ALUMNI

A Grand CelebraXSion Indeed
Karol Yee (’04) and Chico Locsin (’05)

Posted Thursday, 01-Dec-2005 10:41 AM

      Celebrating successes and triumphs is always made meaningful by looking back at one’s roots. You see, Xaverians understood this custom perfectly. Thus, it was with an offering of incense sticks to the newly installed bust of Hsu Kuang Chi, which signaled the start of the 2005 Grand Alumni Homecoming festivities. Finally, nearly a year’s work of planning, with tons of blood, sweat and tears of the celebrating batch’s organizers, was starting to unfold.

      After the veneration, the Xavier alumni together with old and new members of the school’s faculty and staff then headed to the nearby Angelo King Multi Purpose Center for the celebration of the Holy Eucharist, led by no less than our beloved School Director, Fr. Johnny Go, SJ and concelebrated by two of the school’s “original” Jesuits, Fr. Ismael Zuloaga, SJ and Fr. Santos Mena, SJ, together with the current chaplain, Fr. Arturo Borja, SJ and Fr. Zhang Deshun, SJ, the high school Chinese librarian . During the homily, Fr. Zuloaga challenged the hordes of Xavier alumni to let the light shine wherever life brought them, and in doing so influence others to do good, not only in their personal, but professional and public lives as well. He also emphasized how the graduates must nurture the Xavier brotherhood and make it more real for the betterment of society. Later on, Fr. Johnny also added how we must indeed be grateful for our Xavier education and how we must make better use of it by striving to make a difference around us.

      While all that was happening “upstairs”, back at Ground Zero, everyone from the Homecoming Committee members, the AAXS organizers and Xavier staff, the sponsors and helpers, to even the CADT officers, were all making sure everything was in the right place with just a few minutes left before show time.

      After thanksgiving, one by one, the Xavier alumni descended to the Fr. Rafael Cortina Sports Center for the main event, with the ever responsible Xavier Batch of 2005 heading the frontlines (more popularly known as: “registration desks”) to receive them. Then, at around 8:00 PM, the lovely Ms. Iya Villania and our very own, Jaime Garchitorena (’85), noted to have exhibited one of the most covalent bonds in hosting, took center stage and started off the program proper. New singing sensation, Ms. Luane Dy then took over and sang a few songs. Her performance featured special appearances by Mr. Johnlu Koa (’75) and show co-host Jaime Garchitorena. Catered by North Park, dinner was literally overflowing, and to make it even better, Summit , Absolute Water, Pepsi and Colt Ice drinks were all free-flowing too for the entire night!

      There were messages from the School Director, Fr. Johnny Go, SJ (’79) and the AAXS President, Jeff Siy (’80) who both congratulated the celebrating batches for a job well done, and from Silver Jubilarian, Punch Mamonluk (’80), Homecoming Committee Chairperson. Punch, who even had to take a leave just to make sure everything turns out well, gave his heartfelt thanks to everyone who helped out and attended, not to mention, sacrificed so much for the homecoming’s success.

      The real highlight of the show was the presentation of the donations to the Xavier School Educational and Trust Fund (XSETF). The XS Batch ’75 Foundation donated a check worth one million pesos to Fr. Johnny Go, SJ, Xavier School Director. To make it an unforgettable evening, XS80 Luceat Lux Fund Foundation Inc. also presented a check worth one million pesos to Fr. Johnny. With these donations, both batches continue to help the school achieve its goal of giving quality education to students who are found deserving of a Xavier education. Truly, this portion of the program was a manifestation that Xaverians are always “Men For Others.”

      Mocha, together with the Spin Art Band then rocked the house for more than an hour of hip songs and dance numbers while in between, raffling off prizes (take note, with the help of amazing technology from Symbol Sciences) which included an overnight stay at the Discovery Suites, gift certificates from Ortigas Home Depot, a one year membership at Gold”s Gym, Philip Starck watches from Chronos, a Royal Caribbean Cruise for two, and of course, the Toyota Innova as the grand prize to eventual winner Anthony Chua of Dragons ’72.

      Part of the program for the evening was the launching of the Golden Jubilee Wine from Navarre Spain, the Jubilee 2006-2007 Calendar, and the Luceat Lux book which was written by Fr. Santos Mena, SJ. Also there was the turn-over ceremony from Punch Mamonluk (’80) to Mr. Dobbin Tan (’81), 2006 Grand Alumni Homecoming Chairman.

      After almost five hours of eating, drinking, singing, dancing and laughing, the evening still couldn’t find an appropriate ending to commence the endless conversations between reunited classmates and friends who were back to school once more. Homecoming Committee Chairman Punch Mamonluk was in fact very “happy, as we did not expect anything like this”, while Mr. Jeff Siy found it “all worthwhile after all the efforts...as it is always nice to see old friends.”

      Yes, that night, there was truly lots of almost everything to make up a spectacular homecoming. But, it shall be more fondly remembered as the night where almost 700 Xaverians came back home for what would probably be one of the grandest CelebraXSions in our history. Kudos to the Homecoming Organizing Committee and everyone who helped out for the success of the 2005 Grand Xavier Alumni Homecoming!

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