Faces of U.P. Los Baños 2: UP Rural High School

* former UP Rural place, now OVC for Community Affairs

* former UP Rural place, now UPLB Math Building

* present UP Rural place at Bay, Laguna

One family member of the UPLB community is the U.P. Rural High School. Today the school is found at Brgy, Paciano Rizal (Mainit), Bay, Laguna where the construction of additional school buildings is currently underway.

But earlier it was still within the premises of the then U.P. College of Agriculture. The school was created in 1927 together with the Department of Agricultural Education. The first school building, which now houses the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Community Affairs (just behind the present College of Development Communication [CDC] Building initially served as a laboratory for teachers who were training for vocational agriculture. It officially opened on June 10, 1929. War came and it was soon made into a college preparatory school (the high school itself, more or less). In 1932, five students graduated from the said school.

That building became the school’s home until 1969. But I am not so sure if the next building that the school acquired was the present Math Building. But in any case, the Math Building has been U.P. Rural’s place (as have been popularly known through a MTV show that featured Ebe Dancel, a Rural alumni). Again, the school is now found at Bay, surprisingly far from the main UPLB campus.