High School Banquet

The high school spring banquet has been my life for the last month.  This event is the equivalent of an American school’s prom!  There is much to plan for, including communication with the hotel, deciding on decorations, shopping & purchasing items, printing and receiving back permission slips, keeping track of money, having performance auditions, among many other things.

My wonderful teachers and chaperones for the evening.
The high school principal is on the far right in the back.

This semester, the student council has been faithfully working on the theme, decorations, schedule, performances, and games for the evening.  Throughout this process, for me as the student council advisor, there have been many handholding opportunities, many redirecting moments, and several times where I get to stand back and watch them work out the problems themselves.  The student council has been a joy to watch grow in this way! 

I had mentioned in my last blog about the hic-up with the hotel earlier last week.  While we were setting up for the banquet, there seemed to be a few more of those, unfortunately.   Damian and I got to the hotel by 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, and after some persuasion and clarification in Chinese, we were able to use the underground parking and private elevator to carry all of our music equipment and decorations to the 5^th floor banquet hall.  We had hen duo dongxi (a lot of stuff)!  

The lovely president and vice president of student council.

By 2:00, we got all of our equipment to the right place, but the previous banquet was not finished.  There were still people eating (and smoking), and the tables were just then being cleaned up.  All of my helpers arrived on time, but the hotel just was not ready for us. 

Set-up went from 2:00 – 5:00, and in some ways, all the way up until students arrived at 6:00.  During this time, there was a payment issue with the hotel that was resolved by the hotel literally saying, “Ok, you can do that this time, but maybe not next time.”   To which, I smiled as I realize everything works out in China. 

Damian, being silly for the camera set up.

These boys ALWAYS make me laugh. 

Sam! Our awesome tech supporting teacher for the evening.

At 6:00, students arrived to the Candyland Banquet.  They were greeted by a colorful board game floor, which met them at the elevator, and navigated them through the hallways.  They were welcomed by a beautiful photo-backdrop, and a large banquet hall, complete with color, candy, and an international buffet! 

Our BU FAY! As my Grandpa Mancuso would say.

The Jazz Band!!

Some 10th grade girls!

The opening game decided which tables would eat first.  During and shortly after dinner, there were performances by the school’s jazz band as well as students singing Korean and American music.  The intermission was a life-sized Candyland board game that could have been chaotic, but the student council pulled it off well. 


Then we had round 2 of student performances, including some crazy yo-yo tricks!  After this, there was chubby bunny, and the winners of “Princess Lolly” and “Lord Licorice.”  Lastly, there was the abstract by fun “runway” game, where students had to dress in crazy outfits and accessories to win a prize.  It didn’t really fit the theme, but everyone seemed to love it.  The evening ended at 10:30, with some extra picture-taking and snagging some last minute candy. 

With the help of student council and the chaperoning staff, we were able to be cleaned up, packed up, and out of there by 11:00.   On my way out, Damian caught me to congratulate me on an evening well done. 

In his words, the event was perfect and much improved on by the student council.  As someone who likes affirmation in my work, that’s all I needed to hear to know that I did a good job, and that student council’s work had really paid off.

Some Freshmen Girls

However, I am very glad that the student council was able to learn so much from this experience, and that my part in planning the banquet paid off.  I am also very glad that the students had a fun and memorable time at the banquet—the last banquet for many students whom I’ve come to know and love.  

I’m thrilled to say that the evening was much better than expected, and even more so… that it’s over.  I can now focus on the other parts of my job that suffered because of the time spent on the banquet.  

Each table was named after a certain candy.
Here, Hannah is showing off her
larger than life size Nerds!

We had a couple birthdays to celebrate also,
so the hotel brought out a couple cakes!