Message from our Brother President

from Annual Report 2019

Campus Enhancements

Throughout the year the SJI International community joined Lasallians around the world in our observance of The Year of Lasallian Vocations, with the theme “De La Salle: One Heart, One Commitment, One Life.” The year 2019 marked the 300th anniversary of the death of St. John Baptist de La Salle. The Founder’s death, on 7 April 1719 in Rouen, France, also represents the passing on to us of the mission of Lasallian education.

The Tercentenary Year provided an opportunity for us to become better aware of our Lasallian heritage, and hearts that we acknowledge the generous commitment

to celebrate and renew our commitment to the vitality of the Lasallian educational mission. Three highlights of the year would be the 300th Anniversary Mass on 6th April, celebrated by Archbishop Marek Zalewski, Vatican Nuncio to Singapore, with students, staff, parents and alumni from our Singapore Lasallian schools; the formation of our Lasallian Star on a Monday morning in August, when nearly 2070 students and staff from the Elementary School and the High School, came together on the new upper field in a magnificent visual representation of our Lasallian identity; and on a more personal note, accompanying a group of our Governors and school leaders on a Lasallian pilgrimage to France in September, where we had the opportunity to literally walk in the footsteps of De La Salle while visiting so places significant in his life.

As he neared the end of his life, when De La Salle was asked if he accepted all of the suffering and challenges that he experienced in the founding of the Brothers and the schools for poor children, he replied, “I love all the many ways God has acted in my life.” His dying words serve as a reminder and an inspiration to all of us as we see God acting in the life of the SJI International community every day. And some days seem more miraculous than others!

The Annual Report reminds us of the many people and events that bring the mission of our school to service projects and co-curricular highlights, facility improvements, scholarship and financial data, and so much more is highlighted in the Report. All of these relate to our school’s mission of helping young people to learn how to learn and live in ways that will lead them to be people for others, leaving SJI International to make a real difference in the world.. So keeping in mind the theme of the 300th anniversary year, it is with grateful

life each day. People, programme developments, of all who contribute to the life of St. Joseph’s Institution International.

In 1719, De La Salle and the early Brothers could not have imagined that three hundred years later the work they began in France would be transforming the lives of young people in Singapore and 80 countries of the world. We celebrate the legacy bequeathed to us by the Founder. We thank you for keeping this legacy alive!

Ora et Labora