Let Us Orientate You

We orient ourselves for orientation.

Throughout this blog, I've used really strange comparisons when describing the different events we get to go through as members of the Ivy League Connection. So, with that in mind, bear with me as I describe tonight's ILC Orientation as a City of Gold. The Orientation was originally scheduled for last Thursday, and then pushed back to tonight. At Orientation, we would finally learn all the answers to every question we desired, and then we'd soak in the Pinole Middle School River of Knowledge and go home. And as our expectations normally go, my metaphor was thrown completely out the window. Kapoosh.

After arriving and signing in right as Mr. Ramsey began to speak, I noticed that there were still a number of people missing. "Uh oh," I thought to myself, and sure enough, not two minutes later, the first important item on the orientation menu was to discuss tardiness and timeliness. As stragglers came in during the first couple minutes and got admonished, the tone of the room was definitely very awkward and unsure of themselves. I felt sympathetic towards both sides. While tardiness is often easy to overcome, there are some occasions where life takes us down more crowded and confusing roads on the way to our destinations; it's happened to us all. On the other hand, I also understood why Mr. Ramsey and Don (and much of the ILCers) were upset that they had to wait. But, as I've said, it happens to all of us at one time or another, and hopefully we'll be all prepared and set for the next time.

During Don and Mr. Ramsey's presentation, they discussed points that affected all of us - like behavior (once again, the Cornell and Co. in Canada story made a welcome reappearance), transportation, manners, communication, and timeliness. We were formally introduced to the list of chaperones - so everyone other than the Yale cohort got to meet our fantastic chaperone, Ms. Tracey Singh-Poole, for the first time. From what I heard, the other cohorts are going to some great places on weekend trips! We'll get to ours in a moment.

Ms. Tracey Singh-Poole

After the group introductions, we split up into our individual cohorts to talk about things relating specifically to Yale. That's when we learned that - guess what, no final itinerary was ready. Nonetheless, we were able to see a temporary schedule, and, if you haven't seen already in a previous blog post, officially found out that we'll be visiting Harvard, Brown, and Wesleyan Universities this summer on a college tour before our course! We also discovered that - guess what - there were no weekend trips. Our experience is definitely going to be completely different than most of the other cohorts, but we all share the similarity of going to great schools and learning and studying incredible concepts and ideas with other talented individuals and professors this summer! Since our chaperone won't be able to see us while we're at Yale, and we still had a limited schedule to look at, with no flight information as of yet, we simply sat and chatted. ILC Orientation definitely orientated me in areas other than the ILC through our chats and conversations while the other groups went on! Our cohort is also different in the fact that we leave at the tail-end of summer, when almost everyone has come back. Most are leaving within the first few weeks of summer, and so it is vital that they have access to all of the information they need. I don't mind; an orientation is meant to give you an introduction to the new places and ideas you'll explore - the actual exploration and information will come soon!

You'll hear a lot more from us come summer!

Eventually, we were all able to sit back down for the closing remarks. Mr. Ramsey went over a few more things before announcing that we "were now officially part of the Ivy League Connection!" And with that, I ended up leaving because I had another event at El Cerrito High to catch. But, as I walked out those doors and through the newly polished metal gates of Pinole Middle School's campus, I realized that I was simply one more step closer toward that "City of Gold." As members of the ILC, we've all made an effort to get ever closer to the knowledge that eludes us. That "City of Golden Knowledge" may always seem inattainable, but the golden nuggets we pick up along the way make it worthwhile.

School Board, but Never Bored

There's this imaginary clock that runs in my head. It ticks and tocks and mirrors the beat of my heart, whirring softly as I run from place to place. The seemingly never ending cycle of something finally took some kind of beating as I finished the last AP test of the year on Wednesday, May 15. The clock winded down until it was nothing more than a slight whisper. And of course, what better way to celebrate the ending of adrenaline-induced stress than by celebrating...

