The 35 of Us

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.

ILC Orientation: The Attached Strings we all Must Uphold and Honor

Hearing Mr. Ramsey proudly declare “Everyone is on time!” was the perfect foreshadowing to what I’m now convinced will be a great year for both the Ivy League Connections and the students participating in it this program this year.

The library of the new and beautiful El Cerrito High School was packed with parents, students, chaperones, and other integral figures of the ILC. The Yalies congregated to the right side – the only group in a circle of chairs because all the tables to the left of us were already surrounded by students and parents that, for the most part, almost touched shoulders.

Amongst those integral figures that I mentioned earlier, I immediately noticed Mr. Ellis standing off to the side at my left. I recall a great series of conversations with him and Ms. Kim and was pleased to see him again at the orientation for I then became very curious to know why he was there. Eventually, sandwiched by alternating speeches of Mr. Ramsey/Ms. Kronenberg and Don, everyone in the room had their attention directed towards Mr. Ellis and his upcoming, budding idea – The Ivy League Connections Press.

This was not news to me because Mr. Ellis expressed great interest and enthusiasm of such a unique program being available to students in our district among our chats at the Yale dinner. “Wouldn’t it be something” I could still recall him say “for a junior or senior student in high school to graduate with a book already published?” I agreed with him back at the dinner and I continue to agree with him when he reiterated those very words to everyone at that orientation that very evening. I see potential in that program and am looking very forward to see its developments unfold in this upcoming year.

At break-out sessions, the Yalies discussed in more detail the general plans for the summer. Unlike emails, all the parents and students were able to physically interact with Lori, which proved to be a meeting long over-due. Our application forms for the YISP were due tomorrow and Lori was to take care of all the mailing for us. But, before we handed our packets of forms and papers to her, we all diligently looked over everything and bounced our confusions and questions off one another until everyone was on the same page with the completed forms. Although filling out all the forms did go a bit over our session and had also rolled into the final group meeting back at the library, I was very pleased that all three of us had all our forms filled and in Lori’s hands upon our departure from the El Cerrito High School library.

The orientation was informative and helpful. I thank Ms. Kronenberg for reminding all of us that this program was a gift but also a very expensive one with strings attached and responsibilities for each recipient of such a gift to uphold. I thank Mr. Ramsey for emphasizing the importance of following directions and reaching out to past ILC alumni that have been to our program(s) before for more information. Lastly, I also thank Don for making a very clear and concise repeat of essentially, the letter he sent to all us ILCers regarding borrowing certain items we may need at the East, and being so generous with his offers.

The long list of YISP reading still awaits me. Every day, I read as much as my schedule will allow so as to prevent any string of consecutive summer days to fall victim to nonstop reading. The last week of my junior year in high school is almost here and almost over; finals will eventually come to pass and I will happily enjoy its one-year absence once more. I am pleased that once school takes a break from being the center of attention in a matter of one more week, I’ll finally have the chance to spend a majority of June reading voraciously.

Leadership 101

I was under the impression that my leadership courses would be coming on July 24th, but it seems that I was due for an earlier lesson than I had expected.

Now this course wasn't formal or anything, it wasn't taught in a classroom by a man who had majored in philosophy or leadership and all that jazz. Instead it was merely a serious in depth conversation between my mom, my dad, and myself.

Our whole conversation precipitated from events that unfolded during our Ivy League Connection Orientation tonight. At our orientation certain traits were revealed by various members of the ILC, including both students and administrators. At our orientation tonight, key information was to be delivered to each and every one of the ILC cohorts and their respective parents. This information included things such as travel plans, what to pack, when we're leaving, and basically what we, as the students, must give back to the program itself. Now during the whole course of this exchange of information certain attitudes and actions jumped out to both me and my family, and these are the things that caused my crash course introduction to leadership.

When my family got home and we were all fed, we sat back down at our dinner table and started to discuss what had happened that night. My father immediately started asking me questions, sort of like an interrogation, about what things had popped out to me that night, what I thought about them, etc. I told him that certain actions and attitudes were the most prominent things that I had noticed and a big grin started to form itself upon his face. I could tell that I had hit upon something that he wanted to have a deep analytical discussion with me.

