This is the official blog of Maryknoll College High School Batch ’88. In this site you will see the various activities and gimmicks of our batchmates all around the world! Keep us updated, girls!
Posted in welcome
Written by Tina Soliman-Zamora
Photos by Tina Zamora Photography
1. A great core group of organizers!
We are the most blessed batch in MCHS because of our batch leaders who gave us all their time, prayers and resources just to have a wonderful reunion. Maite Defensor, our batch head, led the pack composed of Donna Pangilinan-Simpao, Diana Antonio, Cherry Andres, Rhea Rosales, Nana Abello-Estrera, Jane Ramos, Rina Vera Cruz… Just from this list, you know you’re going to have a great reunion.
2. An intimate place
The Lounge of The Malayan Plaza was the perfect venue for the reunion because it was big enough to hold everyone and yet intimate enough for everyone to catch up on old times. This was the skyline from the venue’s balcony..
3. A blog and an Event in Facebook
This blog was set up before the reunion to post articles written by batchmates. The event in Facebook was created by Karo Abilla-Asistio.
4. Games
Almost all the classes made trivia games to remind all of us..that we need memory enhancers! Hahaha! Trying to remember the most popular brand of sneakers (Tretorn), the name of our CAT Commandant (Oscar Lucero) and the most athletic student (Christine Duque..where is she?!) was so much fun!
5. Singers
Having Opera Singer Karla Gutierrez and Miss Saigon’s Meliza Reyes is such a blessing to the batch! Sali na rin natin si singer/dentist/video editor Rhea Rosales 
6. Great food
La Comida served a delicious menu which became more delicious with Wholly Cow beef from Diana and Cherry.
7. Alcohol
I think this is why we laughed harder than usual..
8. Sponsors
We’d like to thank Pond’s for sponsoring the event. They set up the Photo Wall, a Pond’s counter selling discounted products.. In our 25th reunion, Pond’s needs to check if they really defied our aging! Thanks to Citibank for those tempting card applications. Thanks to Erika Ludan for her Fibersweet products.. everyone went home with a yellow goodie bag of her stuff!
9. Photo Wall and an official photographer
I think this was the greatest idea for the girls to work it, work it! Can’t believe it was just planned a few days before the event, right Donna? Shout out to Dennis Zamora, my hubby, for listening to the girls whine that they were too fat in the pictures (girls will aways be girls) but turned out to be truly gorgeous. Just check out the Facebook comments from all over the world!! No Photoshop.. just real beauty from the girls!
10. Conversations about old times
Nana, the host, always had to tell everyone to keep quiet when a number was up. You just can’t stop everyone from catching up with everyone else.
11. Memorabilia
Susan Rola-Javier brought her 4-4 jacket and Arlizza Pabalan-de Leos brought her yearbook and scrapbook. Waaaaah! Rhea even brought her “mirror ball” and laser lights from the ’80s…it actually worked..
12. Brad Pitt
As Rhea Rosales promised, Brad was there to brighten up our night!
13. Michelle, talking about her prom dress and prom date
This was so impromptu! Mitch, according to the Facebook comments, you should takes this up as a career. Sorry girls, there was no video!
14. Prayer
A miraculous thing happened with my Macbook charger! It was the only charger running my Mac and Donna’s Mac that night. I knew it already was kinda broken but I was too cheap to replace it ASAP. Anyway, in the middle of the program, it stopped working! Since our batteries were low, both Macs shut down. Videos were stored in Donna’s Mac. We prayed over that charger and of course, by the Lord’s faithfulness, it worked and everyone got to see the videos Donna prepared! Amen!
15. Videos
And now for the tear jerker of the evening! The great Rhea and the class 4-6 asked their classmates from around the Philippines and around the world to send in videos of themselves, singing “Somewhere out There” privately. When the 4-6 Manila girls started singing that night, they played a video of “An American Tale” where the song was the soundtrack so everyone would think that was the only video. Then after 2 stanzas, the images of the LA girls appeared singing with the 4-6 Manila girls! Then came the Davao video and the New Zealand video, etc… Talk about a crying festival for everyone in Manila!
We also showed the different videos Rhea made and The Journey performance during the homecoming.
16. Laughter
Aside from laughing at Michelle Petines, everyone laughed about…anything! We were just laughing and laughing and laughing. It’s the kind of laughter that you have with people you share special memories with.
17. Souvenirs
Thanks to Cherry, we had great tea cup souvenirs!
18. 80′s music
Gone are our mixed tapes and walkman, ladies! Rhea and Donna had their iPods out with the very best of ’80′s music. The class of 4-5 even had a Name that Tune game Nana, “Miss Me Blind” yun, hindi “I Know You Miss Me”!
19. Tears
See number 15!
