Whoever gave the notion that if you're old, you're weak, eat your words. Though this may always be the case for a couple of folks who are lucky enough to reach a hundred, this definitely does not apply with SLU. Despite a hundred years of wear and tear, the old girl's still standing tall and proud as she has her centennial celebration.

Where did SLU all start in the first place? To give a brief outlook on how the ball got rolling, let's go back to 1907 when it all began. Don't get your pants in a bunch, I'm not going to give a long and boring lecture on the beginnings of SLU (we get enough of that from school), just a short flashback to when a fine institution started off as simply a ten-student classroom.

CICM missionaries decided that it was a good idea to evangelize the northern part of the Philippines (AKA Baguio City) when they figured that the Spanish colonizers were not able to colonize that part of the country. Apparently, they were too scared of the head hunters to even consider trekking there.

By 1911, Father Seraphin Devesse established a small elementary class comprising of ten local boys. It was from this meager lot that a great and vast university sprouted and shone.

A decade later, CICM decided that if they were going to be teaching elementary students, might as well high school ones too. At 1952, Father Gerard Decaestecker allowed college students to be part of the curriculum, offering college courses for those who wanted careers in Liberal Arts and Commerce. From that course, many came to be as well. From the ever-enticing nursing to engineering, SLU offers it all.

As for the high school department, the boys and the girls were separated into two schools; SLU Girl's High and SLU Boy's High (obviously). Both schools remained mutually inclusive and exclusive until 2004 when they decided that it would be a good idea to join the boys and the girls in one co-ed curriculum known today as SLU-LHS.

This year, as the SLU centennial celebration commences, we celebrate right along with the college department and the younger kids at elementary school as one united family. Let's face it, turning 100's a big deal especially when you still look this beautiful and this good.