This Way. The Ateneo Way.

This Way. The Ateneo Way.

by rick olivares

This isn’t a definitive history of the Ateneo. Not by a long shot.

However… this is the story of generations. Of men and women for others.

This is a story of great men.

Of artisans. Captains of the industry. Of molders of men and women. Of nation builders.

All doing it the Ateneo Way.

This is a story of the rise and fall and eventual resurrection of a great school and how disaster and war failed to douse the fires of learning and achievement.

This is a story of a great order -- God’s soldiers -- and their adventures once they crossed oceans and went down from the Hill.

This is a story of building a nation.

Of a vastly different time under two powers. Of blood shed in the cause of liberty and of noble aspirations. Of milestones and landmarks. Of growing up. Of the intricacies of math and science. Of lessons in the classroom and the plays of the Bard that are both timeless and limitless.

This is why when you walk the tree-lined roads in the late afternoons you think of Frost’s “The Road Not Taken” and you’re glad that you took the road to Padre Faura that eventually led to Loyola Heights. 

This is a book that should be read with the whole family. With father and son and daughter. Even grandchildren.

This is why you feel proud to literally walk in your father’s footsteps through those hallowed corridors where others tread on.

This is a book where every picture – old but lovingly and patiently restored – could be you or me. Where every written word offers golden nuggets of our story, his story, and your story.

This isn’t a definitive history of the Ateneo. Not by a long shot.

This is a book of why you went to the Ateneo. And why your children will too.

Note: 150 The Ateneo Way by Fr. Jose S. Arcilla, S.J. (published by Mediawise) is available at Fully Booked and other specialty bookstores as well as OUDAR in Alingal Hall and the Loyola Bookstore in ADMU. This was a four-year project by Fr. Arcilla and Ramoncito Campo Cruz of Mediawise completed in time for the Sesquicentennial.