School Board Meeting

Attending the School Board meeting was really exciting! I was chosen to speak as the student representative for my University of Pennsylvania cohort, and I was excited to do it. I was ready at about 4:30 PM, and my dad and I left to the School Board meeting at 5:15 PM. We got there early, which means "on time," according to Mr. Hillyer my chaperone, and I waited with my dad for the meeting to start. Around 6 PM Mr. Hillyer took the University of Pennsylvania group outside to introduce himself, get to know us a little bit, and to brief us on what the night would be like. Mr. Hillyer spoke about his position as an AP History teacher at DeAnza High School and his involvement with the school's baseball team. Jun, Mike, Kai, Hannah, and I all introduced ourselves to Mr. Hillyer and exchanged cell phone numbers. After a brief "get to know you" chat, we all went inside to socialize and meet the other Ivy League Connection scholarship winners for the other schools.

At 6:30 PM everyone sat down as the Board meeting started. I have attended a School Board meeting before, so I was used to the process. After roll call, some speakers, and a couple of changes to the agenda, it was time for the Ivy League Connection to present themselves to the Board. Each school went up separately, with the students and chaperone, and introduced themselves. The chaperone would speak first, then the student representative would speak, and finally all of the students would introduce themselves by stating their names, their grade, and the school they attend. When my group went up, Mr. Hillyer said a quick introduction and then I was up to speak. I went up to the podium, with my heart beating fast, and I began my speech. I was a bit nervous, but everyone's encouraging words before I went up helped to ease my nerves, and I delivered my speech successfully. One minute and 40 seconds later, I finished my speech and my cohorts introduced themselves. We all went back to our seats and listened to two more schools introduce themselves.

After this the people involved in the Ivy League Connection, such as the people who fund our trips this summer, went up to the podium to be congratulated and two men spoke about their roles in the program. After Don took a group picture of them, Mr. Ramsey and Ms. Kronenberg spoke about their experiences with the Ivy League Connection and about its early beginnings. After they had finished speaking, all of the students, along with chaperones and parents, were placed into positions at the corner of the room for a picture. After the picture, my cohorts and I met with Mr. Hillyer again to introduce our families to him and to say a quick goodbye. Attending the School Board meeting and being recognized through certificates was thrilling!

2013 WCCUSD School Board Meeting

Tonight was the School District Board meeting in Richmond.  Today the PENN cohort was finally able to meet our chaperone for the summer. His name is Mr. Hillyer and he is a history teacher from De Anza High.  I was deeply relieved after we met him and I realized how energetic and enthusiastic he is.  He seems like the perfect combination between a good teacher and someone who knows how to enjoy life and have fun.

Besides meeting the chaperones for the trip, we also got to sit in on the School Board meeting.  It was interesting to see how the Board transitioned quickly in some areas and dreadfully slow in others.  I was a little concerned after a measure was brought up to release a certain program over from the district to the county offices.  A number of people spoke against the measure saying that the Board should postpone the ruling until more information was gathered and released to the community. However, the Board ruled against the speakers and voted on the measure anyway. It seemed that the Board hadn’t paid any attention to what was said at all.  

Despite this concern, the Board did a fantastic job of recognizing the Ivy League Connection and its supporters.  I felt that I was making the district proud as well as the members of the community.  I give my thanks on the behalf of the PENN cohort as well as all of the members of the ILC to the generous donors how give their time and money to helping the students in the WCCUSD.  I also give special thanks to Don Gosney, Madeline Kronenberg, and Charles Ramsey for making this program available.



My First School Board Meeting

I anxiously waited at the bottom of the stairs leading up to my parent's bedroom as I waited for my father to finish getting ready. By ILC standards, not being fifteen minutes early is considered late and 5:45 PM was approaching quickly. When he got in the car, I explained to him once more how the evening should play out on our way to LeVonya DeJean Middle School. Pulling into the parking lot, I saw many familiar faces of friends from other cohorts. As my father and I entered the auditorium, I saw members of my own cohort and said hello.

Our chaperone, Mr. Hillyer, called us over for some quick introductions and a discussion. He told us about how we will get to visit other colleges and about all the ideas he has for our trip! We will get to spend a day in Manhattan, possibly go to a Phillies baseball game, go out for weekly dinners and see tons of historical landmarks around Philadelphia. Being a history teacher, I'm sure he will have lots of fantastic things to talk about as we tour the East Coast. I feel truly blessed to have such an amazing chaperone!

