Ivy League Connection

Words of Wisdom from Our ILC Alums

2011-12-26T12:45:00.000-08:00

Some of our ILC alums have been kind enough to providetheir insight on how their participation has affected them as they'vematriculated to some of our country's finer educational institutions. These arestudents who participated in The Ivy League Connection and are telling us abouttheir experiences in a world unlike what they left here in the WCCUSD.

From Matt Arciniega

Columbia University

01/15/12

Last time I checked in I gave a quicksynopsis of the lessons I had learned in college. With another semester in thebooks I have learned a whole new set of lessons that I would be more than happyto talk about. However, for time’s sake, I would like to focus on the lesson Ifound most influential this past fall.

That lesson is: Get the heck off campus.

Last year I chose to keep myextra-curricular activities limited. By that I mean I didn’t do anything exceptstudy. I don’t regret this decision. I resisted the urge to jump into everyclub that caught my eye and I ended up doing pretty well.

Most students who enter selectivecolleges did at least two large extra curricular activities in high school (inmy experience, many have done more), and this brings diversity to our campuses,but it becomes a problem when students come to college and expect to work withthe same amount of clubs and organizations they did in high school. Clubs aremuch more time consuming in college. You can’t just come in and becomepresident of 4 student organizations. It will consume you. I recommend you comeinto college and take a semester to really work on academics and grades andresearching one or two groups that really interest you. This may be difficultbecause extra curricular activities are more fun than school, but no one saidcollege was going to be easy. Put your head down and work for the firstsemester.

However, once you have put in yourtime and had a chance to ground yourself academically, you should get out thereand involve yourself in something. I know this is typical college advice butchoosing the activity you want to devote time to can be tricky and myrecommendation is to look away from campus for at least one of your activities.

Don’t get me wrong, student groups aregreat and it is important to do something fun like sports, dance, journalism ormusic. However, it is also important to begin gaining experience and cementingrelationships outside your campus. This past semester I worked for anorganization called 50CAN. It is a non-profit organization that focuses onadvocating education reform policies across the nation. I work 15 hours perweek as the research intern for the expansion team at 50CAN. The organization isheadquartered in downtown NYC and I have absolutely loved the opportunity toleave campus three days a week. It gives you a much-needed change of sceneryand allows you to interact with people that are concerned with more than thescores of the last biology quiz. Also, it gives you a great opportunity tonetwork with future employers and get a first-hand look at the careers youmight be interested in pursuing.

As far as my personal check-in, I havebeen well. I really enjoyed the last semester despite the crazy schedule. Ihave toned it down to four classes this semester, but I also picked up anotherinternship at different non-profit downtown. I’ll let you know how that goes inthe summer.

As always, I am available by email (mattarciniega@gmail.com)or phone ((510) 334-6367) for anyone who would like to hear about Columbia orcollege in general.

