A glittering function was held last Friday at the Aberdeen Club to honour the 2010 matric students of Aberdeen Secondary School. This prestigious event was very capably organized by Janine Lewack, Marius Frazenburg and Nellie Green, all teachers at the school.
The girls sported a dazzling display of colourful dresses, made especially for them for the occasion. Not to be outdone, the young men were also very smartly dressed, with one having designed his own outfit. Twelve of the teachers were on hand to show their support for this dedicated group of learners, who are all determined to make Aberdeen proud with their results this year.
MC's Ms Helen Ngube and Mr Johannes Muller welcomed all the guests, especially the stars of the evening, the matrics. The proceedings opened with a prayer from Pastor Arend Kekana, the vice-chairman of the Governing Body. Mr Kerneels Kamfer, the Principal of the school, then gave a very encouraging talk on the importance of having a role model – the learners were interested to hear that Mr Kamfer’s own role model as a young man had been Muhammad Ali the boxer!
Alexandro Lett spoke on behalf of the learners, thanking the teachers for all their hard work. The formal part of the evening concluded with the guest speaker, Mr Desmond Coetzee of Camdeboo Primary. His theme, very appropriately, was based on a quote from Mr Nelson Mandela: “You are the master of your own destiny”. He urged the learners to persevere with their studies, to never give up, and to be proud to achieve not only for themselves and their school, but also for the town of Aberdeen. He reminded them that they are very fortunate to have a secondary school in Aberdeen, as for many years the children had to travel to Graaff-Reinet for schooling. Simone Marsh then thanked Mr Coetzee for his inspiring words, and promised that the learners would do their utmost to make their school and town proud of them.
Everyone could now relax and a delicious three-course meal was served. The four lucky grade ten students who had been chosen to wait at the tables performed impeccably, and impressed the catering staff with their enthusiasm and efficiency. There had been a few anxious moments for the chefs during the afternoon as the electricity had been off due to maintenance work in the town, but the very capable catering committee of the Club had everything under control! The school would like to thank Aberdeen Club for hosting the occasion, which was truly memorable for these special young people.
Article By: Sue Shaw