A Brief Reprieve

This is a difficult period in my and, I am sure, many of my fellow Yalies' lives. It is the second semester of my junior year, and between normal classes, AP tests, SATs, trying to get a summer job, and all my other standard responsibilities it can be a lot to handle. On the bright side it is great practice for Yale.

My day today began with the AP Calculus BC Exam which went from 8 in the morning to almost 1 in the afternoon. The rest of the school day was relatively easy, and soon enough I was off to the U.S. Department of Agriculture for the program I do there on Wednesdays.  I finished up, returned home, and before I knew it it was time to get ready to meet up with the ILC group.

The trip there was uneventful. Everyone spent the time socializing and getting to know one another better. Once we arrived at the restaurant the true fun began. The group consisted of the Yale cohort (with each of us bringing one parent), a large group of Yale alumni (many of them recently graduated), some IlC sponsors, and of course the ILC leaders: Don Gosney, Madeline Kronenberg, and Charles Ramsey. We socialized for a little while before being seated and I learned a few interesting things about Yale. It has a system, almost unanimously described as being similar to Harry Potter, in which students are split randomly into separate colleges. They then live with, eat with, study with, and bond with the people in their college, while developing a (mostly) friendly spirit of competition with the other colleges.

The ILC's private room

After everyone was seated the formal part of the night began. First everyone introduced themselves, then there were a series of speeches. I was selected to be one of the speakers and asked to talk about how I would give back to my community after my time at Yale. I was a little nervous and missed a few of my talking points, but I was happy with my speech in the end. Everyone who gave a speech did a fantastic job; I felt truly moved by their words.

I realize that I neglected to describe about a very important detail... the main part of the event... dinner! The meal was unsurprisingly fantastic. Although I am not normally a fan of salad, the Caesar salad served as first course blew me away and I enjoyed every bite. I chose filet mignon for the second course and was not disappointed. Finally the desert, chocolate cake with ice cream, was a pleasant end to the meal.

It was a fantastic night, and an enjoyable break from the stress of junior year. I made some connections with Yale alums, one a venture capitalist and one an entrepreneur, who were both very friendly and urged me to reach out if I needed advice or help with anything especially relating to college. I am growing closer to my cohort with every milestone we reach together. I could not ask for a better group to face the challenge that is Grand Strategies with me.

Next week is the school board meeting, but before then I have an essay to write, two AP tests to take, and an interview for my summer job. I cannot wait for summer.

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.

Hola, Chevy's!

The thing about electronic communication is that it doesn't feel tangible - reading someone else's words and replying back to them is nothing compared to talking and laughing with their living, breathing face. So after emailing our cohort and chaperone for the past couple months, it was wonderful to sit down for the first time and "break bread" and talk together.

Can you say olé?

On Thursday night, we headed on over to Chevy's up at Hilltop for that experience. I must admit that I was surprised when we asked the hostess if Tracey had arrived and a completely different person that what I had expected appeared. It turns out that Ms. Tracey Singh-Poole is very familiar with the Punjabi culture and speaks Punjabi! I met her child, an 8-year-old boy who was quite the hilarious and witty one, and sat down. Soon enough, everyone else showed up, and we dug in on our starter platters, full of wonderful Mexican delights, including quesadillas and flautas.

Our conversations throughout the meal were enlightening. We all introduced ourselves and discussed our goals for the summer, and then broke up into separate discussions. I sat close to Liam's family and Tracey, so I mostly conversed with them, though I was able to learn a little bit more about Damian. Tracey comes from the Stockton area and taught up there until about three years ago, when she got the job offer at DeAnza. One fun fact that she shared with us was that she was originally hired to work at my school, El Cerrito High, but the district moved her special education position over to Pinole Valley and then to DeAnza. She's a friendly, talented, remarkable teacher who makes an impact on hundreds of students each day, taking on additional responsibilities to make sure they all have access to a fantastic education. I understand why she was chosen to be a chaperone for the Ivy League Connection.