All my best,

Matt Arciniega

CC '14

~~~~~~~~~~

From Lucero Perez

Santa Clara University

01/10/12

First off, I would like to thank theIvy League Connection for expanding my horizons in high school. This programgreatly helped me make the best decision when it came down to choosing theright college. I am currently attending Santa Clara University. SCU has provento be a great match for me. I really enjoy being in such an amiable community,but even with all the positive atmosphere I still had some minor problems thefirst quarter.

I started off the first quarterexcited and ready to learn. I did not know what exactly to expect from SCU, butI knew that I would overcome anything that came my way. I still remember thevery first day of my fall quarter. I was assigned a great load of homework, butI was not intimated by it. I walked into college knowing that I would have agreater load of work than I had in high school, so I was not worried aboutthis. All I knew was that I had to make sure I got my homework assignmentscompleted. The first few weeks of college were my experimental weeks. I neededto find out more about myself and learn what were the best learning techniquesfor me.

I came to realize that I really enjoysocializing with others, but this was taking up a great amount of my time.There were times in where I would go to sleep really late because I was up withfriends. I managed to meet a lot of new people at SCU and I love it. I neverstayed in one place, so everywhere I went I made a friend. This made me feelmore comfortable with the school. I felt like I belonged here. I have not hadany problems with making friends because I have always been a very sociableperson. This made my transition from high school to college very smoothly. Ireally liked it. However, when the first midterm season came along thingsstarted to get a bit tougher for me.

I assumed that I knew most of the material,so I did not spend too much time studying for my first midterms. I looked oversome of my notes and went to a couple study sessions with some friends, but nowthat I look back I realize that I didn't do too much to prepare myself. Eventhough I went to study sessions, I felt like they were somewhat useless. Ipretty much talked a lot with some of my friends there, so I realized that I amnot the type of studier that can study with other students. I am easilydistracted by conversations and it can be hard for me to get on track once I amengaged in another topic. This was a great learning experience though. When thefirst set of my midterms came along, I felt pretty confident...except for one:my Business 70 class. I failed my first midterm miserably. I received one ofthe lowest scores in the classroom (and we had a curve!). But this did notdiscourage me. I knew that I just had to work better next time.

I did not score so well in my firstset of midterms. The only midterm I scored well on was my Math midterm. Thisgave me confidence because I knew that if I could score well in one test, thenI can score well in the rest of the exams. When my second set of midterms camealong I knew exactly what areas to focus more on. Since I didn't have too muchof a problem in my Math and English class, I decided to focus my attention moreon the classes that I felt I needed additional help. I made sure that Ireviewed more for these exams than I did before. All of this proved to be veryhelpful because I managed to get my grades up. Although I did not have the bestgrades, I never stressed over any of my classes. I did not see the need topanic over my work. I just made sure I got it done on time and I understood themeaning behind the assignment.

Even though I had managed to get mygrades up in the middle of my first quarter, I realized that I was notpassionate about school at all. This was a time period in where I can honestlysay I didn't mind too much about my work. I still got it done on time, but Iwas not stressing too much over it. I was just not passionate about schoolperiod. Some of the classes were interesting, but I still did not really findthe purpose to certain lectures. When I realized my lack of interest, I decidedto change this mentality but I realized that I could not change what I felt. Italked with some of my older friends at SCU and told them what I was feeling.They all told me to just stick through it and get my grades up. What manydidn't understand was that my grades were good, but I just didn't find too muchof an interest in what I was doing. However, I still made sure all my taskswere done.

In one of my assignments for my classit asked me to reflect on my quarter so far. I was completely honest withmyself in that paper. I admitted that I was not giving my best in myclassrooms, but that was because I was not too interested in what I was doing.After my teacher read it, she decided to talk to me after class. She asked meif everything was okay and I said that everything was fine. I just didn'treally enjoy how my classes were at that moment. She did her best to try tohelp me and that made me feel a bit better. I realized that the professors atSCU truly do care for their students. This reminded me of why I chose SCU. Idecided to give my classes another shot. Even though I did that, I still wasn'ttoo interested in them as I hoped but I managed to finish my first quarter witha 3.4 GPA. I did not stress for those grades, but I decided to do better mysecond quarter.

It has always been my goal to finishcollege, so I will do so but I also realized that I honestly have to dosomething that I enjoy. I am currently an undeclared business student, but Imight change my intended major. I want to be able to get a degree in somethingthat actually captures my interest. I am very passionate person in the sensethat if something doesn't captivate my interest, then I will listen to my gutfeeling and do something I love. I am extremely passionate about Art andHealth, so I might change my major to one of those fields. Through my firstquarter I realized I just need to find something that makes me want to continuelearning that subject. I know that this quarter will be better.

My biggest advice would be to followyour interest, but also make sure that you are responsible with your work. Imade sure all my assignments were completed and even though I wasn't toointerested in what I was reading I still made sure I learned something from it.I strongly believe in keeping my options open, so I realized that I willexplore my freshman year and see what major/degree is the best for me. Thereisn't a rush to find the right one yet, so I am still in the process. That iswhat makes college life such a beauty. It is all about learning new things andlearning more about yourself. With that said, I can honestly say SCU is a greatfit for me. I know I will be able to find something that interests me.

Lucero Perez

Richmond High School '11

Santa Clara University '15

~~~~~~~~~~

From Yohanna Pepa

Yale University

12/30/11

Congratulations once again on winningthe Golden Bell Award. It’s really great to see that innovative and effectiveprograms such as the ILC are being recognized for the positive change theybring to the community. The ILC opened my eyes to the wonderful academicopportunities that lie not only in Northern California, but also further awayfrom home.

