Bleeding Orange at Syracuse University

After driving around in the rain to look at Syracuse last night, I was more than excited to see the campus in daylight. It was very cold, but I knew that the overcast weather was nothing compared to what the winters might be like. I need a heavy coat.

I arrived at the welcoming seminar for the Spring Reception and I was surprised at how many people were there. I was sitting in the balcony section because the entire first floor was filled. The reception opened with the Beginning Players performing a musical number from "The Drowsy Chaperone." I would really like to continue doing musical theater in college. I like to do it on the side but performing onstage is one of my secret passions. Don't tell anyone.

Introduction to the Spring Reception

After a short welcome speech, students were split up into informational groups for the specific colleges they were accepted to. I was accepted to the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications majoring in Advertising. The dean of Newhouse, Lorraine Branham, greeted us and told us that we were fortunate to be accepted to that highly competitive college within the university which has an extremely prestigious communications program. Each year, Newhouse receives about 4,000 undergraduate applications for a class of 350 students.

My school: The S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications

Lorraine Branham welcoming Newhouse students

The Newhouse building is the newest and most pampered part of Syracuse University. The facility is split up into 3 buildings and I was brought over to Newhouse 3 to discuss my major with the chairman of Advertising, James Tsao. In this major, students need to have an emphasis on where their professional interests lie. Some examples include management, media planning, account planning, and advertising laws. My emphasis is most likely going to be Creative Ideas and the Creative Craft of Advertising.

The advertising students at Syracuse have competed and won in national competitions. One of their biggest rivals in the communications program is Ithaca College, where I am heading next.

I had a quick lunch at the amazing Carrier Dome. I have seen that arena on TV and all over the internet. It was quite an amazing place to be in person. I wish I could have stayed a little longer, but I had to catch a tour of the dorm rooms. The dorms were like any college dorm rooms, but the halls were much more narrow than those at Brown.

The one and only Carrier Dome

Lunch in the Dome

I determine how much I like a college by its college tour. I think they are really important. I get to see how much that student guide loves the school. When I was visiting schools during the Ivy League Connection, I liked Boston University the best because I got a lot of the information about the school as well as a feel for school life. At MIT, it was not what I was looking for. The guide talked mostly about student pranks. The tour at Syracuse was perfect. The guide was very knowledgeable about the history of the campus and she also told the group about the secrets of the school. Our guide wasn't trying to impress us, she wasn't overly dramatic, and she wasn't boring. She was just a very down to earth student who was a great speaker. She represented her school very well. When I go to college, I really want to give campus tours.

The match building. The front doors are sealed shut, so use the side doors!

Art students doing charcoal rubbings on the ground.

My mom and I spent the rest of the day going into a bunch of buildings on campus. The entire campus was open so we could go anywhere. We went into a building that looked like a castle, Crouse School of Visual and Performing Arts. There we saw a choir performing and they sounded angelic. We also went into the chapel, where countless religions are represented.

Crouse School of the Visual and Performing Arts

Inside of Crouse

The chapel: "Ye shall know the truth and the truth will make you free."

I ended the day by visiting the financial aid office. The faculty was incredibly patient and friendly. The offices weren't overcrowded with paperwork either. I was referred to a very young financial aid officer, Kara Cabiles. She was really nice and she encouraged me to apply to scholarships offered at my high school. Her husband is from the Bay Area so we had a lot in common.

Staying honest with Abe in from of the Maxwell School of Citizenship

I think I love it here.

The official front of the university

It was freezing and I have a terrible cold. Syracuse is magical.

People always say you will find your college when you get a magical warm feeling inside of you that tells you that school is right for you. Now I know what they are talking about. Syracuse was beautiful and I really liked the students and faculty that I met. I can see myself at Syracuse University. I'm a little worried about how I will adjust to a really big university. I will compare it to Ithaca College when I go visit tomorrow.

An experiment, but still very friendly

Farewell to Syracuse

An Afternoon in Syracuse

I brought a few books with me on this trip. I got into reading a lot my senior year. Here’s what I brought: Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass, and How to Read Literature Like a Professor by Thomas C. Foster. I finished Catcher in the Rye on the plane to Chicago and I am trying to finish How to Read Literature… before the week ends.

Doing my homework.

The plane to Syracuse was the smallest plane I have been on in my life. It had two seats on each side and it held under 60 passengers. I saw a girl with an orange Syracuse hoodie and I was instantly jealous.

My flight to Syracuse

What a beautiful sign to see!

When we landed in Syracuse, memories rushed back from going to the east coast last summer. Everything was so flat compared to the Bay Area. My mom and I ran into the Hedeens at the car rental booth. I had some tunes for the trip so I would not go crazy listening to the Austrailian lady on the GPS telling my mom where to turn.

This will come in handy when we drive to Ithaca on Tuesday morning.

