Grand Assembly Article
On the weekend of 6/28/19 to 7/1/29, Virginia had it’s 26th annual Grand Assembly at the DoubleTree hotel in Williamsburg. Those in our assembly that attended are Me, Zoey, Zoe, Lilli, JoElla, Batu, and M’Balu, and we initiated two girls, Dioanna and Kelsey.
Grand was pretty eventful, starting with our arrival to the hotel. Mom Jean, Zoey, Batu, M’Balu, and Dioanna drove down on Thursday. Mom Ange and Mom Belinda, Zoe, Lilli, JoElla, and I drove down on Friday.
Dioanna stayed during the whole thing, so she got to get the full Grand Assembly experience. Throughout the whole weekend, we got Starbucks many times, went to the arcade quite a bit, and hung out in our rooms too.
On the Friday night, all of us there participated in cavalcade of flags. After Cavalcade, there were quite a few introductions. I didn’t have a grand appointment for the 2018-2019 grand year, so I got to sit off to the sidelines and watch. That night, I also presented the 2019 Amanda’s Award with Mom Erin Pendleton and Mom Leslie Hoglund to Vanessa of Manassas #13, and it was an honor to present it to someone who has been such a role model to me ever since I met her.
On Saturday, the morning session was initiation, where 5 candidates were initiated, 2 being from our assembly. Dioanna and Kelsey being initiated was amazing, and we couldn’t wait to officially welcome them to the Rainbow Family with arms wide open!
Saturday afternoon was the majority service. It was beautiful, and I truly think I will cry during every majority service I see, especially my own.
After that session was the Grand Banquet. It was super exciting, and we all awaited the announcements. We created some chants, but unfortunately we didn’t get a chance to use them, but we will next year! We sent in a scrapbook this year, and despite our lack of events, it still looked really nice, and was put completely together by 3 girls in 4 days, with 1 girl doing a majority of it. We were proud of it anyway, and it is the volume 1 to our years to come. Quantico just started up again, and now that it has reopened, we are determined to keep it running and strengthen Virginia Rainbow alongside our sister assemblies.
We didn’t have any competition winners unfortunately, but we did have some grand positions. Zoey, our Worthy Advisor, got Grand Editor! Zoe, M’Balu, Batu and I all got Grand Rep Positions. I got one of M’Balu’s previous jurisdictions, Georgia, and I got New York as well, and we are hoping to head to Broadway when we go to New York!
Overall, Grand Assembly 2019 was amazing, and was a great bonding experience for our assembly. I can’t wait for Grand Assembly next year!
In Rainbow Love and Service,
Akshita
Quantico-Freedom Assembly #6