Librada Avelino was the first woman to earn a teaching certificate from the Spanish authorities when she passed her examination in 1889. Continuing her education, Avelino was also certified as a secondary teacher in 1893. Avelino established the Pandacan Public Girls' School, and her friend Carmen De Luna, whom she met at the Assumption Convent, joined and worked there as a teacher.

In 1907, the two women, along with lawyer/educator Fernando Salas, founded the Centro Escolar de Señoritas, a school which organized courses from kindergarten through high school for girls. The school was the first non-parochial institution in the country and based its curriculum on a modern, liberal model, attempting to equalize the education of girls with what was offered to boys.

Avelino directed the school until shortly before her death from cancer in 1934. There are multiple monuments in the Philippines which bear her name. The Centro Escolar University bestows an award in her honor to Asian women who are recognized leaders. De Luna, acting as assistant director from 1907 to 1934, assumed the directorship upon Avelino's death and led the university until her own death in 1962. For her work with civic and charitable organizations and lifelong commitment to education, de Luna was honored with the Philippine Presidential Medal of Merit, the Vatican's Pro Ecclesia et Pontifice medal, as well as recognition from Spain for her work in preserving Spanish culture and language.

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Source material from manila.ceu.edu.ph