20. A Plan for the Next Reunion
As our batch head Maite pointed out, we have plans for MORE reunions! There’s Caroling, there are special seminars the batchmates can give (can’t wait for the yoga sessions, Sonya) and more.
After posting some of the pictures in Facebook, the comments that came in from everywhere made me realize that we did not just touch each other’s lives but other people’s lives as well. We received comments from our favorite History teacher, Gilbert Braganza (can’t believe this was his first job!..terrorized na siguro yun), from the husbands of our batchmates telling us how pretty we all are (syempre kasama ang mga wives nila dun), from our batchmates from Grade 7 batch ’84 (Thanks for coming Ge Z. and Joy R.!), from the family of batchmates and co-Maryknollers from other batches, distinctly remembering how fun our batch was. WOW! Our high school life (o tama na, wag kumanta ng Sharon Cuneta song) is really imprinted in our hearts forever. Until the next reunion. Keep in touch through this blog!
by Tina Soliman-Zamora (4-4)
Calling all MCHS ’88 Pack Rats! Do you still have your yellow Maryknoll ID Card? How about your pressed corsage from the prom?! I just started looking and here’s what I dug up.. a cut out from The Maryknoller with me and Ann Mendoza manning the Dedication Booth during the HS Fair.
So open those closets and boxes and let the memories come out.. send your pictures to info@tinazamora.com or in our Yahoo Group! For those going to the Reunion tomorrow at The Malayan Plaza, bring your memorabilia along and win some prizes!
Written by Atty. Zona Russett Tamayo
Back in 1988, Class 4-2 was an assortment of multi-talented young girls, who were all raring to face life’s challenges after high school. Though there may be petty conflicts due to their individual preferences and strong convictions, coupled by the stubbornness which was but natural during adolescence, what made Class 4-2 united was their love for music and the arts. Thus, the annual MCHS MusicFest was an event each member of the class looked forward to.
Twenty years later, members of Class 4-2 may view life differently from how they have perceived it during high school. And though family or profession have caused them to take separate roads, they know in their hearts that, no matter what, the friendship remains.
And as they say of friendship, “Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts; and we are never, ever the same.” Truly, MCHS Class 4-2 Batch 1988 made the journey through high school meaningful and the friendships built then made the big difference.
Written by Daphne Sison-Soriano (4-6) and Imelda Tulio-Silvestro (4-6)
Photos by Ann Mendoza (4-4)
Batch ’88 of MCHS had their 20th year reunion in the WEST COAST! Dinner was set at Roy’s Fusion Cuisine in Anaheim, California followed by an all girl’s night chat at Ayres Hotel. Dinner started at 7 pm and 14 beautiful ladies walked in ready to share their wonderful memories in highschool and to catch up on their accomplishments and experiences for the past 20 years. The attendees were Jo Alberto- all the way from Mexico, Ann Mendoza- all the way from Chile, Irene Galang from San Rafael California, Judy Minosa from Northrdige Ca, Florita Capulong from Burbank Ca, Catherine Puerto from Tacoma WA, Heliza Ann Pastor from Illinois, Cristine Manapat from San Jose Ca, Noralyn Mendoza fro Cerritos Ca, Kit Del Rosario-Villareal from Long Beach Ca, Abby De Joya from Glendale Ca, Daphne Sison from Irvine Ca, Jinky Ruiz-Brion from Glendora Ca and Imelda Tulio-Silvestro fro Chino Ca.
It was a blast to see everyone and we all had our senior pictures blown up by Abby. We reminisced on all our shenanigans from the bivouac days, retreats, songfests and highschool fairs. We tested our memories with the Trivia questions prepared by Ime and everyone had a great time racking their brains to answer question like who was our Student Supervisor? and the like. Ann had her professional camera and so we were able to have our pictures taken with beautiful results. It showed all the fun and great time we had with each other. After dinner- some of us headed down to Ayres Hotel where Daphne turned bartender had our cocktail drinks ever ready. Food provided by Abby from Porto’s. With alcohol mixed in the group we rounded up with all our experiences in love, marriage, work and life in general. It was a great time with a group of ladies who 20 years ago were ready to set out and conquer the world and now, 20 years later each of us did conquer the world in our own right. Till the next reunion- we love you all and the school that brought us all together!
You are invited to celebrate with all the familiar faces that you have missed over the years. Come and join us as we renew friendships, reminisce about days gone by and share life experiences both past and present.
Date: November 8, 2008 (7 pm)
Place: The Lounge, 33F Malayan Plaza, ADB Avenue, Ortigas Center, Philippines
RSVP: info@tinazamora.com or donnasimpao@gmail.com
Attire: Casual Chic
Our talented dentist slash video artist, Rhea Rosales, created these AVPs for the Homecoming this year. Can you spot yourself in the video?
And as if that wasn’t wonderful enough, she then made this video entitled 20 years after… we are as beautiful as we were 20 years ago, girls!
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