Holy Trinity Academy (Philippines)

The façade of Cementerio de Balic-Balic, taken in c. 1899.

The old map of the Balic-Balic area, before the establishment of Holy Trinity Academy, where is marked as a "cemetery."

Before the establishment of the school in 1947, the site was the Balic-Balic Cemetery, created in 1884 and closed in 1913.[16]

Holy Trinity Academy was established in June 1947;[11] in which, its foundation was ascribed to Rev. Fr. Bernardo Torres,[11] the incumbent parish priest of Iglesia de Santissima Trinidad at the time (now Most Holy Trinity Parish).[17] The Franciscan Sisters was also credited with the foundation of the school in 1947.[17] Two Franciscan Sisters of the SFIC congregation were the first few people to work at the school as teachers for two years.[18]

In 1958, the management of the school was turned over to the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (later known as the Salesian Sisters of Don Bosco) by Rufino Santos, the incumbent Cardinal of Archdiocese of Manila at the time. The Salesian Sisters set up co-educational classes from Kindergarten to Grade 4, and separate sections for females in Grades 5–6. They stayed in the school for 30 years, managing Kindergarten to Grade 6 classes, and later the separate HTA Girl's Department in 1964.

During the directorship of Msgr. Isidro L. Jose in 1962, he had a plan of accommodating all children of school age. In 1964, the HTA Boy's Department was set up, under the supervision of the lay administrators. In the school year 1972–1973, the HTA Boy's Department started kindergarten classes.

In June 2021 a groundbreaking ceremony for a new ten-storey building was held.[19]

During the COVID-19 pandemic that started in 2020, Holy Trinity Academy was part of Manila's 24/7 vaccination service which started on August 9, 2021, administering 2,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to people in the A1 to A5 priority groups.[20]

Holy Trinity Academy campus photos (major buildings only)

The campus of Holy Trinity Academy consists of estimated 1.75 hectares (17,500 m²) of land in Sampaloc, Manila, bounded by Sobriedad Street to the northwest, Calabash Road to the northeast, Firmeza Street to the southeast, and T. Anzures to the southwest. It was previously used as a cemetery. The campus is a kilometer (0.62 mi) away from Manila's neighboring city, Quezon City.

The campus has four major buildings for teaching and one for religious gatherings. The Grade School Building is the biggest building in the campus, followed by the High School Building, the Annex Building, the Most Holy Trinity Parish, and the HTA Gymnasium.

The overall worth of HTA facilities and buildings was never disclosed publicly; however, it was revealed that one of its major facilities, the HTA Gymnasium, cost ₱8.8 million pesos at the time of construction in 2001.[9]

Most Holy Trinity Parish is the oldest structure inside the campus, built in 1890 as a funerary chapel and rebuilt in 1925.[17]

• 
  Outside view of the Grade School Building seen in 2016, before the construction of Rev. Fr. Bernardo Torres Gymnasium.
• 
  Outside view of the High School Building, seen in 2016.
• 
  Outside view of the Annex Building, seen in 2016.
• 
  Outside view of the HTA Gymnasium, seen in 2016.
• 
  Outside view of the Most Holy Trinity Parish, seen in 2016.

Holy Trinity Academy is governed by 6-person Board of Trustees,[24] as well as a 22-person school administrators, 12 of them being academic and institutional coordinators.[25]

The current school director is Rev. Fr. Marion C. Munda, the tenth to hold the title. The current assistant school director is Rev. Fr. Leo Angelo S. Ignacio, Ed.D.[25]

People associated with the school either as students, faculty members, or administrators are known as "Trinitarians" or colloquially "HTAcians." Some people associated with Holy Trinity Academy have been known in artistry, media, filmmaking, journalism, science, and as a world record attempter.

HTA alumni includes Lexi Gonzales,[13] an actress, singer, and dancer, known for being hailed as the First Princess on the seventh season of the Philippine reality talent competition, StarStruck.[28] She was previously part of ABS-CBN's talent management arm of Star Magic, where she has been part of several TV show, that includes: Magpahanggang Wakas, Pusong Ligaw, Maalaala Mo Kaya, Ipaglaban Mo and The Good Son as either an extra or an uncredited guest cast.[29] Gonzales now appears in the Philippine variety show, All-Out Sundays of GMA Network as a recurring cast.[28]

Mon Gualvez,[14] who graduated Holy Trinity Academy in 2007, is known as a recurring news anchor and correspondent for TV5. He is currently the head anchor in the Philippine hourly news bulletin, News5 Alerts, previously known as Aksyon Ngayon. Gualvez also serves as an instructor in the Senior High School Department for Humanities and Social Sciences.[14]

Filipino inventor, Kyxz Mendiola, who also attended Holy Trinity Academy,[15] notable as a founding member of a former Filipino hip-hop group, Philippine All Stars, a filmmaker,[30] and for inventing and developing an ultralight aircraft, Koncepto Milenya, which broke a world record for longest flight by hoverboard in 2021,[31] surpassing the Guinness World record set by Franky Zapata who flew a jet-powered hoverboard across a distance of 2.25 km in 2016.[31]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Holy Trinity Academy (Philippines).

• Holy Trinity Academy official website (limited access only)
  • Holy Trinity Academy official website (2015 archive at the Wayback Machine)
• Holy Trinity Academy on Facebook