Preparing For Adventure: Final Briefings

As my cohort Julia Chang stated earlier, it is truly the beginning of an end of our preparation for our trip to Vanderbilt. Last Thursday, June 2^nd, at El Cerrito High School, the Ivy League Connection had its official Orientation.

This time I made sure to arrive early, and to my surprise my father Derrick Duren had already beaten me to the school. I was extremely excited to find out the details of our trip and to see the other Ivy League Scholars. For the first time in the program's history, everyone was present and on time. We were able to proceed smoothly to the point when all the different groups separated to go talk to their chaperones about their trips. I couldn’t wait for this portion as we crowded into our designated room and sat down quietly.

After some small problems with the lights in our room, (the lights would not stay on), we began the meeting. We learned that despite our conversations with Vanderbilt, we would not be able to go on college tours during the weekend. Instead we would make time for the trips before and after we went through our course.

We would visit Emory University, Morehouse College, Spelman College, and Georgia Tech. We discovered our flight information, where we would be eating, our hotel arrangements, and even our rental car which will be subject to change because of its size. 

We discussed Don Gosney’s various collection of loaner items which I do plan to take advantage of, and what our daily schedule and Vanderbilt will include. The Orientation was very exciting and has aroused feelings of dramatic anticipation within me. I truly can’t wait till July.