By : Bro. Bernard Mary

Assumption Commercial College was duly established in 1938 as an independent Commercial Institution approved by the Ministry of Education.  Till then, it was a section of Assumption College where it was born.

Rev. Bro. Rogatien reached Bangkok in 1910 when he was 24 years old, and started teaching at Assumption College till the beginning of the Second World War when he was forced to leave Siam together with other French Brothers by the Japanese army. As a teacher, he cared much for the future of his students as he realized the fact that their future based on the moral and intellectual formation.  So from the very beginning of his teaching career, he made use of his time to prepare himself for the benefit of his students.

Rev. Bro. Hubert Cousin started Typing at Assumption in 1912, but it was only those students wished to work in business firms after leaving the school.  Rev. Bro. Rogatien realized the advantage of Shorthand for the students who were going to work stated learning the Pitman system of shorthand and started teaching it to those students who were studying typing.  In 1919, he got a copy of Gregg Shorthand book.  He studied and compared the two systems and found that Gregg system could give better advantage to students.  So he stopped the Pitman system and introduced the Gregg system in 1920. 

He was going on teaching and introducing new commercial subjects according to the need of the office employees in business firms till January 1941 when he and other Brothers from France were forced to leave the country by the Japanese army.  But, after spending five years in India, he came back to his beloved college in 1946 to continue his work.  When he reached Bangkok, he found that the Assumption Commercial Section was transferred to its present site where there was a large wooden shed, and the ordinary section of Assumption was moved to Sriracha due to the bombardment of the area.  Bro. Rogatien had to continue his work in the Commercial Section.

In 1946, A new two-story building was put up, and the class were moved from the shed to the building.  Thus, ACC got its own residence where Bro. Rogatien worked putting his heart and soul for the benefit of the students as well as for the development of the College till June 1964.

ACCA WAS FOUND

In 1960, under the guidance of Brother Rogatien, founder of the Assumption Commercial College, a group of around 20 ACC old boys officially got together and wrote up the statute of the Association of Commercial College Old Boys Association (ACCOBA).  When the statute of the association was completed, three founding committee members Khun Thanit Liewchalermwong, applied to the Ministry of Education for the license of the association.

It was a pity that due to the death of Brother Rogatien who passed away on April 14, 1965.  Members began drift away.  Although the application had been initially approved by the Ministry.

But the spirit of ACC never dies.

For some five years, the ACCOBA remained just a sweet memory and no serious get together among the old boys was heard of.  Howevere, as if a new sense of responsibility, and most important of all the spirit of ACC, was re-injected into their veins, Khun Thanit Liewchalermwong, Khun Narong Atti, Khun Voraseth Issarayangyuen, Khun Prasob Sanongjati, Khun Ek Siamwalla, Khun Prapan Haetrakul, Khun Nisai Vejchacheewa, Khun Chote Jutrakul, Khun Charn Charnchainarong emerged to successfully revive the association.  Brother Bernard had been helping behind the scene with regard to the revival plan all the way.

The first meeting of the old boys after more than five years of inactivity, which was overwhelmingly attended served as a turning point for the association and also paved way for the establishment of the ACCOBA Committee that Khun Thanit Liewchalermwong was appointed as the First President of the Association.

In an effort to help the ACCOBA, committee in association operation Brother Bernard offered the ACC Compound as the venue for the monthly meeting of the ACCOBA.  Furthermore, Brother Bernard also attended the meetings of the ACCOBA which were held on every first Thursday of the month.

NEW NAME

From that point onward, ACCOBA had made consistent growth with a remarkably growing body of membership which embraced both old and young new graduates.

However, things always change with the time.  That’s quite natural.  The thought would have never occurred to any ACCists before that one day ACC-a male only school for more than 30 years-world be dominated by girls.  But that was what had happened in 1972 when ACC become a co-ed institution and girls were accepted as students for the first time in the history of the school.

Thus in 1975, the graduates of ACC were of both sexes.

The ACCOBA Committee therefore decided to drop the appellation of Old Boys from its name so as to conform to the prevailing circumstance.  Hence, its new name:  Assumption Commercial College Alumni Association, or ACCA.

ACCA Committee comprised with 15 active committee members.  Half of these number members every year during its annual elections.

According to ACCA statue, the association aims to achieve the followings:

• To promote understanding and cooperation among its members
• To encourage exchanges of opinions knowledge and experience among its members
• To advocate cooperation between the alumni and the school
• To give assistance to all its members as well as the school graduates
• To join in social welfare activities
• The association professes no political involvement in any form

ACCA office is located at 141 Soi St. Louis 2 (Sathorn Soi 13) Sathorn Road, Bangkok 10120

Now all ACCists should take the chance to show their love and respect for Bro. Rogatien by becoming the members of this association after leaving their ALMA MATER founded by him. Brother Bernard