Oh, of course. It'd probably be better to build up to there. When I got home from school that day, I turned my phone back on (after keeping it off during the test) and was surprised to find that I had received a voicemail from Don Gosney. The only thing I could think about was Yale. "I wanted to give this message to...you know, person to person..." the message started out. "Oh, snapple," I thought to myself, but then the message went straight into saying that "they're going to take all four of you in." And with that, the muscles in my face managed to twitch up into some form of a big grin, although I had to quickly adjust it so that grin wouldn't look too creepy.

Four hours later, my mom and I arrived at Dejean Middle School in Richmond, CA to attend a WCCUSD (West Contra Costa Unified School District) School Board meeting, where we'd be introduced and congratulated as this year's members of the Ivy League Connection. It already planned to be a more poignant evening thanks to the day's earlier terrific news. After getting there, I met up with the rest of my cohort and shot the breeze, talking about the AP tests, trip to Yale, college tour, and a whole gambit of random topics. Eventually, we took our seats and sat down as the board came back after their closed session.

After a rousing Pledge of Allegiance, the meeting kicked off with some rousing public comments over the changing of the guard at Gompers from the district to the county. A lawyer team brought up their plaintiff's case during the comment period, so of course, lively discussion between the board and the lawyers followed. After the board refused to back down, the pair of attorneys walked out, in step, their briefcases moving in tandem with each other. It was quite the way to start off.

However, soon enough, we made it to the ILC presentation, and cohort by cohort was introduced by their chaperone and speaker. After Tracey's short introduction, Liam took the podium for us and did a fantastic job, expressing his deep gratitude for what the Ivy League Connection is going to do for us this summer and for the rest of our lives. In fact, all the speakers that went up did incredibly well, speaking eloquently and expressively. The ILC program closed out with grateful thanks toward the benefactors and leaders of the program & congratulatory notes from all of the board members. The group photo ended up only taking twenty minutes to set everybody up - and then bright, loud flashes of light repeated over and over again as Don told us to "sit still" and "stop blinking." As soon as it was over, my mom and I rushed back to the car, headed off to a swim banquet. The clock ticked in my head, but I managed to keep it in the back of my head, quietly as the hands moved.

To close, here's what I thought about last night put in Public Comment form:

To the Board of Education, to the benefactors of the Ivy League Connection, and to the community of the WCCUSD: I am honored and privileged to stand before you today as a member of the Ivy League Connection. Thirty eight of us stand here, holding our flags of the Ivies and throwing up smile after smile. How did we get here? We didn't grow up in a community of the very wealthy. Our district is thought of as the place with the crime and grime and no time. The money that goes toward education here is certainly not that of other areas. And yet, we hold these flags, and we speak to you today because of you. The very reason we were able to interview with the best of our abilities and think critically is because of the people in our lives that brought us up to be those quick, critical thinkers. In a community riddled with stereotypes that people hold from far away, you hold us close as we learn from you. 

Mr. Ramsey often talks about the idea of giving back, the fact that that idea is something that just...must be done. When I look back and see what the community has already done for me, teaching, nurturing, guiding me through my life, even before I entered into the ILC, how can I not want to repay all of you? Your generosity of time and talents means so much to me and everyone else here, and I thank you for all of your service to the students and community of the WCCUSD.

When I go to Yale this summer, people will ask where I'm from, and I'll tell them that I'm not simply next to the Golden Gate Bridge or "that hippie town Berkeley." I am a proud citizen and member of the West Contra Costa Unified School District. We fought tooth and nail to get to where we are. We read till our eyes hurt and spoke till our mouths were dry to compete. The fact of the matter is that there are other places where other students are given more tutoring, more education, more money...but none of that matters. The tenacity, perseverance, and strength that this district has causes all of us to invest not only in ourselves, but in each other. 

When I get back, I want to give back. I want to attempt to give even a fraction of the time some of you put into this community. I want to show people what's out there, what people can accomplish, and how to dream and succeed.

