A Wonderful Five-School Picnic at Seneca Creek State Park on June 6,2009

by Edward Wan, Picnic Lead Coodinator, CCAA President

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The 2009 five-school picnic will definitely go down in history as one of the most exciting events, totally exceeding our own expectations. Not only did we have the largest turnout (more than 260 people), but also the most delicious food and enjoyable entertainment programs. After a week of continuous rain, we lucked out with decent weather in the cool, low 70s and the Nuthatch Pavilion as the perfect setting. Thanks to Ann Kuo Lin and her Chun Shan team for their work in setting up tables and cheerful decorations for creating the ideal ambient.  The act remains that the majority of people stayed until the very end, which tells you how much fun we shared during the four plus hours. However, the success of this funfilled event was not just by accident. There were a lot of behind-the-scenes, dedicated people from all five schools, who had demonstrated the true spirit of cooperation and
mutual support and were willing to share the workload.

Not surprisingly, the President of each school stepped up their efforts and provided the needed leadership to organize this year’s programs. In particular, Chan Shan’s Ann Kuo Lin, Fu Chung’s Fangmin Sheen and NTUAA’s Charles Young made the difference. In addition, we were very lucky thatso many talented people (Charles Fan, Mei-Ling Liao, Tim Hsu, KK Woo etc.) who had enthusiastically supported this event in the past, once again performed their duties graciously for the benefit and enjoyment of others.

Shortly after 12:30 PM, the smell of delicious foods attracted everybody to quickly form two food lines. Changing to a potluck-style venue was particularly attractive for this year, in which each school would have to prepare two or more dishes. As a result, everybody marveled about how many different kinds of food we were serving including spring rolls, tea eggs, shrimp balls, grilled chicken, pork cake, beef shank, chicken with vegetables, pickled Chinese cabbage, Shanghai cabbage and rice noodles. On top of that, there were plenty of desserts (red bean buns, mini muffins, and watermelons) and specialty drinks (bubble milk tea and green bean soup) available to satisfy everyone’s taste and thirst.

In addition, there were few unsung heroes from Chien Chung (Funglung Chung, Kan Chang, and Wei Liu) who had spent hours to prepare grilled foods for children including mouth-watering hamburgers, jumbo hot dogs, and delicious Italian sausages. Special thanks also goes to Mei-Lin Tseng for her role as the overall Treasurer. We also appreciate Ann Chen for taking photos and numerous volunteers for serving the food and collecting garbage. 

While we were eating, our overall emcee, Charles Fan, asked each table to take turns tointroduce themselves. Afterwards, the President of each school was introduced (BEINU – Mei-Ling Liao who substituted for Shih-Chun Lien, Chun Shan – Ann Kuo Lin, Chien Chung – Edward Wan, NTUAA – Charles Young, Fu Chung – Fangmin Sheen), and each one gave a brief introduction of their Board members. One surprise was that each school President also received an introduction gift from Charles Young. Jacob Chang, Deputy Director of TECRO, also gave a welcoming remark. Other TECRO representatives at the picnic included Linda Yang, Jeffery Wang, Hsin Hsiung Chang and his wife, and Catherine Cheng. 

After the lunch, Charles Fan along with two other emcees (Meng Sheng Cheng from NTUAA and Shiow Tze Lee from Chun Shan) jointly announced the beginning of the exciting entertainment programs. Equipped with a professional sound system and a talented DJ, Chien Chung’s Wayne Chang, the whole place was filled with high-energy and excitement.

Fu Chung’s famous husband (Zhi Chong Pan) and wife (Vicky Huang of BEINU) team then started the entertainment for us. They set the tone by performing a number of classic Chinese songs and dances. Before they could finish their routines, Jason Yuan, Director
of TECRO showed up. He was immediately ushered to the microphone to give a speech.  Jason said he would not miss this special occasion and in fact had planned to come months ago. He apologized for being late because of other engagements, but was very
glad to come. In his youth, Jason attended both Chien Chung and Fu Chung, thus becoming a bonafide alumnus for both schools. He later participated in the singing of both schools’ songs.