This was my first School Board meeting to have attended, so I was not sure what the agenda would be like. I talked to Audrey about it because she has been to a couple meetings in the past and she told me a little bit about what to expect. The meeting started and we all listened patiently as we waited for our turn to present ourselves. My group got called up third to last and both Mr. Hillyer and Audrey gave beautiful and inspirational speeches. It felt amazing standing up there in front of the Board, the community and the other ILC students. I knew everyone was so proud of us all to have been accepted to this wonderful program. At the end of Audrey's speech, Mr. Hillyer had us introduce ourselves and then gave us our certificate. I must say, it was a beautiful certificate, although my first name was spelled incorrectly. It was missing the final "h." We were applauded and sat back down.

After even more great speeches, I was very impressed by the quality of each speech, we gathered to take the group photo. It was not as difficult to get a picture of this group of over one hundred people as I had expected. Afterwards, my cohort met up once again and our parents met our chaperone. By the end of the evening, I am happy to say that I feel as if my cohort, my chaperone, and the program and school I was selected for are the perfect match for me and I am unbelievably excited for this summer!

Presenting to the School Board!

Today our cohort was able to present to the School Board. It was great getting to meet and speak with our entire group of 5 heading to U Penn. This year we will be visiting Princeton, Swathmore, Columbia and of course U Penn!

What a great to night to meet all of you and I cant wait to see you again next week at our dinner in San Francisco at Scala.  See you then!

Inspiration In Front of The School Board

Tonight the Ivy League Connection went before the School Board. Before the official presentation, I met the chaperone for the U Penn cohort, Mr. John Hillyer, for the first time. Mr. Hillyer seems like a great person. He seems nice, with a sense of humor; in other words, a fantastic chaperone. I eagerly await going east with the fantastic people in my cohort.

We then sat before the School Board. The Ivy League Connection was praised, and each cohort went up and introduced themselves. Each chaperone and one member of each cohort gave a short speech. While the chairs were a bit uncomfortable, it was certainly worth it to be inspired by my fellow ILC members. I concurred with their sense of gratitude to be able to embark on such an amazing program. We will be taking classes at some of the top schools, we will talk with people from those schools, and we will be able to bring back this knowledge to the West Contra Costa School District. I am thankful and excited for such an amazing program.

Beginning the Journey

The blogging tutorial opened up with a struggle to get connected to the Internet. Despite what we had been told, there was no Wi-Fi at De Anza High, where the tutorial was held, and most of us were forced to use the school computers. While everybody was attempting to connect, Don scanned our health insurance cards and photo IDs. 40 minutes of hassle later, everybody was connected to the Internet and the tutorial could begin in earnest.

Don started out by talking to us about how blogger works. First, he told us how to set up our blogger profiles (have a headshot photo and tell about yourself). Next, he talked to us about the toolbar when writing a post. We learned to always use Times font in regular size, justified. He told us about inserting images.

Don also told us about blogging daily. Each person is supposed to write a blog every night back east, in addition to posting after major events, such as dinner or meetings. He told us to squeeze in time to blog when waiting for laundry to finish or when riding on a train.

In the next part of the blog tutorial, Don told us about content. He gave us some examples of old blogs with atrocious spelling and grammar. He told us interesting anecdotes about how awful previous blogs had been. Don continued by showing us examples of good blogs. These were well written, grammatically correct, and easy to read. Don then gave us the assignment of writing a practice post. I wrote mine about what had happened in the blogging tutorial so far.

Next on the list: photographs. First Don went over naming protocols and posting the images to Mediafire. He also taught us a little bit about photoshop. We then took some practice photographs. As soon as I finished, I moved the fan to help with the stifling heat.

We finished up by listening to Don talk about responsibilities. He also told us about packing. Overall, despite the stifling heat, the day really covered the basics.

A New Chapter

When I first arrived at De Anza High School for the ILC tutorial, the only thing that I could think of was whether or not I was going to get a ticket for parking in a red zone. While on my way to the computer lab to meet Don, I was so deep in thought to the point that I was aimlessly wandering the campus. Once I regained my bearings I was off to the computer lab.  Little did I know what difficulties we would have.  

After spending forty-five minutes trying to get the Internet to work on our laptops, we finally gave up and used the school computers.  Then we had to deal with the school district’s security settings that blocked almost every website we tried to use. Then, to top it all off, it was a humid hot day.   But once we straightened out all the problems, the tutorial went along smoothly.  

During the tutorial we received an elaborate and detailed packet that contained everything we need to know about what to and bring on our trips.  Don explained to us the importance of communication and hard work in order to be successful in the Ivy League Connection.  Today was the beginning of a new chapter for me and everyone else in the ILC.  I cant wait to see what this book has to offer.