Carmelian PopStars

The **Carmelian PopStars** are a group consisting of students who study at the Carmelian schools.

## Composition principles

The Carmelian PopStars consist of one cheerleader of any gender, as well as six volleyball players, which consist of a female wing spiker, a male wing spiker, a female middle blocker, a male middle blocker, a female setter and a male setter. All six Carmelian schools are represented in the Carmelian PopStars. A member will graduate from the Carmelian PopStars on the last day of the August after her/his graduation from school, and will be replaced by a newly admitted Form 1 member the following day. The graduate will then join the Winning PopStars, the alumni section of the group.

The cheerleader of the group bears the title of Carmel's Cheerleader.

## Members

† Mikael and Gabriel, both cheerleaders, had unofficial jersey numbers that are over 20, as the maximum jersey number recognized in official volleyball matches is 20.

## History

### December 2017 - Destined encounter under the half moon

After the match between Carmel Alison Lam Foundation Secondary School (CALFSS) and Carmel Holy Word Secondary School (CHWSS) at the 2017 All Hong Kong Schools Jing Ying Volleyball Tournament on 28 December 2017, Rachel Lam, a setter of CALFSS, approached Josefin Chung, the best middle blocker of CHWSS. They instantly became best friends, and kept in contact after the tournament. Raphael Lam, the twin brother of Rachel Lam, also became a friend of Josefin, who was affectionately known as "Josie" to the siblings.

### December 2018 - A boy calling himself "Carmel's Cheerleader"

Almost one year later on 26 December 2018, one day before the start of the 2018 Jing Ying Tournament, Josie and Rachel meet at the Tsing Yi Sports Centre and discussed about Mike, a boy from Carmel Secondary School who called himself "Carmel's Cheerleader", and his pledge to cheer for both of their schools and his own school at the tournament. At the tournament, Mike cheered for CSS, CALFSS and CHWSS, and yet for some reason, Josie, Rachel and Raphael did not approach him.

Later, Francis Yuen, who is a friend of Josie and a wing spiker from Carmel Pak U Secondary School (CPU), met Rachel and Raphael at their match.

### Spring/Summer 2019 - Cheerleader diplomacy

After the tournament, Mike adopted a doctrine of "cheerleader diplomacy" - a plan to know friends from different Carmelian schools through going on cheerleading missions. On 23 March, he went on a cheerleading mission for Carmel Bunnan Tong Memorial Secondary School (CBT) and CALFSS, and hence knew Richard Law, the middle blocker of CBT, and Rachel and Raphael, in person. Mike later chatted with Lucia Moyung, a friend of his whom he knew at the Hong Kong Academy for Gifted Education, about his "cheerleader diplomacy", and Lucia, who is also from Carmel Divine Grace Foundation Secondary School (CDGFSS), expressed her will to meet the friends he have newly met. At the same time, Rachel and Raphael introduced Josie and Francis to Mike, and Mike introduced Lucia and Richard to the siblings.

The Carmelian PopStars are finally founded as a group of seven on 18 May 2019. In a summer meeting after the exams, they set a goal to get into the 2019 Jing Ying Tournament together. Later, they went together at the 2019 CYT Volleyball Cup to support CSS, CALFSS and CHWSS, and at the 2019 Youth Cup to support CSS.

As the school year resumes in September 2019, Mike continued with his "cheerleader diplomacy" while keeping looking forward to the 2019 Jing Ying Tournament, being confident that CSS, CALFSS and CHWSS will enter the tournament like they did last year, and that CBT will enter the tournament for the first time in history.

### Fall/Winter 2019 - Disappointment and despair

In October, due to escalated instability in the city, HKSSF matches were cancelled for the whole month. Matches resumed in November, but most have to be played during weekday lesson time. A match of the CPU U19 Girls' Volleyball Team took place on 9 November 2019, which is a Saturday, after a month without weekend matches featuring Carmelians, but disappointment returned when instability reached a record high on 11 November, leading to a cancellation of two more weeks worth of matches.

What was worse was that a coronavirus pandemic started to affect Hong Kong at the end of January 2020. Ultimately, there was not enough time for New Territories districts to finish their knockout stage and determine their qualifiers for the Jing Ying Tournament, and the 2019 Tournament was permanently cancelled.

### Spring/Summer 2020 - Mike's and Lucia's exam battle and graduation

Mike and Lucia were the first members of the Carmelian PopStars to face the public university admission examinations. During their examinations, other members of the Carmelian PopStars also supported them, while they studied day and night for a place in their respective desired university program. They often spoke to other members with advanced English vocabulary so as to brush up their chances in the English exam.

Ultimately, Mike and Lucia both graduated in June 2020 from their respective schools, and they both received offers from the University of Hong Kong. Mike studied the Global Engineering and Business Program, while Lucia studied the Medicine program. On 29 August 2020, Mike, who has adopted the name Mikael for use at university, informed Rachel that he and Lucia will be graduating from the group and new members from their schools will take their place. The next day, Mikael and Lucia established the Winning PopStars, the alumni section of the Carmelian PopStars, which is named as a nod to the CSS alumni volleyball team "Winning".

### Fall/Winter 2020 - New members to "defeat you" in a new school year

Under the recommendation of Lucia, Ulrika Leung, a Form 1 wing spiker from CSS, and her neighbor and friend Gabriel Tang, a Form 1 cheerleader from CDGFSS, joined the Carmelian PopStars from 1 September 2020. The Carmelian PopStars later promoted the house elections of CDGFSS and the student union election of CALFSS in autumn, with Mikael and Lucia returning.

Mikael later wrote an autobiography, *Mikael's Chronicles*, in early November.

The Carmelian PopStars celebrated what would have been the 2020 Jing Ying Tournament by telling flashback stories during Christmas, and holding the 2020 All Hong Kong Schools Jing Ying Volleyball Concert, a virtual online concert, on New Year's Eve. The virtual concert ended with the Carmelian anthem as 2021 arrived.

### Spring/Summer 2021 - Josie's exam battle and graduation

Josie started full preparation for her university admission examinations by the start of 2021. In contrast with Lucia and Mikael who focused on advanced English vocabulary, she focused on Classical Chinese instead and sometimes spoke in Classical Chinese.

On 21 May 2021, she graduated from CHWSS, and she received her exam results on 21 July. She graduated from the Carmelian PopStars on 31 August as the first member who won the Jing Ying Tournament.

### Fall/Winter 2021 - Passing on the spirit of the Iron Wall of Carmel Holy Word

On 1 September 2021, a Form 1 middle blocker from Carmel Holy Word joined the Carmelian PopStars.

## See also

* Carmelian PopStars (project), the real-life project to promote a Carmelian sense of belonging