We had our first monthly meeting of year 2003 at
Jackie Palma-Sorianos residence on January 11. Thanks to Jackie and Armand for
hosting all of us, which opens the year with the most informative meeting we had so far.
Thanks to our special attendees, Mon Nadres (71) and Evan Del Castillo (74), both from the USTHS Alumni of America;
Raidis Orogo-Smet (82) and Robert Sanchez (86). The following committee members
were in attendance: Ferdie Agbayani, Janet Castro-Narag, Daisy Delgado-Vergara, Margie Molina-Tolentino, Jacqueline Palma-Soriano,
Helen Panaligan-Crist, Lito Pangan, Marissa Pascual-Latuno, Lina Ora-Santos, Tibo Santos (who followed later after working
that day for Linas pang shopping), & Clem and Eden Tagle. Other attendees
were Gogo Concepcion-Gonzales, Myra Espinosa-Rico and Perla Tabora-Long. I think
Margie gets the honor this time coming from the farthest. Say nyo, hindi pa siya
late.
Thanks to our Kuyas Mon and Evan, for their guidance
on our reunion planning. Hindi lang daw pala Kuya si Mon, Mayor din daw pala,
of what were not sure. We are truly very thankful for their guidance, assistance
and support (and letting us call them Kuyas - basta walang batukan ha?). Thanks
to Raidis for providing us with 14 names from her batch who are interested in attending our April event. Thanks also to Robert for giving us a demo of his DJ-ing skills. We will hopefully have other batch reps
at our next meetings.
We were able to do a pre-practice dance in honor
of our promotor the butt-butt dance, ay J-Lo dance pala! To those who left early,
its your turn to practice our number at the next mtg. Although hindi pa finalize
ang choreography from Margie & Jackie (aka our Aldeguer dancers) we will be anxiously waiting for the full number in our
next mtgs. Huwag kayo, kailangang mag-practice tayo, esp. after all the tsibugan
we have at our mtgs. gotta lose those lbs 3 months na lang. We also got a prevIew
of our duo emcees, Tibo and Perla. Naku ha theyre an excellent team, sans Jerry
Santos (79, Tibos brother). So, prepare yourselves for the event, you might be
ROTFLYAO esp. when you add Jerry to the mix to emcee our event.
Heres a synopsis of our discussion:
ITEMS DISCUSSED:
A.
Philippine Reunion Updates
·
Souvenir Program Jackie showed the pictures taken from her camera for additional submission to one of our Ad pages
in the Phil. Souvenir Program. We chose one and Jackie will send it through her
in-law leaving for the Phils. on 1/13/03. Helen will update the layout and send
an email to Wattie for the additional instructions.
B.
U.S. Reunion Updates
·
Margie has paid the deposit to reserve the date with Monte Carlo Hotel.
·
Additional charges from Monte Carlo would include fees for Bartender ($125), Dance floor ($100) and Projection Screen
($60).
C.
Other Committee Reports/Updates:
·
Public Relations
o Newspaper announcement Mon mentioned
that they have a fellow graduate who works for the Philippine News. Helen will
edit/revise the announcement for newspaper/magazine print ads and email it to Mon for submission.
o E-vite Lito continues to send E-vites
to new names, 78 and other batch, for headcount purposes. There are so far 33
who have RSVPd (including spouses) from our batch alone, plus 5 from other batch
years. Lito will send the Evite to Evan, Robert and Mon for their batch group. If theres any committee member who has received confirmation of attendance from any
fellow graduate via email or phone, they are asked to inform Lito so he can add the name(s) on the RSVP list. This list of names will be used for nametags, table assignments, etc. on the actual event.
o Follow-up assignments Ferdie, Lito,
Janet, Margie gave an update on their follow-up work. Some submitted them via
email. We will keep the follow-up work through the final deadline on March 15,
2003.
o Committee members are asked to kindly
request the batch reps to submit the names/address from their batch who are confirmed to attend. Lina will be mailing the formal invitations to them.
·
Website
o Website Margie reports that various
other batch years have posted the Reunion Details, Solicitation Letter/Form and a link on their websites.
o USTHS 78 permanent website (USTHS78USA.tripod.com) the solicitation letter/form has been posted on our website. Please print them out and distribute copies to potential sponsors.
o Group email address (USTHS78@hotmail.com) Lina continues to receive emails and contact info. through our e-address.
