Though down for the count, my seemingly invincible laptop has returned from the dead, repaired by the Mac store off Telegraph, and I have access to the rest of the world with minimal strain again.
Three nights ago I attended the Ivy League Connection orientation meeting. With every member in the program there the brainpower was palpable. I've been struck on several occasions by the enormity that we as mere WCCUSD students have to offer, and I am proud that all 35 of us will be representing the underdogs this summer. Many of the Connection staff, as well as the program alumni, have encouraged us to not be intimidated by the high powered sons and daughters of executives and sheiks that will attend our programs. Looking at all of us and our parents gathered at the El Cerrito HS library. How could I be? I don't mean to sound arrogant, merely that while they may hold a higher rung on the social ladder than us, from a learning standpoint they have just as much to learn from us as us we have from them. I've always felt that it's easier to lead if you have climbed from the bottom, than if you have just moved laterally.
However, enough of my ramblings about the merits of being from Contra Costa. Overall it was a good opportunity to confirm the great work that my program has been doing planning our trip. Dinner reservations have been made, admissions officers contacted, tours scheduled, hotels reserved, and thanks to the organization skills of Dyana So, we have our entire trip mapped, collated, and digitized in a spreadsheet, (Matt, Lori, and I helped too). Honestly, we are lucky to have someone as determined to scrutinize every detail and make sure our trip runs like microwaved butter. God knows I'm nowhere near as fastidious.
I suppose the theme of this blog is thankfulness. I am thankful for the opportunity ILC has afforded us, but more than that I am thankful for ILC bringing the best and the brightest of our District together, and allowing me to be a part of that group. I am confident that the majority of us will succeed in whatever path we take, and all I hope is that in the future we all remember--while sitting on our piles of gold, in a political office, just on a beach somewhere, etc.-- what it was like to be in that room with the 35 of us.
