A valuable school tradition regularly observed at least once a year is the alumni homecoming or reunion of graduates from all levels or different courses. This is a tradition that should be preserved for its many useful and laudable purposes benefitting both the school and its alumni. There is really more to an alumni homecoming or class reunion than merely being an occasion to brag about one’s accomplishments or to outshine each other in terms of who is more “successful” or to find out whether one looks younger or older or still more beautiful or handsome than his/her former classmates.
The occasion should actually be considered as a great opportunity for alumni, like most of us, to return and express our appreciation and gratitude to our alma mater which has been primarily instrumental in preparing us academically and to some extent, even morally, to pursue our chosen careers after we finished schooling and stepped out into the outside world.
It is likewise an occasion to reminisce and possibly relive those innocent years in our lives when we were full of idealisms and when we could readily absorb the principles that would serve as our useful guide in our professional and personal life. It is a time to pause, reflect and find out whether we are still on the right path or whether we have reached our goals without sacrificing the principles learned during those years in school; to look at where we are going and get back on the right road if we have strayed; to ascertain where we have succeeded and where we have failed not for ruing on our failures but for using them as stepping stones towards eventual success.
Holding class reunion or alumni homecoming is also an opportunity to renew and reinforce old ties forged during those times in our lives when bonding lasted longer because people were truer to their word and firmer in their commitments. It is an occasion to reminisce those years when we were not burdened with heavy problems in life and when our worries were mostly confined in the classrooms particularly the intense grilling of our strict professors. It is a time to be young again, to relive those years when life was simpler, more relaxed and at a slower pace, so that instead of getting old we will simply grow old; that instead of “adding years to our life we will add life to our years”, as we advance in age.
Among the schools that has preserved and observed this tradition faithfully is the Ateneo de Manila University, particularly its School of Law. Year in and year out, a batch of graduates take charge of preparing for the affair and ensuring that it will be a most meaningful and memorable event to the legal eagles who will be flying back to the nest where their strong and durable wings have been nurtured.
Hosting this year’s homecoming celebrations is Ateneo Law School Class 1988. Since 2003 or almost ten years ago, the batch has already been meeting eagerly and enthusiastically to discuss what seemed to be a mind blowing task of hosting a reunion because of the high standards set by the Ateneo Alumni for their homecoming affairs. In fact in 2008 they even organized themselves into a private corporation known as Ateneo Law ’88 Inc. so that the batch will have a separate and distinct juridical personality from each of the batch members with a capacity to acquire and possess property and incur obligations as they embark on various fund raising projects for legal and social services aside from the time honored tradition of holding and hosting an alumni homecoming.
Ateneo Law ’88 Inc. is headed by Raul G. Gerodias as President, Antonio M. Bernardo as Honorary Chairman, Gil Roberto L. Zerrudo, Vice President for External Affairs, Roweena Ann S. Fernadez-Mendoza, Vice President for Internal Affairs, Maria Paulita S. Sta Ana-Sales, Corporate Secretary, Teresita R. Tam-Yap, Treasurer. Comprising the Board of Trustees are the aforementioned regular corporate officers and Maria Luisa C. Africa Estella, Earl Hans S. Santos and Eugenio H. Villareal. Aside from the foregoing officers and trustees, the other members of the 2012 Organizing Committees are Antonio A. Ligon, Maria Corazon Perpetua M.R. Alvarez-Adriano, Danilo D. Barrameda and Juanita H. Sy.
Sometime in October 2011, batch 88 held a final brainstorming session focusing this time on the homecoming and its theme. After considering several themes, what won out was the group’s original spirit and desire to “Make a Difference” (MAD). And since at that time the iconic “i” was used before any meaningful word, the brainstormers finally adopted “iMAD” or “iMake a Difference” as the homecoming theme.
Raul Gerodias batch President in explaining the theme said that “ working hard, playing hard and living hard” may be a formula for success, but we in Class “88 add another ingredient: legacy. We challenge ourselves and all of you – bearers of the good and noble Ateneo name and heritage – to be truly men and women for others, to be MAD, to make a difference.
So Class ’88 is inviting all Ateneo Law School alumni to the iMAD 2012 Ateneo Law Alumni Homecoming on Friday next week July 20, 2012 from 5:30 p.m. at the NBC Tent Fort Bonifacio Global City. It will be an evening of music and dancing with special guest performers Marie Rachelle Gerodias, the Philippines most award winning soprano, stage actors Sheila Valderrama and Loy Martinez with the Highway 54 band providing the upbeat music. Honorees during the affair are classes 1962, 1972 and 1987. At least worth mentioning here are some prominent golden jubilarians from class ’62, the most senior among the batches who continue to make a difference even at the sunset of their lives like Fr. Joaquin Bernas, retired SC Justice Adolf Azcuna, former Congressman Mike Romero, and lawyers Crispino Reyes, LoyTolosa, and Cesario Azucena.
Tickets at P1,000 each are available at the Ateneo Law Alumni Office Rockwell, Makati City. Please contact Jennielyn at 0923 527 7602. Beneficiaries are Waterhope, a collaborative social enterprise, and the scholarship programs of the Ateneo Law Alumni.
To all Ateneo Law Alumni, people know that you and I make a difference (iMAD). So let’s celebrate. See you next Friday, July 20, 2012 from 5:30 p.m. at the NBC Tent Fort Bonifacio Global City for our 2012 homecoming.
Our email addresses: attyjosesison@gmail.com and jcson@pldtdsl.net