St. Matthew College, Chile

St. Matthew College Osorno, Chile
Information
Type	Jesuit, Catholic
Established	1932 (1932)
Staff	62 teachers[1]
Grades	Pre-K through secondary
Gender	Coeducational
Enrollment	1,142[1]
Campus	14 acres
Publication	El Cultrún
Affiliations	FLACSI
Website	SanMateoOsorno

St. Matthew College, Chile, (Colegio San Mateo) is a Jesuit pre-K through secondary school in Osorno which dates back to the Institute of St. Matthew founded by the Society of the Divine Word in 1932.^[2] It is currently part of the Ignatian Educational Network of Chile and the Federation of Jesuit Colleges in Latin America (FLACSI).

History

The first school in Osorno, which was named San Mateo and was founded in 1835, is the oldest historical antecedent of the current school that the Sanmateans record. However, the little school had an ephemeral life, because it closed after two years, destroyed by the earthquake of November 1837. A half century later, in 1890, it reopened under the direction of the Fr. Francisco Bohle,^[2] but there is no data to confirm that it was in continuity with the original San Mateo. The missionaries of the Divine Word took over direction of the school in 1913, when it acquired the name of the German Liceo de Osorno. A fire reduced it to ashes in 1927 and five years later, in 1932, it reopened its doors as the St. Matthew Institute at the same address on Mackenna Street.^[3] In 1958 the German priests of the Divine Word communicated to Bishop Francisco Valdés Subercaseaux that they could not continue running San Mateo. He asked the Jesuits to take charge which they did. In 1959 Frs. John Henry, Henry Haske, Joseph O'Neill, Frank Nuggent, James Mc Namara, and Bernard Boyle came from the Maryland Province of the Society of Jesus in the USA.

After the 1960 Valdivia earthquake, Fr. John Henry became director and the school was now called St. Matthew College. The Jesuits opened a new building in April 1965 on Barros Arana Street. They also undertook to integrate poorer children from the city and from rural areas, with money received from Maryland. In 1981 the primary school was located at Wenceslao Ramos Street. The three divisions, preschool, primary, and secondary, currently occupy 11 acres and 3 acres respectively.^[4]

San Mateo has done well at academics and athletics, as evidenced by the awards it received. Among them, in academics, it won the Universidad Austral de Chile in 2008,^[5] as well as recognition from the Ministry of Education as a Successful School (2004) and for Academic Excellence (2006).^[3] In athletics it was a finalist in basketball in 2013.^[6] It was also among the top ten subsidized private schools in the 2011 University Selection Test. That year 102 students took the University Selection Test, with an average of 631.7 points.^[7]

Though male from its founding, San Mateo began admitting girls in 2005. In 2010 it became a private educational establishment and in 2011 stopped receiving a state subsidy, although it grants scholarships to needy students.

There is an Alumni Center of San Mateo College and a newspaper is published, El Cultrún. Founded in 1970, it won in 2007 the contest The Mercury of Students.^[8] Nowadays Ignatian spirituality has changed to include the Christian Life Community and MEJ,^[9] and there is the same Ignatian formation that the teachers received when they attended the school.

Rectors

The rectors of the school were all Jesuit priests until 2009, when José Reyes Santelices, a layman, became rector.^[10] In 2005, Juan Miguel Leturia was found guilty of sexual abuse during his time as rector.^[11]

• John Henry, S.J. (1960 - 1965)
• Henry Haske, S.J. (1966 - 1968)
• Bernard Boyle, S.J. (1969 - 1974)
• Carlos Hurtado, S.J. (1975)
• Carlos Aldunate, S.J. (1975)
• Bernard Boyle, S.J. (1976 - 1981)
• Fernando Salas, S.J. (1982 - 1987)
• Juan Miguel Leturia, S.J. (1988)
• Thomas Gavin, S.J. (1989 - 1996)
• Alejandro Pizarro, S.J. (1997 - 2003)
• Juan Pablo Cárcamo, S.J. (2003 - 2009)
• José Reyes Santelices (2009 - 2014)
• Alejandro Aguirre Moraga (2015)

Featured Sanmateans

• Felipe Izquierdo, actor and comedian
• Claudio Hohmann, former Minister of Transport and Telecommunications of Chile
• Mauricio Clavería, drummer of the rock band The Law
• John Müller, deputy director of the newspaper " Spain", of Spain
• Roberto Nahum, dean of the law faculty, University of Chile
• Juan Martabit, diplomat and ambassador of Chile in several countries
• Álvaro Gómez, actor
• Jaime Luis Huenún, writer
• Andrés Nusser, musician
• Erick Carrasco, national basketball player
• Pablo Coro Jr., renowned basketball player
• Ignacio Collao, national basketball player
• Néstor Pérez-Arancibia, engineer, Roboticist and Professor in the Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering at the University of Southern California (USC)
• Carlos Martinez Mendez, lawyer and soccer player. Labor Advocate of Concepcion. Future Job Seremi
• Pini Angelito Plush, assistant of the Sonia
• Francisco Zamorano, owner and creator of content of CocaCola S.A., Lifestyles S.A.

References

Coordinates: 40°34′52.58″S 73°7′36.1″W / 40.5812722°S 73.126694°W / -40.5812722; -73.126694