Early, Anxious and Picture Perfect

The school board meeting was to be held in the cafeteria in Lovonya Dejean Middle School at 6:30 PM on May 25th. 

I was among the first to arrive the location and waited with ILC member Diana Ramirez until everybody began to arrive. Once everybody did arrive, we gathered around Don while he explained what was to occur for our segment of the school board meeting and what we were suppose to do. 

This day was the day that we were to present ourselves in front of the school board members and thank them for their generosity in helping fund our summer programs in the Ivy League schools. 

A beautiful picture taken by my great mentor, Shasa Curl.

After Don finished speaking to the ILCers and Chaperons, we were seated with our cohort and our school banner. I sat up front and took pictures with my cohort and chaperon until it was announced that the school board meeting was going to start.

The meeting began and the IVY League Connection was to go up and present to the School Board first. I became nervous as all of the other cohorts and chaperons stood and presented. I felt myself begin to shake and felt a rush of anxiety fill my brain. I don't know whether it was that we were to stand in front of the School Board members or whether it was that this meeting was to be televised, maybe it was a mixture of both. But like all other instances where I felt nervous, all ended up working well. 

We were asked to stand, and stood we did.

My group went up and I heard people scream and cheer as our names were announced along with the programs we were to take in Vanderbilt this summer. My groups chaperon introduced us and announced the places that we were to visit before our programs start. Ms. Thomas announced that we were to visit Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, The University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and Columbia University located in Manhattan, New York. I was ecstatic once it was announced that we were going to visit these universities. I have never traveled farther east than the border between California and Nevada. Getting to visit and stay in Vanderbilt University located in Nashville Tennessee is beyond wonderful. With these news, I am looking forward to my summer even more.

After this, cohort member Edward Hernandez went up and thanked the school board members for the amazing opportunity that is The IVY League Connection.

After all groups presented, Don quickly directed us outside where we were suppose to take a group picture with our parents, Chaperons and ILCers. Don took a couple dozen pictures to make sure that there were a few perfect ones . We sat outside for what seemed and eternity in a very uncomfortable position and tried to look presentable with the wind blowing our hair across our faces.

Once Don finished taking the group pictures, we all scattered about and split into smaller groups to take even more pictures. This day was fun and could have not gone any better. Well, the only thing that could have been improved was the sea of angry dressed in blue shirts. Once the ILC group left, we left the anarchy between the school board and the people.

A group picture with the Ivy League Connection family.

Flash! Pictures and the School Board

Komal and my photoshoot

My mother, brother, and I rushed over to Rite-Aid to pick up Komal Kumar (from the Brown cohort) and her mother. We all drove together to the school board meeting, getting lost and stressing along the way. Once we got there, we were relieved to see that we were early and so we decided to do a small photoshoot. Then, Komal and I separated into our cohorts and started talking until it was time to sit down.

My Vanderbilt cohort and I began helping Edward, who had to give a speech in front of the huge crowd and slightly intimidating School Board. This productive conversation lasted a few minutes as we switched to talking about Japanese and other languages. Soon, it was time to sit down in the front row with Ms.Thomas. Don handed us our Vanderbilt flag and the four of us wore it over our legs as a blanket. I especially found it very warm and comforting since I was wearing a skirt. Then, Ernestina came over to us, and Jae-An and I talked with her. We had a very hilarious conversation and the laughs continued, as you can see from the pictures we took down below. 

 

The cohort with our comfy flag/blanket

The cohorts went up one by one, gave their speeches, and posed for pictures. Everyone had given amazing speeches, thanking all the sponsors, Don, the School Board, and everyone supporting us—because they all can't be thanked enough for all that they have done for us! After that, we all went outside and Don took pictures of all the students, parents, and chaperons in front of a nice brick wall. Everyone split into small groups after and had another huge photoshoot. (Everyone looked so nice that it was impossible to not take as many pictures).

Only some of us had gotten the joke

Hercules High ILCers from left to right: Ryan Cutter, Ernestina Hsieh, Komal Kumar, and me

This Time, a Different Kind of Meeting

If arriving last were a competition, I would hold the title as grand champion of all time. Seriously, this is starting to weigh on my mind, so I guarantee that at the next ILC event - the orientation - I will get there before. We'll see how it turns out next time, I guess.

The whole gang + Ernestina! I'm very excited, as you can see...

Anyways, today was the district School Board meeting, where the ILC would be presenting this year's cohorts. As mentioned, I arrived the latest out of the cohort, but since the meeting wasn't scheduled to start until 6:30, everyone sort of just mingled about. We (Vanderbilt people) all mostly stood in one corner helping Edward, our cohort's speaker, practice his speech. One completely random thing that I noticed was that we were grouped in threes in several different ways: there were three juniors in the group, three of us were taking Engineering in Adaptive Technologies, three of our names started with the letter 'J,' three of us wore glasses, and so on. Soon, we found our seats and continued to talk before the board meeting started; Jahnvi, Ernestina (From the University of Chicago cohort), and I had a very...interesting conversation.

The actual board meeting itself, or at least the time that we spent in the auditorium, seemed to zoom by. After a few opening remarks, each cohort went up, and the chaperone introduced the students and the classes they would be taking. Then a student from the cohort spoke, and there really were some good speakers. Enough to make me jealous, at least! When it was our turn to go up to the podium, I thought that I saw a smile of recognition from School Board member Mr. Todd Groves, whom I had the pleasure of learning from at Math Club back in middle school. Anyhow, I thought that Edward did an admirable job with his speech.