After settling into the hotel, Aiyana and I planned dinner at the Dinosaur BBQ, which was the most popular joint in the city. I had a pulled pork sandwich with cole slaw and mashed potatoes. It was a jazzy little restaurant and I found that there is live music playing every single day of the week. There is a performance area upstairs where local musicians get to play.

It started to rain, but I still wanted to see the campus. My mom drove through the dark and wet city to find the campus which is on top of the only hill in the city. Even though it was dark, the buildings were beautiful. I did not get any pictures because of the lighting and the precipitation, but I cannot wait until the Spring Reception on campus tomorrow. I talked to my brother a few minutes ago and the President of Syracuse University graduated from his school, Sarah Lawrence College. He is excited for my college decision.

I am very excited to be in New York so I can visit Syracuse University while it is having its Accepted Students Spring Reception. Tomorrow, I will get to meet with current students and staff, and I will be able to tour the campus in the daylight. Until then, good night from the New York!

Bon Voyage! Take Me Back to New York

At exactly 3:00 AM this morning, I was on the road headed to San Francisco International Airport. Five hours before, I was at the Pinole Community Playhouse for my second performance of “Anything Goes.” I told the cast that I was headed to New York and they were more than excited. Performances resume on Thursday, so I scheduled my flight to return on Wednesday.

My mom and I drove to the airport with Aiyana Hedeen-Garrett (Summer@Vanderbilt ’11) and her mom. It was extremely early for all of us, but we managed to be in high spirits all the way to the terminals. While the Millers are taking United Airlines, the Hedeens will be flying with American Airlines.

With support from the Ivy League Connection, I am flying to New York to visit Syracuse University and Ithaca College, my top two choices for furthering my education. In addition to those two schools, I was accepted to Boston University, UC Santa Barbara, and UC Davis. Unfortunately, I was not accepted to the University of Southern California or Brown University. I have chosen to go to school out of state in an entirely new (and cold) environment. After going to Summer@Brown in the summer of 2011, I realized that I wanted to get out of California and take advantage of what the east coast has to offer.

A lot of my close friends have been accepted to schools in/close to New York. These include University of Pennsylvania (UPenn), University of Rochester, and New York University (NYU). My brother currently goes to Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville. We are all a train ride away from each other. I have already connected and calculated the distances from college to college, just in case we all want to meet up sometime.

I am currently on Spring Break. There is work to do and adventures to go on. So far, the trip has gone smoothly. Next stop, Chicago and then we’re on to Syracuse. Even though the Hedeens are using a different airline, our arrival times differ with a few minutes so we will meet up for lunch in O’Hare.

Exposed

"When I look at you, I see a different person. Quieter, more observant, takes more notes. You've changed, my dear." - Robin Rose to me on the last day of Symposium 

I did not cry on the last day of Symposium (surprisingly), but Dean Rose's words almost brought me to tears. In the three months between Summer@Brown and Symposium, I do feel like I have changed. At the start of the school year, I was so ready to jump into my Action Plan that I was going past 100 mph. I was stressing myself out, I became very bossy and irritable, and when the littlest things felt wrong, to me, that felt like the entire world was ending. Looking back on the seven page paper I wrote about my Action Plan during the summer, I was shocked that I felt I could...do so many things in one year. If I were able to do everything I'd hoped to do, I would be worried for my health.

Symposium really helped me realize that I while I may not be invincible, I am human and I do have to step back. A lot of the things I wanted to do in my Action Plan are great things, but adding too much and overstepping the message. So, my newly shaped Action Plan is this:

• Present college-readiness workshops
• Educate others about the achievement gap 
• Write articles for newspapers about racial identity crises (I love talking about ethnicity and learning about different cultures) 
• Note: The first two will be run through Angaza 

I feel like this newly polished Action Plan will really help me figure out more about myself and educate others about ethnicity and education.

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If there is anything Brown University does, it is exposing people to who they truly are and helping them find their true potential. I love Brown University. It's an amazing school with a beautiful campus and truly beautiful people. I'm glad I got a feel for the student life and activities on campus; it's relaxing yet energetic at the same time. It is safe to say that I will be applying to Brown University next year, maybe even Early Decision. That is a huge leap and I'm going to have to work very hard to make sure I am presentable to the university, but I have faith in myself and I am hoping for the stars to align themselves. 

Brown University taught me to be different. It's my job now to help others expose themselves and better themselves. And for that, I truly thank Brown.

Symposium Reflections

Wow. Unless I’m quite mistaken, it’s been quite a while since the last time I blogged. In fact, it’s been 4 months! When I returned home from Brown at the end of July, I honestly didn’t think that I would see Providence again, unless I applied to college there. However, this fall I decided to apply to the Symposium on Social Action, a three-day event where Leadership Institute alumni were given the opportunity to return to Brown and meet with experts to discuss Action Plans. I was accepted to the Symposium in early October and I was thrilled to realize that I was going back to Brown.

