Honoring and celebrating a 70-year legacy

In the heart of Chalan Kanoa lies a sprawling, blue and white painted structure, the Mount Carmel School, which shares the same grounds with the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa.

Considered the oldest Catholic school in the Northern Marianas, the school campus began on the grounds of Chalan Kanoa’s old sugar mill factory generator, with one of the school’s founders, Fr. Arnold Bendowsky, at the helm and sisters from the Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz as the school’s first group of teachers and administrators. Several village parents helped remodel the facility that became the school’s first classrooms.

From these very humble beginnings, MCS has now grown into one of the strongest educational institutions in the Marianas, producing illustrious alumni who go on to become Commonwealth leaders and innovators and leading lights in what has truly become a legacy to be proud of.

Throughout her growth and development, the MCS family went through changes, some of which were enough to crush the fainthearted, but the MCS family’s resiliency, bolstered by their strong faith in Divine Providence, has seen the school and its community weather some of life’s greatest challenges.

Natural calamities in the form of super typhoons have wiped out many of the school’s infrastructure and destroyed its student’s educational resources. In most recent years, the technology that was its link to the rest of the world was damaged. But the most trying of all was the COVID-19 pandemic, whose effects were felt globally as everything shut down for months, with no immediate end in sight.

Through it all, the MCS family would always dust itself off and stand up again and again, with the help of students and their families, the government, and the school’s own fundraising efforts, many of them led by their resilient AlumKnights, who are always ready to lend a hand.

MCS families give financial support to many school activities such as the Royal Court, and the AlumKnights are not shy with their contributions—the “Night of the Knights”—the yearly gathering of the school’s alumni—remains well attended. This year, the Class of 1990 was honored for generously contributing to a scholarship foundation benefitting outstanding college-bound students and athletes who want to attend MCS.

MCS AlumKnights have also left indelible marks both in the confines of the school’s corridors as scholars and school administrators but, most importantly, as some of the CNMI’s leaders and influencers.

MCS is an integral part of the history and landscape of the Northern Marianas. Her main contribution remains consistent—she is the catalyst by which hundreds of the CNMI’s Catholic youth have been guided and educated to become “academically competitive individuals guided by humane and Christian values to make the world a better place.”

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In this special supplement, get to know the history of Mount Carmel School—the people behind its successes, the school’s academic goals, and the activities that form part of an AlumKnight’s education.

Read about the stories of three AlumKnights—Dr. Galvin S. DeLeon Guerrero, William Hunter and Joseph Guerrero—whose families have kept the MCS spirit alive by passing on the gift of an MCS education thorough generations.

Gov. Arnold I. Palacios, Becky Furey, Nicollete Villagomez and Thomas Manglona II share their fondest memories of their time at MCS and recount how their MCS education has influenced their lives.

Get updated on the events marking the school’s 70 years, highlighted by the honorees of the “Night of the Knights.”

To the Mount Carmel School family, faculty and AlumKnights, congratulations on 70 years of faith, tradition and excellence!

Biba, Mount Carmel School!