Reputed as the school of the elite.
And in many ways, they were right.
La Salle (Taft campus) carried a certain reputation.
Your classmates were children of celebrities, politicians, tycoons, or models themselves. Head turners everywhere.
No place for mediocre representation.
At first, it felt intimidating.
But over time, being surrounded by social elites teaches you something no textbook ever could: how to navigate networks.
Not for clout, but for connection.
Not to impress, but to understand.
La Salle taught me confidence in rooms where status was currency.
It made me comfortable speaking with people from very different worlds.
Rarely did you hear someone speak pure Tagalog in class.
Then you'll just realize, you speak the same way. You absorb excellence by proximity.
It showed me that influence isn’t always loud, and that the real skill is learning how to belong without losing yourself.
Inside its air-conditioned classrooms and polished hallways, you learn a certain polish too.
How to build your personal brand.
How to manage perception.
How to behave like a La Sallian.
Beyond the grades and deadlines, what La Salle really teaches is standard. The Rektikano.
To show up prepared.
To dress the part.
To finish what you start.
To speak with clarity, and act with class.
And then there are the connections.
Classmates whose names you might not think much of now but one day, you’ll read about them.
Leading Forbes top 10 global companies.
Heading major conglomerates.
Building industries that shape the country’s economy.
That’s when it hits you.
The real value of being part of La Salle isn’t just who you knew,
but what kind of leader that environment expected you to become.
Because long after graduation,
I realized that the real advantage wasn’t just the network. it was being conditioned to expect more from yourself.
Animo La Salle.
Grateful to my parents for this.