ATENEO ALUMNI ASSOCIATION CANADA

History of  the Ateneo Alumni Association Canada

On October 8, 1994, Fr. Raul Bonoan, S.J., who had served in almost all of the Ateneo schools in the Philippines and had then been appointed President of the Ateneo de Naga, visited Toronto and presented his plea for funding assistance for scholarships for less privileged but deserving high school graduates to the Ateneo. 

Inspired by Fr. Bonoan's visit, a few ateneans met again on November 5, 1994 and decided among themselves to form the Ateneo Alumni Association Canada (AAAC) with the primary objective of providing assistance, primarily funding for scholarships, to less privileged but deserving students at Ateneo schools and universities in the Philippines. This association was officially established and incorporated as a non-profit organization in Ontario on March 8, 1996.

For its fundraising project, the AAAC decided on an annual Scholarship Fund-Raising dinner dance to be held in either of two alternate locations, either in Mississauga or Scarborough, to better serve its various supporters. The first dinner-dance was held in October 1995 in Mississauga and was a success, enabling the AAAC to establish an initial scholarship fund for a scholar at the Ateneo de Naga. The second dinner-dance was held in Scarborough in October of 1996, again helping generate funding for a second scholar, also at the Ateneo de Naga.  The third dinner-dance followed in September of  1997, following the same pattern and generating funding for another college scholar. During this year, it began allocating funds for scholarships in other Ateneos, starting with the Ateneo de Davao. In  October 1998, the AAAC continued with its annual dinner-dance, carrying on its program of generating funding for Ateneo scholarships to deserving students, for allocation to an ever-growing number of Ateneo schools and universities. 

It may be noted that since 1997, the AAAC began evolving its vision for the future, for the new millennium and began reviewing its various thrusts in its bid to reinvent itself  and maintain its relevance in the future. Its new thrusts have involved seeking more members from the Alumni of  various Ateneo schools, seeking other avenues to assist and be of service not only to scholars but to others in the community, and utilizing other unexplored avenues, such as the Scholarship Pledge Program for raising the needed funding for an ever-growing list of scholars and projects envisioned for the new millennium.

Today, the AAAC, encouraged by its successes in its scholarship campaigns of prior years, continues to adhere to its self-imposed mandate of  providing funding for less privileged but deserving students at various Ateneo schools, while at the same time refining this objective and seeking new funding avenues and adding on other objectives relevant to itself and to the times. Along with these initiatives, the AAAC has used its programs also as a corollary vehicle for Filipino-Canadians to enjoy good fellowship among the local Filipino community and enable them to participate in its noble undertakings of helping the less fortunate, or as it calls its fundraising activities--social gatherings with social relevance.