We had another first this school year – the online family games organized by the Woodrose Student Council and Team Captains as part of intrams season. Woodrose families gathered in Zoom one Saturday morning for a day of healthy competition. With the help of volunteer parents, they hosted games such as Newspaper Game, Song Association, Charades, and Taboo.
Here’s an account from one of the volunteer parents for Song Association, Krissy Racho-Orobia. She is the mother of Toni from the Blue Team and a Woodrose alumna too.
That’s what we all said after clicking “leave meeting” on Zoom.
Early morning of March 27, we were scrambling to find ourselves any blue colored shirt, fixing the proper lighting and positioning the computer camera. We had our drinks and some snacks beside us. And although our family living room was presentable enough, we decided on choosing a virtual background of the Woodrose “chat bench” in the patio. It’s one of the spots where we would have been if we were actually within the school grounds.
We wondered how different it would be. Well, the weather was cooler indoors, no scorching sun. It was not dusty and loud. But we still saw many familiar faces as well as new faces. We had short but sweet greetings over Zoom as families started to enter. In those 10 to 15 tiny rectangles on the screen, we were able to see each family. We saw their reactions and their competitive spirit.
Words were flashed on the screen and the first to type in the chat box had a chance to gain a point for their team by singing a song that included that word, and naming the title and artist of the song. Families started singing together and we were all entertained with songs from across different generations. We heard new songs only the teenagers know, we heard songs only my grandparents know. And we even heard church songs! We heard more than one song for some rounds simply because families just wanted to sing another song even if they knew they were not going to get a point. Even when everyone else was on mute and it was just one family with the microphone on, you can see and “hear” all the other families singing as well. When dads challenged other dads, you could hear the laughter through the screens of everyone else. Oh, it was silently noisy in that zoom meeting. And what healthy and fun competition we all had. Families having fun together with other families. That’s what family day is all about.
Families were not after points. They were after singing together – in tune or out of tune, with the correct lyrics or wrong lyrics – as long as they had fun and laughed out loud along the way. It didn’t matter who got the most points (although thankfully someone was taking note).
After three rounds and three sets of families, it was time to click, “leave meeting”
But, wait a minute, “That was fun!!!”
“Let’s do that again!”
A big thank you to all the volunteer parents for your enthusiasm in hosting the games:
· Vinci & Kathy Carag
· Bianca Fusana
· Manolo & Anna Garcia-Ramos
· Ken & Liza Lingan
· Charisse & Gino Olivares
· Krissy Orobia
· Karla Santos
· Robert & Matet Sarile
· Menchie & Jun Villaluz