“Once a giant, always a giant.”
A phrase that we Giants have once heard in our lives is that EAC is more than a school. When we think back, it is a place where we can reminisce with a big smile on our faces. Our school serves as a home, a friend, a fond memory, and a legacy of our childhood, teenhood, and academic lives. Understanding EAC’s significance to Giants, Cláudia Brandão, our former marketing director launched EAC’s 2nd Gala Dinner to bring this affectionate aspect into a party.
The Start of The Gala Dinner
Starting from EAC’s 50th anniversary, EAC’s marketing team worked on celebrating EAC’s legacy every 10 years. And in August 2016, Cláudia Brandão and EAC’s marketing team hosted EAC’s 60th-anniversary dinner to bring back the importance of EAC as a community and help teachers, alumni, and staff reconnect.
The party took place at Royal Palm Plaza, Campinas with parents, teachers, and alumni coming from all parts of the world. The invitations were sent months before the dinner, encouraging as many Giants to attend. As a result, 450 teachers, alumni, and parents eagerly attended to enjoy the 2 days of celebration.
Considering “reconnection” as the most significant aspect of the party, the marketing team prioritized a festive atmosphere, enabling everyone to engage and dive into the party. A friendly and affectionate spirit was built in which everyone could move around freely across the room to give and receive the awaited greetings.
Ms. Raquel da Silva, an attendee of the dinner, describes the dinner as “a prom for parents and alumni.” The way the party was organized; the dinner, dance, music, and speeches have been stuck in people’s minds and brought back the importance of EAC supporting each other and bringing true happiness to what EAC has become today.
While interviewing the attendees, there was an aspect of the dinner that everyone brought to attention: Ms. Sarah Cardoso’s speech. As a former graduate, Ms. Sarah gave a speech as a representative of the alumni, and it’s worth bringing it back.
Appointed as the representative with her outstanding academic accomplishments and alumni history, Ms. Sarah prepared a speech to celebrate EAC as a learning institution. She stressed the importance of showing how EAC is extraordinary in the eyes of someone who has studied in EAC. Even before EAC adopted the IB program, our school was an institution aiming to learn how we learn, an aspect not many schools teach. The small classrooms allowed teachers to invest in each student individually by providing them with educational, emotional, and fundamental support. This special aspect of EAC led Ms. Sarah to conclude, “EAC is a choice for life.”
She proceeds,
“After 1 year of intense studies, my cognitive and conceptual leap was so far greater than all of the other candidates[from other schools], that I passed the test for all of the country’s top universities. And I know that that was because of EAC. At EAC we learn how to think. EAC isn’t a choice for the vestibular – it’s a choice for life.
This too was part of EAC’s legacy in my life. At EAC you learn how to learn – it’s a choice for life.
As the teaching takes place, teachers are sensitive enough to learn from their students; as students discuss and elaborate projects in and out of class, they learn how to make themselves heard as they teach new content to each other, and by teaching this content, they are also learning.
At EAC, the teaching-learning process helps transform both students and teachers as they learn how to hear and how to be heard. In this sense, EAC is definitely a choice for life.
The second aspect I would like to share with you is the proven impact that the teacher-student bond has on a student’s education.
But meaningful learning takes place when teachers establish a relationship with students. And once again, I’m drawn back to EAC, where students are not only allowed, but encouraged to develop relationships with their teachers, and where teachers are open to talk to students in and out of class. Once again, EAC is a choice for life.
It’s part of human nature to be bothered by those who are different from us – but how we deal with those differences, is something that must be taught. And at EAC, it’s international community of students and teachers help shape, what I believe, to be the kind of citizen that our world needs. Yes, EAC is a choice for life.”
Addressing the significance of EAC, Ms. Sarah’s speech summarized the goal of the Gala Dinner: to stress EAC’s educational richness, remind the exclusive bonds teachers and students share, and ultimately help Giants to reconnect.
Photos from the Gala Party:
EAC PRESS 