMO) were Arch. Ria Grace Marasigan (Construction Management Officer), Engr. Jelour Casimiro (Section Head of CFMO’s Construction Management Section), and Arch. Michael Canlas (Director).

The celebration began with AJHS Chaplain Fr. Mamert Mañus SJ’s opening prayer, in which he intoned, “Let us pray for His help through this celebration and our blessing rites today… that God will bring this construction to successful completion, and that His protection will keep those who work on it safe from injury, and that everything shall be finished in time and on time for the needed classes that we will have.”

Following the readings and the intercessions,  Fr Mamert and Fr Jonjee Sumpaico SJ, Vice President for Basic Education, then led the blessing proper by sprinkling the grounds with holy water. The rite ended with the laying of the time capsule, which was filled with items like a copy of the day’s newspaper and a few October medals.  

In her closing remarks, AJHS Principal Gen Sanvictores echoed Fr. Mamert’s prayer, saying that even though the construction of a building is “not an easy feat,” she was confident that the rising structure would weather storms and calamities because the AJHS community itself was built on the strongest of foundations, namely, “in Jesus Christ.” 

The new building will house the classrooms which will be used by the very first co-ed batch of AJHS Grade 7 students in School Year 2024-2025.