DIAMONDS OF 2020 | HIGH SCHOOL CLASS 1960
THE VELADA THAT WASN’T
2020 was slated as the Diamond Jubilee year of High School class 1960. We started planning early in January. Pinky Valdes and I came up with two short dances and one song for our part of the program. The opening number would be a comic rendition of Swan Lake called Two Swans and a Chicken (for those of us who don’t really dance). The second was the I like to Live in America dance from West Side Story. Undoubtedly, this was to give the class’s dancers a chance to demonstrate that they could still “shake a leg” despite our Diamond senior status. Our song was going to be a rendition by the whole class of Helen Reddy’s I Am Woman as a closing number.
None of this came to pass. Covid reared its ugly head and put an end to all our gleefulness, even though the costumes had already been ordered (that’s how ready we were).
In place of all this we decided to come up with a class video. Boots Anson Roa Rodrigo and her team came up with the concept and transformed it into reality. Through the Years, a living concept of Class 1960 and what it is today.
“Through all the good and bad…Together we are strong. Through the years.”
For the “Then and Now” presentation the classmates readily sent photographs of themselves. We wanted a photograph of the present moment, what everyone looks like now. Despite occasional visits, some of us haven’t seen each other in a very long time. However, we discovered that with Viber, WhatsApp, and e-mail, there was no problem getting in touch with classmates. We reignited feelings of affection that spanned the different corners of the world: from Madrid, Barcelona, Sydney, Hawaii, San Francisco, New York to the Philippines.
The pandemic not only affected our Velada. It caused havoc most especially on the many scholars of the Assumption Mission schools, a majority of whom had no computers nor online facilities with which to continue their education. Realizing the need, our class responded with generosity. Everyone shared unselfishly, giving what they could. Our class collected one million pesos and released these immediately to the Mission Schools.
