Queen Elizabeth College | Graduation Ball 2016 | Semper Sosores Cato San Frontiers
A TOUCH OF ROYALTY
It was 5:30pm and the sun started to sink lower in the sky, the light of day draining away, and giving way to the velvety dark of night. The air was mildly damp and cool leaving goose bumps on our arms from the winter evening of the Mauritian July. The green shrubbery now looked almost black, silhouetted, colors muted, as if they had been drained away by an invisible hand- as if the artists' palette had been changed.
The wind howled lightly as the students arrive through the gates, hustling and bustling up the yellow-lights lined staircases.
Graduation Ball is one of the biggest balls of the year and perhaps your final chance to celebrate with all your friends from the last seven years. The Graduation Ball is the glittering climax of a completed school career – as well as being a particular highlight after the final year exams.
The biggest event in the student calendar, the graduation ball is an important way of celebrating the end of our final year exams before moving onto the next stage of life and thanks to our Alumnae, the Semper Sorores- Cato San Frontiers, our batch was bestowed with that pleasure. Pulled together within 5 weeks, what an event it was!
It is indeed ironic that we spend our school days yearning to graduate and our remaining days waxing nostalgic about our school days. ~Isabel Waxman
Greeted firstly by faces we had last seen on January 28th, exactly 6 months, the girls, most importantly now sisters greeted each other with a tight hug or a playful peck. The Queens stood, tall and proud, confidence born of experience. The excited chatter of some hundred voices hummed like an orchestra of a pleasant vibe.
With such damsels under a roof, it is always a place of unrestrained joy. The dresses lit up the winter's night, a riot of colour to rival any gardener's paradise. Music filled the air, festive beats lifted the spirits. And with the usual laughter and cheering, it was a time to celebrate being alive, celebrate the wonders of creation and be one with the community.
This time, there were no bustling corridors, cluttered classrooms, noisy chatter or sequence where the teacher enters, the hush descends, the register called, and the day begins. No math, literature, geography, science; homework forgotten, homework lost, homework crumpled in bottom of bag, dog ate homework, baby puked on homework- this time there was no excuses because everyone was there for a party!
It was 5:30pm and the sun started to sink lower in the sky, the light of day draining away, and giving way to the velvety dark of night. The air was mildly damp and cool leaving goose bumps on our arms from the winter evening of the Mauritian July. The green shrubbery now looked almost black, silhouetted, colors muted, as if they had been drained away by an invisible hand- as if the artists' palette had been changed.
The wind howled lightly as the students arrive through the gates, hustling and bustling up the yellow-lights lined staircases.
Graduation Ball is one of the biggest balls of the year and perhaps your final chance to celebrate with all your friends from the last seven years. The Graduation Ball is the glittering climax of a completed school career – as well as being a particular highlight after the final year exams.
The biggest event in the student calendar, the graduation ball is an important way of celebrating the end of our final year exams before moving onto the next stage of life and thanks to our Alumnae, the Semper Sorores- Cato San Frontiers, our batch was bestowed with that pleasure. Pulled together within 5 weeks, what an event it was!
It is indeed ironic that we spend our school days yearning to graduate and our remaining days waxing nostalgic about our school days. ~Isabel Waxman
Greeted firstly by faces we had last seen on January 28th, exactly 6 months, the girls, most importantly now sisters greeted each other with a tight hug or a playful peck. The Queens stood, tall and proud, confidence born of experience. The excited chatter of some hundred voices hummed like an orchestra of a pleasant vibe.
With such damsels under a roof, it is always a place of unrestrained joy. The dresses lit up the winter's night, a riot of colour to rival any gardener's paradise. Music filled the air, festive beats lifted the spirits. And with the usual laughter and cheering, it was a time to celebrate being alive, celebrate the wonders of creation and be one with the community.
A set of 7 stalks collected off the Pine Trees of our nest’s Jurassic Park, laid majestically on our tables to remind us the greenery of our Alma Mater! It was an utterly symbolic gesture that caved us all into the green nature we used look forward as we rode to school in our green tunics.
