The University Laboratory School (ULS), as it is known today, is an offshoot of the defunct Kabacan Provincial High School (KPHS) which became the nucleus of the Mindanao Institute of Technology (MIT) now the University of Southern Mindanao (USM), when it formally opened on October 1, 1954. There were nine other teachers with her handling classes composed of some 250 students from first to fourth
year. After MIT took over the KPHS, the General Secondary Curriculum was continued until the students who were currently enrolled graduated. Meanwhile, three secondary curricula, namely Agriculture, Homemaking and Trade were offered starting in June 1955, the same time that the college department was opened. Antonio as College Registrar, Prof. Porferio V. Barlaan, was appointed Principal. Later, Prof. Crisostomo Marasigan transferred from the Upi Agricultural School and assumed the position of Principal. After the creation of the Agriculture Department, Prof. Marasigan was designated Department Head in 1961. He was succeeded by Dr. Fortunato Battad as secondary department principal. During this time, secondary classes were conducted for one-half day while students spent four hours in the field/shop for practicum. Moreover, all students and teachers report for communal fieldwork on Saturday mornings. The fieldwork consisted of rice and corn planting and harvesting, planting rubber and fruit trees, clearing under the rubber trees and orchards, cutting grass along the campus roads and fixing drainage canals to mention some.
