emerald
These web pages will highlight the PHS'55 Emerald anniversary preparations & celebrations.
Preparations
(Updated 4 September 09)
Meetings held on: 19 July (UP Diliman, Working Group), 15 August (UP Diliman, Working Group), 29 August (San Fernando, General Assembly) & 4 September (UP Diliman, Working Group). In these meetings, several issues were discussed and several details were discussed and resolved. The decisions of your association are highlighted below.
Date of the Emerald Celebration will be 7 February 2010 (9:00am to 5:00pm): This is due to the proximity of Elvis' golden wedding anniversary event. According to Philip, several US based classmates confirmed their attendance to his golden anniversary in which all PHS'55 classmates are invited. The group feels that in as much as US based participation is important to the success of the affair (55@ 55), the choice of the date may serve an an incentive to come for the two occasions. This will be a combined Emerald & Valentines celebration.
Post Emerald get-together activities: A trip to Corregidor Island (see brochure below) is scheduled on the 10th of February. This mid week affair is intended to give way to the Valentines Day for the family.
Activities: Emerald Celebration Proper: The costume is Filipiniana for the ladies & Camisa de Chino for the men. It is scheduled to start at 9:00 am till late 5:00 pm. An estimated 250 55'ers are expected to attend the main event. Various committees have already been formed by President Sylvia Sarmiento Aragon to make the necessary preparations in order to insure the success of the affair. It will mainly be a show of internal talents (we all hope).
The Document: A separate site will be created to highlight the pre, main and post Emerald Celebrations.
Financing the Costs of the Affair: The affair is estimated to cost about Php 380,000 which include meals, merienda, Emerald Yearbook, decoration, entertainment, music and others. It is higher than our previous estimate because of the cost of the Yearbook (about Php 80,000). The assembly resolved not to require classmates to pay for participation fees. As a result, a move was initiated to request selected members of the class to contribute to the FUND for financing the affair. Despite the successful fund campaign for health assistance launched six months earlier, there was unusual positive response from the members. The meeting on the 15th of August indicated that about Php 120,000 of firm pledges were generated. Additional names were identified in that meeting and it was estimated that we may be able to generate a total of about Php 22o,000 for the purpose. Additional effort will still be needed to fund the estimated total cost of the affair and a possible cost overrun.
SYLVIA SARMIENTO ARAGON'S US VISIT: Our president Sylvia Sarmiento Aragon will visit her children and grandchildren in the US during the Christmass holidays. She plans to personally invite as many 55'ers to attend the Emerald celebration on 7 February 2010. Due to the unexpected large turnout during our 6 December X'mass party in San Fernando City, the class is very optimistic of a large participation during our Emerald Jubilee.
Sylvia Sarmiento Aragon (middle), Association President presided over the 15 August meeting at UP Diliman with Jake Espino (left) and Mel Pineda Bautista (right). Photo below: With Remy Puno, Nile Gallardo & Tony Ocampo.