Next, a poem that was composed to embroider around the theme of 7 stalks and QEC values was a heart winner. It really flooded our hearts and souls with so many varied emotions. That poem sat on the verso side of the menu on our tables at dinner.
The air tasted so heavenly with the food alongside the parade, every delicious thing ready to be shared with friends.
After the party, on Facebook, I read on our Queen Mother's post the following: "If I could summarise the evening with just one comment, it would be related to what Jasen, the professional photographer had to say to me as he was furiously trying to snap all the various hubs of buzzing excitement happening all over the premises of the Royal gardens. Bearing in mind that it was an alcohol free event, he said to me at a very early stage in the evening...'hein, Doc.. Si zot koumsa lor Ju.. papa oh!!" And it was such a pleasant read as it really demystifies the idea that most have about QEC girls not being party poppers at all!
And then, did came the time in the candle lit room where stood princesses and queens all in a sepulchral sisterhood. And did it felt like a real coronation for all the princesses? Ask any one of the new Queens!
Each one ready to make a pledge to how they would help as newborn Queen in their lifetimes.
The flame, she was a precious gift of the Creator's light, a pure soul. When she cried they shed tears too, her cries were to be expected. This child was freshly arrived from heaven; being further away from the Creator wasn't easy and it was their job to fill her with so much love that she could be happy on Earth - safe and content in the knowledge that not only her parents, but her entire extended family loved her and watched over her. The baby was passed from person to person, each holding her, cuddling her, before carefully placing her into the arms of a trusted other. The ceremony was beautiful beyond measure, not in expensive flowers or fancy food, but in the sharing of genuine heartfelt emotion.
And then the flashmob started, and when they did, they flowed in the dance as if it were the only way their body truly knew how to speak.
Their movements flowed with a dazzling grace that took away the breath of every person in the audience.
And on the dance floor, we could see each others soul become one with the music.
To dance over the floor barefoot is one such pleasure in life especially with High School friends, that no one would want to miss it.
Their movements flowed with a dazzling grace that took away the breath of every person in the audience.
"Our utmost gratitude goes to SS, those working Queens, Alumnae from before 2015, who financially sponsored the little princesses' tickets , who made time in their hectic family and professional schedules in the middle of the week, because they espouse the philosophy of giving back to their Alma Mater, the honour that is bestowed by its values.
Long live QEC!" - Zee
Long live QEC!" - Zee
Dear Upper 6 2k15 Queens, you aren't simply good friends, you are bond sisters. Our batch has seen so many ups and downs together and we all know how much it strengthen our bond with each other.
You have become part of my soul, in a way that I truly feel sad about not having the Queen Elizabeth College as a tertiary institution legacy as well.
On this note, with the success of exams and then graduation, comes more challenges and opportunities in life. Face them both with the same zeal and determination as you have always done. Congratulations on your graduation and best wishes for your future life, queens!
You are brilliant, able, and ambitious. You shall always walk the glory road. Happy graduation. I bless you with all that you need to earn many more achievements and feats in life ahead.
You are brilliant, able, and ambitious. You shall always walk the glory road. Happy graduation. I bless you with all that you need to earn many more achievements and feats in life ahead.
Dear QEC, when life became a storm you were the boat that kept the briny water from entering my lungs. You were love when weI needed it and we thank you with all that we are. Yet this storm isn't over; the winds rage, seek to crush what they can never be.
There is such sadness in leaving a place of strong love, a place where fond memories grew as fast as the clover in the grass. We know we will savour each memory so strongly that it will almost live once more. We know that the strands of love will keep us together even when we are far apart. We only have to reach out with my mind and there you are, waiting to shower me with the love you always did. But right now it is our time to depart, to do what we were born to do, to make the changes and the sacrifices that are necessary. Don't think that us leaving means we love you less, know that it means we love you more.
We are never leaving each other, physically we may be tuned apart, but we'll keep visiting. We promise. Soulfully, we are eternally bound, love.
“Prom night can be a special night, if you let it be. I know you think it’s for losers and something popular kids do because they are boring people with porcelain hearts who don’t know what it means to be lonely. But you’re wrong.” –Eugene Mirman, The Will to Whatevs: A Guide to Modern Life
