By Tay Yu Ning (23S06E)
Photos Courtesy of Raffles Photographic Society
On December 2, hundreds of Year 6 students assembled at RI’s Albert Hong Hall to celebrate their graduation. This was the first in-person Grad Night event in over two years, with the past two batches of students having been forced to hold their Grad Nights online due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Year 6s were dressed to the nines, sporting elegant dresses and fancy tuxedos. Some had even dyed their hair or prepared outlandish outfits just for the occasion. One such fashion decision was made by Ian (22S03A), who rocked up to the registration booth dressed in a stylish medieval-style pink suit, shocking many in the line behind him. He later changed into a dinosaur costume, creating a frenzy as many excited Y6s rushed to take photos with him. When asked about his choice of attire, Ian said, “It’s the last day of school so I thought I might as well.”
As the Y6s registered at the booth and collected their complimentary free drinks, members of the Student Council were busy setting up a delicious buffet in the canteen. At around 5.40pm, dinner was finally served. With a selection of tasty chicken, delectable fried rice and refreshing fruit punch, the hungry Y6s were certainly able to eat to their heart’s content.
The performances officially started at 6.30pm. Populous Metropolis, a group composed of Y6 Raffles Jazz members, took the stage to perform popular songs including Toploader’s “Dancing in the Moonlight”. With their passionate vocals and delightful playing of instruments, they created a lively and fun atmosphere for the Y6s as they slowly returned to the hall after finishing their dinner.
Shortly after Populous Metropolis’ performance, the long-awaited lucky draw began. Over 50 prizes ranging from Golden Village movie tickets to Resorts World Sentosa vouchers were given out to Y6s fortunate enough to win them. Shermaine Lim (22S03N), who won the grand prize of $50 Resorts World Sentosa vouchers, said she was surprised to win since one of her friends had just won another prize before her. “I was really happy and shocked,” she said. “I’m going to Universal Studios Singapore soon with my friends so I’ll probably use [the voucher] to buy the ticket.”
“Cents”—a dance quartet consisting of Taesha Tan (22S06S), Esther Wah (22S03F), Claire Chow (22S06N) and Natalie Ho (22S03R)—performed next. Audiences cheered as they impressed everyone with their enchanting formations and sincere passion for dance. A few Y6s were even seen attempting to imitate their dance moves.
Jack Jonah Kirkwood (22S06Q) and Megan (22A13B) took the stage next, performing “A Lovely Night” from the 2016 movie La La Land. Their performance, which included both song and dance, replicated the choreography and expressions from the movie with impressive accuracy.
Following Jack and Megan’s performance, the emcees announced the winners of the Grad Night student-voted awards. Joash Lee (22S03K), Kumar Udayakumar (22S06O), Perumal Mahalakshmi (22S03G) and Cao Ziyi (22S03G) won the awards for “Sportiest”, “Life of the Party”, “Teddy’s Bestie” and “Fairy Godmother” respectively. Three Y6 students standing in the gallery erupted into exuberant celebration upon hearing that Ziyi had won “Fairy Godmother”. One of them commented, “I voted for Ziyi because he is Ziyi. He perfectly suits [the title of] ‘Fairy Godmother’”.
Perumal felt it was strange to win an award for the love of a cat, but was thankful to her peers for voting for her regardless. “Teddy is everyone’s emotional support animal,” she shared. “He is a very very kind cat who helped [restore] my sanity a lot in JC.”
Afterwards, eight Y6 students took the stage to participate in an arm-wrestling competition, having been nominated (or ‘sabo-ed’) by their peers as the people they most wanted to see battle it out. Zheng Yu (22S06J) emerged as the eventual champion.
Voting for Prom King and Prom Queen concluded shortly after the arm-wrestling competition. Keane Wang (22S06N) and Chloe Chew (22S03R) were crowned as Prom King and Prom Queen respectively.
Finally, the stage was cleared for Sunset Arcade (the graduating Raffles Rock batch) to wrap up the evening. With songs like “Mr Brightside” by The Killers, “Wake Me Up When September Ends” by Green Day and “Yellow” by Coldplay, their memorable performance left everyone in good spirits as Grad Night ‘22 came to a joyful conclusion.
As the sky darkened, Y6s began leaving the school premises with radiant but bittersweet smiles on their faces, basking in the afterglow of a fulfilling conclusion to their JC lives. We wish the Y6s all the best ahead as they enjoy their “retirement” and prepare to embark on many new exciting adventures!
