We recently celebrated our first Foundation Fundraising dinner in three years. It was an uplifting, inspiring student-hosted event, focusing on our community impact on inspiring a better world through the Alice Smith Foundation. In this week’s Secondary Blog, our students and Senior English Prefects, Freida Foong and Aaliya Ibrahim paint a picture of a delightful evening and its wider purpose.
The air sparked with a combination of nervous and excited anticipation as students made their way to the Lecture theatre on Friday, 26th May. It was here that we registered our attendance before boarding the buses designated to carry us to the Pullman Hotel where we would be stationed for the rest of the night.
Having signed up beforehand for the roles we would each take, the students segregated themselves into the roles of serving and reception. Those in the serving category were responsible for serving guests beverages during the mocktail / cocktail interim and the three courses during the dinner itself whilst those in ‘reception’ were in charge of greeting guests as they entered and introducing them to the opportunity to place a bid for handcrafted art pieces made by fellow Alice Smith students.
PTA members and Ms Susan Wan took the reception committee aside and explained the rules and procedures which we were to follow whilst simultaneously disseminating information about the Foundation that we had to be aware of. This briefing really enabled Aaliya and I to learn more about the Foundation itself, its initiation date and the charities we support. To summarise, The Alice Smith School Foundation was founded on the 1st of November 2018, dedicated to philanthropic work, involving the donation to charities and the upkeep of the school in the long term.
During this briefing, we were also tasked with selling raffle tickets, with the purchased tickets being placed into a large bowl to be drawn out at the end of the night. After the serving and reception team's briefings had concluded, the students enjoyed a hearty buffet meal at around 4pm, kindly arranged for by the hotel and school. And thus, the countdown began – only 2 hours until the spotlight was on us.
As we neared the end of the event, the last calls were made for the purchase of Raffle tickets before the final announcement for the lucky winners was made. The prizes were sure to impress the guests as products ranged from flashing jewellery to discount holiday locations for the summer. Soon after, our MCs Kieve Cheong, and Thasya Thevandran took to the stage with cue cards at the ready, and gave a wonderful introduction to Su Hwa Wei, our alumni’s performance, before taking their final bow. Before mentioning our moments during the performance, Kieve Chong provided us with his reflection on his first experience as MC and told us “I really loved the vivacious atmosphere that the esteemed guests and students created – it made emceeing just that much more enjoyable.”. This vivacious atmosphere continued through the performance of ‘Stand By Me’ as all the Year 12’s were released from their serving duties and gathered together at the back to sing along. With that the formal Foundation Fundraising Dinner was complete. However, the experience did not end there. An impromptu dance train led the Year 12’s to the lower stage as they enjoyed the songs by the DJ of the night. A fleeting, yet joyous moment.
Looking back, everyone involved in the Foundation Fundraising Dinner contributed to creating good for the community. The surprising number of raffle ticket sales boosted the support we, as a school, have given to the Kechara Soup Kitchen, Free Tree Society and the Gibbon Conservation Society; as well as the money we have raised to support the successful and sustainable long-term future of our school.
Thank you to all staff, students and community members involved in supporting such an important event in our school calendar and such a pivotal milestone in our students’ journey at Alice Smith.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend!
Maria Osowiecki
Secondary Principal