Our first planning meeting this month was held at Daisys house last Sunday, March 2, 2003.  Present at the meeting were:  Daisy Delgado-Vergara, Janet De Castro-Narag, Margie Molina-Tolentino, Jacqueline Palma-Soriano, Helen Panaligan-Crist, Marissa Pascual-Latuno, Lito Pangan, Lina Ora-Santos, Tibo Santos (who came later), and Reynald Ticsay.  Other batch reps were also present:  Vernon Tabirara (79) and a new face, Marian Villanueva-Reyes (76).  Marian was filling-in for Joey (Lima) who is still in the Phils. 

Thanks to Daisy and family for hosting us and preparing all those Filipino dishes.  Daisy, exchange tayo ng recipe ha, for the guinatan.  My apologies for forgetting to leave the recipe card (for the cassava cake).  Ill definitely bring it to our next meeting.  Daisys home is lovely can we continue our meetings summer, even after our April event?  Too cold this time for a dip in their pool.  Marissa is the new contender for Jackies throne, but I think Marian (76) gets the prize for traveling the farthest.

Of course after all the tsibugan, we had fun reminiscing with our Veritas on hand and comparing current pictures from the Phil. reunion courtesy of Gogo, yours truly, Rina Ordonez (in the Phils.)  and those we received for our montage.  Thanks to some of Rinas captions of her pics, it was a great help.  It was fun trying to remember all the names of those in the reunion pictures and matching them with the Veritas pictures. 

Heres a summary of our discussion:

ITEMS DISCUSSED:

A.            Philippine Reunion Updates

·         There were over 500 who attended the Phil. Reunion at the Westin Philippine Plaza.  Jackie borrowed some of Gogos pics of the event for our montage.  Other pics will be emailed to Margie for the montage as well.

·         To those who are not aware of it, there are pics and Leebais (the host from our batch) account of the Phil. reunion posted on our website.  There will be more pics and kuwentos posted later, so keep checking.

·         There will be an Alumni Awards Night on March 15, 2003.  Email us if youre interested in the details of this event. 

·         The plan to move the USTHS to the Sta. Isabel building outside the UST campus was discussed.  We will coordinate with the USTHS Alumni of America to decide on what action we can take to assist the current HS Administrators.

·         Update on the meeting with Mrs. Roda, current USTHS Principal:  She indicated that they need assistance with scholarship funds due to how the UST Alumni Association distributes scholarship funds.  Other Phil. non-profit organizations mentioned at the committee meeting include Tahanang Walang Hagdanan, Magbasa Kita & Bantay Bata.  We will decide later which of these org. will be the beneficiaries of our fundraising efforts.

B.         U.S. Reunion Updates

·         Updates from Margie on the Monte Carlo front include: hospitality room will only be provided if 50 rooms are booked by attendees for our event; a 50% upgrade will be made available if 20 rooms are booked; bartender fee will not be waived regardless of drink sales; and, no babysitting services are available at Monte Carlo Hotel.

·         The deadline for payments has been extended to March 15, 2003.  Cost is $100 per person for payments by March 15; and will be $110 per person after March 15.  There will be an email sent about the deadline extension.

·         Kids meal will be $30 each, for those who cannot make arrangements for their children.  Only those kids paid will be assigned seats.

·         There may be a few alumni coming from the Philippines to attend our April event.

·         We are emphasizing that no tickets will be sold at the door, on April 26, 2003.

C.         Other Committee Reports/Updates:

·         Public Relations

o        Newspaper announcement We have received inquiry calls from people who have seen our ad both in the Asian Journal and the California Examiner.  The announcement can now also be seen in the TFC channel, everyday, after Game Ka Na Ba around 6:25 to 6:30 pm.

o        E-vite There are 110 names on our RSVP list through the E-vite.  We will be reconciling the list with those already paid, so we can do a follow-up.  Again, please inform Lito if you receive RSVPs by phone or in person.

o        Follow-up assignments All committee members are asked to follow-up with those assigned to them to get a final headcount of paid attendees.

