Just as the school emerged from the ravages of World War II and would go on to overcome numerous challenges, including Typhoon Jean, Typhoon Kim, and economic downturns, in recent years, the school has met new challenges head-on with a spirit of resilience that has made the school family even stronger. From Typhoon Soudelor in 2015 to Super Typhoon Yutu in 2018 and the current COVID-19 pandemic, the school has kept its FAITH in God, its HOPE for a better tomorrow, and its LOVE for everyone in the family. As we have said many times and triumphantly say again: we are KNIGHT STRONG.
Typhoon Olive struck in 1960, damaging several classrooms and demolishing the school library. Undeterred, Father Arnold and the school community pulled together to open a new library and reading room in the Chalan Kanoa convent,
A few years later, the school and the entire island were hit by one of the most damaging typhoons in the island’s recorded history. In 1966, with winds exceeding 200 miles per hour, Typhoon Jean struck, taking with it much of Mount Carmel School. The roof and several pillars of the school were blown away. Some classrooms were completely leveled, and countless books and school supplies were swept away or destroyed.
The day after the typhoon, Father Arnold the founding father of the school--stood before the devastation, with tears in his eyes. The school that he, teachers, parents, students, and the entire community had built with their bare hands was in ruins, but their faith was not.
The next day, Father Arnold was back at work. With his trademark laughter, he mobilized the school family to clean up the debris and encouraged everyone to move on. Just as the school family had built the school with their bare hands, so did they rebuild it, again with their bare hands. Within just a few weeks, the school was repaired, rebuilt, and rejuvenated.
The history of Mount Carmel School began long before 1952 with a group of sisters who would, for many years, provide the bedrock of teaching at the school: the Mercedarian Missionaries of Berriz (MMB).
Crossing two oceans and three continents on October 30, 1927, Sisters Loreto Zubia, Inocencia Urizar, Pilar Lorenzo, Maria Teresa Cortazar and Aurora Chopitea set sail from their motherhouse of Berriz in the north of Spain and arrived on Saipan on March 4, 1928.
Surviving the tragedy of war, in 1951, the Mercedarian sisters opened Our Lady of Mercy Kindergarten, which we now know as the Sister Remedios Early Childhood Development Center. That kindergarten would set the stage for Mount Carmel School, providing the first batch of first grade students when the school opened the following year.
In 1952, Father Arnold Bendowsky received blessings from Bishop Baumgartner of the Diocese of Agana, Guam, to provide Catholic education on Saipan. However, Saipan’s fledgling Catholic community had few resources to build a school
Using his training in masonry, Father Arnold worked with a group of parents to remodel the old sugar mill factory generator house and turned it into the first classrooms for the school. The building, which survived repeated bombings during World War II, provided the ideal structure to house the new school. With large open windows that allowed the cool breeze to flow through the building and two stories of big rooms to accommodate the demands for Catholic education, this survivor of the war served the school well for many years, and continues to stand to this day.
The school needed teachers and leaders. Father Arnold turned to the Mercedarian Sisters and recruited Sister Ana Maria as the first school superior and Sisters Dolores Larranaga and Pia Goichoechea as the first teachers In 1953, Sister Bertha Salazar became the first principal and taught second grade. In the next two years, Sisters Soledad Castro, Mary Margaret, and Concepcion Borja joined the teaching faculty.
In 1956, the school continued to expand as Sister Rosario Velasco and Father Raymond Demers, Superior of the Capuchins on Saipan, oversaw the development of what would become the first ever high school in the Northern Mariana Islands. Their vision came to fruition in school year 1957-1958 when a new high school principal, Sister Felisia Plaza, welcomed Mount Carmel’s first high school students, 41 Sophomores.
Under the tutelage of Mercedarian Sisters Mary Louise Balzarini and Mary Margaret Sneddon, the school’s first high school students would go on to join the first cohort of students to ever enroll in the school in the school’s first graduation. In 1960, then Deacon Tomas A. Camacho, the future Bishop of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa, was the commencement speaker at the double graduation for the Senior Class of 1960 and 8th grade graduates, the future Senior Class of 1964.
As the third millennium and the school’s 50th anniversary approached, Mount Carmel School positioned itself to move forward into the new millennium with a 21st century education. Recognizing the increasingly interconnected nature of the global marketplace, the school took important steps to ensure that it was preparing her students for the new world that was emerging.
In 2012, as the school turned 60, a new president arrived, one who was no stranger to the school, having served as a teacher, vice principal, development director, principal, drama adviser, and speech coach at various times between 1996 and 2012: 1991 AlumKnight, Galvin Deleon Guerrero. As a former member of Northern Marianas College’s Board of Regents and the Board of Education for the CNMI Public School System, Mr. Deleon Guerrero brought his vast experience and training in education to the table. Under his leadership, the school has further upgraded its programs by adopting the new National Standards and Benchmarks for Effective Catholic Elementary and Secondary Schools prepared by the National Catholic Educational Association and executing a Strategic Master Plan. The school continues to move forward with innovative responses to a changing market and commitment to improving the quality of teaching and learning, while staying true to its mission to “educate the whole person to see with Christ’s eyes.”
Mount Carmel School (MCS) is committed to ensuring that all persons have equal access to its programs, opportunities, and information resources, including those on its institutional website in accordance to the requirements of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
We apologize for any inconvenience as we work on bringing Mount Carmel School’s website into full compliance. For immediate assistance, please contact school counselor Ms. Tobed Smith by email at [email protected] or by calling (670) 234-6184.
If you wish to report an issue related to the accessibility of any content on MCS’s website, including a complaint about the accessibility of a document, form, or statement, you may do so by contacting [email protected]. In your email please include the following information:
The URL you are having accessibility issues with;
The accessibility issue you are experiencing;
Your name, phone number, and email address.
If you would like to file a formal grievance against the Mount Carmel School pursuant to the requirements of Section 504 and Title II, you may submit such grievance to Mount Carmel acting president Frances Taimanao, P.O. Box 500006, Saipan MP 96950 or email f[email protected].
You may also file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education (USDOE) Office for Civil Rights. More information about filing a complaint with USDOE can be found at https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/howto.html.