The idea of writing a school song must have occurred to my sister Herminia, valedictorian of Class 1939, and now Sr. Nieves, ICM, sometime in September of 1945, when Paco Catholic School was allowed by the Bureau of Private Schools to reopen, the only school south of the Pasig River to do so.

The school-hungry students flocked to their assigned classrooms which overflowed into the corridors, all eager to continue their school year interrupted for ten months by the retiming US Armed Forces. The playground before classes and during recess time was a kaleidoscope of a variety of uniforms of the different schools the hundreds of new students came from, and a riot of colors of dresses of those without uniforms.

An observer could easily distinguish the blue-pleated skirt and white blouse of St. Theresa's College, the black checkered skirt and white blouse of St. Paul's, the Scotch-plaid skirt of Assumption, the white blouse of St. Scholastica's tucked in the characteristic blue skirt with its twin suspenders, the all-white ensemble of Philippine Women’s University, and the predominant blue apron-like uniform and white blouse of the old PCS students.

After several weeks of observing the motley population of the school, one could see the obvious differences in the way the students grouped together -- a group of similarly uniformed girls in one comer of the playground, another five or six girls under one of the acacia trees in the yard, another set in the shadow of the school building -- the students were like a mixture of seeds of different colors all
together in one container but clearly noticeable was the seeming isolation of each group within the containing vessel.

There seemed to be a lack of a unifying element, a catalytic factor that could gel them into one single solid group, working together to help the school attain its main objective: to make this mixture of new students finish their high school as one body and not as individual groups, to unite and work together towards that end and contribute to the well-being of the school and the whole student body. All these thoughts must have entered the mind of my sister as she thought of a way of bringing this common objective to fruition. "Why not write a school song that would summarize all these thoughts of oneness?" From a mere idea it developed into a seed and eventually into reality.

Sr. Nieves was teaching English Literature at that time and in writing the first verse of the song, she probably unconsciously recalled the first line of Percy Bysshe Schelley's To A Skylark, "Hail to thee, blythe spirit. .." and wrote down her first line as Hail to thee, our Alma Mater. . .

The second line may need a lengthier interpretation,
Hail to thee, our second home. ..

Why second home ? We always refer to our school as our home away from home because we spend a great amount of time in it. Our second home in the song has a different connotation -it is their second home away from home, the first one being the last school they came from, be it Sta. Isabel, PWU, STC, or whatever; hence, Paco Catholic School, their second home.

The rest of the first stanza stresses the fact that they are not adopted children of PCS for the time being, but the real children of the school which took them as her own and which they have learned to love and to bless as their ALMA MATER, the Mother of their being, of their soul. 

The second stanza is an exhortation to rally behind the blue and white standard of PCS and raise their voices with cheers to earn the price of final victory.  Both refrains are pledges to uphold .the honor of the school at all costs, careful not to sully her name in any way, and be ready to answer her beck and call at all times.

When the song was completed, Sr. Nieves showed it to our uncle, Ceferino, who happened to spend a short vacation at home.  Tio Ninoy had a good musical ear and even composed a new Dios te salve Maria for our neighborhood and family Santa Cruzans.  He took the paper and started humming a tune as he glanced over the words and in no time at all he took some paper and wrote the music.  My sister and I listened to the song as it was being hummed and we both liked the melody.  The next day, Sr. Nieves took both lyrics and music to the new High School Principal, Mother Eleonora, who was elated by the words and tune.  She showed them to Mother Johanna, Grade School Principal, and Mother Tillo, Superior of the Community.  Like Mother Eleonora, they were both touched by the appropriateness of the words to the seemingly disparate nature of the student body. Mother Tillo, who was also the church organist, smoothed some parts of the melody and added chords to complete the music.

The song was distributed the next day to all the graduating classes and the tune was practiced separately by each class.  The words of the song seemed to sink into the minds and hearts of the students and affected by the objective of the song: rally as one body for the love of the school. The song was supposed to be the concluding number of the commencement exercises, sung by all the
graduating students.

The night of the commencement, after the last name was called, the tension was thick and palpable. Everybody's eyes were on Mother Tillo, and at a signal from her, the graduates raised their voices loud and clear into the air and sung the words with feeling and sincerity.  As the last note of the refrain faded into the night carried away by the cool night breeze, there was a momentary silence, then
pandemonium broke loose.  The graduates jumped with joy, shouting, hugging.  They were now graduates of Paco Catholic School, its first regular graduates after the liberation, the first ones to sing the school song in an official public affair.

Sr. Nieves was right.  What the students needed was a rallying song, a unifying agent to bring them together as one body, one mind, one objective.  From listless, seemingly aimless clusters of students, they gradually blended into one cohesive entity.

So, after thirty years, Paco Catholic School finally had a song, a School song to keep her students, past, present and to come, ready to answer to her beck and call, if and when needed.

Lyrics by Sr. Nieves Valdes Class 1939
Music by Ceferino Joven

Write up by Bienvenido J. Valdes+
02 October 2003

The acacia tree was planted by Fr. Godo. The old Holy Cross Building is at the background with the Our Lady's Building at the right.

Hail to thee, our Alma Mater!
Hail to thee, our second home!
We, thy children, are thine forever.
Thine to call, to bid, to claim thine own.
As we stand here we salute thee,
Good and loving P. C. S.
Proud and happy we always will be
Of our school we all have learned to bless.

O’er the land thy dear name we praise;
To thy honor our hearts we raise;
For to thee, dear school, are due
All this love, all this care so true.

Watch ye all, our standard gleaming
Rally to our blue and white;
To these colors, so full of meaning
Raise your voices with all main
and might.

Greet with cheers our banners waving;
March with stride that’s brave and free;
High our spirits, and boldly daring
Set to earn the price of victory.

To our school we’ll give our all,
To our school her beck and call
For to her so dear and true
All this love, all this care are due.

Photograph taken from the Golden Jubilee souvenir program of Fr. Godofredo.