The past year breezed through so swiftly since the current board assumed office in March 2007. I am amazed at how much we accomplished! The STCQCAA planned and staged two major events - the December Interlude: A Sisters Act for the Queen of Peace and the annual Homecoming last January.

Contributions continued to pour in from alumnae here and abroad long after the December fund-raising concert for the elderly ICM sisters was done. So, even after the initial gift of P500,000.00 was handed to Sr Emelina Villegas ICM last January 5, another amount of US$1,313.00 was given last April and yet another P161,000.00 given recently. Additional donations from US-based alumnae amounting to P185,000.00 and $400.00 were personally handed over to Sr Emelina by Mrs Lucila Dypianco at the Homecoming. We acknowledge the many alumnae who continue to share gifts of medicines, supplies and even talent (the architect for the Queen of Peace renovation is Gigi Chua-Chiaco HS 70).

Over 700 alumnae came home on January 26 to experience the festive Carnivale! staged by the Silver Jubilarians of HS 84 led by Marion Cruz Kohchet-Chua. Each Jubilarian class performed dance numbers representing a country of their choice. Almost everyone stood up and stepped to samba music played by the band, Guarana, with Eileen Sison GS 79 as lead. Sophia, HS 01 also rendered a few bossa nova songs to keep the audience upbeat.

The big surprise of the night was the donation of ONE MILLION pesos from the combined efforts of all the Jubilarian classes handed over to the STAA and SEFI. This does not include the collections from the membership dues during registration which amounted to P156,300.00.

At last, alumnae now realize that for the STAA to fully operate efficiently and effectively, it needed resources to improve its communications, build up the membership database, highlight alumnae achievements, provide more services for its members, and support more social outreach projects.