19
June 2008
Dear Fellow Alumni,
Mabuhay!
Our beloved Alma Mater, the Our Lady
of the Lilies Academy (OLLA), will be
celebrating the Golden Anniversary of its
foundation next year, 2009.
As you are probably aware by now, an
integral part of the anniversary celebration
will be a Grand Alumni Homecoming which will
be held on February 6 - 8, 2009.
So please, make sure you mark your
calendars accordingly and this early, do all
the necessary arrangements and preparations
for you to be present for this
once-in-a-lifetime affair.
Before
updating you on developments with regard to
the Grand Alumni Homecoming, please allow me
to share with you some thoughts.
I am sure most, if not all, of you
will agree with me that our years of stay in
our dear old OLLA were perhaps the best and
most memorable years of our youth. We
were young and free then; free of the
burdens and responsibilities that come with
adulthood.
We were not only free; we were with
childhood friends who were and continue to
be dear to us and we started to dream
together about what the future would and
could bring. We
also started to look at girls/boys from a
different light and even really be in love.
I am sure most of us cherish and
treasure those years in our hearts.
And even until now, many years after
we left our dear old OLLA in pursuit of our
dreams, we still long for those wonderful
and happy years.
Well, the sad fact of life is that
those years will never come back, no matter
how we cherish and yearn for them.
Time gone is gone forever.
BUT, REJOICE!
We can have the next best option.
We can go back to where those
memorable and happy years happened, be again
with dear friends and classmates who were
with us when we lived those memorable and
happy years, and perhaps, even just for a
few days, “re-live”
those memorable and happy days. Please tell
me, isn’t that great?
The Grand Alumni Homecoming is still
eight months away but even now, I can
already feel the nostalgia and the
excitement. Don’t
you?
Here are the updates on the affair:
1.
Two distinguished alumnae, Fe
Gonzales-Sepulveda (Batch 63) and Fe Ramos
(Batch 73) graciously accepted the
responsibilities to be the chairpersons of
the committees that will coordinate all
preparations for the affair.
Madam Fe (Gonzales-Sepulveda) will be
the Chairperson for the US-side of the
preparations while Fe (Ramos) will be the
Chairperson for the Philippine-side of the
preparations.
“US-side”,
for purposes of coordination, shall be
construed to include all other countries
except the
Philippines
.
Even as I write this, coordination
between the two sides is already on-going
and other key committees are in the process
of being formed.
Of course, other committees will be
formed as the need arises. In
this regard, we encourage everybody to
volunteer their services for the various
committees and/or to give suggestions.
Send your suggestions to Madam Fe, Fe
or me.
The e-mail addresses and contact
numbers are indicated below.
2.
To facilitate communications, Fe
(Ramos) and some alumni are in the process
of establishing a website. So
please watch-out for this.
3.
OLLA Alumni Association (OLLAAA) will
be formally organized as a “non-stock,
non-profit” corporation.
The appropriate articles of
incorporation and by-laws of the association
will be prepared and filed at the SEC in due
time. Due
coordination with the OLLA administration on
this matter will of course be made. OLLAAA
is envisioned to be the corporate entity
through which all the affairs of OLLA alumni
will be undertaken.
Election of a new set of
officers of OLLAAA will be planned to
coincide with the Grand Alumni Homecoming to
ensure participation of the many alumni who
are expected to attend the grand affair.
4.
We have a project to raise funds for
our various activities/projects.
Some projections/targets have already
been set.
Activities in pursuit of these
targets are underway.
We of course want that the targeted
funds are raised in time for the Grand
Alumni Homecoming.
We will probably solicit some
financial contributions from you.
But meeting those targets should not
be a pre-condition for us and for you to
come for the homecoming.
Your mere presence will be enough
although financial contributions will be
appreciated.
We will let you know more about this
as we go along.
5.
A project involving search,
selection, recognition and award of
“Outstanding Alumni” is among those
suggested to be undertaken in connection
with the Grand Alumni Homecoming.
Rules and procedures that will govern
the selection of the awardees/recipients are
on the drawing boards.
The plan is, should the project
push-through, to hold the awarding
ceremonies during the Grand Alumni
Homecoming.
These
will be all for now.
Expect additional bulletins and
updates in the days to come.
Meanwhile, please circularize this
letter to as many of our fellow alumni as
possible.
Thank
you and best regards.
GREG
VELASQUEZ
Batch
69, OLLAAA President (2007-2008)