March 25 will be a day to remember for many, but Ms Mary Doris Aquilina who together with her special guests, administration, staff and students celebrated her last Prize Day at her beloved school - Lily of the Valley Girls' Secondary School, Mosta.

After guests and parents were ushered to their seats, the stage curtains were drawn to the accompaniment of popular tunes to reveal a bakery. Such was the stage setting which unfolded gradually to relate the social playscript Hot Cakes by Adrian Flynn.

As students performed and colourful costumes dotted the stage, the audience followed the details of the story and applauded wholeheartedly especially during the wedding scene. Well done Ms Cristina and all hands who helped to stage this play! The message was clear - when things go wrong and the end seems near, there's always hope of success for those who work hard enough to achieve it. After all, isn't this our school's motto?

When the applause had died down, an ex-student, Lizianne Gauci, now studying at MCAST, gave a bird's eye view of what Ms Aquilina had instilled in her, what her teachers had taught her, how her friends had helped her and what the school in general had meant to her - a welcoming, second home!

Then, on a more melancholic note, Lizianne described Ms Aquilina as a disciplined and determined head who seeks perfection yet gives loving and staunch support to all around her. She ended by insisting that after her five-year course she had started to believe in herself, to solve her problems in a mature way, to accept defeat at times, to work harder to accomplish what she had set out to achieve in the first place. A generous round of applause greeted Lizianne's thanks at the end of her speech.

Backed by a vivid and realistic power-point presentation, Ms Aquilina began by calling her school her baby who today was 12 years old and so old enough to mature even after its mother retired. She related all she had to go through since she was appointed head of a secondary school in 1992 by the ex-Director, Ms Carmelina Debono.

Being both highly creative and inventive, Ms Aquilina had planned a gradual enlargement which transformed the two-storeyed small building, consisting of 12 classes, a hall and two utility rooms, into an L-shaped edifice consisting of three blocks, various utility rooms and a conference hall.

The video-clips shown on the cyclorama illustrated vividly Ms Aquilina's long-term planning, her genuine interest and involvement and her complete devotion so that the sketches and plans became a real structure which provided her school with all basic necessities to ensure the students' maximum success and all-round development.

The school grounds were likewise developed and embellished because Ms Aquilina gives relaxation and sports the same weighting as academic subjects, reading, drama and cookery classes.

Ms Aquilina insisted that her sole motive was the building of a strong character nourished by Catholic values. The outstanding results at O-level were due to all those who work around her. She ended by showering heartfelt praise on all those who had helped her, but above all to God. Her speech was greeted by a standing ovation and a deafening round of applause by all present.

Dr Cecilia Borg, Director-General of Education, said she felt proud to have worked side by side with Ms Aquilina on several occasions. She added that the school spoke for itself and that in Ms Aquilina she had always found a colleague and a friend.

This special occasion then ended with the prize-giving ceremony, in which 124 students were rewarded for working hard, doing their best, performing their duties to the full, accepting responsibilites bravely and being of service to the school in some way or another.