I found that both me and Liam shared an interest in studying political science in college. We're both interested in how decisions are made and how choices countries make affect each other. We're also both involved in our school's Interact clubs and really care about our communities, so that was another interesting bit I picked up from him. One big overarching theme during the dinner table conversations was education. Hearing a special education teacher's take on life at DeAnza was interesting in itself, but when we started discussing the roots behind behavioral, learning, and communication issues, it got even more fascinating for a person who really cares about education reform. It looks like we'll be loaded with a ton of conversation fodder for the plane ride to Yale!

Toward the end of the meal, Eric mentioned that his sister was now eight years old. Eight. I had remembered when she was born, and the fact that she had grown so much floored me. It made me realize just how far I've come, and how much I've grown. This summer, I'm so excited to grow some more with my cohort and fantastic Teacher of the Year chaperone, Tracey Singh-Poole; learning, discovering, applying, and strategizing together.

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

Chevy's Meeting with Cohorts

Setting up a Meet and Greet with my ILCers and their parents was a way for us to meet in  a relaxing environment before we begin the next steps.  As so as I found out who the young men that I would be chaperoning this summer were, I contacted them to set up a meeting with their families.  Being a parent myself I wanted their parents to feel comfortable that I would be supervising their child on this fantastic journey.

On Thursday April 25th we met at Chevy's.  All the young men arrived with their parents to begin the process of getting to know about each other.  I began by telling them about myself and why I choose to participate in the ILC this year.  I then had each of them introduce themselves so that their fellow ILCers and their parents would know something about each of them.  I soon discovered one key item...each of these young men are AWESOME!  These ILCers discussed all of the school and community activities that they are involved in as well as their future goals.  It is impressive of how involved they are in their school, communities, and still have time to be great students.

We had a lot of food and a really good time and this meeting confirmed why I choose to participate in the ILC.  The thing that I left with was how impressed with each of these fine Yalies and how much I am looking forward to spending the time this year chaperoning them on this trip of a lifetime.  I am lucky because I have a wonderful group of young men to work with. Eric, Damian, Josh and Liam I am proud to be chosen as your chaperone for the Yale program this year !

Dinner at Chevys

Last night was filled with good food, insightful conversation, and an all-around good time. Damian, Eric, Josh, and I were finally able to meet Ms. Tracey Singh-Poole, who will be the chaperone on our trip to Yale this summer. We met a Chevys restaurant only about a ten minute drive from my house and very quickly found the table Tracey had reserved for us. I was very happy to finally meet Tracey, seeing as we had exchanged e-mails earlier in the week.

Eventually, everyone arrived and we sat down. Tracey told us who she is, who she works for, where she works, and why she wants to be our supervisor. My comrades and I then introduced ourselves to each other’s parents. At first, like at all meet and greet events, it was a little awkward, but as we started speaking to one another we became engaged in what others were saying. Tracey teaches special education for children with moderate to severe disability, and the way she describes it sounds like a lot of work. There is one kid in her class who just screams all day, and working with him sounds difficult, but rewarding. De Anza High School, where she works, has twenty percent of its students in special education. She receives a lot of support and it sounds like working with those kids is very fulfilling.

We also spoke about the California Standardized Testing, how to get the “bad” kids to take it, and how to get the parents more involved in the children’s education. Tracey is a very educated woman, both book smart and culturally smart. She knows a lot about the Indian Punjabi culture and even knows Punjabi. This allows her to get Indian students who aren’t showing up to classes to come because she knows their culture and their language, making them more open to her. Tracey is also approachable, amiable, and is a very nice person. She is confidant in her ability to supervise us while at Yale, and this fills me with confidence. To say the least, I think my comrades and I will have a great time getting to know her better over the coming months.

