Meeting With the School Board

This evening, all 38 students attending Ivy League programs this summer congregated at Lavonya DeJean Middle School, to attend the WCCUSD School Board meeting and be formally presented to the district. The Columbia cohort was joined by the other participating schools' cohorts - both Brown cohorts, Cornell, UPENN, Vanderbilt and Yale. 

After some meeting and mingling with other students, we all witnessed some of the other proceedings of the rest of the school board's agenda for the meeting. The Board's decision to turn a district program for expelled students over to the county was challenged by three who were opposed to the resolution. However, their case was met with the question of financial credibility and it was ultimately decided to follow through with the original decision. 

We were also introduced to a student who sat on the Board for the duration of the meeting, presumably there to learn more about the meeting and decision-making process of the School Board. 

After the other items were addressed, the ILC followed. Each university cohort went to the podium in turn, bringing their college's flag. The chaperone would introduce each attending student and speak about the school, classes offered there, and agenda for visiting other universities and points-of-interest on the trip.

Here we are! (Elena, Me, Anmol, Bryan, Emily, Simon, Ms. L.)

Ms. L's speech was very encompassing, and she explained some of our plans come June, we will be visiting Vassar, Sarah Lawrence College, NYU, UPENN and Yale, and several historical landmarks, such as Hyde Park. 

Simon spoke for our cohort, and did a marvelous job. Simon gave a great speech about the importance of altruism and giving back to the community, and did it all mainly on the spot - he had no prepared speech! 

We watched the rest of the cohorts be presented and listened to the other speakers' inspirational speeches. It's so great to be a part of this program full of other kids who feel so strongly about their education and I wish them all the best of luck on their trips this summer!

Don situatin' us

Several ILC alums/current Ivy League juniors and seniors spoke a few words about the Ivy League Connection, and how it helped them/inspired them to go to Ivy League universities. They represented the very thing the ILC strives to achieve - to extend collegiate possibilities to members of our community beyond UCs and California state schools, and to deposit newfound knowledge to the participants so that they may bring their experiences back home and share what they've learned. 

After recognizing and thanking the funders of the ILC and those who are directly responsible for its existence, we took our official Ivy League Connection photo - or rather Don snapped 25 official candidate photos (and there were countless other pics taken by parents). 

Don did a great job of organizing us all - remember, that's 38 kids, the 7 chaperones and all the parents who attended. The organization was fast and well-executed and the whole process couldn't have taken more than 10 minutes.