Orientation Precedes Eleven Days of Anticipation

We’re leaving for the East Coast in less than two weeks—eleven days to be exact—and our orientation yesterday set us on the right track. Every student in the Ivy League Connection program, along with at least one parent, attended the orientation at the El Cerrito High School library. My mother and I arrived about twenty minutes before we started, and I was surprised to see that many people were already there. No one was late; the first time ever, according to Mr. Ramsey. So we began promptly at 6:30.

Mr. Ramsey and Ms. Kronenberg introduced each chaperone and group and called up four former ILC students who are now attending or will be attending an Ivy League school. Ms. Kronenberg also  reminded us about the strings attached to this “scholarship”, including blogging and attending all of our mandatory dinners and meetings. Don brought out a bunch of items that we could borrow for the trip, including laptop security cables, desk lamps, and surge protecting power strips (all of which I need, Don). Then we broke into our travel groups.

At our Brown Session #1 meeting, Ms. Larson covered the basics and went over our itinerary. The good part was that we have the privilege of visiting Dartmouth, Yale, Wesleyan, and MIT before our classes start and later Harvard with the second Brown group, and we get the chance to have fancy lunches and dinners with admissions officers and alumni from these schools. As a bonus, we get to drive around in an Escalade. Talk about riding in style. The only downside to everything is that we have to arrive at El Cerrito High on our departure day by at least 3:45 AM for our 4 AM shuttle. But I’m sure it’ll all be worth not sleeping that night. Our group also heard from Cynthia Fong, a sophomore at Brown. She shared with us her experiences in Providence, giving us tips to interact with other students and talk to our professors.

After we were finished with our group meetings, everyone gathered back in the library for closing notes and dismissal. The orientation was very informative and useful, especially because our group found out that we still had some forms to take care of. Now that everything is clear, I’m ready to head off! Eleven days can’t go by fast enough.