On the 2nd of August 2014, Saturday, the Leo Club of Wesley Methodist School held its annual farewell at Furama Hotel Bukit Bintang. 67 Leos consisting of 44 juniors and 23 seniors alongside with 2 faculty advisors, namely Miss Low Fee Ngoo and Miss Lavanya Silvarajan attended this event. There were 4 Lions present at the event as well, including the President of Lions Club of Ampang, Lion Natalie Gan, and the Leo advisors, Lion Tan Poh Ling, Lion Kevin Kiew and Lion Shyan Wong.
This year, the farewell organizing commitee was made up of five junior Leo members, led by the organizing chairperson, Leo Jessica Gui Cheng Kim with her theme “Revoleotionary Roarers”. She was assisted by the assistant organizing chairperson, Leo Ng Cal-Vin, and also three committee members who were Leo Yoong Yi Kee, Leo Wong Gwen Lyne and Leo Sacchidanandan Viruthasalam Pillai.
About a month before the event, the junior Leos began preparing the decorations, gifts, performances, games and media presentations for the farewell. Practices were carried out during break and lunches, after meeting time on Wednesdays and also on the 31st of July which was during the Hari Raya holidays to finish the preparations for the event.
On the day of the event, the junior Leos gathered at Furama Hotel Bukit Bintang at 1.00 p.m.. They gathered at Saffron 1 and Saffron 2 located on the 27th floor of the hotel, which was also the ballroom hall we used for the event, to prepare and practice for whatever they were involved in in their respective departments. A briefing as well as a rehearsal was carried out right before the event started.
The event officially began at 4.30 p.m. and seniors were given their door gifts prior to registration. The door gifts handed out were adorable handmade lion keychains. While waiting for the rest of the seniors to arrive, the early birds were allowed to take pictures at the photo booth put up by the decoration team. At 5.00 p.m. sharp, the event began with a short but sweet opening speech by the emcees for the event, Leo Grace Tam Yi Fern and Leo Nigel Ian Cross. It was followed by a punishment game for the latecomers.
The punishment game was called the Drink Tasting game. As the name suggests, the main idea of the game was to consume specially infused drinks the games team had prepared. Some of the drinks included a mixture of Pepsi with chili sauce, Pepsi with tomato sauce, Pepsi with wasabi, Sprite with mustard, and lastly, 100 plus with mayonnaise. Some of the drinks were dyed green with a small amount food colouring to increase the difficulty of the game. Leo Lye Ming Han was in charge of conducting the game and he did a fantastic job. Both the seniors and juniors as well as the guests present enjoyed the game very much and we had a great laugh.
Right after the drink tasting game was a flash mob dance performance the juniors had passionately practiced for the seniors. It began with a fake fight between Leo Ng Cal-Vin and Leo Jessica Gui Cheng Kim, which was stopped by Leo Kok Jia Yunn. The juniors then stood up and started dancing to the music prepared by the performance team. The seniors enjoyed the delightful surprise as well as the wonderful dance by all the juniors.
After the flash mob, our immediate past president, Leo Chieng Jin Han, gave a touching speech towards all the members of the club. The speech was followed by an interactive game called the Mafia Hunt where all senior Leos drawed lots and among them, 5 of them drawed a paper that indicated them as the ‘mafia’. While their identities were still a secret, they answered questions and tried to explain why they are not the ‘mafia’. At the end of the game, the junior Leos voted for the top ten most suspicious Leos and their true identities were revealed. Only one out of the ten most suspicious Leos were true ‘mafias’ so the game was concluded with the senior Leos as the winners.
Next in line was a sketch performance by our very own performance team. The actors and actresses portrayed characteristics of the seniors in the club throughout the sketch. The sketch was about 6 dwarves travelling to different realms to save Snow White, in which they met different characters of classic cartoons. It is safe to say that the hard work of the performance team really paid off as the seniors really enjoyed the sketch and had a good laugh.
Later, a video presentation was played. Interviews conducted on the senior Leos by the junior Leos about their experiences in the club were voiced in this video. All the Leo members enjoyed it as their memories and thoughts. After that, dinner was served and everybody present helped themselves to the delicious food at the foyer. Just before the dinner ended, the seniors were invited to have their photographs taken at the photo booth area by our very own talented photographer, Leo Lim Wee Xin. This was followed by another video, which was a compilation of pictures of the seniors and the memories they have made throughout their journey in the club and the right amount of nostalgia to get them teary-eyed.
Then, the seniors as well as the faculty advisors were invited to collect a 'special dish' made especially for them outside in the foyer. The 'special dish' was actually the souvenirs, which were customized tumblers with their names on it as a sentimental token of appreciation for all the seniors as well as the faculty advisors.
The event then continued with a song performance by the junior Leos. The song performed was a mashup of Pompeii by Bastille, Wrecking Ball by Miley Cyrus and Payphone by Maroon 5 made by the performance team. Later on, our very own band of Leo members, Skyline, consisting of Leo Nigel Ian Cross, Leo Teoh Hyin Sarah, Leo Jonathan Chew Jia Wei and Leo Aishwarya Arul Sothy displayed their wonderful talents by performing a few more heart-touching songs to express our gratitude, love, and appreciation towards the seniors.
After that, the president of Leo Club of Wesley Methodist School, Leo Kok Jia Yunn gave a short but sweet speech about his vision for the club and how he would miss not having any more seniors in the club. A lucky draw session right after that really got the members excited and three lucky Leos were chosen to receive their prizes. The prizes were given out by three of the Lions present, namely the president of Lions Club of Ampang, Lion Natalie Gan, and also our Leo advisors, Lion Kevin Kiew and Lion Shyan Wong. Right after the lucky draw, a dance session was carried out, juniors as well as seniors joined in the fun and had a wonderful time together.
Last but not least, the floor was open to any Leos who wanted to express their feelings or even to say a few words to the members and faculty advisors. A number of seniors, juniors as well as our faculty advisors, Miss Low Fee Ngoo and Miss Lavanya Silvarajan, gave some really moving words. The event ended at 10 pm with a closing speech by the emcees followed by a group photography session.
