On Saturday 1 July, Riebeek College hosted the annual Matric Farewell. It was truly an unforgettable evening filled with fun, laughter and amazing music. This year's theme was The Final Toast,  a theme chosen by the Dance Committee and Mrs Bean.
 
As the matric ladies arrived one by one, all eyes were on them and their breath-taking dresses. Quite a few girls wore blue dresses: Jessica Schoeman, Heather Wilkinson, Claire van Rensburg, Angelique Tee, Taybah Teladia (all of them happen to be on Mrs Gerber's Media Committee!) and Saajidah Hoffman. Loren Campbell was the only girl who wore a dark green dress and Nicole Rhodes a purple with silver detail dress. Andisiwe Dyala, Busisiwe Blaauw, Ayanda Ntukantu, Usixolise Sana, Andisivuyo Mbengashe and Maame Mends-Brew wore traditional African attire. Andisiwe Dyala said that she specifically liked the dresses of Ayanda Ntukantu and Whitney Goliath because of the different colours and patterns. Nevertheless,  all the girls had their own unique design with all the accessories, which suited them perfectly. There were squeals of excitement as friends were united as well as applause from on-lookers.The crowd went mad when Benathi Douse arrived in a vehicle with a motorbike escort! Some were greeted by Mrs Gerber, Mrs Shelver and Miss Hattingh's flashing cameras. Mrs Gerber surprised when one of the tradional "group of girls in the bathroom" found themselves the subjects of a quick photoshoot: Mumtaaz Lukie, Caydin Nicolaai, Mia Muller, Chene Simon and Natalie Harvey  posing in front of the mirror serves as a reminder of the friendships celebrated by this evening. After the grand arrival, the girls and their partners received refreshing cocktails in fancy martini glasses!
 
Each couple was announced and entered the dazzling hall with beautiful fairy lights, a pink and white colour scheme as well as a beautiful centerpiece with candles. After the couples were escorted to their tables, the head girl, Ambesa Daniels welcomed everyone to celebrate the growth of the class of 2017 by saying: ''To everyone gathered here to celebrate our growth as the class of 2017, a very good evening. It is said that, "Being female is a matter if birth and being a woman is a matter of age, but being a lady is a matter of choice". I look around and I no longer see the girls that I see each day. Tonight you are all beautiful ladies and now officially an acknowledged part of society (as we recently learned when we all got "the talk"). So since the purpose of tonight is to celebrate our growth, I figured it would be fitting to reflect on how far we've come, which isn't that far if we're being honest, with the use of a metaphor. Our parents  planted the seeds of hope, ambition, dreams in us from when we were tiny seedlings (Luckily their genes were beautiful) . They then planted us in the Riebeek soil in 2009 in the hopes that we would blossom into the one-of-a-kind ladies that we are today. But just like all plants, in order to thrive, we needed special care - for the sake of maintaining our image I will not elaborate on the meaning of "special". Our teachers fertilized, watered and pruned us from then until 2016 by educating us, disciplining us and looking after us as our parents away from home. I can only hope that tonight you are looking at this year's garden of flowers and are satisfied with what has bloomed. Aristotle once said that "Friendship is one soul dwelling in 2 bodies" , but I think he forgot about the other 78. You ladies are without a doubt not just memorable, you are legendary. So, Class of 2017, let us enjoy this evening of celebrating our blossoming into adulthood''. After Loren Campbell opened with prayer, the prefects opened the dance floor with the first waltz and then the Riebeek ladies descended onto the dance floor- the enormous heels and inflexible dresses couldn't stop the girls from dropping it low and strutting their stuff to songs like Despacito and Jessica...no matter the music, there was no pause in the movement on the dance floor. Staff members together with their spouses Mr and Mrs Stroebel, Mr and Mrs Shelver, Mr and Mrs Kruger, as well as Miss Potgieter, Miss S du Preez and Miss Hattingh joined in on the dancing (and astounded us all with their outfits) and even showed the girls some moves! During the fun and dancing we were all treated to a 3-course meal with the starter being fries the cutest little hamburger you've ever seen!  ... the main meal being a selection of tasty treats, such as samoosas, pies, curry bunnies, meatballs, springrolls, chicken kebabs with a salad and 1000 island pink sauce or sweet chilli sauce , and for dessert...caramel cups, cream cups, milk tarts and a small chocolate. 
 
Mrs Stear and the teachers looked on proudly! Mrs Stear was astounded by Loren and Ambesa when the official photograph of the head, deputy and principal was taken and they had a whole repertoire of movements and poses! Mrs Stear couldn't believe her eyes when she was greeted by the all girls and introduced to their partners as she said to all the girls: ''You have really taken my breath away...you look absolutely elegant and very beautiful!'' 
 
The girls themselves enjoyed different aspects of the evening: Mumtaaz Lukie commented, ''I enjoyed the slow dance'', Asemahle Gqubule commented, ''My favourite part of the evening was seeing how gorgeous everyone looked'' , Thimna Hobongwana said, '' I enjoyed the the music, the prefects dance and just overall bonding with my matric class'' and Yonela Mapela commented, ''I enjoyed dancing with the matrics when we did the bus.''  However, all the matrics agree that everyone looked amazing and dancing the bus and to sista bettina were memorable moments!
 
After the magical evening, the next morning...we could all relive the memories and moments when we woke up to the beautiful photographs and video clips on the school's Facebook page provided by Mrs Gerber.
 
Thank you to Mrs Bean, Miss Potgieter, Mrs Kruger and the Dance Committee for a stunning Matric Farewell and all other staff who were involved and assisted. Thank you to the parents who assisted: Geraldene Minter, Afaaf and Clinton Langford, Phindeka Madlavu, Grade 5 mom, Thandile Kosi and Old Girl Michaela Civico! Last but not least...thank you to the Class of 2017 for making the dance a memorable and beautiful evening!

The highlights video can be found here: link