“Does the night have to end?” I was asked three times when the lights turned on at 2AM. After eight short hours at the Liberty Grand, it felt like the party had only just begun. That’s right – EIGHT HOURS.

With the risk of sounding cliché and a tad self-loving, it was indeed a spectacular evening. And not only because the MCs (Nitasha Rajora and Elliot Grundmanis) were ON FIRE; and not because the DJ was OFF THE HOOK; and not only because the GBC pulled off one of the most memorable Schulich events in the school’s history – it was an incredible evening because of the 450 odd souls that came out to celebrate that evening.

Let’s put that number in context. Historically, the Graduate Formal averages about 300 people – a tremendous accomplishment on its own. And thus, this year, we wanted to surpass that mark, but expected to be in relatively the same range. However, a week before the event, we had reached over 450 attendees and had to close ticket sales to the dismay of quite a few eager attendees (and we sincerely apologize for not being able to accommodate everyone). We had by far the largest crowd of Schuligans that wanted to come and party.

The expectations were high, and I’m humbled to say that I truly believe we exceeded them all.

The evening began with a cocktail reception at the Liberty Grand’s cocktail lounge, followed by a scrumptious meal, and mouth-watering-just-thinking-about-it desert. The décor was elegant and the food hit the spot. But even this did not compare to the highlights of the evening – the celebrations: 

• Mary Waller winning the Award for Teaching Excellence
• Atipol Supapol winning Runner Up for Teach Excellence
• Joe Fayt winning the Faculty Award
• Melissa Judd winning the Administration Award
• Gunjan Syal winning the Initiative Award
• Ryan Silva winning the Nadal Initiative Award
• Miroslav Jeliaskoff winning the Part-Time Initiative Award
• Melissa Kaan winning the Involvement Award
• Ana Carolina Marcondes winning the Diversity Award
• Sasha Kaplun winning the President’s Award
• Kathryn Sturgess winning the Mentorship Award
• Abhishek Bhasin winning the Corporate Relations Award
• Lily Wong winning the Charity Award
• The Loose Costumers (Kate Sturgess, Sasha Kaplun, Brett Kenworthy, Rodrigo Moura, Dave Strang, Manuel Valdez) winning the Dean's Cup 

Oh, and that was not all! All night long we celebrated with a slideshow looking back into the eventful 2009-2010 school year, with photos from events, clubs, socials, workshops, and the occasional classroom.

And then of course, there was the finale. The GBC presented a final show on what we learned in the past year – and celebrated our Number One-ness. And finally, Elliot and the SWOT Team presented us with the Schulich State of Mind – a tribute to Schulich and the Class of 2010.

On a personal note – I have been to my fair share of socials in my time, and I have to say that this night, for me, will be remembered as a very special evening for a very, very long time. We were elated, excited, exhausted, and extremely exuberant – it was just an incredibly emotional evening. In case you haven’t figured it out by now – I had a whole lot of fun.

And so, thank you all for coming out and making this evening and this past year such a memorable one.

To the class of 2010 – it has been an incredible ride, hasn’t it? Thank you so much for making OUR Schulich experience such a memorable one. The privilege and pleasure were sincerely all mine.

Cheers!

Keith

Your friendly neighborhood GBC Part-Time Director 2009-2011.

And now for the goods:

The Graduate Formal Slideshows: http://keithloo.com/formal/

The Graduate Formal HIGH RESOLUTION Photographs: http://www.visualpoetry.ca/gbcformal2010/

The Schulich State of Mind: