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| Behind the Scenes with Ivy Visitacion |
Our Australian friends came to Bacolod City recently to look for prospects for putting up an international school in the City of Smiles.
The group from Swan Christian Education Association Inc., headed by CEO Stephen Lee and COO Martin Bent with pastor Peter Chase and Paul Beacham of Southern Hills Christian College, was accompanied by pastor Gary Visitacion, president/CEO of Southern Hills International School in the Philippines.
They paid a courtesy call on Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. and Mayor Monico Puentevella, who enthusiastically welcomed their plans for an international school in Bacolod featuring sports academy, that they felt, would be very beneficial to the city and the province.
The group had already put up an orphanage in Brgy. Cabacungan, La Castellana town in Negros Occidental, with the help of around 30 teenage students from Southern Hills Christian College in Perth, who came to help finish the building and touch base with the orphans as part of their school training program. This is in line with the school’s thrust on character building and values formation.
During their brief stay, the school executives sampled the delicious “chicken on a stick (chicken inasal)” and other local native cuisine that they enjoyed immensely. They even tried eating crispy lechon on the sidewalk of Araneta Street, where they sat on a table beside the lechonan while passersby gawked at the incredible sight of the foreigners eating lechon and rice on the sidewalk with their bare hands!
To our Aussie friends, we bid you welcome!*
