For the past eighteen years, my father goes to school board meetings every other Tuesday or Wednesday because he is a School Board member. For sixteen years I have watched him on television and sometimes in person, and I truly see how much the West Contra Costa Unified School District means to him. It makes me honored to be a part of it, honored to be a part of Ivy League Connection, and happy that we all made it onto television!
My mother and I left our house at around 6:00 PM to take a 15 minute drive to LeVonya DeJean Middle School. Upon arriving we waited with the Ivy League Connection group and our chaperones. We were addressed by former El Cerrito High School Principal Mr. Rhea, who told us the agenda for our ILC part of the meeting. I was glad that he took the time to tell us everything! After he was finished, we all mingled and talked to some of the people who we either don't see often because they're not in our group or we hadn't met them yet. It was nice seeing the lovely Dyana So again, and it was also nice to meet some of the people going to the Hotel Management class at Cornell and those who will be studying World Religions at Vanderbilt!
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| Me and Dyana after the meeting |
We all then went inside and were directed to the front row seats, labeled reserved. How special is that? After an almost seat catastrophe with the Vandebilt group, we were all able to sit down and wait for the meeting to start. When my dad pounded the gavel (I didn't even know they got to use gavels!) and announced the meeting was beginning, I gulped and realized how truly serious this was...how special we are to be given this opportunity.
Mr. Rhea said that chaperones would be called up and told to introduce their students. I was stunned when he called Ms. Larson and Ms. Williams up first (they are Brown chaperones). Ms. Larson called up her Brown group first, and then Ms. Williams called up her group - Women & Leadership! We all stood in front of the Board and smiled. All these people were clapping for us! It was an amazing feeling. It was nice when my dad gave me a little wave - it definitely calmed me down!
In between groups being announced, several students who did the ILC in the past came to talk about their experience and where they are going to college. Irene and Guadalupe spoke about Brown, Austin Long (who I was dying to meet and was so happy to have to have a chat with him after the meeting was done) spoke about attending Yale in the fall (the irony is he attended the Brown: DNA Based Biotechnology class last summer), and two other girls respectively talked about their journey with the ILC and how one, Beulah Agbabiaka, will be attending Columbia in the fall and the other, Yueming Wang, will be attending Cornell in the fall. Their journeys inspired me to be the best I could be!
After the sponsors were honored with certificates and, of course, pictures, all the ILC cohorts, chaperones, and our parents stood for the group picture. Even though I got mouth cramps from smiling, it was great to sit with everyone. It was also nice to get certificates!
Overall, I had a great time at the meeting. I can't wait to see my fellow Brownies at the Brown Orientation on June 2nd and just can't wait for Rhode Island!
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| Cindy, Rebecca, and Josie holding up their certificates |
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| From left to right: Mrs. Yip, Cindy, Mrs. Burnell, Ava, Rebecca, Josephine, Mrs. Biteng, Myself, Mrs. Ramsey (my mom) |
Adrianne,
ReplyDeleteThis was by far the best ILC presentation. It was handled so very well and you all did a great job, too.
The School Board, your adoring fans at home and in the audience and your classmates were all anxious to see you being honored and representing your community. This was special, Adrianne, and you did us proud.