The strong alumni ties

In the past few months I have attended several reunion gatherings of graduates from Sacred Heart Canossian College, my previous place of work, and Pui Ching, the one I am now working with. The ex-students have left school for decades, the oldest already celebrating the Golden Jubilee of their graduation.

 Though I have not taught all of them, especially the senior groups in PC, I appreciate their attachment to and fond memories of their alma mater. Many have been studying and working abroad all their lives. But when summoned to the gatherings, they put everything aside and made their return, notwithstanding the long hours of travel.

I am particularly impressed by the efficiency and dedication of the organizers. I wonder how they managed to contact the classmates, not everyone though, scattered all over the world. It must have been months or even years of work reestablishing the links and collecting responses to the call. It would have been far more difficult years ago before the invention of the internet.

Yesterday evening I attended yet another reunion gathering. About forty Sacred Heartists were celebrating their Silver Jubilee. I could still recognize most of the faces, which had not changed much, but I could hardly recall their names. They crowded round us teachers asking if we could still remember them and telling how grateful they were for our teaching and guidance. Now mothers, or probably teachers themselves, they were like the young teenage girls they had been decades before, chatting and cheering with excitement. That was natural as they had endless stories to tell one another about the years after their separation. They had also brought back memories of my days in Sacred Heart. Those were the days!

As time goes by, there will be more and more of these alumni gatherings. Seeing the familiar faces and learning about their achievements, we feel gratified. It is particularly consoling to find one or two who used to be the least outstanding in class, now faring very well in society with their professional expertise. This is perhaps the most rewarding part of the teaching career.

There are times when I feel weighed down with responsibilities, but when I think of the joyful faces of the ex-students, I am motivated to strive harder, knowing that the teenagers in my care now will one day return to their Alma Mater and share with us their brilliance as pillars of society.