A Stretch Limo is What They Deserve

Today was a rarity in that our Vanderbilt cohort was able to gather for their departure while the sun was up.  It may not have been up very high in the sky but, unlike most of our departures, at least it wasn’t in the middle of the night (or, as our military people refer to it as: “O dark thirty”.

Our three Vanderbilt team members—Kye Duren, Julia Chang and Aiyana Hedeen-Garrett from Pinole Valley HS—arrived early and ready to get down to business.  Their chaperone, Pinole Valley HS Assistant Principal Yolanda Bulls, joined in and we were good to go.

As a precaution we always weigh the luggage so no one is surprised once they get to the airline gate and are hit with the $50 overage charges.  It took just a little bit of shuffling but everyone’s bags made the cut.

Unlike the previous day’s airport shuttle—which proved to be too small for the group (one of the group had to be driven to the airport)—this time a shiny white stretch limo pulled up so our Vandies could arrive at the airport in style.

Before settling in at Nashville for their Comparative Religions course, though, our rising stars will stop off in Atlanta for some site tours of the local colleges.

Before that, though, our intrepid travelers all told me how anxious they are to start their blogging because they know that’s what their fans are looking for.

Preparing for Adventure: On the Eve of Exploration

I simply can’t wait for our departure to the South. There are so many different emotions running through my mind. I wonder if this is how the great explorers, adventurers, and conquerors of old felt the day before a trip. Did they have the same feeling of confidence that I have seeing that they would represent their communities? At the same time do they share with me the feeling of humility in taking on such a task? Were they too anxious to sleep that night? Were they as curious as I am to learn about their destination? Who they might meet, what wonders they may see, or even what dangers may await them? Were they thinking about practicalities and being comfortable, or going forth, headstrong, to complete their mission, gather information, and bring their findings back to their community?

Even though these men and women are long gone, I can learn from their accomplishments because in this moment I am like them. We share a connection in the fact we must venture into the unknown; yet no matter how mesmerizing the experience may be we have to focus on our mission. Going out to the world, in this case Vanderbilt University, and introducing them to our school, our district, and our community, while at the same I must absorb the Vanderbilt Environment and project the image back to my community so that we can all grow in knowledge. It is a large task, but far from impossible, especially because I have a great team to work with in my cohorts: Julia and Aiyana.

No matter how anxious I may be for the trip, no successful voyage can begin without a good amount of rest. With that said I shall begin my adventure now with a decent amount of sleep, and a wake up scheduled for 4:30 AM.

Ready, Get Set, Let's Go!

I do not know exactly how to describe my emotions at the moment—I believe it is a blurred medley of excitement, angst, and, particularly, hope.

I have just finished the last of my packing, after having gone through the arduous task of stuffing the last item, my pillow, into my brimming suitcase. Everything seems ready and set to go; all that is left is a few more hours of sleep to prime us for the long day ahead.

I will admit that I am nervous—this is the first time that I will be absent from home and my family for such a period of time. However, I truly hope that this experience, being away from the comforts of all that is familiar to me, will allow me to mature and develop into the independent, perceptive young woman that I long to be.

I want to learn about college—what I am looking for, which one I want to attend, what I want to get out of it, and who I want to become.

I have been struggling with determining whether I ought to study humanities or science when I attend to college in two years, and this trip, I suspect, will aid me in my decision. Analyzing and comparing the world's major religions at a prestigious university such as Vanderbilt will allow me to explore my interests and assist me in my search of the things I am most passionate about.

I have high hopes for our trip, and I hope we all take away something invaluable from it so we may bring it back to share with our schools and community. It is genuinely an honor to be the ambassadors of the West Contra Costa Unified School District, and to be the first ever from the ILC to travel to Vanderbilt University.

I have five more hours of sleep until I, along with my cohort, must beat the sun to Georgia.

Ready, get set, go!

Bon Voyage

I have been waiting for this trip for months now. Anticipation, nervousness, and excitement are just a few of the feelings I am experiencing right now. Anticipation for the adventures at the colleges; nervousness about the class and fellow students/roommate; and excitement for the entire summer excursion and the opportunity we are given.

Though I had finished packing a few days ago, I keep finding things in my room that I could shove into my already bulging suitcase. I'm not sure if it's a good thing that I keep remembering/finding items to bring along, or if it's bad that I am bringing so much stuff. I suppose that as long as I stick to the weight limit, who cares how much I bring.

Today was not just spent inside packing for the trip to Georgia and Tennessee though. I decided that for my last day here for the rest of the month, I would get out of the house and hang out with at least one friend before I leave. My close friend Jennefer and I hung out around town, and had a much needed summer treat on this hot day: Popsicles.

My mom on the other hand, worked her last day of summer school at Lincoln Elementary, before coming home to finish her own packing. My mom thinks that my leaving is the perfect opportunity to go on her own trip. So she is off to Thailand tomorrow to make some adventures of her own. I dared her to eat a fried cricket or some other strange food while over there.

Also today, after five years, I finally got a haircut. I figured that since we were going to be in muggy weather for three weeks, I might as well not be weighed down by my heavy and thick hair. To all my surprised friends reading this, yes, I finally chopped some of that curly mess off. And I love it.

As for this trip, I am so thankful and ready to take the World Religions course at Vanderbilt University. Though it's not your typical Ivy League College, Vanderbilt is considered to be the Ivy League of the South. This school brings southern flare and style, and I am glad to be part of the first group of students representing the school in the ILC program.

