No longer a baby. Lynn in her school's 1920's themed CVT
I don’t know about you, but I absolutely dread the unavoidable fact that my kids are getting older, especially my daughters. I had mixed feelings when my eldest daughter turned teen, and I felt the said mixed feelings again when she went to her first prom as a G9 junior, which is the topic of this blog entry.Can’t my girls just stay little girls? You can grow up later, you know, like when you turn 40! But kidding aside, there is a good side to an event that usually gives nightmares to first-time fathers (but, interestingly, not so much to the stage-mother moms).
For starters, I actually work at the school she goes to, a great Montessori school in the Philippines with many campuses (the one I work in being the one in the Cagayan de Oro area). So needless to say, I’ve got my eye on her and everyone she’s around.
Secondly, the school doesn’t follow the west’s model of prom. Good thing too, as I grew up in the States and, well, you know, things can get a little naughty during prom time. Trust me, I know. But The Abba’s Orchard School (AOS for short) keeps it at a very wholesome level (no “boy asking girl to prom,” no slow dances, among others), which this father here greatly appreciates.
In fact, we don’t have use the name, “prom.” We call our event the CVT, or Celebration of Valediction and Turnover. Other than our deviation from the western model in name, the unique community-like structure of our school allows the ceremony to be different as well. Oh, and what a ceremony it was! Thanks to the juniors for the job well done (they organized this). Thanks also to Limketkai Luxe Hotel for being a great venue for our event.
The CVT, first and foremost, is a celebration of valediction for the seniors of the school. As a backgrounder, AOS is a very small school, numbering around 85 high school students all in all. The adolescents also have student-run businesses, and each of these are lead by the seniors, with the assistant leaders being the juniors, then with the sophomores and freshmen being the subordinates. The seniors also lead these groups during devotions, various chores (like cooking lunch for everybody when it’s their turn at the kitchen), and others. As you may be able to surmise, this setup virtually guarantees that AOS feels more like a community than a school (in fact, that’s one of our battle-cries). All the year levels, from G7 (where my 2nd child, Mesoo was) to G10 (the seniors) are all quite close.
Lynn and AJ, the junior students of the student-run business, Chickenlicious,
honoring their leaders, Bryan and Maria.
So the juniors in each business group stepped up on stage and gave moving tributes to the particular seniors who led their groups for the past 10 months. Some of the juniors shed tears in gratitude for the leaders’ hard work and friendship.
Mich presenting the "Key of Theatricality" to Lynn
But that is not all. This night is also a celebration of a Turnover: the seniors then gave the juniors “Keys of Responsibility.” Each senior has his or her strength, and then they look for juniors who share that same strength and then give them the “responsibility” of being the point-person for that trait when the community calls for it. After a short speech praising the junior for that trait, the various Key of Responsibilities are passed.For example, the most academically gifted senior passed on the “Key of Intelligence” to the most academically gifted person of the junior year; the funniest senior gave the “Key of Comicality” to the funniest junior; the senior with the most natural leadership skills serves as the leader of the whole school community (a huge responsibility), and he passed the “Key of Leadership” to the junior who possesses the most leadership potential (a very deserving Maria, whose BUY PINOY paper I featured in a recent blog entry).
My daughter, Lynn, received the “Key of Theatricality.” Mich, the previous owner of the key, praised her for her ability to sing, dance, act, and also praised her strong Christian faith; and ceremonially handed her that key, which I’m sure Lynn will treasure and do her best to uphold. In fact, we should be having a musical play soon, and Lynn is pretty excited for it.
Circle of Light. May they be the light of their generation
The parents witnessed all the festivities (except the dinner and the after-party), which also included dance numbers and a hilarious “class prophecy.” The night, however, ended on a very touching note. Mr. Chris Barrameda, the school director, then asked all the students to form a circle around him. Everyone held an unlit candle, but Mr. Chris held the one lit candle symbolizing Jesus, the Light of the world. He then asked the seniors to light their candles from his candle, symbolizing that they get their light from Christ, and they bring His light with them.He then asked the seniors to light the unlit candles of the juniors, symbolizing that indeed they are now going to be gone, and their final act of leadership is to turn over to the juniors the AOS community, the high school community that they have dutifully lead for the past 10 months. He then prayed for them: prayed for the seniors that they would be blessings wherever they go, and prayed for their juniors as they now step up to be the community leaders of the Abba’s Orchard School for the next three years (yes, THREE years, as Lynn and her group is the first batch under the K-12 program). That night was truly the Celebration of Valediction and Turnover.
I close with a video of one of the fun dance numbers, this particular one involving both the juniors and the seniors together. After that, I will flood your eyes with photos from the festivities. Enjoy.
Aaaaaaand here are the photos, lot's of em.
Pic with the family
Go girls!
Senior girls take center stage.
The senior boys
Hello good lookin'!
Bestowing the "Key Of Captaincy" to the new captain of one of the best soccer teams in the region, the AOS Ridgebacks.
Even in this pic, you can see the leadership gifts of this young man.
Escorted by two brothers
Some schools, have their "mean girls" on campus. I call them the "excellent girls." Yeah, doesn't have the same ring to it, but they're really made of amazing stuff and I look forward to their leadership.
Some of the senior girls
Some of the junior girls
Some of the hilarious junior boys
Some of the manly senior boys
Wacky pic: the seniors and the school directors
Wacky pic: the juniors and the school directors
Help me welcome the new leaders of the AOS high school community...for the next THREE YEARS!!
Wacky pic: the new leaders with the awesome AOS Erd faculty
This is the "Soap Opera" photo. Juniors with the team
Thank you for your leadership, seniors. It's been a roller coaster 10 months, but you pulled it off.
Be God's shining lights in college!
Wacky pic of the juniors with their awesome homeroom teacher: Ms. Jazzie
The Red Carpet
Selfie with the big boss? Why not?
I hope you enjoyed this rather lengthy post about a little milestone in the Alado family. We are not going to have a CVT for the next two years (nor a seniors retreat) because the G10's (which now include my daughter) will not graduate thanks to the new K-12 program. So the juniors will now be seniors for three years; and the seniors are now gone, trying their hand in various universities, some close to home, others the big universities in Manila, others are as far away as China and Germany. Godspeed my students, and it was an honor being your teacher.If you would like to know more about The Abba's Orchard School, feel free to look at all my blog posts about the school or visit their website. God bless you all.
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