SM St. Michael, Penampang
Encyclopedia
St. Michael's Secondary School, Penampang (Malay: Sekolah Menengah St. Michael (SMSM), Penampang) commonly known as SM St. Michael is a secondary school in Penampang
, Sabah
, Malaysia. It was named after Saint Michael the Archangel.
Mill Hill missionaries built the school to spread Catholicism
among the local Kadazan-dusun community, who were mostly animists
. The school started with a bamboo building and continued onwards to become a major challenge for traditional top schools. During the beginnings, Catholic Priests lived and taught at the school. Following the formation of Malaysia on September 16, 1963, the education given by the school became more secular.
The school, built in 1890, is among the oldest in Sabah
; it was officially established as a Secondary School
in 1958.
. It was also a home to the church's priests. The bare ground was the floor and it was walled around 3 feet from the ground. The students used a slate and a block of limestone
to write. The school was not a success, as most locals did not allow their children to go to school as they feared the British North Borneo Company
would take their children as soldiers. Students paid their fees in rice
, tapioca
, yam
, fruit
and firewood
.
The land which the school stands now used to be a paddy field
. It was donated by the locals to the school. Despite the fact that the students shared their classroom with village goats, the school had a good reputation as students as far as Tambunan
and Kuala Penyu
came to study in the school. This caused the opening of a boarding school
.
During World War II
, the Japanese
occupation forced the temporary closure of the school. However, the school was not badly damaged, suffering only from machine gun
bullets. Reverend M. Henselmans applied to convert the school to a senior or secondary school on August 10, 1957 to provide the 53 students who were then in primary six with a post-primary school. The school was converted into a secondary school on March 10, 1958 with Tambunan native Marcus Otigil at the helm. The school rose slowly, with the older buildings replaced by newer ones over the years.
SM St Michael is also known to produce many singers. Two Akademi Fantasia
(a Malaysian reality show) contestants, Velvet Lawrence Aduk and Stracie Angie Anam, previously studied at this school. The school's choir team is also working hard to beat the defending choir champions from SM St Francis Convent whom the team has been a long time adversary. During the 2008 District Level choir competition, a dispute arose on whether SM St Michael or SM St Francis won the competition. The judges voted in favour of SM St Francis, who then lost the State Level choir competition. However, in the year 2003 under the supervision of Pn.Lucy Gawis, SM St. Michael Penampang beat SM St. Francis during the South West Coast Division Level Choir Competition, bagging also the best conductor award. A recorder
mini orchestra
also exists in the 2008 form 3 batch. The music movement is under the guidance of Mr Awang Masri Awang Matusin.
SM. St Michael is also the bench marked school of the Project Based Learning (PBL) project in Malaysia for winning the pioneering program at 2007. Other than that they also sent the team that won to the ICT Conference and Exhibition Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in conjunction with the 43rd SEAMEO Council Conference and 3rd ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting. Currently, the teacher supervisor of the PBL programme is Madam Jennifer Asing.
The prefect system was scrapped in 2008 and was replace by the Student Council
, which is now led by Richel Rick Foo as president. Members of the council are appointed by teachers and not by students. The student council has a similar role to the prefect board, but in addition to enforcing school rules they are also the students conduits to voice out their opinion to the school administration.
Penampang
Penampang is a district as well as a small town within the West Coast Division of Sabah, Malaysia. It has virtually become a suburb of Kota Kinabalu which is Sabah's capital. Its population was estimated to be around 132,002 in 2000, with ethnic Kadazan-Dusun as the majority.The name penampang...
, Sabah
Sabah
Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...
, Malaysia. It was named after Saint Michael the Archangel.
Mill Hill missionaries built the school to spread Catholicism
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
among the local Kadazan-dusun community, who were mostly animists
Animism
Animism refers to the belief that non-human entities are spiritual beings, or at least embody some kind of life-principle....
. The school started with a bamboo building and continued onwards to become a major challenge for traditional top schools. During the beginnings, Catholic Priests lived and taught at the school. Following the formation of Malaysia on September 16, 1963, the education given by the school became more secular.
The school, built in 1890, is among the oldest in Sabah
Sabah
Sabah is one of 13 member states of Malaysia. It is located on the northern portion of the island of Borneo. It is the second largest state in the country after Sarawak, which it borders on its southwest. It also shares a border with the province of East Kalimantan of Indonesia in the south...
; it was officially established as a Secondary School
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
in 1958.
History
The school was built in 1890 by Mill Hill missionaries to convert the local people into Catholicism. The mode of transportation was then the Moyog River. This caused the present day St. Michael's church and the school to be built in Kampong Dabak, Penampang which was close to the river. The first school building was made out of bambooBamboo
Bamboo is a group of perennial evergreens in the true grass family Poaceae, subfamily Bambusoideae, tribe Bambuseae. Giant bamboos are the largest members of the grass family....
. It was also a home to the church's priests. The bare ground was the floor and it was walled around 3 feet from the ground. The students used a slate and a block of limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
to write. The school was not a success, as most locals did not allow their children to go to school as they feared the British North Borneo Company
British North Borneo Company
The North Borneo Chartered Company or British North Borneo Company was a chartered company assigned to administer North Borneo in August 1881. North Borneo became a protectorate of the British Empire with internal affairs administered by the company until 1946 when it became the colony of British...
would take their children as soldiers. Students paid their fees in rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, tapioca
Tapioca
Tapioca is a starch extracted Manihot esculenta. This species, native to the Amazon, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, and most of the West Indies, is now cultivated worldwide and has many names, including cassava, manioc, aipim,...
, yam
Yam (vegetable)
Yam is the common name for some species in the genus Dioscorea . These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania...
, fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
and firewood
Firewood
Firewood is any wood-like material that is gathered and used for fuel. Generally, firewood is not highly processed and is in some sort of recognizable log or branch form....
.
The land which the school stands now used to be a paddy field
Paddy field
A paddy field is a flooded parcel of arable land used for growing rice and other semiaquatic crops. Paddy fields are a typical feature of rice farming in east, south and southeast Asia. Paddies can be built into steep hillsides as terraces and adjacent to depressed or steeply sloped features such...
. It was donated by the locals to the school. Despite the fact that the students shared their classroom with village goats, the school had a good reputation as students as far as Tambunan
Tambunan
Tambunan is a valley district located in the Interior Division of the state of Sabah. The district covers an area of 1,347 km2.. Its population was estimated to be around 27,852 in 2000, based on the 2000 Population and Housing Census conducted by the Department of Statistics, Malaysia....
and Kuala Penyu
Kuala Penyu
Kuala Penyu is a town located in Interior Division of Sabah, east Malaysia on the island of Borneo. Its population was estimated to be around 16,511 in 2000, with ethnic Kadazan or Dusun Tatana forming the largest single ethnic group. Kuala Penyu is located on the Klias Peninsula, which was once...
came to study in the school. This caused the opening of a boarding school
Boarding school
A boarding school is a school where some or all pupils study and live during the school year with their fellow students and possibly teachers and/or administrators. The word 'boarding' is used in the sense of "bed and board," i.e., lodging and meals...
.
During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Japanese
Empire of Japan
The Empire of Japan is the name of the state of Japan that existed from the Meiji Restoration on 3 January 1868 to the enactment of the post-World War II Constitution of...
occupation forced the temporary closure of the school. However, the school was not badly damaged, suffering only from machine gun
Machine gun
A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....
bullets. Reverend M. Henselmans applied to convert the school to a senior or secondary school on August 10, 1957 to provide the 53 students who were then in primary six with a post-primary school. The school was converted into a secondary school on March 10, 1958 with Tambunan native Marcus Otigil at the helm. The school rose slowly, with the older buildings replaced by newer ones over the years.
Co-curricular activities
In Penampang, the school is renowned for their dedicated and hardworking athletes .Some athletes, like Jesyline Stevens, were qualified to represent Malaysia in the SEA games. Jesyline not only represented the country, but she also won the silver medal, beating other far more experienced competitors.SM St Michael is also known to produce many singers. Two Akademi Fantasia
Akademi Fantasia
Akademi Fantasia is Malaysia's first reality television show in which a number of contestants called students compete for the winning title and a chance to start their career in the entertainment industry. The first season premiered in June 3, 2003 and was one of Astro Ria's highest rated shows...
(a Malaysian reality show) contestants, Velvet Lawrence Aduk and Stracie Angie Anam, previously studied at this school. The school's choir team is also working hard to beat the defending choir champions from SM St Francis Convent whom the team has been a long time adversary. During the 2008 District Level choir competition, a dispute arose on whether SM St Michael or SM St Francis won the competition. The judges voted in favour of SM St Francis, who then lost the State Level choir competition. However, in the year 2003 under the supervision of Pn.Lucy Gawis, SM St. Michael Penampang beat SM St. Francis during the South West Coast Division Level Choir Competition, bagging also the best conductor award. A recorder
Recorder
The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes—whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle. The recorder is end-blown and the mouth of the instrument is constricted by a wooden plug, known as a block or fipple...
mini orchestra
Orchestra
An orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
also exists in the 2008 form 3 batch. The music movement is under the guidance of Mr Awang Masri Awang Matusin.
SM. St Michael is also the bench marked school of the Project Based Learning (PBL) project in Malaysia for winning the pioneering program at 2007. Other than that they also sent the team that won to the ICT Conference and Exhibition Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in conjunction with the 43rd SEAMEO Council Conference and 3rd ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting. Currently, the teacher supervisor of the PBL programme is Madam Jennifer Asing.
Strict Rules
The school practices a strict discipline policy, where they put emphasis on uniformity.The prefect system was scrapped in 2008 and was replace by the Student Council
Student council
Student council is a curricular or extra-curricular activity for students within elementary and secondary schools around the world. Present in most public and private K-12 school systems across the United States, Canada and Australia these bodies are alternatively entitled student council, student...
, which is now led by Richel Rick Foo as president. Members of the council are appointed by teachers and not by students. The student council has a similar role to the prefect board, but in addition to enforcing school rules they are also the students conduits to voice out their opinion to the school administration.
Sisterhood with Yong-ho High School, South Korea
SM St Michael fostered a relationship with Yong-ho High School, South Korea and ended their participation in the KDCA-ISEP exchange program. They dubbed the relation a sisterhood and organized an English Camp for South Korean students who arrived in Sabah in July 2008. SM St Michael's students are scheduled to go to South Korea in November or December.Principals
- Marcus Otigil (1958 - 1961)
- Fr. Roger McGorty (1962 - 1963)
- Fr. M. Hurley (1964 - 1965)
- Fr. John Rooney (1966)
- Fr. W. Van Gastel (1967 - 1970)
- Shenton de Rozario (1971)
- Ritamma Joseph (1972)
- Hin Tian Chin (1973)
- K. V. Joshua (1974 - 1982)
- Katherine Philip (1982 - 1986)
- Gan Lee Ping (1987 - 1990)
- Chandran Vengadasamy (1990 - 1992)
- Range Majikol (1992 - 1995)
- Lorna Mathews (1995 - 2003)
- Fidelis P. Insing (2003 - April 30, 2006)
- Marie Yong Pik Hua (2006 - Present)