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| Witnessed the joyful years of our childhood at school. |
I'm back!!! Char..he he. I just came from a three day leave co'z I got sick and it's not something I am happy about. Anyways, though feeling still a little unwell I am thankful that I am starting to get back on my usual routine and hopefully, things will get better in the coming days.
Anyhow I am picking up the pieces from my last post. Today, I'll share the details of how we were able to assemble our Vicennial (Elementary) Reunion from scratch. In case you are thinking about holding one for your batch yet unsure on how to go about it. I hope by reading this, I will be able to help you out. ;) Heads up, it requires humongous work but with proper planning, visualization, management and execution I am sure you and your group will be able to nail it too.
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| T.H.E. Room & The empty space where the Orchidarium was located 20 years ago |
HOW AND WHERE TO START?
Some one from the group will eventually emerge and say the magic word - TARA REUNION TAYO! He/She will have that (1) INITIATIVE/WILLINGNESS TO LEAD. A fuel to start up! In our case it was my child hood friend/classmate Christy who pop that idea and the receiver is non other than yours truly (ha ha). We talk about it over the phone, early summer of 2016. We both agreed that it was the best year for us to assemble a bigger reunion since it marks our 20th year as an alumni.
The next thing we did was (2) FINDING THE RIGHT PERSONS to help us do the job and is equally willing to fulfill our goal. These KEY PERSONS should have the resources that you need. In our case it was our friend/ classmate Abraham and Victoria. Vic got the official list of graduates of our batch and Abraham was the one to lead us when we had to go to places and meet people, bonus security na din.
After which, (3) MAKE SOCIAL MEDIA WORKS FOR YOU. In our case, we CREATED AN ADMIN GROUP with the help of Facebook Messenger. It was our group means of communication. It was utilized for brainstorming, debates, suggestions, kasama chikahan, kulitan at lokohan in between, follow ups and follow through. We also revive our Alumni Page which was created a long time ago and start contacting others and add them up one by one. We have created a separate Group Chat as well for them to get to now each other again after the long years of no communication.
The four of us, Christy, Victoria, Abraham and I were able to set up a date to (4) VISIT OUR ALMA MATER. Since it was April and falls on weekends, school break, we only got a chance to talk to the school caretaker (Kuya Tonio) during that time. The idea of sound system donation came from this initial visit.
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| Visiting our former adviser at home :) |
WHAT'S NEXT
Since we've gathered information already and we are able to depict our purpose for the reunion. We agreed it will be best to meet other Alumni in person. Since it was summertime we thought that a summer get together overnight swimming will be perfect. This time around we need more key persons to help us out. It was Roberto and Luella whom we picked to complete the Admin group.
These key persons are all equally essential in the group and has each of its own responsibilities and contributions. You just have to be clear who's going to do this and that.
So, May 14, 2016 we were able to hold a summer get together party for our batch. Wherein we will be able to (5) MEET FELLOW ALUMNI FACE TO FACE, spend time with them and (6) DISCUSS WITH THEM THE PURPOSE OF THE REUNION. Just make sure to be clear disseminating information and cause.
It was a sweet and quick meeting de advance. But we were able to TACKLE AND AGREED UPON OTHER NEEDS, such as OUR CAUSE, FORMING OF ALUMNI COMMITTEES, BATCH LOGO AND UNIFORM. Basic yet essential matters to focus on to make the Event OFFICIAL.
We were able to celebrate our summer wonderfully and somehow able to persuade most of the attendees (yup coz not everyone will give their 100%). Of course our friends, classmates, batch mates from abroad were not left behind. In fact they are one of the biggest contributor for the success of the event. Team abroad and individuals who attended the summer get together was the very reason why we were able (6) TO RAISE A START UP FUND FOR OUR BATCH GRAND ALUMNI HOMECOMING event.
Through this initial meeting we were able to hear alumni - individual ideas, suggestion and inputs. You can tell whose really into it. Also, I remember, as early as 2012 there were few mini reunions already. I say it as a mini reunion because the attendees were around 5 to 12 (at the most) people. It involves a few hours of simple celebration and kamustahan. Noon, naisip rin namin na wag nalang mag reunion ng malakihan kasi iilan lang din naman ang napunta and it was quite dissapointing and sad. But looking back, totoo pala yung sinabi nila GREAT THINGS STARTS FROM SMALL BEGINNINGS". Kasi kung wala din yung mga small reunions, we won't be able to find the right persons to make the event a success.
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| Funny moments shared with these bunch :) and some other throwback pics. |
After the initial meeting with the group, Admin group went static for about two months. Since School year had begun, and we also have a family and career to attend to. This I call the recharging period. (ha ha ha...) but our Alumni Group chat has becoming more active each day with unending funny pakulo such as selfie challenge, kulitan and the like. (7)KEEPING THE LINE OPEN AND SPREADING GOOD VIBES HAS MADE OUR COMMUNICATION ALIVE.
Come July 2016, we were scheduled to have a meeting with Mam Armie. She is our Grade 4 Adviser/Teacher. She's the only one left from all the teachers we have from our batch. She told us she 's thinking to retire and this school year 2016-2017 would be her last term at school. Buti nalang tlaga at may naabutan pa kami. :) Vic and I were able to meet her at school together with some other teachers. It was a quick visit and meeting and there we were able to (8) FINALIZE WHAT PROJECT/DONATION TO PRESENT TO ALUMNI. The teachers requested for a sets of Led TVs for the students of Grade 6 pupils. It was the same day that we sealed our deal.