This year has tested our alma mater in ways none of us expected. The tragedy has taught us a lot about what Ateneo stands as an institution, but more importantly, who we are, not just as Ateneans, but as human beings.
We have grieved alongside our school, our coaches, our student-athletes, and their families. And we have asked ourselves, as many of you have, what it means to celebrate when the community is still healing.
The answer, we believe, is that celebrating and healing are not mutually exclusive. We come home as part of healing, we celebrate as part of remembering.
After much deliberation and reflection, we realize that the Ateneo Alumni Homecoming is not merely a party. It is a gathering of people formed by the same values, the same corridors, the same prayers. People who, no matter how far life has taken them, still carry Ateneo in how they lead, how they serve, and how they show up for others.
That is what makes a homecoming worth holding. Not the program. Not the venue. It will always be about the people, the community, and what they choose to do with their coming together.
After much deliberation and in close coordination with the Ateneo Alumni Association, Batch 2001 has decided to push through with the 2026 Ateneo Grand Alumni Homecoming, not in spite of this difficult year, but because of it. Because the Ateneo community does not retreat when things get hard.
On December 5, 2026, we will gather with an even bigger purpose. We will remember those we have lost, we will unite the Ateneo community, and we will create impact for our beneficiaries:
We will honor
- the scholars whose futures depend on our generosity,
- the athletes who carry our name with grit and dignity,
- the ministries that serve those the world too easily forgets,
- and the institution that continues to form the next generation men and women for others.
Our homecoming exists for them as much as it exists for us.
Twenty-five years ago, Ateneo made us who we are. This December, we have the privilege of giving something back, and of showing our alma mater, and each other, that Batch 2001 still stands with the school that has made us who we are today, and in what this school stands for.
We hope you will come home with us, united in the belief that, Ateneo will always be reason enough to go on.
It will always be ’01 Big Fight.
AMDG+