“It is an enriching experience!” that was the general comment made by most students and teachers alike on the first ever Marist Learning Fiesta. The learning fiesta comprised of various stores of second-hand goods being sold at reasonable prices. At some stores, bargaining was the only interaction between the store keeper and the patron. Certain classes took the opportunity to exploit the situation, tapping into some of the latent talent of their classmates, devising humorous and not to mention attention-seeking methods of drawing attention to their stores. In particular would be 4 Joseph, which depended on candid personalities in their class to dress up in the clothes that were to be sold and using their bodies as live ‘mannequins’.

For the upper secondary students, creativity was obviously more apparent. Not only were unorthodox methods such as music used to draw crowds, but the items sold were more appealing. For example, at secondary 4 Ignatius, there were sales of candle holders, keyboards (where did that come from), game controllers, warcraft CDs, photo frames, X box games, porcelain figurines and many more. An interview was conducted with the President of the school council, Brandon Chia. He says, “Such events are fun as they provide an enriching experience (standard statement, “Are Marist that boring?”), furthermore, competition is tough as business is relatively poor. This is also due to the poor organization and lack of coordination amongst the students.”
~Candle Holders for Sale!

Of course, with all the positive comments, there bound to be certain negative feedback from unsatisfied patrons. From 4 Charles, a particular individual by the name of Jian Hong commented, “The stores are so disorganized and the items sold are so unappealing. How can they expect anyone to buy things especially since we are unable to view the items in the first place?”

By Glen Ang