·         Website

o        Website we continue to get raves over our website.  Kudos to Reynald!  Pictures of the Phil. reunion are now posted on our website as well and more to come.

o        USTHS 78 permanent website (USTHS78USA.tripod.com) please continue to direct other alum to this website.

o        Group email address (USTHS78@hotmail.com) please send your questions, suggestions and any emails to this email addrs.

·         Budget/Finance

o        To date, we received payments for 69 attendees, 65 of whom are fully paid.  Thanks to all of you who have paid.

o        Theres some indication that we may exceed 125-person for our event, maybe even 150+.  Helen received receipts for Margie, Lina and Daisy for expenses theyve paid.  The budget will be revised accordingly.  Please turn in your receipts as soon as possible, so we can have a clearer picture of where we are on our spending.

·         Montage Presentation

o        Margie has received more pics from other alum for the montage.  Reminder -- the last day to submit pictures is March 15, 2003. 

·         Souvenir Program/Solicitation Letter/Ad Form

o        Margie reported that she got a reply from Cardinal Mahoneys secretary that they are unable to give us a jubilee msg. for our souvenir program.  Helen reported that the messages from Mrs. Roda, USTHS Principal and Fr. Funelas, USTHS Rector, are pending return from the printer (in the Phils).  Helen will follow-up with contacts from the USTHS Alumni Officers to check on the  status.

o        We have received 4 sponsorship forms, to date.  Thanks to Lito, Daisy and Lina.  Additional sponsorship ads were submitted by Lina at the meeting.

o        In-kind sponsorships are welcome, including pre-paid services.  Please make sure that the checks are payable to either Margie, Reynald or Helen (not to USTHS Alumni).

o        Please submit or email the ad pages in Word format, if possible.

o        There will be a working meeting scheduled to put together the souvenir program, once they are all received, after March 15, 2003.

·         Give- aways/Decorations

o        Helen brought about half the order of one of our give-away items from the Phils.  The second half will be brought by Margies relative or shipped from the Phils.

o        Some of us took home a case of a give-away item to work on the labels.  Others stayed behind after the meeting to work on what was left.

o        There will be an additional give-away item courtesy of Lina and Tibo.  Thank you very much to you both for all your contributions.

o        All the other give-away items except for one have already been ordered.

o        Cost of additional prints of attendee pictures have been decided:  4x6 = $5 each, 5x7 = $10 each, 8x11 = $15.  Orders forms will be available at the registration desk only at the event.  Each table will be assigned to an official photographer for the table shots.

o        We will need to discuss the logistics for the set-up at the event in our next meetings.

·         Entertainment  

o        Janet reported that she has booked the DJ for our event.  Margie reminded Janet and Lito to ask the DJ for the necessary equipment (wireless mic, strobe or disco lights, etc.) and remind him of set-up time at 5:00 pm.

o        Lito prepared the preliminary program for the event including suggested changes.  There might be more changes to refine the program and the span of time needed for all the numbers. 

o        There were several suggestions on the numbers from the ladies and the gents for our batch.  The following comments were made as we plan the guys number:  bonnets or caps will be part of the costumes for the follicle-challenged; ala-epileptic seizures; will need a lazy-Susan for props.  For the ladies number:  no mid-rib tops, baka daw ma-pulmonia pa.  Margie will schedule the practices for the ladies and Lito will handle practices for the guys.

o        It was mentioned that Ferdie has reported that there will be two former USTHS faculty who will be definitely attending our event.  Our program opening remarks will be given by one of them.

·         Roster/Directory

o        There are now 72 names on our list of 78 graduate (US and Canada only).  The rest of the 215 names found are either in the Phils. or in other countries.  Please visit our website for the full directory list.

o        Again, thanks to those who continue to assist in finding other fellow grads, both by phone calls and email. 

o        Please keep those names coming.  Everyone truly appreciates making the connection with long-lost HS friends, even from Educ HS.

D.         Next meeting will be on March 23, 2003, Sunday, 1:00 pm at Marissas place.  Directions will follow later.  Other future meetings will be April 5 and April 19, so please mark your calendars.  We will schedule other meetings and/or practices as needed.

Were almost there.  Many thanks to everyone who continue to share their time and talents in our event planning.  We hope to see more faces at the next meeting.

Helen Panaligan-Crist

USTHS Reunion Planning Committee, USA