I think I have a most unusual hobby in the world – I like to organize class reunions :-0.
Over the last 10 years, I had done 4 and one is coming up next week. Most are for my secondary and junior college class of 1982/84 and one for my university cohort. Each reunion gets more elaborate due to encouraging positive feedback. Generally, we have at least 100+ attendees except for the uni one that was only 28.
It started in 2012 as I was trying to find new meaning to my life after suddenly being retrenched from my 19 years at an American bank. I was busy trying to get interviews for a new job, doing more than 60+ one-on-one face-to-face interviews over 10 months. I needed something to relieve me of my job hunting stress.
Meanwhile, I had a lot of time on my hands in between interviews. Organizing reunions became a way to direct my energies away from the depression I was feeling after being cut off at my knees at the height of my banking career. I decided to throw myself into this new initiative and single handedly organized 2 reunions within a span of 3 months.
The first was in May 2012 and it was a smashing success as we had a good turn out (RI/RJC – May 2012). The second one for my uni batch (BizAd – Jul 2012) was less well received and we only had 28 people. We all had a good time for both gatherings as we reconnected with old childhood classmates again. The flow of food and drinks certainly helped.
This started my purpose driven motivation journey to organize more reunions. Seeing the happy faces of classmates who have not met for years suddenly laughing over the many crazy things we did as kids was so fulfilling for me. While the gathering is over in a few hours, the reconnections continued long after the event. Many who had left S’pore had also made their way back home just to attend the reunion and it really warms my heart.
It may be due to the fact that we are getting older as nostalgia becomes more important and there is a greater appreciation of it. Almost 40 years ago, we were young and carefree without a worry about the future. There was no handphones or computers and even internet in the 80’s. I sometimes wonder what we did in-between all the free time we had as social media and youtube videos were non-existent then.
My regret is that I should have done more in my student days with better time management. On hindsight, I had alway admired the ones that could do everything and were also all-rounders. Good at sports, studies and even had time to be a counselor. Amazing!! I wish I had a mentor to guide me then to help me optimize my full potential. I am trying to do that now as a mentor to undergrads to pay it forward to fill the gap I had then.
There were 2 more reunions in 2015 and 2016. Each became grander than the last as I gain experience in using social media like Facebook and roping in another person (KT) with the same motivations as myself to want to do it. We invest our time and effort on a pro bono basis and also bear the financial risk as we only collect payment at the door on the day of the event. If there is a surplus at the end of the day, it will be donated to the school fund for students. The amount may be small but it is the thought that counts.
For the 2015 reunion we featured a classmate who had an unusual life journey, taking a road less travelled. He went to Kenya to do charity work in 1995 and started a foundation to improve the lives of villagers in the Tana river delta region. He makes a trip back here annually to collect donated clothes and used school equipment to pack them into containers to ship back to Kenya for distribution to the people. A classmate suggested that he participate in the reunion to create greater awareness to his foundation. His higher calling is such a noble cause.
We decided to do another one in 2016 because it was the year we all turned 50, the halftime marker for us. We had a big birthday cake to celebration all our birthdays with some teachers whom we invited to join us. The Alumni office had managed to digitize our secondary school report cards and suggested that we print them as a unique personalized door gift for attendees. That was memorable, seeing my 13 year old face and my so-so exam results LOL…
After that reunion, we promised to take a break and do the next one 5 years later when we hit 55 and are able to touch our CPF monies. It was suppose to be in 2021 but then Covid happened. As we reached Jun 2022, KT and myself had the same thinking that maybe the time has come for the next reunion.
We polled our classmates to get a sense of interest and decided that there is enough momentum to go ahead. We decided to call it the “Post-CPF” reunion party now. The FB event page was created and we started a weekly marketing campaign to drum up interest via social media and email distribution lists. Hopefully, the messages go viral and the outreach is widened.
As of now, we expect about 110 to attend. Like previous ones, there could be a last minute surge in RSVPs that would make our logistic planning very tricky as we need to finalize everything, especially food, 3 days in advance.
Today is T minus 5 days to the reunion. We are at the final leg of planning and nearing the finishing line with many moving parts. We have a core group of volunteers that are critical to make this reunion a success. It is an invigorating experience to plan and hopefully our efforts are appreciated. Most importantly, everyone should have fun as we treasure the new fun moments with our childhood buddies. Auspicium Melioris Aevi!
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