Chinchilla inaugurates “Liceo Pacifico Sur” high school

Photo by James Petretti

By Steve Meno, Southern Zone Contributor
Radio Pacifico Sur de Costa Rica
Photos by James Petretti 

November 12th, 2012 (InsideCostaRica.com) On Friday, November 9th, La Presidenta Laura Chinchilla ventured  South to Cortes in the Canton de Osa for the  inauguration of the new high school Liceo Pacifico Sur.  The historic ceremony took place on an by-invitation-only,  rain free day in the Pacifico Sur Zone.

Dignitaries in attendance included,  Jose Alberto Cole de León, the mayor of Osa, Silvia Viquez Ramirez, director of Ministerio Educativo Publico (MEP) of the southern zone, and Erick Molina  Villarreal, Liceo Pacifico Sur Director since 2002.  Also present were  the president of Judesur,  Don Jorge Luis Jimenez, el diputado Jorge Angulo and el diputado, Jorge Gamboa .

The new “colegio” or high school took 6 years of planning and was completed at a cost of over 1 billion colones, (1 087 756 815),  Construction started on January 11, 2012 and was completed at  the end of August 2012.   There are 27 classrooms which include  24 academic classrooms,  2 computer labs, and an industrial arts shop. The site also includes  a grand cafeteria, 2 administration rooms, and an equipment storage room. This new school was built with the project cooperation, administration and monies provided by  JUDASUR, in Costa Rica, a very important agency for helping local communities with planned projects.  Further plans are to build a gymnasium, and a soccer /athletic field.

Photo by James Petretti

The school will have a capacity of  over 800 students by day and up to 800 night students.   This coming year, starting in February,  the registered number of students to date is estimated at 725.  A new format will be used at the new “colegio”.  Instead of the teachers being mobile with their classes, the teachers will now  have their own classroom and the students will commute between periods to their various classrooms.  This new change is highly  favored by the staff.  A classroom can have a personal touch to enhance the students experiences.

The new school will have all of the modern technologies installed, including state-of-the-arts fire protection, secured buildings and property, and security cameras throughout  for monitoring activities.

The old “colegio” school history.

Before there was any “colegio”, or secondary school,  the high schoolers held their classes starting in 1964 at the Nievorowshy  Elementary School.  A new (now old) high school was built in 1969, with the first high school classes commencing in 1971 near downtown Cortes.  Over the years, flooding periodically occurred in downtown Cortes.  In 2009, with hurricane Thomas, downtown Cortes was flooded with several meters of Terraba River water and days of rain.  Before this major flooding, Cortes had been on a mission to move it’s important buildings to a more convenient and dryer location near the new Tomas Caja Hospital and OSA Municipality and  it would seem Hurricane Thomas proved to be an immediate catalyst for starting construction on the new high school.

A proressive athletic program. 

Since 2006, Dir.  Molina introduced  other sports such as  beach volleyball and beach soccer or Futsala.   In 2007 L.P.S. obtained a third place in the national finals of beach volleyball.  In the years 2007, 2008,  and 2009, women’s soccer  attained championship category B status in the nationals.  In 2009 L.P.S. advanced to  the men’s soccer national final winning fifth place, after previously winning third place. Qualifying in the national Coca Cola Cup and the 2010 national championship, the boy’s  team  traveled to Argentina for an international competition winning third place.  The boys were he first soccer team of Costa Rica finishing in  one of the top three places, moving up from a previous fifth place win.  The same year L.P.S.  won the semi-championships female soccer and in 2011 achieved football Category A, which led to the Central American girls in El Salvador in September, and then to the Central American and Caribbean Panama in November.  Apart from this there are many other achievement in the field of athletics.

The whole event was concluded with a surprise presentation to Laura of a Duquis Delta “esphera”, or round sphere indigenous to this OSA area.  In a fun move  Alberto Cole and Laura Chinchilla attempted together to demonstrate their feats of strength by lifting  the ancient historical sphere.   Much to her surprise,  Señora Presidenta, assisted by Mayor Cole, was able to levitate the sphere.   Her face and back /arm muscles suddenly relaxed realizing it was made of styrofoam.

Thank you Laura Chinchilla, Alberto Cole and the help of Judesur for this wonderful new high school and thank you for christening it for us..

A YouTube video of the ceremonies can be seen at,   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tG29VzR4qRs