Next came the NTUAA’s music competition and Chinese Opera singing demonstration. Chin Sung Chen, the talented Director of NTUAA’s Chorus, invited a group of competitors representing all five schools to sing along a simple Chinese children song.The competitions started with a regular melody and verses and later on with different variations. If the contestant missed a sound bite or forgot the specific act, he or she would be eliminated. At the end of several rounds of competition, five contestants still remained. It was really a fun game and frankly we could go on and on forever, but wehad to cut it short after 10 minutes. The second part of NTUAA’s program was the Chinese Opera singing demonstration. Samson Luk introduced the cast and Po-Chin Yang demonstrated the special singing techniques. A group of 10 volunteers were then invited to participate in the singing of Chinese Opera. Towards the end, the biggest surprise was an impromptu demonstration by the multi-talented NTUAA and Fu Chung alumna, Jacob Chang of TECRO. The whole singing demonstration was hilarious and lots of fun. .NTUAA’s program finally ended withsinging of the school song by a group of 40 alumni. NTUAA also presented several gifts to the winners of music competition.

To take the advantage of Jason Yuan’s presence, Charles Fan switched the program by asking Chien Chung alumni to sing their school’s song first. Chien Chung’s alumni, 30people strong, performed a marvelous singing.  I must confess that Wayne Chang’s music
was so energized that this was the first time I truly enjoyed singing my school song.

The next came the Chun Shan’s Hoopla competitions. Minwen Chia explained the game rules for competition, in which four participants from each school would compete for two minutes each. Based on the speed and the style of movement, each team of contestants was scored. Ann Kuo Lin and L J Kao were terrific. Not surprising, the final winner was Chun Shan’s team (320 score), followed by BEINU, NTUAA, and Chien Chung was the last (180 score).

The excitement reached a fever pitch when BEINU conducted their competitions on a game called “You Think You Know How to Dance”. Four contestants representing each school were allowed to follow and mimic the dancer before. Believe me, at the end of the last round of competition, no one seemed to know what the original dance was like.  A panel of judges (Mei-Ling Liao – BEINU, Meng-Sheng Cheng– NTUAA, Chien Chung –Joseph Sun) presided over the competition. There were some disagreements among the judges, but as usual, the male judge had to yield to the other two female judges. Surprisingly, a male dancer from NTUAA took thetop honor, followed by BEINU and Chun Shan’s team. Chien Chung received the most creative award even though their performance was ranked the last. Thirty BEINU alumni sang the school song to end their program. 
 

Finally, at the audience’s request, K.K. Woo came up to conduct a “Guess It When the Music Stops” game. Surprisingly, most people seemed to know all the right answers. The final act was that we all sang a familiar popular song “When We Were Together, Together”.

The last but not the least excitement was the conductance of gift lottery by Charles Fan.  Each school had provided several gifts and Charles Young of NTUAA generously brought additional small gifts. Lucky me, I was one of the winners of the lottery. 
The entertainment programs finally ended at half past four, 30 minutes loner than we had planned. Once again, we want to thank Charles Fan and others for doing a superb job as the emcees. Thanks also to Wayne Chang for providing the most exciting tones and wonderful music. The superb sound quality had made all the difference. Overall, we had a great time together to rekindle friendship and enjoy each other’s company. It brought all five-school alumni much closer together and felt like we were part of a large family.

I want to take this opportunity to thank all those people who had contributed to the success of this wonderful experience. In particular, I owe my gratitude to the following individuals: Shih-Chun Lien, Julia Lee, Yen-Li Chan, Mei-Ling Liao, Mei-Lin Tseng, Shu-Chen Wu, Vicky Huang, Chin Sung Chen, Meng Sheng Cheng, Charles Young, Samson Luk, Po-Chin Yang, Joann Lin, Ann Kuo Lin, Minwen Chia, Shiow Tze Lee, L J Kao, Fangmin Sheen and his wife, Tim Hsu, Winnie Hsu, Zhi Chong Pan, Vicky Huang, Funglung Chung, Judy Chung, Pan Chia, Kan Chang, Wei Liu, Wah-Wei Chang, K.K. Woo, Joan Woo, Joseph Sun, Robert W. Chen, Robert T. Chen, Ann Chen, Paul Teng, Rita Teng, Davidson Chen, Charles Fan, Wayne Chang and my wife, Ping Wan. Without their dedication and help, the success of this picnic would not have been possible. I look forward to another exciting five-school picnic next year.

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