I just finished my fall semester ofsophomore year. Honestly at times I still pinch myself to double-check that Iam indeed a student at Yale University. For the past few months, however, Ihave found this test to be unnecessary, because I have been subject to a muchmore piercing one, the test of an unbearable amount of academic work. Just afew disclaimers here for those not yet in college: yes, it was largely self-induced,because I selected my classes and decided to have a full workload and yes, itwas not wholly unbearable because I did manage to stay highly involved inextracurricular activities and not become a social hermit. However, this pastsemester has been hard enough that I have sworn to myself to not take more than4 credits next semester (which is the normal amount of credits Yale studentstake each semester, but I have never taken less than 4.5 credits). Thefive classes I took were Intro Microeconomics, Intro Statistics, An IssuesApproach to Biology, Contemporary Italian Culture, and Democracy &Peacekeeping 1916-1919. With this intense schedule, I have learned many lessonsnot only on topics from the syllabi but just as importantly on how to strategizeone’s collegiate workload.

You must remember that college is nothigh school. You do not need to take an ungodly amount of classes to boost yourGPA with extra AP credits. Furthermore, you do not need to strive to have thehighest possible GPA in your college—it’s impossible. Well it’s possible forsome, but those are laudable outliers. What is crucial to remember not onlywhen picking classes but also when struggling with midterms, papers, and finalsis that your only competition in college is yourself. Are you achieving as muchas you personally could be achieving?

This does not mean that you should notabandon your grandiose visions of the future because you’re not completely surethat you will ever reach them. Rather, you should practice “realisticidealism,” a concept I taught this past summer at the Yale Ivy Scholars Programduring my “Everyday Machiavellianism” seminar. This entails dreaming big, butthen reconciling these dreams with the present by understanding and undertakingthe gradual, specific steps that must be completed to achieve them.

With this in mind, construct yourschedule so that it is challenging, yet something that you personally canachieve. If you know that the classes you are taking will cause you to becometo even copious amounts of Starbucks double-shot mochas (I’m speaking fromsubjective experience), rethink them before it’s too late. It’s college, nothigh school, so there’s no stigma from dropping a class before the final dropdate and it won’t go on your permanent record. However, if you don’t drop aclass you can’t handle, you may find your sleeping schedule permanentlydamaged.

This underestimation of workloadderives from many causes. One, for me, was that when you’re picking yourclasses, you falsely think that your first two weeks are reflective of the restof the semester to follow. This. Is. Not. True. The rest of your semester willhave papers and tests from different classes, sometimes at the same time, andyou will face hurdles not only in the classroom, but perhaps in groups you areinvolved in or maybe even from an illness (I was sick all semester—it was farfrom pleasant). Another thing to remember is that the rigor of your workloadcomes also from the type of classes you are taking and not simply the number ofcredits. My schedule initially seemed more-than-manageable for me, since I hadFridays off and two of my classes began with the word “Intro.” Friday actuallyturned out to be a much-needed day for work instead of sleep and those twoclasses actually turned out to be my most difficult classes. This was so mainlybecause both Microeconomics and Statistics were quantitative reasoning courses,and I had not formally done anything quantitative for over a year. It washumbling to realize that even basic algebra was not intuitive for me anymore.Additionally, these math-based courses had problem sets. Most students had atleast one class with problem sets each semester, but this was the first time Ihad them since last year I had had a disproportionately large amount of papers.It was a tough adjustment for me to tackle two problem sets each week.Moreover, they were due back-to-back, on Monday and Tuesday, which is why itsoon seemed that I did not actually have Fridays off since I would spend themall working in coffee shops and libraries.