I also got a chance to talk to Josh, who was sitting across from me at the dinner table. Josh is a smart, hardworking guy who likes swimming and playing in a band. Unfortunately my other comrades Damian and Eric were across the table, so I didn’t get a chance to talk with them. But there will be plenty of time for that later as we go to other dinners and council chamber meetings.

We did go to Chevys, as mentioned before, and the food was good. Tracey ordered three or four sampler platters topped with flautas, a Latino finger food usually filled with chicken or beef and topped with melted cheese. The cheese on top blended so well with the corn tortilla and the beef chicken inside. It’s as if the flauta melted in your mouth. There were also buffalo chicken wings with this tangy hot sauce that went so well with it. It had sort of a mesquite aftertaste that made irresistible. The other food was ok at best. They had these mini pizza slices that were bland and had a funny texture. There were also quesadillas, a Mexican food where cheese and meat are placed between two tortillas and grilled. The cheese didn’t melt in your mouth like it was supposed to and the meat was a bit dry.

All in all though, I loved it. Getting to know people better is what life’s all. I am happy I met Tracey and I could not think of a better chaperone for my comrades and me.

Back in the Swing of Things

And so it begins again. After almost eight months of rest, I am blogging again. Well, rest is a slight exaggeration. Really is has been eight months of being a junior, reapplying to the the Ivy League Connection, getting in (as you might guess from my presence on this blog site), and more recently applying to Yale. And let's not forget the reading. After almost a thousand pages of reading (only a fraction of what we will have read by the end of the course) I am more excited than ever to take the Grand Strategies course.

An image that almost made its way unto the blog site

This past Sunday I met with my cohort, and of course Don, for the first time since our interviews. Despite our originally planned location, Starbucks, falling though, the Peet's just down the street worked just fine. After a few hours we finally assembled our blog site, and I for one am quite pleased with the result. We worked together quite well as a team, making decisions together, splitting up the work load, and generally getting along.

I am very excited to be a part of the ILC again, and I expect this time the be just as good, if not better, than last time. I like my cohort, and I cannot wait to get to know them all better. This Thursday we convene again, this time for dinner, to meet the Yale chaperone. Then a few weeks from now we have our fancy dinner in San Francisco, then orientation, and before we know it, we will be off to the East Coast. It is good to be back with the ILC.

To Blog Or Not To Blog

My fellow Grand Strategy cohorts, Don, and I planned to meet at a local Starbucks at 2:30 PM. Don was the first to arrive, I was second, Eric Wilson was third, Liam Guevara was fourth, and Joshua Ko was fifth. When I arrived, Don greeted me and pointed out that there was absolutely no room in Starbucks. After everyone arrived, we all decided to go to the Peet's Coffee across the plaza. Luckily, there was a counter for all five of us to work there. 

This was the first time that we reunited after the interviews in December. I was a bit nervous at how we would all interact. Thankfully, it was not awkward and we all spoke with one another comfortably. The day was quite beautiful, seventy degree weather and not a cloud was seen. We enjoyed some drinks at Peet's Coffee and proceeded to work on our blogs. I was never the one to be interested in computers, so setting up blogs is a bit foreign to me. Fortunately, Don and my cohorts are perfectly capable in that area. We all decided on the banner and background. The area that gave us the most trouble was the margins. It was necessary for us to repeatedly go back and change the width, but in the end, the blog turned out wonderful.

Don and I on our laptops

For inspiration and ideas we went to the older blogs of some Ivy League Connection alumni and to the blogs of current Ivy League Connection cohorts. We pieced and puzzled backgrounds, schemes, colors, font, font colors, banners etc. That was the easy part. One very difficult thing was the Internet connection. Liam and I decided to connect to the Fed Ex wifi unlike everyone else, who bought a drink and received an access code from Peet's. The slow connection made looking up pictures and refreshing the blog a painful snail-paced task. 

After about four hours we finally finished. I was the first cohort to arrive and the last to leave. I was and am extremely pleased with how our blog turned out. I began to show the blog to my parents and friends. I hope that this blog will receive many views.