We started to discuss the actions and attitudes, why they were there in the first place, and whether or not they were right. In order to answer why they were there we talked about what kind of stresses go into such a tremendous organization such as the ILC. Before this conversation I had never really taken a good look at all of the logistics that needed to be taken care of. Sure I was in charge of making reservations at Columbia for campus tours and for dinner dates, but that was only one city, for one program. There are several other programs that needed to be attended to, several other dinner dates and campus tours. I had gained a lot of appreciation for all of the hard work, time, and resources that our administrators put into each of us.

After discussing the logistics of it all, my family and I moved onto the key issue of our talk that night. Leadership is a very complex thing, it takes a precise formula to create an effective leader. This formula includes how to inspire your subjects and how to properly maintain control over them, basically how to be a "just leader." The actions and attitudes that brought about the family wide debate, started to be analyzed by us. We took them apart and thought about whether or not a great leader acts like this. My father then paralleled this situation into his own universe. My father was after all a SWAT team leader and he had to face the daunting task of leading individuals into combat. My dad told me all sorts of things that a leader had to think of, basically the formula mentioned earlier, and how that at the core each and every leader now matter what they be the leader of had to adhere to his fundamental formula. We concluded that the actions and attitudes brought up in the night of Orientation had just reasons for them, but also had some flaws.

Yes I had gained the knowledge that was supposed to be given to me on Orientation, what to pack, what to expect, when to leave, but the most important things I gained that night were as a result of my family debate. I had learned to appreciate evermore the efforts that our ILC administrators put into the ILC students. Most importantly however leadership is a complex subject and requires an individual of the highest capabilities in order to master the craft. The attitudes and actions that had surged at Orientation were the direct causation of the debate and consequently, my lessons gained from them.

Exceptional

It is hard to describe an establishment of true class, not the flashy, garish type, but more of an unobtrusive elegance. This was the atmosphere of Prospects restaurant as our party of 20 Yale alums, ILC staff, parents, sponsors, and Dyana, Matt, and I.

The lilting background music was neither too loud, nor too soft, I don’t remember what it was, but I’m sure it was pleasant. Bubbles of conversation drifted from the main dining area—all polite— contributing  to the gentle ambiance. Waiters with interesting, yet finely groomed, facial hair served us hors d'œuvre from polished wood plates as we mingled with our sartorially magnificent group. The appetizers themselves were neatly arranged as well, cut in the most polygonal way a vegetable can possibly be cut, aside dips designed to be complimentary; carried by several waiters weaving in and around us, arriving and departing seamlessly from conversations with only a shadow of a, “freshen your drink sir?” And the food! My God; every single piece of food I ate looked exactly as good as it tasted, and they all looked about as good as this:

Desert course 1 of 3.

For the duration of the night, after some initial schmoozing, I sat between Don Gosney, our behind the scenes ILC coordinator, (no one is exactly sure what his job is, but he seems to get things done.) and Ken Yamaguchi, a Yale alum and president of the Bay Area’s chapter of the Yale alumni association. While Don and I had a long conversation concerning the state of high school history texts and the more unsavory parts of history that they tend to omit or gloss over; such as the dozen or so coups staged by the CIA in Latin America and other countries during the cold war— thank you Texas school board. Ken entertained questions from Austin Long (An ILC alum who will attend Yale in the Fall) and I about life at Yale. These conversations were interspersed with discussions between our table group of nine, as well as speeches by various alums, sponsors, school board members, and my cohort Dyana So.

Between the conversations I had with Don, Ken, and the many other dinner guests; the food, the atmosphere, and the speeches, it was an exceptional night, in the truest sense of the word.

As I think back now, I keep returning to something that Mr. Yamaguchi offhandedly said to Austin, “Ninety percent of the people you meet are going to be exceptional, in one way or another.”

In some ways, I see Ivy League Connection and our sponsor’s investment in the 35 of us as a way of promoting the belief that we have that capacity to be exceptional. In fact, those were more or less the words of Charles Ramsey, the president of our school board, as he described to us why he began this.

