A Grand Reunion With a Worthy Cause

This event happened about five months ago. I actually never thought of publishing it here but the writer side of me dictates that I should be sharing this story to the people who made our reunion possible especially our friends who are based abroad, supported our cause but missed the event. Although I already shared all our homecoming photos, a song goes, "a picture paints a thousand words..." but sometimes pictures cannot convey the real story that happened thus the need for written words.  To all who missed the event, I hope this gives you an idea on what happened on 3rd December 2011 and to everyone who were there, let us relive the good memories we made.  

1      Event Setup:

 

As early as 1:00 PM, three hours before the opening of the event, committee members were already at the school to coordinate the catering arrangement as well as to setup the venue. The committee ensured to properly put up the registration booth, stage, photo booth, equipment to be used for the presentation and the overall look of the venue.  

2      Registration and Preliminary Activities

The registration booth was manned by Joan, Cathy, Roselle, Aimee, Rose and Rajah.  Even before the 4:00 PM registration, members already came to register for the event.  A registration fee of P500.00 was paid that includes the souvenir t-shirt, the food, raffle prizes and for other expenses.  A total of 96 members attended the homecoming event.

While waiting for other guests and members to arrive, video presentations created by different sections and compiled by Joey and Armie were played.  There was also a video presentation comprising of photos taken from the monthly meetings since May 2011 up to the motorcade of November 30, 2011. 

3      Opening Remarks and Invocation

President Joey officially opened the event at around 6:00 PM.  He welcomed and thanked the batch for all the support provided with special mention of all who provided generous donations for the success of the grand reunion. The prayer was led by Rose. 

4      Narration of Previous Meetings and Presentation of Batch per section

William served as the host for the night. He recounted how the idea of the grand reunion was conceptualized by Mheng through social network (Facebook, Email, etc).  He also mentioned what transpired from the monthly meetings and how the “grand reunion with a cause” developed.    After that, he called the attendees per section. Each section’s class picture was scanned by Armie from the old Year Book and compiled into video presentation that was flashed onscreen as members of each section posed for photographs.  Gab took photos of each section that were called on stage.   

Photo credit: Gab Pascual

Photo credit: Gab Pascual

Photo credit: Josephine Doroja

5      Presentation of Committee Members

A video made by Armie, a compilation of before and after pictures of all committee members was presented.  The “before” pictures were also scanned from the Year Book while the “after” pictures were taken from Facebook photos.   

Photo credit: Gab Pascual

   

6      Intermission Number - Zumba with Josephine

Josephine, who flew all the way from the U.S. to attend the event showed her prowess in dancing.  She asked everyone to participate with her Zumba number.  Almost everyone danced the Zumba to the tune of Black-eyed Peas’ “Bebot” song.  

Zumba with Josephine...you can visit her site at http://www.josephinedoroja.com

7      Raffle and Dinner

After the Zumba dance, prizes were raffled off to lucky batch members. Raffle prizes were donated by committee members and some were bought from cash donations. A buffet-style dinner was served.  Aside from the catered meals, there were also batch/committee members like Reggie and Roy who brought in food for this event.

  8      Special Citations

After the dinner, an awarding for special citation was held:

1.    Homecoming King and Queen - Mancel &

This award was given to real-life high school sweethearts who are happily married,  still together and their marriage still going stronger.  

2.    Best of Friends Award -Emely & Co.

This award was given to high school buddies with strong bond of friendship until this time.  

3.    Awesome Dancer award - Josephine

This award was given to the ultimate dancing queen of the batch who is currently gaining success in dancing.  

 4.    Youngest Looking Female - Bev

5.    Youngest Looking Male - Reggie

This award was given to the person who looks twenty years younger than his/her age.  Someone who maintained the youthfulness in his/her looks despite the years that gone by.  

6.    Most Artistic Nolascian - Bobeth

This award was given to the person who conceptualized the design of the event’s logo and t-shirt designs.

7.    Most Resourceful Nolascian - Roselle & Waldo

This award was given to the person who provided most time, effort and searched for all resources used for the event.

A certificate signed by Mr. President and gifts were provided.

9      2^nd Part Raffle and Speed Dating with Dhang

Prizes were again raffled off on the second part of the event.  A special cash prize of P500 was given for the early-bird award. 

Dang, who was supposedly the host for the night apologized that she came late for the event.  She observed that members were clustered only among their section or known friends. She came up with an idea of speed dating where she requested everyone to line up into two circles and find a partner. Ten seconds each was given to get to know each other and after the allotted time, the inner circle was requested to move to their right to change partners and another ten seconds to get to know a piece of information about the person.  The activity proved to be fun and enlightening that more acquaintances were formed that night. 

10  Special Cash Donation for the School

During the event, letters were received by the Committee coming from the school heads (English Department, Administration Department and the Principal itself requesting for cash donations that shall be used for their upcoming events such as Teachers’ Christmas Party, English Department event and Teacher’s Day event.  A total cash donation amounting to P8,200.00 <<3K teachers day, 1K English Dept and 4K+>> was provided by the batch.

11  Turn Over and Acceptance of Donation for the School

A formal turn-over of the batch's pledge was held. William first presented the sound system and the DVD Player. The sound system was bought from donations of the alumni while the Sony DVD player was provided by Ronnie.  William read the contents of the Deed of Donation that was signed by the Batch President and the school’s Principal.   Mrs. Libao and Mrs. Reyes also signed on the document as witnesses.  The signing of the deed signified the formal turn over and acceptance of donations. 

 

The Principal expressed her gratitude to the alumni for the sound system and DVD player donation. Mrs. Libao and Ms. Alincastre also gave a simple speech and thanked the batch.

12  Gift-giving Ceremony

To extend the spirit of “homecoming with a cause”, the committee with the support and approval of all who attended the event, decided to provide gifts to the less-fortunate members of the batch.  Cash and grocery items were provided.  The school’s janitorial and security staffs who provided support during the event were also given cash and grocery items.

After the gift-giving, Dang requested Josephine for another round of Zumba number since she missed the first dance presentation. 

 13  Announcement

President Joey informed the batch of the succeeding activities such as

1.    January 2012 Meeting for the Audit Report

2.    Election of Officers (for the 2nd Homecoming event that shall be held after five years).  The election shall be held online.  He encouraged everyone to participate in the online election.

3.    Souvenir shirts that shall be provided to generous sponsors and those who were not able to get their shirts during the event.

4.    Tentative April reunion that shall be organized especially for those abroad who were not able to attend the December grand reunion. 

14  Closing and Photo Ops 

Ms. Libao was requested to lead the singing of the school hymn.  The event ended at around 10:15 p.m.  

Photo credit: Josephine Doroja

The homecoming proved to be a successful and worthy event through the help and generosity of all the members who believed in the magic of friendship and the value of unity.