On Global Filipinos: A Philippine classroom at the University of Pittsburgh

Very few Filipinos are aware that within the University of Pittsburgh is a tourist spot, an imposing building called the Cathedral of Learning. 

It is the only edifice in an educational institution within the United States and maybe throughout the world where there are “nationality classrooms” constructed in the likeness of the countries they represent. Thirty-one  classrooms in all were created and built by each countries’ communities within Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

For example, the classroom of France looks like King Louis XVI’s Palace of Versailles, ornate and baroque. Great Britain’s looks like the Parliament of London. Japan’s classroom evokes the simple lines of a Shinto temple in Kyoto, and Saudi Arabia’s is like a page from Arabian Nights.

The PNR Task Force: Standing from left Jun Calejesan, Jaime Abola, Ronnie de la Vega, Antoinette Angeles, Deedee Portugal, Rose Wooten, Tina Purpora, and Maryann Sivak. Seated: Fr. Manny Gelido and Maxine Bruhns. Photos courtesy of PNR

Thus, I was fascinated when I met Cynthia and Jin Calejesan, and Evelyn and Jaime Abola, of the Task Force responsible for the construction of the Philippine Nationality Room (PNR) and was invited to see it. I was in Pittsburgh to promote my memoir, “Why Should Guys Have All the Fun? An Asian American Story of Love, Marriage, Motherhood and Running a Billion Dollar Empire.”

A short background: In 2000, the PNR project was approved by the university administration. However, during the next 10 years, disagreement and conflict arose within the FilAm community and the University of Pittsburgh suspended the project in 2012. 

Three years later, an agreement signed by the new PNR Task Force, made the project viable once more. But from the initial cost of $250,000, the project cost has ballooned to $500,000. 

The PNR Task Force had to fundraise but also to handle the Room Design, based on historical and cultural aspects of the Philippines.

In the end, the Philippine classroom is copied from the Quema House in Vigan, with its capiz-shelled windows, wide plank hardwood floors, solihiya-backed chairs, Venetian-style mirror, brass chandelier with paintings on the walls and ceilings to evoke pre-colonial imagery of flora and fauna, plus the ancient script.

The four paintings were duplicate images of a Filipino woman in panuelo and saya and a male student in Barong Tagalog. The other two paintings show scenes from Old Manila. 

To acknowledge the 330 years of Spanish colonial period, on the front wall are the seals of the four oldest universities in the country: University of San Carlos (1595), University of Santo Tomas (1611), Colegio de San Juan de Letran (1620), Colegio de Santa Isabel (1632). 

The PNR was finally dedicated on June 9, 2019. As the program booklet says eloquently, “…we transport visitors to our homeland… This room embodies the best of the Filipino soul — God-fearing, welcoming, and happy. A visitor might enter as a stranger but, as he wanders through it, we hope to hear him say, “This feels like home.” —The FilAm