Our first stop is Atlanta, Georgia. We will be visiting Emory and Georgia Tech colleges first.

I hope you all enjoy reading my, Kye's and Julia's adventures this summer. We will be giving you all the information and our opinions on the schools and cities we visit. Hopefully it will inspire some of you to visit these places or maybe even attend one of these colleges or programs in the future.

Wish us luck!

Preparing for Adventure: A Saturday to Remember

My parents left out of town for the weekend and I was left with the distinct pleasure of staying home alone. For those of you who are thinking that this story will turn out as a wild, partying bonanza, you are wrong. In reality, I went to a 7 on 7 football tournament at Stanford University with the Pinole Valley Spartan football team. The weather and competition was heated, at a level far from normal, with teams from all across northern and southern California, but my team and I were ready to cool down any team in our way.

As we dove into battle with our first two adversaries, we had no problem getting ahead, but maintaining the lead was a different story. We lost our first two games by the absence of 1 point. And as are losses began surfacing something else within my right shoulder began to emerge. My shoulder became limp during the most pivotal point of the second game in which the other team's player scored because of my temporary inability to defend him.

As we moved on to the third game, I simply tried to play as though I was fine, when truly I was not. On the last play of the game we were tied. The other team had just scored and they needed to score again on their extra point try to win. The ball was hiked and a receiver immediately entered my zone; I delayed my attack, trying to make him seem as though he was open when he really wasn’t. My decoy was successful and the quarterback threw the ball as I closed on the receiver. The ball was almost in the receiver’s hand, it was time to make my move to hit the ball down. I threw my arm in front of the receiver almost hitting the ball, when I heard a tearing sound and immediately afterwards my arm went limp. I had no control of my arm as I hit the ground causing it to land in a awkward position further separating my shoulder. I laid on the grass as a trainer approached me. I told him the pain was in my shoulder and he began to feel through the ripped ligaments, noticing that my shoulder was where normal shoulders should never be. He gave me two options: 1. I could let it heal naturally, or 2. I could go to the hospital. After assessing the deep and sharp pain in my shoulder and the intrigued face of the man holding my shoulder, I decided to head to the ER.

No ambulance came for me, just the simple passenger seat of a Honda civic. I arrived at Kaiser Redwood City about ten minutes after the incident. After many calls my parents were reached and alerted of my current state. I spent three hours in a hospital bed going through x rays, repeatedly getting told about my dislocated shoulder, receiving doses and shots of lidocane and morphine, all for the simple joy in the feeling of the doctor pulling my shoulder back in to place.

As I sit organizing and voicing my feelings, after a day and a half of icing, boredom, and realization; I want to leave you with this, always listen to your body and know your limits. You may have only one life to live, but you only have one body to live it with.

Show Me The Money!

You have the brightest child in the neighborhood and everyone knows it.  Any university in the country would be lucky to have your child.  Without exception, though, all of the top flight schools cost a fortune to attend.  We’re not talking about new car kind of money.  We’re talking about the kind of money to buy a decent house—the kind where you have to keep paying for it forever and ever.  The kind f money it takes a regular working family decades to prepare for.

What are you going to do?  You make decent money—at least enough to keep the rest of your family living comfortably—but it’s not really enough to keep them living comfortably and leave enough to pay for that college education.  The cost of living here in the Bay Area eats up most of your paycheck—when you get a paycheck—and leaves little to sock away to pay for a decent education for your children.

You and your child could take out loans to pay for that top flight education but what kind of life would that be for your child to graduate owing almost as much as the National Debt?

Your child could get a job but what kind of money could an 18 year old make before acquiring the skills that the college education will help provide?

What’s a parent to do?  How are you supposed to take care of your family and provide them with a quality education—the kind of education that will open the right doors once your child has that sheepskin firmly in her grasp?

What are you supposed to do?  You’re supposed to turn to The Ivy League Connection’s very own Sue Kim—a professional educational consultant specializing in admissions and financial aid counseling since 1991.

Sue has helped many dozens of ILC students and others from the WCCUSD find the perfect fit of a college and then find a means to pay for that education.  She knows what she’s doing and she’s good at it.

On Thursday June 16^th Sue hosted 39 ILC and WCCUSD students and parents in a financial aid workshop where she helped point the way for the parents to find ways for other people to pay for the education of their children.

Between grants, scholarships, gifts and other options that may be available to the students and parents in our area, more and more of our students have opportunities to attend better schools than they might otherwise have been considering.

Sue explained that although California has an outstanding 10 campus University of California and a 23 campus state university system, both systems have little money to offer students in the way of financial assistance.  The cost to attend these schools is prohibitively expensive and the costs are steadily rising.

On the other hand, there are numerous private colleges spread throughout the country that have large endowments designed to help the very kinds of students we seem to have an abundance of: smart but needy.

Tonight’s session was only a primer but it laid the foundation so parents and students can start their preparations.  Once their students enter their senior year of high school, the college application process becomes a full time job requiring a tremendous amount of dedication and attention to detail.  There are openings at these schools and there is money to be had but if our students and their parents don’t do the necessary homework and prepare themselves, those opportunities may go elsewhere.  We want everyone around the world to have the option of getting a top education but if there are limited funds and limited openings, then we’d rather that our people be taken care of first.  Call it selfish if you will—and you’d be right—but such is life.