Today has made me even more thankful for the opportunity I've been given. The school board meeting has augmented my excitement for this summer and it has certainly made me realize how extremely fortunate I am to be a part of the Ivy League Connection.
The beginning of the session reminded me of a political convention (Winter Congress - Junior Statesmen of America) that I participated in in my freshmen year. Especially Charles Ramsey; he called for an amendment in the agenda and the Board seconded it and proceeded to ratify it. This is extremely similar to the system in Junior Statesmen of America; however, we only had two people that moderated the public forum. This is to be expected since Junior Statesmen of America was made to promote real-life public forum simulations. Later in the meeting, the Board allowed three people to speak in favor of suspending action until further information was found for their student enrichment program - not too sure of the exact name. From the speeches of the three people, it seems that their program is working; students are prevailing, and as such, I believe that the Board should have suspended further action. However, they voted against it and it was passed to the county offices. I have no statistics or evidence to support my claim that it has worked in the District, but I don't think they should have suspended it without further research. Although, I do not know what the effects would be from switching from the agent of action from the Board to the county offices; it may not make a difference.
The Board did a phenomenal job in congratulating and inaugurating the Ivy League Connection. The powerful speeches delivered by the professionals, alumni, and students changed the atmosphere of the room from boredom - I could tell people were bored, they seemed to be dozing during the Board's meeting - to sheer excitement. Some people, including myself, were anxious to hear his or her name be called by their respective chaperones. It was hilarious to see the people afterwards do the same thing we did when we were introducing ourselves - moving people around so the flag would stay straight while we went up there to introduce ourselves. UPenn represent!
When the alumni went up to speak, I was jubilant to see that all four of the alumni speaking graduated from Pinole Valley High School. We may not have the most beautiful buildings - we probably have one of the most withered buildings - but to know that we have so many successful students makes me proud to be a part of such a great community. I've seen much of the student base because I'm in many of the clubs. We're very diverse and that plays a key factor in our ability to communicate with others, making it one of the most advantageous benefits to being a Spartan. Also, our alumni are one of the most COMMUNITY-OBLIGED students I've ever seen and heard of. I know three of the four alumni even though they are four or more years older than me! Austin Long, Yohanna Pepa, and Andrew Gonzales were all a part of the Forensics Speech and Debate team. And even though they've already graduated, they keep in touch with both the teachers and students! I've learned so much and been able to achieve so much because of their help. I want to talk about Austin Long because he's one of my greatest friends. Not because he's helped me so much, but because he's so easy to talk to and have fun with. Every time he's on vacation, I hang out with him. We've gone on adventures in San Francisco numerous times and every time we come back, I want to go another round! He (and also his other friends) plan out the trips so it's more organized, and they're very engaging; we went to the Exploratorium the other day. He's made my vacations so much more fun, and he's one of the most friendly and easy-to-communicate-with friends/role-models I've met. With regards to that, Austin, if you are reading this, I give you my biggest thanks!
On a side note, I met my principal from middle-school. I feel so ashamed that I didn't recognize her at first. I knew she looked familiar, but I didn't realize it was Mrs. Van Husen. Great thanks for enforcing a strict policy in middle-school, it has helped me become accustomed to the high-school system. She's actually a lot nicer than I thought - this probably applies for many of the adults, they just want the best for us.
Now to my final thoughts of today. It's strange to think that Austin and the others were in the same position I'm in right now. I'm feeling the same feelings they had four or more years ago. And now they're legacies at my school. Makes me wonder how I'll turn out when I graduate from Pinole Valley High School... In fact, I'll start my own legacy with my community! I'll take back the experiences from Pennsylvania and give it back to my peers just as Austin and them did for me! Let's complete this cycle and make the years to come prosperous!
The issue being discussed by the Board had to do with who would administer the program in question. The attorneys who were suing the District wanted to keep the program--and their fees--alive. The Board, however, decided that spending millions of dollars per year for only 2-3 students was an unwise use of the public’s funds. What the Board did was to transfer the administration of this program to the County which has programs like this in place all over the County and where the costs could be minimized.
ReplyDelete