Upon arriving at Hotel Providence, I was greeted by a wave of familiar faces. I was overjoyed to see so many friends who I had thought I would never see again upon completion of the Women and Leadership course in the summer. We compared stories about school, reminisced about the summer, and celebrated our unlikely reunion.

After a lovely Friday dinner we got down to business–community building exercises on Friday night, lectures and workshops in the morning and afternoon on Saturday, and more lectures on Sunday morning. It’s always a bit daunting to me to listen to the phenomenal testimonials of former Leadership Institute students who have done things like travel to India and do artwork with Tibetan schoolchildren, or send tennis equipment to kids in Zambia. However intimidating these events may be initially, I realize that they are extremely helpful because ultimately I always come away a little more inspired to try to make a difference.

The Symposium ended on Sunday on the main green of Brown’s campus. Saying goodbye to my friends was in some ways more heartbreaking than before because now I knew that I really wouldn’t be seeing them again, but at the same time I knew that we would continue to keep in touch. Saying goodbye to Brown was also difficult, especially since I fell in love with campus all over again during my three-day stay in Providence.

While I enjoyed Brown during the W&L program, one of the most vivid physical aspects I remember was the awful heat and humidity of an East Coast summer. Staying at Brown in the fall was an entirely different matter, as I found myself a bit too cold for most of the trip. I must say though, I absolutely loved the gorgeous autumn foliage that was present all throughout the East Coast.

As part of my journey back to the West Coast, I took a train from Providence to Boston. Although I had been planning to do homework, I ended up spending most of my time staring out the window in appreciation of the beautiful countryside. If I were to look out the window of a train back home, I would most likely see industrial complexes or perhaps golden California hills if I were lucky. On my voyage to Boston, I saw trees with leaves in flaming shades of gold and red, inky black pools of water with fallen leaves floating on their surfaces, and picturesque New England farmhouses. I treasured that train ride experience and did my homework on the plane instead.

One other thing I want to mention about my trip to Brown–I was lucky enough to see one of my friends from El Cerrito High, an ILC alum who now attends Brown University! Irene Rojas-Carroll took Adrianne and me to a spoken word performance on Saturday night, put on by students of Brown. Lupe Morales, another ILC alum and freshman at Brown, also came along and although I didn’t know her before the ILC I was glad for the chance to interact with her. She has a friendly, vibrant personality and welcomed us to Brown. Irene and Lupe told Adrianne and me about their busy schedules–and I thought that I was busy now as a junior!

I felt so privileged to have the opportunity to return to Brown and to feel as though I belonged with such a talented group of people. I never would have had this chance had I not been sent to Brown over the summer by the ILC, and I will remain eternally grateful for the support shown to me.

The End of a Wonderful Experience

I awoke at around seven feeling sad. I realized that this was the last day of Symposium and the last day I would be seeing the majority of the Leadership Institute. Trying to push through the emotions, I started packing. It had been made clear to us by our chaperones that we were going to check out of the hotel around nine that morning, so I hurried to make sure I wasn't going to leave anything behind. Due to this, I didn't have breakfast for more than fifteen minutes, but enjoyed the time with my classmates.

At Brown, we went into the art building and were greeted by a student panel. These three students were not Leadership Institute alum, but were current Brown students who were completing Action Plans.

Hans - Senior at Brown. He is working on the Poker Project, which is a study of health care status in Nepal. He has designed a health care system to help some of the homes in Nepal as well.

Austin - Senior at Brown. She helped disabled high school students complete volunteer work. Her program has monthly meetings and she has learned a lot about the disabled community.

Casey - Junior at Brown (science major). She started a non-profit organization called Longitude that builds up community service programs and then sends them on their way.

After the student panel, we split up into several groups, each with a different topic discerning leadership. I chose to be a part of the group discussing ethical leadership. If a person is ethical, they are doing the right/moral thing for others, not just for themselves.

The group discussion was very interesting. We decided that leaders need to have people to talk to and ideas to bounce off of, and that the most ethical thing is to ask for help. It is also good to provoke motivation to those who do not have it.

We were led back into the auditorium, where a selected person told the group what happened during their discussions. We then received a final lecture...and then it was over. Symposium was over. Summer/Symposium@Brown was over. I couldn't believe that everything was over. I didn't want to leave, I wanted to go home to my bed, I didn't want to leave the girls, I wanted to see my friends at home...it was a complete mix of emotions.

Saying goodbye to the girls was incredibly sad. I knew that I was going to miss them, but I am happy we are going to be keeping in touch.

After exploring the campus, Ms. Kronenberg, Josie, Rebecca, and I headed to the airport and took a flight to Chicago. We then took a connecting flight back home to California.

Home. That is a funny word. You can believe home is one place when it can actually be somewhere else. I feel like the East Coast is truly calling me and that it is more of my home than it is in California. On the East Coast, I truly feel welcomed, like I have a purpose there, like all the work I am doing on the West Coast is actually paying off. Everything makes more sense on the East Coast. It is home.

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