Thursday, February 21, 2008

The Series of great events





YuanXiao

Being the 15th day of the Lunar New Year, called YuanXiao or the lantern festival, Mrs Lim told the school the story behind the day and why we were about to eat TangYuan. TangYuan is a Glutinous rice ball filled with peanut or sesame seeds.
Next, Mr Victor Ong, proceeded and announced that the whole school was going to eat TangYuan, all 1400 of us simultaneously and make a record. After a short "3, 2, 1, MONTFORT!" everyone ate their own share of TangYuan while a Chinese Newspaper recorded the event. After this momentous event, the school headed for the school hall, where more was in store for them.


Sports, sports, sports!


After everyone had settled down, Mr Yeo spoke about humility. Stating that Jesus washing the feet of his disciples was a sign of humility, he said that when the teachers gave out the TangYuan, they too were showing a sign, or act of humility.

Mr Faizan took over, and said that the sporting spirit in the school was very much alive, like the sporting spirit of Singapore, as it was bidding for the First Youth Olympic Games. A bid that was successful, after the results were announced at the Padang in the evening.

First up on stage were the rugby boys. Mr Toh said that the rugby boys of the opponents school stated that they would 'thrash us 80-0', but our giants proved them down right wrong and took them down 38-17.

Mr Faizan was back, together with the sepak takraw boys. The sepak takraw was created last year and after they lost their first two games, Mr Faizan challenged them to win their last, and they did so. The B Division team showed the Montfortian sporting spirit and defeated Naval Base Secondary 15-12.

Mdm Nora came up with the badminton boys next. Montfort were the North Zone Champions of both B and C division, a great triumph. In the finals, the C division beat Singapore Sports School 4-1 and the B division boys beat Sports School 5-0! These results were greeted by loud cheers from the whole school.

Mr Simen's Brithday Celebrations
Mr Yeo stepped on to the stage and said that there was going to be community singing, by Mr Ong, Mr Azman, Mr Edwin Lee and Mr Yeo himself. They sung a original tune, titled dede, because when they wrote the song, they did not know what to call it, and called it dede which was what was played on the guitar. The first verse went:

There was a man
His name was Simen
and Simen says
We'll take you high
How high my friend
Up 36K
The air is thin
I cannot breath
BUT......hallelujah (x2)
He brought us to
A land of Giants
He showed us how
To be a Man.
What kind of man
A gentleman
A Man for Others
and a leader too
AND...hallelujah (x2)
He crafts a plan
with his masterhand
We're on a quest
to the promised land.
He'll take us there
We're right on track
Take a look around
(hey there, why are you not singing)
Why're you so glum
Happy Birthday x4

A note from the badminton team stated that the team wishes our principal a happy birthday, and would continue to win trophies for our supportive and sporting principal.

The drumline, teachers and councilors greeted Mr Simen a belated birthday as he got onto the stage for the cake cutting ceremony.

He said " Colleagues, gentlemen. I'm overwhelmed and didn't expect this. You shouldn't have done it. But it's a very nice gesture. I would like to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart. My wish is for all of you to be self-disciplined, focused and to perform well in whatever you do. That is the formula for success. I wish that we all could be successful. Including the staff."

He then proceeded to cut his cake and everyone sang the birthday song for him. He did agree for a half day, although we would not have it today, as we had one on 19th Feb.

Youth Olympics
At about 7.15 in the evening, the president of the IOC (international Olympic Committee), Jacpues Rogge, announced that Singapore was going to host the very first Youth Olympics in 2010. This was welcomed by thousands who gathered in the Padang, including Prime Minister Lee. I'm sure everyone in Singapore is very proud of this achievement.

This has been an eventful day for all and will definitely be remembered for years to come.



By Alvin Lim and Brian Theng, 2E4

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Indeed winning the Youth Olympics hosting is like a call for Mr Simen and all Giants to take the Sports at Montfort to heights greater than 36K. All the way Montfort!!!

Jasbir Singh said...

Do check out Montfort Rugby's Blog for match updates. Do pray for the Rugby Warriors when we next play Bedok Town on Friday!