CALVARY CHRISTIAN LIFE SCHOOL, INC.

“TRAINING FUTURE CHRISTIAN LEADERS”

In 1975, the founder and director of Bethesda Children’s Home (Elva Vanderbout Soriano) had her first serious heart attack.  One day, she called me to her bedside and said “Donnie, you will soon have to take charge of the Children’s Home”.  That statement sent my mind and heart spinning.  I had grown up in Bethesda Home since I was 9 days old, so I was familiar with all the blessings and deficiencies of running a Home for children in distress.

My first priority was to find a good way to give the children from the Home a good education.  At that time all the children were going to school at the local elementary school, and those in High School were studying in Baguio Tech (now University of Baguio).  We were always at a dis-advantage, because we did not have nearly enough like many of the other kids.  We also carried the “stigma” of being “adopted” or “coming from an orphanage”.  And many of the children because of stunted growth and malnutrition were not competent to vie against the children coming from well-to-do families and backgrounds.

In 1975, I traveled to the United States not only to attend the Morris Cerullo World Evangelism Convention in San Diego, California but now I had another quest, and that was to find a system that would fit the needs of the Bethesda Home I was soon to become it’s administrator.  Looking for an educational system fit into requirements for my doctoral degree in Christian Education, and soon I came across a modular system while visiting a church in Arizona.  It was called then, the Accelerated Christian Education (A.C.E.).  I was fascinated and extremely interested because it was a new concept that fit almost all the requirements of an educational system for the Bethesda Home.  I also came across other systems, like the Alpha-Omega, Abeka, and other educational innovations.

When I visited Rev. George Cover of Mentor, Ohio who was a long time friend and supporter of my father, Rev. Juan B. Soriano, he was also running an A.C.E. school.  He invited me to stay at their home and familiarize myself with the system.  I stayed one month in Mentor, Ohio learning to be a “monitor”, then a “supervisor”.  I immediately realized that this system would be well suited to the needs of the Children’s Home.  I was put in touch with Dr. Donald Howard, and Dr. Ralph Rice who were excited that a Filipino was interested in the program and they both invited me not only to visit the International headquarters in Texas, but to join them in setting up A.C.E. in the Philippines.

When I returned to the Philippines, I took the first steps to start a school by organizing a Kindergarten class in the Home, with one of my “assistants” from Baguio Colleges Foundation Office of Student Affairs as the first teacher – Julita Cabanday from San Emilio, Ilocos Sur. And so we started classes in July of 1976.  My first son Daniel was one of the first students.  Because it was conceptualized as a “church-school” we began to look for a suitable name.  The name CALVARY immediately came into play. And my adopted mother suggested why not add “CHRISTIAN LIFE”. And so the name of the school became CALVARY CHRISTIAN LIFE SCHOOL.

We were summoned to Manila “Hope Academy” in Nagtahan, Manila to undergo the first ever “administrators” training in the Philippines.  It was hot, humid and we could barely understand thenew English language of the training tapes. (texas language).  While we were training, we had to help unload and transport the used paces, forms and materials from the North Harbor pier to Nagtahan.  Sis. Anita Gomaya, Rev. Benny Carantes and myself were the first “supervisors”.

Several of our college scholars were our monitors – Susan Camaddo, Myrna Maey, Allen Lingoyna, are names I can remember. My adopted mother was so ecstatic that her dream of having our own Christian School finally came to pass that she had the first flagpole and she sewed the first Filipino flag that was hoisted. Manang Flora Soriano spent many hours sewing the needed Christian and Philippine flags, and the first learning center was established inside the church at Tuding.

The first years were difficult.  I attended all the A.C.E. administrators and supervisors training for ten years – Nagtahan, Angeles City, Moncada, Tarlac, and Cavite.  Rev. Ralph Rice at one time while in Baguio City, visited the Bethesda Home and was so blessed that he promised that the school would have a life-time membership with ACE. And for many years, he “sponsored” the maintenance fees that we had to pay. I had the privilege of being the only Filipino to have trained at the A.C.E. headquarters in Dallas, Texas in 1980.  I completed the course in 2 1/2 days with perfect scores, and many were amazed including Rev. Ralph Rice.  I also met and befriended manyAmerican school administrators, who volunteered to provide “used” pacebooks (modules) for the school here at Bethesda.

At the same time that the school was being established, I was asked by then Vice President Jesus Salvosa of Baguio College Foundation (now University of the Cordilleras) to serve as a “student – director” of the Office of Student Affairs which I accepted out of gratitude for being his personal scholar for many years when I had studied at BCF.  At the same time I was trying to complete my units in Political Science as well as Education.  I realized that a purely “American” curriculum would not be “healthy” for the children, so I made modifications to the system.  We had “paces” or modules during the mornings and secular classes in Pilipino, Phil. History and other Filipino subjects in the afternoon taught in traditional classroom settings.

We had our first Elementary graduates in 1980, and in 1981 we had our first batch of High School graduates.  The 1982 NCEE results proved the superior educational system that we had, because all of the 7 graduates did not receive a passing N.C.E.E. grade of 90 or below.  We were able to establish the corporation of Calvary Christian Life School in 1977.  In 1993, the first “permit to operate” was granted by the Department of Education. And the Recognition status was granted in 2007 for the elementary level and 2008 for the High School level. 

In 2009, a building for the sole use of the elementary and High School was completed with the help of many donors and supporters. Hundreds of children have passed thru the doors of the Christian School and boarding Home.  Many have gone on to college to complete their education and are now professionals in almost every field – Engineers, doctors, dentists, teachers, social workers, nurses, midwives, accountants, lawyers, etc., as well as workers in every profession and occupation.  Many have become pastors and church workers, and many others work in many foreign countries (46 countries at last count).