Afterwards, we headed to a courtyard to take a group photo - parents, chaperones, and all. I don't know about you, but when I take photos, it's one shot and a done deal; after positioning everyone perfectly, Don took a whopping 25 photos in total, to make sure that everything was picture perfect. (Hah...get it?)

Today's school board presentation really reminded me how much other people have had to work to make the Ivy League Connection happen, year after year. I just wanted to give a huge shout-out to all those who again made this possible, including: the school board, the sponsors, Ms. Kronenberg, Don, and anyone else I didn't mention. Thank you!

Laughing, Eating, Meeting

I window shopped all the stores along the walk to Zachary's Pizza, since this was a part of Berkeley I had never seen before. I met Ms.Thomas outside the restaurant as everyone else arrived just a few minutes after. We all then went inside and shared a table.

The tasty Caesar salad

Luckily, I wasn't the only vegetarian: Jacqueline didn't eat any red meat. We both ordered the same items and shared our food. We first stuffed down a tasty Caesar salad, which contained breadsticks that everyone believed to be choptsticks— that is, until we took a bite out of them. 

Ms.Thomas brought twelve questions for us all to answer aloud one by one. I got to discover a lot about everyone in this process. We all learned about each others' plans in the future and what our favorite bands and colors are. I found that we all had a few things in common: we all were afraid of the heat that might meet us in Tennessee. We then realized that we were very spoiled when it came it to the weather. 

Pizza slice with all its spices

Jacqueline and I bought a Pizza Blanca that had a nice garlic flavor and perfect seasoning. The others ate a special pizza that contained meat. We continued sharing about ourselves and laughing while eating pizza. Our conversation then ended up on dreams we had and strange things we all do in our sleep. Soon, it was time to leave and we grabbed our leftovers while Ms.Thomas paid.

The Vanderbilt cohort after eating

The battle between five humans and two pizzas

I left school twenty minutes after the bell rang to start heading over to Zachary's Chicago Pizza. I wanted to make sure that I didn't have to encounter traffic on the way, thus I left quite early. It was 3:40 PM when I left and I had to be at the restaurant by 5:00 PM.  

I arrived the location earlier than I anticipated. I remained in front of the restaurant one hour early. I sat in a truck under great heat. I sweated immensely and soon came to the conclusion that the truck was hotter than the outside environment. I decided to get out the truck and walk towards the restaurant until I saw that Ms. Thomas and Jahnvi were already standing in front of it. Once I greeted them, Edward arrived and Jae-An followed.

Delightful Caesar Salad

We went into the restaurant and were seated immediately. We ordered two pizzas and received more than enough drinks. Janhvi and I also shared a delightful Caesar Salad with two thin pieces of bread sticks which where placed within the seasoned pieces of Romaine lettuce. While we waited for the two pizzas to arrive, we all answered a questionnaire.

They gave us water
and lemonade

After we answered the questionnaire, we shared our answers and got to know each other better. The questions ranged from the farthest we have traveled to whom our favorite famous person was. It was very pleasant getting to know the people in which I will be traveling with during the summer. 

The Lemon was delicious

The two pizzas arrived and we quickly dug in. Our topic of conversation soon switched to deranged dreams that we have all had in the past. It was quite funny. Time quickly passed and it was soon time to go. We grabbed our leftovers, Ms. Thomas paid for our meals and we soon headed out of the restaurant. We took pictures as a cohort and said our good-byes.

Meet and Greet with the Peeps

Questioning Why I Got 

There Seconds Before Him

(Jae-an)

The weather was hot as I drove up Solano Ave in Albany. I saw my chaperone, Ms. Thomas, along with Jahnvi in front of Zachary’s. My dad dropped me off and I walked over to them in my pink shirt. By the time I got there, Jackie had appeared, and Jae-an was only a few seconds behind me. Turns out most got there at the exact same time.

Filling Out Questionnaires

We went in and Ms. Thomas had brought a questioner for us to talk about while the pizza was being made. The questions varied from: have you ever flown in a plane before, to what is our favorite famous person. It was really fun being able to learn about my cohorts, and chaperone as well because we didn’t let her off the hook.

Jahnvi(left) &Thomas(right)

Before we had anything to eat, we all got something to drink. We found that the pizza place had quite a sense of humor because of their funny jokes written down on the menu and wall. Jahnvi and Jackie shared a Caesar salad. We didn’t know what to get and we talked about what the final decisions were, so we decided to get two pizzas, the Zachary Special, and Pizza Blanca, both of which were delectable. 

Delectable Pizza

We stayed and talked for quite a while because we got there at 5 and left about an hour and half later at around 6:30. It was an enjoyable time and I feel that our time in Vanderbilt will be a rich experience for all of us.

Eat and Greet

Getting out of the car, I breathed a sigh of relief: I wasn't the last one to arrive at Zachary's Chicago Pizza; Edward still hadn't arrived. Humming merrily to myself, I walked across the street - only to find that Edward had mysteriously appeared out of thin air, making me again the last member of the cohort to arrive.

A pleasant ambiance in an empty room; it filled up later.

Today was our cohort's get-together, intended for us to get to know each other as well as our chaperone Ms. Thomas better. I felt like I knew everyone pretty well already, or could at least get along with them, but this was a good opportunity to get more comfortable as a group. We started off by filling out a small questionnaire about ourselves, and shared our answers. I learned a lot about our group, from things like our favorite actors to some of our concerns for the summer to weird morbid dreams that we had.

I really enjoyed talking with my cohort today, and definitely will enjoy traveling with them this summer. Thank you to the ILC and Ms. Thomas for organizing this!

Wow...I guess smiling just isn't my forte.
I did have a ton of fun talking to these guys though!