The Prodigals Return Home

They went to Brown to learn how to become leaders, they fell in love with Harvard and Yale, paid their respects to Wellesley and bade farewell to the East Coast.  And now it was time to head home to tell their world what they had seen.

After spending the morning touring Wellesley they boarded their plane in Boston and winged their way west with the setting sun.

Arriving at El Cerrito HS nearly two full hours after landing at SFO they opened the doors to their shuttle to take in the cool air of the East Bay.  After three weeks of heat and humidity it surely had to feel refreshing to bask in the cool and windy climate of the place they know as home.

As they passed by Emeryville they called their loved ones so they could be there when they arrived.  Traffic was light, though, and only one set of parents was there by the time the shuttle pulled up.  In short order, though, one set of parents after another arrived.  

There were hugs all around and smiling faces everywhere.

And, as required at every ILC event, a group photo was snapped to commemorate the end of this, the last group to return this year.

And now the Women & Leadership ladies head home to prepare to implement their Action Plans (after they blog, of course).  And then there’s Komal, who will sit us all down and impress us with her newfound knowledge of the biotechnical world.  We can’t wait.

What’s for Dinner, Ma?

Breaking with the tradition this year the Chicago cohort returned home without a single hiccup in their travels.  Every flight both coming and going before today had some sort of delay.  There was something about this cohort, though, that made this return trip so eventful if only because everything went as it was supposed to.

The plane took off 6 minutes early and arrived even earlier.  When the group went to get their luggage--which sometimes takes as long as the flight--their luggage was in their hands in about 15 minutes after they landed.

Coming from SFO back to El Cerrito in the middle of a Saturday afternoon should have been a slow crawl.  Considering that with the BART tubes closed this weekend the traffic should have been even heavier.  Yet this group zipped through the traffic and arrived at ECHS more than a half hour earlier than expected.

They were so early that they beat some of the parents to the pick up point and even beat me (how can I live with the shame?).

As would be expected, there were plenty of hugs to go around and I even heard one of the Chicagoans ask about dinner (even though it was only 2 PM).  Ahhhh...there’s nothing like coming home.

Home At Last

Par for the course this year the plane scheduled to wing our Vanderbilt cohort back to the Bay Area was delayed nearly an hour.  Fortunately, though, this was a direct flight so there were fewer opportunities for further delays.

The good pilot had a lead foot and pushed his airplane to go even faster than anticipated so the plane arrived earlier than expected--always a good thing.

Coming from the Oakland International Airport, the shuttle should have inched through the Friday night commute traffic but actually arrived earlier than expected.

When they arrived, most of the parents were there waiting but even those who came after the shuttle arrived in a matter of minutes.

It’s always fun to watch these joyous homecomings.

After the photos were snapped--we can’t have an ILC event without photos--the cars were packed and the Vanderbilt cohort went their separate ways--back to the beds they know and the home cooking they’ve grown up with.

The coming home event wouldn't be complete, though, with out a group hug of the four Vandies who have spent so much time together over the past month.

Welcome home.