Just a Teaser

The 2011 Ivy League Connection cohorts, their chaperones and parents gather for a group photo after being presented to the West Contra Costa Unified School District on May 4th.

Stay tuned for more photos.

Inspirational Dining with "Tigers"

A blue Catherine Regehr for Neiman Marcus dress has been sitting in the back of my closest for a while. I've been waiting for the perfect occasion to wear such an elegant thing but have yet to find the time until tonight.

It was Friday at last. I couldn't wait to get home and prepare for the Yale dinner. The entire week that followed had been quick but tiring. Everyday was either studying for an AP test or the day of an AP test. Now, with three of the four tests under my belt, I was ready to relax and enjoy an extravagant evening at the Prospects Restaurant in San Francisco.

I spent little time mingling on the BART ride to our destination because I was busy collecting my thoughts for the speech I was to make that evening at the dinner. Hunched over a little yellow notepad, I outlined the preliminary answers I had to address the question: "What does the Yale Ivy Scholars Program Mean to You?" So many answers would shout over one another in my mind as I thought over the question extensively that I also asked Tom and Matt what they thought so as to both quiet my detracting thoughts and hear what they had to say. I discovered that even though we share the same enthusiasm for the Grand Strategy class that awaits us this summer, the three of us also had a different but equally admirable take on what this program meant for all of us.

Getting off Embarcadero Station with our large, well-dressed party gave me nostalgia. I saw One Market restaurant up ahead and turning the corner just before the cross walk that led to it, was a symbolic thing for me. That was the restaurant I attended last year as a Cornellian. Now, as a Yalie, I was literally turning the page to another exciting, unwritten chapter of my life and heading down another path of academic rigor and opportunities.



The room Prospects set out for our party was perfect. Large windows stood opposite of the three round tables that waited before us. A woman offered to take our coats and hang them in another room as our main server of the evening asked us for our beverage preferences. I was asked if I wanted champagne or chardonnay twice, but I stuck with coke for legal reasons.

As the remaining guests made their way to Prospects, the majority of us stood around to continue mingling. The guests Mr. Ramsey and Ms. Kronenberg invited for dinner were a perfect bunch. Ms. Kaplan, Ms. Kahn, and Ms. Kim continue to be supportive and encouraging figures for not just me, but also for all the other diamond-in-the-rough students from our district. They never grow tired of telling students that the sky's limitless, and I admire their hopeful outlook for the students in our district. I was also glad to have Austin Long join us for dinner; many students from our high school look up to him for his accomplishments and leadership and they couldn't be more proud of his acceptance into Yale. Having Mr. Long there was great as well because it gave my mother, who was more comfortable speaking in Cantonese, a chance to engage in more conversation that evening. Mrs. Pepa, some of the interviewers from the panel responsible for choosing us Yalies for the ILC, some of the sponsors, and some local Yale alums were also invited to perfect our wonderful dining experience.

The three tables were divided accordingly to Tom, Matt, and I. At my table sat Ms. Kronenberg, Mr. Lindsay, Mr. Elis, Ms. Kim, my mother, Alexis, and Mrs. Pepa. They were great to dine with and a large portion of why I found this dinner to be so fun and unforgettable was because of the conversations I shared with them. Mr. Lindsay described to us a perfect "Yale moment" he once experienced back when he was a student there. The snow had just finished falling, a full moon was out on a clear night, and the world around him was absolutely quiet and still when he chanced to step out one night to witness it. I can still see that breathtaking image in my mind and hope that, even though I won't see snow in the summer, I'll also get to have a "Yale moment" of my own as well.



Alexis was the local alumni at our table. She graduated from Yale as an English major in 2006 and is now working in the Bay Area for Google. A large part to the casualness and fun in our conversations can be attributed to her. From her experiences at Yale to her moments from her high school days back in her small town, Alexis assures me that after high school, it can only get better and better, especially if you're going to college.

Mr. Elis and Ms. Kim were the two I spoke the most with. Mr. Elis and I remembered each other from the interviews but never had the chance to get better acquainted since then. Ms. Kim, I knew, was a private counselor, and she was the one to talk to if you were in need of any advice or answers regarding your college search. The three of us suddenly found ourselves in a really engaging conversation when I asked Mr. Elis about his job as a publisher.

