Yale Departs

Two Hundred and Thirty Days.  That’s how long it’s been since the Yale cohort interviewed for their scholarships and were selected to attend the Young Ivy Scholars Global Strategies course at Yale University.

What they earned that night was a scholarship where The Ivy League Connection would pay their way and help prepare them for this rigorous course.  After that, though, it was up to these four young gentlemen to apply to Yale, be accepted by Yale and then prepare themselves to succeed at Yale.  A tough undertaking.

In a recent communiqué from Yale we were informed: "We received approximately 450 applications for regular decision, bringing our total number of applicants -- from over 60 countries -- to just over 1240. To give you a snapshot of the competitiveness of our applicant pool, the median SAT score among applicants, not just admitted students, is 2160. Of course, the students we admit to the program are not just very academically gifted. We look for students who have strong leadership potential, who will gain much from the program and contribute very positively to the program community, and who will ultimately give back to their school, local, regional, national, and even global communities.”

We’re proud of our Yalies and we know they’ll succeed at Yale.

This morning, though, they gathered in front of El cerrito High School braving the chilly 57ª temperatures.  The slight breeze made it feel cooler than it actually was.

Of course, after some paperwork was filled out we held the “weighing of the luggage”.  With one of the Brown-II cohort’s luggage just two weeks ago we had a new record for the lightest bag at 18.3 pounds.  Our Yale chaperone--Tracey Singh-Poole--topped that this morning with a 17.8 pound bag.  Considering that the bag itself had to weigh 5-6 pounds, it begs the question just what it was she packed to last nearly three weeks.  She even packed three pairs of shoes.

The group was issued hard copies of their itinerary and contact info and were reminded about their blogging responsibilities.

After all of the talking was concluded, the Yale cohort took the last group photo of this season.  We’ve snapped thousands of photos of our ILCers this season just while they’re here in the Bay Area.  Our ILCers have also snapped many more thousands of photos to add to their blogs and share with friends and family.  Here in the ILC we truly love our photos.

Finally, the airport shuttle arrived, was loaded with their luggage and then with the cohort.  At 4:27 they were off to SFO and by 4:28 the thoughts running through the heads of those of us left behind centered around how quickly we could return to our nice warm beds.