Monday, November 14, 2011

Day 4: Bye Bye Brownies

Today was the last day at Brown University, and even though the Symposium only went until noon, it was as action packed as yesterday. I woke up late this morning, but only late for breakfast thankfully, not the bus to the school from the hotel. Otherwise, I would have to walk up the dreaded hill that never seems to end.

Once there we immediately dove into a small panel of Brown students that shared their incredible Action Plans. They made me feel that, one day, I could attend Brown and speak as a panelist to future summer students. Afterward, we broke out into groups based on what type of leadership our Action Plan requires. Of the four types of leadership (critical, transformative, educative, and ethical), mine was ethical serving the interests of those who can't help themselves, or in my case, animals.

After the meeting, we reconvened in the lecture hall where representatives of each group spoke to us as a whole about what they discussed in the break-out session. Once they finished, a speaker talked to us about her mentoring program designed to help us with our Action Plans. Then the Symposium ended.

We left the hall to have lunch in the main room and say our goodbyes. Ms. Kronenberg was right there waiting for us. After many pictures and hugs, the four of us left for the airport. Unfortunately, I packed my headphones in my suitcase, so I couldn't listen to music or watch movies on my laptop, making the flight very boring. But we arrived at Oakland airport after a few delays and went home. I ended up going to sleep at 4 AM East Coast time.

The Symposium was well worth it, but I would give anything to have made it longer than the four days. One year ago, I never would have thought I would be at an Ivy League University, spreading change in my community as well as myself. I hope more than anything to apply to Brown University and get accepted, as well as become a returning alum of the ILC. I was fortunate to get this opportunity and thankful I was part of this amazing program!

"At this time, would you please turn off your iPods, iPads, gameboys, gamegirls, blackberries, blueberries, and Halle Berries. Thank you and have a nice flight." -Southwest Stewardess

1 comment:

  1. Rebecca,

    You're in big trouble now! Don't you know we're not allowed to call them stewardesses any more? They're 'flight attendants'. Shame on you, Rebecca. How totally unPC of you.

    Didn't we tell you on the night you interviewed that this would change your life forever? Did we lie to you? And it all gets better from this point forward.

    There's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't be at Brown next year. The hardest part is getting Brown to se how your application rises above the rest of that huge pile of applications they have to go through. We have faith in you, though.

    ReplyDelete

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