By Nur Liyana Rahimi

Alas, the day that everyone had been waiting for finally arrived. On 17 November 2018, the ballroom doors of Dorsett Grand Subang opened for HMC’s most anticipated event of the year, the annual ball.  This year, the theme Casino Royale of the renowned James Bond movie had been picked. Over 170 people, which included students and lecturers, gathered at the 5-star hotel dressed to the nines. Ace cards were given out as door gifts upon arrival of guests along with the ballot papers for the various awards categories. As the VIPs and guests were ushered in, they were greeted by the instrumental of the well-known theme song from the James Bond movies.

• 

Upon everyone settling in their seats, the emcees for the night, Nik and Gummy, began welcoming everyone with much energy and enthusiasm. The night began with an official speech by Deputy Vice Chancellor of HELP University, Dr. Khong Kim Hong followed by the Dean of HMC, Mr. Dhanesh Balakrishnan. Both HMC Leads presidents, Nicole Cheoh from the Subang2 campus and Pheobe Yap from the Damansara campus gave their speeches too. It was after all the speeches were made that certificates were handed out to the merit students, acknowledging all their hard work. Some performances for the night included singing by Arielle, Krystal and Adrienna and dancing by the MONO Dance Club.  An instrumental performance by Nicole and Jia Qi, was also rather entertaining.

Next on the itinerary was the lucky draw. Valuable prizes such as figurines, a Polaroid camera, a watch, designer lamps and the grand prize, a mobile phone, were won by some very lucky guests. Despite not winning the lucky draw, the others still managed to enjoy themselves and took loads of pictures at the photo booth located outside that had been prepared by the committee’s lovely deco team. They even had props provided for the guests to ensure that all their photos turned out wonderfully! 

• 

Eventually, it was time to announce the winners of each category which included the most anticipated awards of the night – Prom King and Queen. The Prom King and Prom Queen from Subang2 campus were non-other than best friends Gummy and Ethan, whereas the Prom King and Prom Queen for Damansara campus were Cray and Hillary. Cheers filled the room as the winners walked onto the stage to receive their crowns and sashes. They later opened the dance floor with a slow dance.

To hype things up even more, DJ Chris Chew livened up the night by playing songs that everyone could dance and have fun to. Even though the night was coming to an end, everyone still made the most of their night to enjoy their time with one another. Many wonderful memories were created that night, not only amongst friends but between students and lecturers too. As the curtains were drawn on HMC’s Casino Royale, many agreed that it was a night to remember.

•