Mr. Elis briefly mentioned he was a publisher when he commented on Alexis's English degree and that instantly stood out to me. As someone who loves her English classes year after year and have always found writing to be both a fun and powerful skill to possess, I immediately became intrigued with what Mr. Elis's and Alexis's English degrees have gotten them. For Mr. Elis, it was a career as a publisher. I was so curious to learn more about that profession that I just had to ask. And since that question left my mouth, the conversations as the table just kicked off naturally.

Although I love English, I cannot say with confidence that that was the direction I plan to pursue in life. The fast approach of junior year's end is a transitioning point for me. One foot is stepping into the application process for college while the other is still firmly grounded on high school and completing all my requirements to graduate. When one is in an awkward position such as this, it is easy to find yourself daydreaming about the future in order to ignore all the hard work needed to get there - at least for a moment.

Therefore, whenever I can get someone to share with me details of their profession, I always perk up with interest. This is especially true when those that are sharing are just as happy to share as they are are about the work they they do. For Mr. Elis, the self-taught publisher, that was the case. The desire for Mr. Elis to print books had its origins back in his Berkeley high school days when he was an active participant of his school's daily newspaper.The love that developed there never left him and was finally carried out after college when he bought his very own printing press. After many years of being self-taught and not being afraid to ask questions, Mr. Elis's business grew and to this day, over a 1000 book titles were printed under him. The life of a publisher is an exciting one. Not only do you take part in creating something as classic and treasured as a good 'ol book, you also get to meet so many authors along the way. At the end of his story, Mr. Elis does not hesitate to assure me that there is no need to have a fear of asking questions especially to avoid embarrassment and that, as long as you work hard for what you love, success will find you.

Ms. Kim was as intrigued by Mr. Elis as I was. She contributed to this conversation often and every time, it was of great insight and valuable information. With Ms. Kim, I found a lot of common ground. Both of us were immigrants who arrived to the states at the age of 5. We also share a love for learning; the philosophy that the college experience was really what you make of it and not what the school is known for; and the love for Harper Lee's classic, To Kill a Mockingbird.


The food at Prospects was absolutely delicious. The service was good and everyone seemed to enjoy their meals - so much that when time came to eat ice cream sandwiches (our third dessert treat), some of us (yours truly included)just couldn't eat another another bite! I do have more photos of the food that was being served, but to save my readers from drooling all over their keyboards and damaging their computers, I will only tease them with this chocolate cake I had for dessert.

On the Speech and My Gratitude

I wanted to set a special place in my post aside to comment on the speech I made at the dinner on Friday night and express my thanks. I am honored to have been chosen to represent the Yalies - to be offered the chance to speak before such an inspirational group. Ms. Kahn noticed that I had been fidgeting with my yellow notepad earlier on the BART train and reassured me that everything will be alright as long as I speak from the heart. This proved to be easier than I thought because this opportunity - to be able to go to Yale and take a college course over the summer on a full-ride scholarship - was an unbelievable miracle that I did feel very strongly for deep in my heart. Therefore, I abandoned my notes all together, took a deep breath, and dived right into my speech. Although I honestly do not know whether it went as well as some speech competitions I've had in the past or that it was really just a ramble of words, everything I said that night, though I cannot remember all of it, were true to my words and in parallels with the emotions I have towards it.

- - - -

Growing up, I've always jokingly told myself: "Pinole is the most random city you could have ever ended up in." I say this because, as a Chinese immigrant coming from a city of 7 million (Hong Kong), I could have easily found myself growing up in common cities like San Francisco with a large Chinese demographic, or a city like Albany where all my cousins went to school at because of their "better education". My little brother and I are the only ones in our family to continue our education in the West Contra Costa County and I see it as destiny.

A couple of years back, had my parents actually offered me a chance to get an education somewhere else, I could have very well said yes in heartbeat because I was not shy at all when it came to changing schools. Now, with so many memories and triumphs made as a student in this district from first grade to, eventually, senior year, I refuse to leave Pinole Valley even if an all-expenses-paid scholarship to the best private high school in the world was given to me.

