Victoria Coralejo always wanted to be a teacher, and dreamt of putting up her own school ever since she was a young student in Obando, Bulacan.

She eventually took up education in the then Philippine Normal College, where she graduated cum laude. Years of preparation and further education, led her to a leap of faith in 1982.

Together with her husband, Dr. Enrique Fabillan Coralejo, who was then the director of the Claret School in Quezon City, Mrs. Coralejo established the School of Saint Anthony (SSA) in Lagro, Quezon City.

And three decades since then, SSA has become a popular landmark in the Lagro area in Quezon City that has produced a big number of graduates who became outstanding graduates in top colleges and universities. SSA is also active in school competitions from cheerleading to campus journalism.

“The decision to put up a school was a risk. My husband and I pooled together what little savings and resources we had at that time,” said Coralejo, who is now directress of SSA.

“When we started the school in 1982, our field demo was just held at the deadend of the street in Lagro, with just a little over 50 students. We had a very lean staff of seven and I had to take care of everything. From instruction to canteen duties and school service operations,” she added.

Before establishing SSA, Mrs. Coralejo taught preschool in Quezon City’s Claret School and later landed a job as a principal at St. Vincent School, Teacher’s Village, also in Quezon City. She has authored several textbooks for kids.

She went to England to earn her master’s degree in school administration from the University of Nottingham.

The Professional Regulation Commission recently conferred her an outstanding professional of the year in teacher education award.

Humble beginnings
The saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day” applies to SSA, which started in a small house, literally.

“I saw a house in Lagro [Quezon City] and I bought the rights to it in December 1981.” Coralejo said.

On January 1982, she made good use of the 323-square meter lot to put up a small pre-school center starting off with less than 50 students. Coralejo said that when she started her school, she had P100,000 in savings and a loan of $5,000 from her mother in the United States.

Her modest pre-school started with three teachers, an aide, a security guard, a janitor and a secretary.

She later expanded her operations by acquiring a 300-square meter lot and then another 450-square meter lot that would house a building to start accepting Grade 3 students.

It was during 1982 to 1983 that she bought the initial 5,000-square meter lot that houses half of the present SSA campus.

From 1988 to 1989, SSA had 14 classrooms and accepted students from Grades 1 to 5.

Those modest beginnings would be the foundation of SSA, which now sits on a 10,183-square meter lot in Lagro that has one five-storey and three two-storey buildings that altogether have 76 classrooms. The current SSA campus also has an auditorium, an indoor swimming pool, open grounds and a basketball court.

But Coralejo did not stop with the landmark she established in Lagro. More of her heroic efforts and sharp administrative skills, led to the birth of the College of Saint Anthony (CSA) in San Jose del Monte, Bulacan, in 2008.

What drives Coralejo to build good schools such as SSA and CSA is her vision to develop students who have independent minds and values.

Innovative approach
To achieve that, SSA students are exposed to various activities to complement academic training.

“If I let students concentrate on purely academics, that would mean more pressure on them. So we expose them to various co-curricular and extra-curricular activities to hone them holistically,” Coralejo said.

She added that such exposures develop well-rounded students who are also emotionally intelligent.

In fact, one of the prides of SSA is its pep squad, which has bested many schools in contests. The present University of the Philippines Pep Squad, which has won various competitions, also boasts of having graduates from SSA.

SSA students have topped competitions in academics, athletics and journalism. The most recent of which, is the journalism team’s overall championship in the Regional Secondary Schools’ Press Conference held on October 6.

Still going strong
Although Coralejo could have opted to retire two years ago to spend more time with her grandchildren and take it easy, she still could be seen working everyday either at SSA or CSA.

Her hands-on management style has allowed her to be proactive in dealing with issues, and more importantly, see what type of improvements the schools needs. For one, SSA is poised to strengthen its existing robotics laboratory so its students could learn more about that field of technology. It is also looking at having its students join more international competitions and conventions.

SSA celebrated its 30th foundation anniversary on October 24.

With Coralejo and her husband at the helm, people in the education sector expect the school to rise to even greater heights and its students and graduates contributing to nation building.

She demonstrated that building a good educational institution can be achieved if educators stick to their vision to raise their students to heroic levels.