THE UNIVERSITY marked another historic milestone on Friday when it successfully opened the maiden academic year at UST General Santos (GenSan), its largest campus and first branch outside Luzon, with the Misa de Apertura or opening Mass.
In his homily, Vice Rector for Finance Fr. Roberto Luanzon Jr., O.P. lauded UST for expanding its “educational mission” to the south and sharing its four-century legacy with the campus in Mindanao.
“UST Manila is 413-years-old, it is the oldest university in the Philippines, even in Asia,” said Luanzon, who is also officer in charge of UST GenSan’s Office of the Associate Vice Rector for Finance.
“But UST (GenSan) is now born. We’re already here, and we’ll have more days and months and years to come,” he added.
With the commencement of its inaugural year in GenSan, Luanzon said UST is beginning to make its Mindanao presence known, decades after purchasing the lot in Barangay Ligaya in the late 1990s.
He also urged the pioneer staff and students to embrace the “Thomasian qualities” anchored on the three core values–competence, commitment, and compassion–as they begin their Thomasian journey.
“We believe we can have many things to share [with] the people of UST GenSan and to the whole Mindanao region as we start our presence here,” he said in his homily.
“We also believe that God will always be with us. He will not forsake us as we begin our education mission here in (GenSan) and MIndanao,” he added.
Among those who attended the first Misa de Apertura at the Mindanao campus were its first batch of students, academic and support staff, as well as administrators such as Professor Emeritus Maribel Nonato, the assistant to the rector for UST GenSan.
Luanzon recognized and thanked students of the branch campus for “not only choosing to be part of UST GenSan but more so to be her pioneers.”
The Mass of the Holy Spirit in GenSan was distinct from that held at the Manila campus, which was presided over by Alaminos Bishop Napoleon Sipalay Jr., O.P.
The Mass was followed by the Discurso de Apertura, or inaugural lecture, which was delivered by Faculty of Arts and Letters Dean Melanie Turingan in Manila and streamed live at UST GenSan. Carlo Jose H. Ruga with reports from Ella Mae A. Sison and Fernando Pierre Marcel B. de la Cruz