·
Budget/Finance
o We continue to receive payment/deposits
through our PO Box and in person, handed to Margie or Helen. Except for one (who
will remain nameless), all committee members have either paid their deposits or balance at the meeting.
o Bank Account an account is now open
with Washington Mutual. Reynald, Margie and Helen will meet again this month
to add Margies name as co-signatory to the account.
·
Montage Presentation
o Margie will coordinate with Evan
to add more pics to the presentation made at the Christmas Ball. The last day
to submit pictures is March 15, 2003.
o Jackie and Lito submitted some pictures
taken at the Christmas party to Margie.
·
Souvenir Program/Solicitation Letter/Ad Form
o Ferdie showed a sample of Souvenir
Program (book style), which he prepared for another organization. Evan and Mon
suggested that binding style would depend of the number of pages to be included in the Souvenir Program.
o Evan and Mon also suggested that
we check prices from local printing companies.
o Evan will be coordinating & assisting
in the compilation of the entire Souvenir Program.
o We emphasize that in order for us
to meet all financial needs of this big event, all committee members as well as all batch representatives must start soliciting
for sponsorship. This will be a group effort. Evan and Mon suggested that each
member should sponsor a whole or half page of the souvenir program.
·
Give- aways
o Margie brought the items for our
event give-aways. Mon suggested that all attendees (alumni and spouses/dates)
should get a bag in fairness to everyone who pays for their tickets.
o Evan will coordinate with Tito (71,
Margies brother) on the official logo. Some of the give-away items will either be ordered from the Phils. or here, whichever
costs the least. Mon suggested to have patches made from the Diamond Jubilee
logo. A customized commemorative pin will be part of the give-aways.
o Jackie showed her Polaroid camera,
which may be used to take pictures at event registration. There will be an assembly
line of committee members to put the pictures in the frames, as part of everyones give-away.
Mon and Evan suggested using a photo-quality printer for better quality pictures.
Ferdie will check availability of such printer and email Margie, Evan & Mon if there will be one available. Jackie indicated that should we need photo-quality paper, Costco is running a sale
on the item the 3rd week of January. Evan offered to lend any available
Alumni of America resources that we may need at the event.
o Evan suggested that we would need
at least 3 laptops 2 for registration and 1 for the montage/presentation.
o We decided to slightly change what
is printed on a give-away item to customize it for the Diamond Jubilee celebration.
The top will say: Diamond Jubilee; and the bottom: USTHS Alumni.
o From their experience during the
Christmas Ball, Mon and Evan suggested that the grab bag be put together in Las Vegas, since transporting them pre-made from
LA would take more transport space.
·
Entertainment
o Janet and Lito reported that the
rates they have found for local Las Vegas DJs range from $500 to $700. It was
suggested that we have Lots and Farley check out our selections for DJs since they live in Las Vegas.
o Evan will send Janet & Lito,
the name of the DJ they hired for the Christmas Ball.
o Tibo, Perla and Jerry (79) will serve
as our emcees for the event. Tibo is already gathering materials for their gig,
so be careful what you say around Tibo aka Tweety Bird.
o The numbers from committee members
will be finalized and practice will also begin at the next meeting.
o Janet and Lito will contact all batch
reps to ask if their group can render a number for our program. Margie will send
them the list of all batch reps.
·
Roster/Directory
o Ferdie reported that we have contact
info. on Ms. Tubadeza, Mrs. Orogo (through Raidis), Mr. Platon and Mr. Tagaro.
o There are now 59 names on our list
of 78 graduates (US and Canada only). The rest of the 202 names found are either
in the Phils. or in other countries. Please visit our website for the full directory
list.
o Classmates.com we have extended invitations
to Annabelle Salvador and Boyet Norte who we found through Classmates.com. They
are both UST Educ HS 78 graduates.
o Thanks to Audrie Lagrimas-De Jesus
and Adjo Gonzales for providing us with the contact info. of those fellow 78 grads recently located.
o We continue to need assistance in
search of other fellow 78 graduates specially those in the East Coast and Northern California.
Please help us in this effort to make the connections with long-lost HS friends.
D.
Next meeting will be on February 8, 2003 (1:00pm) at Janets place. Directions will follow later.
Again, thank you to everyones assistance and sharing their time and talents, esp.
to our Kuyas and other batch representatives. We hope to see you at the next
meeting.
Helen Panaligan-Crist
USTHS Reunion Planning Committee, USA