Pinole is not some random place that I awkwardly found myself growing up in. It is where I was meant to be and I'm glad I understand that now. I didn't grow up with much as a child and I didn't have "Tiger" parents that refused to accept anything short of perfection. The drive I have towards my education, the reason why I refuse to give up, and the firm belief that one should always take advantage of any given opportunity, began with a teacher that saw me stand out among the rest of my peers. Since then, I've always believed there is nothing more important to a child's life than education.

The Ivy League Connection found me when I was called to the library one sophomore day in December. I remain a proud ambassador for the program and I look forward to being a leader for students in my district when I return from Yale this summer. I want them to see that the world has so much more to offer than what most of them see everyday, that even though we have to work so much harder to get up there, a bright future can still be there, waiting.

Ivy League Connections, I thank you once again for this second opportunity to be an ambassador for my school district. I look forward to New Haven, Connecticut and studying Grand Strategy with students all over the world.

Acknowledgement by the School Board

Lori Nardone, the chaperon for the Yalies this year, gave a wonderful speech to formally introduce us to the School Board this past Wednesday. Although standing before the board as Ms. Nardone explained what our summer course would entail was a brief, it was long enough for me to feel bestowed with great honor.

The other ILC groups were there as well. I've only seen half of them at the blogging session earlier this previous month and have only known the rest through their presence on their respective blogs. Some appeared really nervous, wondering if they were required to speak tonight while others looked cool, calm, and collected. I knew I was excited to be there, despite the nearing AP US History Testing lurking around behind my mind.

My favorite part of the entire evening was hearing from last year's ILC students who will be attending Ivy League colleges this year. I am pleased to say that watching them was especially phenomenal and inspiring since I've met all of them before. It touched me to realized that exactly one year ago, they were filling the same seats this year's ILC students were filling. Now, with senior year almost over for them, they look forward to bright futures as they confront their greatest challenge up to date: college.

Irene Rojas-Caroll impressed me the extensive list of colleges that accepted her (all the schools she applied for approved of her!) I repect her calm and mature attitude towards heading off to college and wish her the best of luck as she heads off to Brown.

Yue Ming Wang and I share badminton games and the proud position of being able to be a part of the ILC two years in a row. The difference, however, is that she beats me on the badminton court and I have yet to even start my second summer class yet. I've looked up to Yue Ming since I've met her and I know she will make her 4 years at Cornell as exciting as she made it sound in her speech tonight.

Austin Long (Yale c/o '15) speaks before the School Board.

And finally, there's Austin Long. Unlike the other two above, Austin went to my school, Pinole Valley. After seeing him be a leader at our school and working with him in extracurricular, I was not surprised at all when I found out he got accepted to Yale. Although the process of choosing between this school and UC Berkeley boggled his mind a bit, I'm glad he is finally satisfied with his final decision. He's going to do well over there and I'm glad to have some one like him represent our high school with such prestige. Good luck Austin!

ILC students know better than to be late - especially to an important event as tonight. Outside La Vonya DeJean Midde School's auditorium, students and chaperons mingle with one another just before the meeting began.


Pinole Valley High School's principal, Ms. Kahn, addresses the students on important information about the meeting.

Lori Nardone takes a photo of the us Yalies right before we enter the auditorium.

The ILC students going to Columbia this summer are the first to find a seat together.

Kathleen He, Andrew Gonzales, and Erin Miller - the ILC students studying Macroeconomics at Brown - smile for the camera.

Kye Duran, Aiyana Hedeen-Garrett, and Julia Chang pose in a picture with their chaperon and assistant principal at Pinole Valley, Ms. Yolanda Bulls. These three will be heading down to Vanderbilt and studying World Religions.

Matt Lee and Tom Miller. I look forward to spending three weeks on the East Coast with these two plus Lori.

The ILC students attending Brown for the Women in Leadership program stands before the Board as their chaperon introduces them.

The ILC Cornellians being introduced by their chaperon, Ms. Tiffani Neal. This will be Ms. Neal's third year in chaperoning students to Cornell.

Thank you Mr. Ramsey for the wonderful Yale banner! The three of us just had to take a picture with it to commemorate our School Board meeting success.