So thank you, Board, for your support of us - your smiles are infectious. Benefactors, thank you for believing in this community. Don, thank you for your tireless efforts to get us to work hard and achieve great things. And community, thank you for standing behind us proudly. We are the Ivy League Connection - proud ambassadors of the West Contra Costa Unified School District. 

Contact Josh by commenting below or by emailing him at jandakocompany@yahoo.com.

Mission: Bloggable

Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. "Put your pencils down, please." Hurry, hurry, hurry. It was 12:40 P.M. and I was stuck in a testing room at my home school, El Cerrito High, waiting for the remaining minutes of my SAT Subject Test to expire. There was twenty more minutes until the start of the Ivy League Connection tutorial at De Anza High with our fearless leader, Don Gosney, but if I didn't hurry it up, I was afraid that I would feel the fear. As soon as the proctor told us we could go, my feet were already running, over the green and yellow textured tiles, through the door, out the gate, and down the street.

My phone, after being turned off and silenced through the strict demands of the College Board, was immediately turned back on. I called Don and explained what had happened, and he understood, telling me to "get there when you get there." The very idea of the mission was simple: get to and through the tutorial. The execution was, of course, easily compared in my mind to the life of a secret agent, perhaps of the three digit number (007) variety (coincidentally enough, a numerical system that Don told us would be useful to use when organizing photos).

MISSION 1: Find the location.

After going back home to grab my stuff, my dad followed Don's instructions to De Anza High. I must admit that I was very surprised to see an incredibly beautiful campus that looked brand new. Its walls looked freshly painted and I could almost see the building bursting with pride. I then noticed that there were wire fences all around it and that wasn't the current De Anza. I drove a little farther and saw a decrepit looking one-story building that looked like a historical landmark. Suffice it to say, as I walked through the halls looking for the computer lab, I was suddenly incredibly thankful for the miracle of building upgrades. In fact, I was thankful for bonds. Municipal bonds.*

MISSION 2: Find Internet access.

After arriving at the computer lab and introducing ourselves to everyone, everyone in the tutorial tried to find some way to connect to the Internet. This was much more difficult than anyone of us thought it was going to be. There was no available wi-fi, so the only way to connect was through Ethernet cables, but cables were being taken out and loosened all over the place. I tried to pull out unused plugs from other computers that were turned off, only to find myself coughing in little clouds of dust and dirt from the ground. After multiple attempts to log on school computers, crawl on the ground to look for cables, and connect cables to cables to other cables, the rest of the group and I eventually found some instrument to get that feisty Internet connection to come through to each of our respective computers.

MISSION 3: Get briefed on the upcoming trip to Yale.

Throughout the tutorial, we were treated to a number of stories from past years of the ILC. Granted, I had heard some of these tales told before, but Don is a great storyteller (Go ahead; ask him to tell you the story of the Three Little Pigs sometime) and it helped him illustrate and me understand important points. We practiced blogging and photography for the first two hours and focused on assorted odds and ends in the last hour, mostly practical preparatory information for the summer.

Don takes a break - teaching tutorials to teenagers is tough!

I ended up completing my missions, making it through the afternoon, learning everything I came to learn, while getting to meet a couple other members of the Ivy League Connection. De Anza grew on me with their beautiful club posters that hung all throughout the school, and I can see how students can find the school lovable no matter how old the building is - the exact same feeling I felt about my former middle school, Portola. Throughout the mission, there was no point where I had to encounter everyone's Ivy League Connection nemesis, Evil Don. Good Don had him tied up as we solved all Internet dilemmas, thank goodness.

Overall, I'm very thankful to Don and De Anza High School (congrats on your upcoming new campus) for holding the tutorial. I'm prepped and ready; this agent has to get his suit ready for the upcoming Yale cohort dinner!

*That was a pun, if you didn't catch that, keeping with the action theme.

Contact Josh by commenting below or by emailing him at jandakocompany@yahoo.com.