The big night

As I sit here and write this current blog entry I feel obligated to inform all the women reader's of a bit of advice that was learned by experience during the build up to the big Gala Event - DON'T EVER get your hair cut and styled by a new stylist two days before a big night out.  Okay - enough said.  We did make it to the event although we teetered on the edge of staying home a couple of times.  Once we arrived at the Sheraton Shanghai we were greeted by a host of students and volunteers who ushered us into the main display area for the Silent Auction.  There were over 400 attendees at the event and lots of evening gowns and tuxedos.  After perusing the auction items we enjoyed appetizers and a glass of wine as we were seated for the main dinner.  The theme of the night was "A Parade of Nations" and highlighted to diversity of Concordia's student body which is comprised of over 30 nationalities.  They had entertainment of dancers, jugglers and musicians performing throughout the evening.  The big event was the live auction which was conducted by a couple of the teachers from the school.  There were a dozen or so items to bid on and every couple had their own numbered paddle to raise if you wanted to bid.  The item which was auctioned for the most money was for the naming rights of the school library - it went for $23,000!  (and you only get to name it for one year!)  Needless to say it won't be called the R. Scott Smith Library - although I do like the sound of that.  The second highest item was for your student to be Principal for a Day and it went for (are you sitting down?) $13,000!  Again, Regan and Landon will have to get their leadership experience in the old fashioned way - work for it!  The live auction raised over $80,000 and was a very fun if not expensive experience.  All the money raised will be going to several projects to create learning spaces in some of the underutilized spaces on the campus.  As well, 10% of the money raised will be donated to charity in the local community.  The dance floor opened at 10:30pm and we were out there for over an hour before checking out and bringing home our auction items.  I have included photos on the blog of the artwork that we "won" in the silent auction.  We also bid on dinner with friends which was more of a donation than a true auction.  We finally got home about 12:30am and were totally spent.  It was a very good night.