SM St. Michael, Penampang

St. Michael's Secondary School, Penampang (Malay: Sekolah Menengah St. Michael (SMSM), Penampang) commonly known as SM St. Michael is a secondary school in Penampang, Sabah, Malaysia. It was named after Saint Michael the Archangel.

Mill Hill missionaries built the school to spread Catholicism among the local Kadazan-dusun community, who were mostly animists. The school started with a bamboo building and continued onwards to become a major challenge for traditional top schools. During the beginnings, Catholic Priests lived and taught at the school. Following the formation of Malaysia on 16 September 1963, the education given by the school became more secular.

The school, built in 1890, is among the oldest in Sabah; it was officially established as a Secondary School in 1958.

History

The school was built in 1890 by Mill Hill missionaries to convert the local people into Catholicism. The mode of transportation was then the Moyog River. This caused the present day St. Michael's church and the school to be built in Kampong Dabak, Penampang which was close to the river. The first school building was made out of bamboo. It was also a home to the church's priests. The bare ground was the floor and it was walled around 3 feet from the ground. The students used a slate and a block of limestone to write. The school was not a success, as most locals did not allow their children to go to school as they feared the British North Borneo Company would take their children as soldiers. Students paid their fees in rice, tapioca, yam, fruit and firewood.

The land which the school stands now used to be a paddy field. It was donated by the locals to the school. Despite the fact that the students shared their classroom with village goats, the school had a good reputation as students as far as Tambunan and Kuala Penyu came to study in the school. This caused the opening of a boarding school.

During World War II, the Japanese occupation forced the temporary closure of the school. However, the school was not badly damaged, suffering only from machine gun bullets. Reverend M. Henselmans applied to convert the school to a senior or secondary school on 10 August 1957 to provide the 53 students who were then in primary six with a post-primary school. The school was converted into a secondary school on 10 March 1958 with Tambunan native Marcus Otigil at the helm. The school rose slowly, with the older buildings replaced by newer ones over the years.

Co-curricular activities

In Penampang, the school is renowned for their dedicated and hardworking athletes. Some athletes, like Jesyline Stevens, were qualified to represent Malaysia in the SEA games. Jesyline not only represented the country, but she also won the silver medal, beating other far more experienced competitors.

SM St Michael is also known to produce many singers. Two Akademi Fantasia (a Malaysian reality show) contestants, Velvet Lawrence Aduk and Stracie Angie Anam, previously studied at this school. The school's choir team is also working hard to beat the defending choir champions from SM St Francis Convent whom the team has been a long time adversary. During the 2008 District Level choir competition, a dispute arose on whether SM St Michael or SM St Francis won the competition. The judges voted in favour of SM St Francis, who then lost the State Level choir competition. However, in the year 2003 under the supervision of Pn.Lucy Gawis, SM St. Michael Penampang beat SM St. Francis during the South West Coast Division Level Choir Competition, bagging also the best conductor award. A recorder mini orchestra also exists in the 2008 form 3 batch. The music movement is under the guidance of Mr Awang Masri Awang Matusin.

SM. St Michael is also the bench marked school of the Project Based Learning (PBL) project in Malaysia for winning the pioneering program at 2007. Other than that they also sent the team that won to the ICT Conference and Exhibition Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre in conjunction with the 43rd SEAMEO Council Conference and 3rd ASEAN Education Ministers Meeting. Currently, the teacher supervisor of the PBL programme is Madam Jennifer Asing.

Strict Rules

The school practices a strict discipline policy, where they put emphasis on uniformity.

The prefect system was scrapped in 2008 and was replaced by the Student Council, which is now led by as president. Members of the council are appointed by teachers and not by students. The student council has a similar role to the prefect board, but in addition to enforcing school rules they are also the students conduits to voice out their opinion to the school administration.

Sisterhood with Yong-ho High School, South Korea

SM St Michael fostered a relationship with Yong-ho High School, South Korea and ended their participation in the KDCA-ISEP exchange program. They dubbed the relation a sisterhood and organised an English Camp for South Korean students who arrived in Sabah in July 2008. SM St Michael's students are scheduled to go to South Korea in November or December.

Principals

• Marcus Otigil (1958 - 1962)
• Fr. Roger McGorty (1962 - 1963)
• Fr. M. Hurley (1964 - 1965)
• Fr. John Rooney (1966)
• Fr. W. Van Gastel (1967 - 1970)
• Shenton de Rozario (1971)
• Ritamma Joseph (1972)
• Hin Tian Chin (1973)
• K. V. Joshua (1974 - 1982)
• Katherine Philip (1982 - 1987)
• Gan Lee Ping (1987 - 1990)
• Chandran Vengadasamy (1990 - 1992)
• Range Majikol (1992 - 1994)
• Lorna Mathews (1995 - 2003)
• Fidelis P. Insing (2003 - 30 April 2006)
• Marie Yong Pik Hua (2006 – 2015)
• Jennifer Asing (2015 - present)

Notable alumni

• Tan Sri Bernard Dompok, minister in the Malaysian cabinet

References

List of secondary schools in Sabah by division
Interior Division	SMK Pengiran Omar SMK St. Peter Bundu
Kudat Division	SMK Matunggong
Sandakan Division	SMK Sandakan SMK Sandakan II St. Cecilia's St. Michael's Sung Siew
Tawau Division	SM ST Patrick
West Coast Division	Kota Kinabalu High School La Salle Sabah Science Sabah Tshung Tsin SM St. Joseph SM St. Michael SMKA Kota Kinabalu SMKA Tun Ahmadshah (formerly SMKA Inanam) SMK Bahang SMK Datuk Peter Mojuntin SMK Majakir SMK St. Mary SMK St. Francis Convent SMK Takis