"We make great things happen!"

Return trip to Manila

The hectic Cebu-Bohol trip ended on a very nice note with a short flight from the small Tagbilaran airport and back to Manila on December 14^th – none the worse for wear and with many happy memories of the trip to the land of the Sugbuanons and Bol-anons.

Practice, practice and practice again and again.

The final rehearsal for our class presentation was carried out earnestly at the actual dance studio of our dance instructors – with its wall-to-wall long mirrors.  The whole dance routine and the entire 10 minute presentation were practiced over and over – again and again.  Mistakes were inevitable and corrected again and again.

The Legacy Dinner, USTMAAA cooperative venture and signing of the Memorandum of Agreement.

That evening, our Foundation hosted everyone especially the donors and benefactors to our Ruby Legacy to a formal dinner at Makati-Shangrila.  The occasion was graced by the presence of key individuals from the UST Faculty of Medicine and Surgery and the USTMAAA.  We witnessed the beginning of a cooperative venture with USTMAAA to the tune of a $25000 Class'67 donation as approved during our foundation meeting in Las Vegas on July 4, 2007 in an effort to safeguard our capability to provide for another legacy to our Alma Mater during our Golden Jubilee. This donation was enthusiastically accepted by Dr. Stella Salgado, Executive Director of the USTMAAA Foundation. The MOA (Memorandum of Agreement)* was signed by our Foundation officers and Dean Gonzaga and Fr. Regent Cabading and then we all participated in a Christmas gift exchange as orchestrated by our host classmates.

UST Medicine Homecoming

The following morning (December 16^th), we all found our way to the main medicine building and its main auditorium and attended the high mass celebrated by the acting rector Fr. Dela Rosa.  This was followed by the traditional ceremony honoring the various Jubilarians and of course, the ubiquitous photo-ops finished off by the customary Filipiniana brunch at the Quadriennial Square (behind the Liberal Arts building) – the old site of the cooperative store which has been long gone and then another bus ride to Shangrila-Makati.

USTMAA Grand Ball

The culmination of our jubilee reunion activities, the USTMAA Grand Ball finally arrived that evening.  We all came dressed in our ruby-themed regalia – long ruby-red gowns with trains for the ladies and tuxedoes with ruby-red bowties, hankies and cummerbunds for the gents.  We all listened to the long-winded speeches (won’t they ever cut these speeches short?) and watched and enjoyed the various class presentations.  When our turn came up, we gave it all our best – the ultimate coming together of all the efforts that each one of us put out from both sides of the Pacific (and even across the Atlantic – Isa and Orjan Berlin from Sweden). Following our beautiful presentation, we all rushed to the winding stairway at the grand lobby of Shangrila-Makati and had another class photo for posterity.