Spearheading Success: Year One of MGCNLCA’s New Era of Leaders
One school year has passed since MGC New Life Christian Academy (MGCNLCA) welcomed its new era of leaders: Helen Villanueva as the school director, Evangeline Co as the school principal, Rhenee Sy as the Student Affairs and Welfare (SAW) head, and Evelyn Cawaon as the school registrar.
Adjusting from the role of school principal to school director, Villanueva shifted from focusing on the day-to-day operations of the school to overseeing the strategic direction of the entire institution, which involves long-term planning, financial management, and fostering partnerships with external stakeholders.
The school director admitted that the first-year transitional period was filled with immense growth and learning while the school was still navigating through the challenges brought by the pandemic. Throughout this period, the school came up with innovative solutions to ensure the safety and well-being of the students and staff.
“Despite these challenges, the support from our dedicated team, the resilience of our students, and the encouragement from the community have been incredible. It has been a journey of adaptation, resilience, and growth, and I am grateful for the opportunity to lead such a dynamic and committed educational institution,” remarked Villanueva.
With Villanueva as the school director, Co inherited the challenging yet rewarding role as the principal of MGCNLCA. She shared her appreciation for Villanueva’s guidance throughout the transitional process. The school community, including the Board of Trustees, school leaders, supervisors, teachers, staff, parents, and students, have all been supportive of Co in her first year in the new position.
“Before becoming the principal, I served as the early years supervisor for 15 years, so overseeing one department was somehow familiar territory,” said Co. “However, managing all academic departments has been a whole new level of challenge. The sheer number and diversity of issues can be overwhelming.”
Moving forward, Co shared that the school aims to enhance its academic program by enhancing learners’ foundational skills and adapting the curriculum to their evolving needs while also fostering spiritual development and character excellence through various opportunities.
Along with Villanueva and Co, Sy has also adapted to a big change from being a Home Economics teacher to the SAW Head. The newly established SAW office ensures that the school facilities are maximized in terms of students’ use and that students’ concerns are addressed. Sy is in charge of students’ extracurricular activities and welfare services, such as student organizations, sports and academic varsities, and the clinic. She is also responsible for coordinating with the cafeteria concessionaire.
The biggest challenge for Sy was transitioning from a structured teaching environment to a more dynamic and unstructured administrative role. Through God’s guidance and the support of various colleagues, she has been able to adapt to the newly created role and to the new responsibilities it brought.
“I’m also really enjoying the variety this role offers—it keeps things interesting as it allows me to be involved in many different aspects of student life,” Sy commented.
This year, the SAW head aims to streamline the scheduling and management of student activities to ensure the effective use of school facilities and resources by working closely with various departments.
Through close collaboration with other departments, Sy seeks to optimize student activity and management to ensure efficient use of school resources. She holds regular meetings with representatives from different areas of the SAW Department to discuss any concerns or ideas and to ensure the students’ concerns and needs are addressed properly.
Meanwhile, the past school year also saw former preschool teacher Cawaon transition to becoming the school’s new registrar. Her job drastically shifted from previously teaching students to managing the academic records of students.
In her new role, Cawaon implemented new systems for organizing files, focusing on consistency and organization, thus allowing things to run more smoothly. Furthermore, Cawaon intends to digitize all student records to guarantee an easier process for accessing them.
“I plan to implement a digital system that will convert our physical records into a secure, easily searchable format. I am looking at starting to have paperless transactions that will immediately send the information to a database that we can both easily sort and systematize,” Cawaon said.
By God’s grace, each of the new leaders has been able to stand firm in faith to overcome any hurdles they faced during the adjustment period.
