Testimonials & Community Life

“I entered Beacon School as an awkward 6th grader in 2007, having bounced around different traditional schools up to then because my dad was serving in the military and we were moving constantly. My mom found the scholarship announcement in the newspaper when I was in the fourth grade, and was so excited about the opportunity she had me apply as a sixth grader. She had me write in my application, and since we didn’t have a computer or printer at home, it had to be handwritten. Ultimately, we had to wait a year, but it was worth the wait.

“When I was a student, everything and everyone were just part of my daily routine, so I didn’t fully appreciate how special the experience was at the time. Now, I look back on my Beacon years with deep fondness. My memories of my time at Beacon are more vivid than in high school and university! Walking by random corners of the school brought back specific memories from my Beacon days. I can still clearly remember how it felt to walk into my third-grade classroom in the mornings.

I joined The Beacon School in May 2017 as the administrative assistant to the dean of school.

I couldn’t forget my first day of work. When I told Miss Mary, the former dean of school, that I was about to head out, she said “Thank you for your hard work.” I was shocked – no one from my previous job had ever done that. I got emotional because I felt that I mattered. Pwede ka palang makatanggap ng appreciation sa simpleng trabaho, when words like “thank you” or “sorry” are not so common anymore.

The person I am today was molded by the three (far too short) years at Beacon. I grew up a bit of an oddball- homeschooled throughout elementary, the onus was on me as a student to learn the various subjects, with only books to serve as a teacher. Stepping into Beacon for the first time knocked the wind out of me. Classes were a whirlwind of engagement, active back-and-forths between my classmates and my teachers. My ability to learn was amplified tenfold in that environment, catapulted forward in this educational flywheel. Our teachers were brilliant educators, supportive guides, and even good friends.

What stood out to me most when I was a student at The Beacon School were the identity and values cultured throughout the Beacon School family, including both staff and students alike. Even at a young age, it was apparent that Beacon was envisioned as haven for keeping the youth connected to traditional Filipino values while encouraging innovation and open mindedness to learn and accomplish feats beneficial for the growth of both individual and the community.

What stood out to me during my experience as a student at The Beacon School was the similarity in the way of thinking between myself, my peers, and the staff. Whether we had spent years at the institution or were new to the community, the core principles that Beacon preaches were consistently implemented by everyone. We all actively engaged in the 12 learner principles, confident that we were in a safe space to experiment, stretch, and learn. Eventually, I formed strong bonds with several teachers who I am in frequent contact with even to this day.

I learned about The Beacon School from my librarian friends who had heard about the opening. They urged me to give it a shot so I did, and was fortunate enough to have been invited by Beacon to join its library team in 2016.

Beacon is home, having spent countless hours in its hallways and classrooms for the past 22 years.

Looking back to 2001, I immediately wanted to be part of such an ambitious journey after attending a meeting with the original incorporators. It was heartbreaking to let go of my lecturer job at UP Diliman. At the same time, I was excited to be part of The Beacon School project that was firmly rooted in Filipino culture and traditions, a truly international curriculum, as well as a catechism program to prepare students for the Sacraments of the Holy Eucharist and Confirmation.

We heard about Beacon from our fellow parents at our firstborn’s pre-school. We liked that Beacon is an IB school and that they applied inquiry-based learning in their primary years program. We also liked that the curriculum offered both Christian Living Education and World Religion. But it was the school tour that won us over in the end – the campus was interesting: not too big, not too small; the classrooms felt lived-in; the faculty and staff knew everyone by name.

I have been teaching Filipino for 22 years. Before I joined Beacon, I was a college instructor. I learned about the school from a former colleague at St. Scholastica.

I came here to Beacon because I wanted to explore professional opportunities that would impact the lives of younger learners and benefit me as an educator. As a Filipino teacher, I welcomed the challenge of teaching our country’s language to cultivate exposure, increase appreciation, and strengthen the use of the Filipino language among non-native Filipino speakers.

Hello, everyone! I am Emee Dy an alumnus who graduated from Beacon School in 2014. I studied Bachelor of Business Administration, majoring in Marketing with minors in Sociology and Asian Studies at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN.

I was in Beacon for over 10 years and made the greatest friends that I know I will treasure for a lifetime. In this picture, I am with Nikki Huang, my best friend since PYP.

Here at Beacon, when you greet the students, they greet you back. You are treated as a person. They are kind and respectful.

I couldn’t forget an alumnus, because that brought me to tears. When the alumni visited the campus, they would shake our hands and take photos with us. There was one who had asked me what time my shift ended so he could buy me drinks. I was surprised and said, “Wow, you can drink now?!” And he said “Of course. I’m all grown up now.”

As a young teacher, Beacon taught me to see the world through a different set of eyes. Classrooms here were unlike all other classrooms I had been in. The small class sizes let me get to know each student individually. As a class, we grew as a community of learners where the teacher questioned, wondered and searched for answers alongside the kids. Their insight and perspective mattered; we were learning to learn together.

We recognized from the very beginning that we weren’t going to get there immediately — that it would take decades for this pedagogical shift to develop, be adopted, and gain wide acceptance. What we did have was a strong academic program, the foundations of which we described to the parents who first joined the school. Our goal was to turn their kids into agents of change, to give them the tools to navigate a changing world, and to move toward a more meritocratic society where one can be straight, do it right, and still experience success even in a country in which so many aspects seem to be ethically problematic and structurally skewed in favor of built-in entitlement.

Community Life

Beacon’s house system helps engender a sense of community and belonging as K – 8 students are organized vertically into three different houses represented by three native trees: Acacia, Molave, and Narra. Beacon parents are also greatly engaged in a range of school programmes, and keep closely connected to the life of the school.

Beacon Parent Association (BPA)

The BPA is an active association of Beacon parents who serve the school by initiating and assisting with school-wide events including Field Day, International Food Fair, Filipino Week, bake sales, Christmas holiday festivities, and charity drives. BPA also provides an essential communication link between the parent community and the Beacon School Leadership Team, offering constructive input on a wide range of school-wide issues: school uniforms, canteen service, student behavior, school traditions, premises, and school climate. Finally, BPA hosts fund-raising activities in support of school-improvement initiatives.

Beacon wasn’t just great for my kids. It was great for me. Working with the BPA and other parents, I have met so many wonderful people. I always look forward to the meetings, the bake sales, the lunches. I have made many new friends..like an extended family.

Melissa, parent

Room Parents

Parent volunteers represent each class from Pre K – Grade 5 and each homeroom section for Grades 6 – 8. The role of the Room Parent is to serve as liaison between the teacher and the parents in their section for communication about and support for special events, field trips, and special class celebrations. Like officers of the BPA, room parents also serve as an essential communication link between parents and the Leadership Team on school-wide issues.

Parent Volunteers

Beacon parents have opportunities to be engaged in the Beacon School learning community in numerous ways throughout the academic year; they serve as resource speakers, join field trips, facilitate hands-on learning experiences, and provide technical assistance to teachers and the Leadership Team members in their areas of expertise such as film or languages.