You might be wondering why I tookthose classes if I did not really enjoy them. I’ll spare the euphemisms: Ihated Statistics. Don’t get me wrong, I understand how statistics are necessaryfor all fields of study that deal with concrete information. However, I am notexaggerating when I say that every lecture was painfully dry andincomprehensible and those times I spent doing statistics problem sets weresome of the lowest points of my college experience so far. I didn’t hateMicroeconomics. I really do love the concepts of economics, I just had aprofessor who lectured very poorly yet assigned tough homework assignments thatrequired students to use concepts he often didn’t teach us and were notelucidated in the textbook, thus Intro Micro was not the most joyful experiencefor me. Issues Approach to Biology was not that hard, but for a class marketedas a science class for students into the humanities, it had tedious lecturesand tests that were oppressively technical and thus contrary to the title ofthe course itself.

So why did I take these classes? I didhave a fundamental interest in each of them, but honestly the main reasons aredistributional requirements and intended major required courses. At Yale, wehave to take a certain number of classes listed as humanities/arts, socialsciences, sciences, quantitative reasoning, foreign language, and writing tofulfill the distributional requirements. This requirement is lenient whencompared to the general ed requirements of UCs, but it still is a burden formany students. Needless to say, I took An Issues Approach to Biology to fulfillhalf of the science requirement. Intro Microeconomics and Intro Statisticsfulfill quantitative reasoning for me, but I took these specific quantitativeclasses because they are required courses for the major that I intended todeclare (I will address this later). The overarching lesson I have learned fromall of this is: take classes that you intrinsically enjoy. I took 5.5 creditsspring semester of freshman year, so I objectively had more work andobligations then, but it felt like less because I was so intrigued by all thematerial I learned in all of those classes. The classes you take primarily andinevitably shape your semester. Your eight semesters in college are yourcollege life. After undergraduate education, it’s the “real world,” whether itbe a full-time job or graduate school. As Mark Twain once said, “Twenty yearsfrom now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than bythe ones you did.” Moreover, your semester will just be intolerable if you takecourses in which you are not actually interested. I can’t wait for nextsemester because the syllabi of each class I plan to take make me want toalready start ordering my books from Amazon so I can begin reading them—I canassure you that that was not the case with Statistics or Biology.

I’ve been talking mostly about howhard of a semester this was for me, and while it was the hardest, it did haveits incredible, rewarding moments. The highlight of this fall was definitelybeing accepted into the major that I have been lusting over for a year, Ethics,Politics, & Economics. It’s an interdisciplinary major centered aroundapplying classical and modern knowledge to present problems in public policy.The reason that I was not able declare EP&E as my major until two weeks agois that it’s a selective (perhaps one of the most selective Yale majors) majordue to its format in which all of its courses are taught as seminars (smallclasses with one professor and around 15 students). To declare as an EP&Emajor, one must apply as a sophomore in December and must subsequently beaccepted. The application consists of a printed transcript, a sample work ofwriting from a previous relevant class, and a one thousand word statement ofpurpose. My transcript was not flawless, but it showed a great deal of interestin the major through the classes I had taken and improved progress in terms ofgrades. I submitted a paper I had written for my Directed StudiesHistory/Politics class last spring entitled “An Assessment of Smith’s andMarx’s Assessments of Capitalism.” I spent many hours transposing my personallove for EP&E into words in the form of my statement of purpose (I’ve attachedthat in case anyone is interested in learning more specifically about theEP&E major). These three elements are a great example of how I apply thatconcept of “realistic idealism” to reach my often ambitious goals. I had noidea if I’d ultimately be accepted, but I had consistently and determinedlyworked towards small steps (i.e. taken classes in philosophy, history/politics,and economics) that made my acceptance a possibility. I still believe that I ammore than fortunate to have been accepted into the major I was interested in,but I firmly believe that the luck I had in getting in would not have evenexisted if I did not, through much perseverance, create the conditions for itto exist.

On that note, if anyone wants to askme any questions about my college experience at Yale, feel free to (and pleasedo) give me a call—I’d love to talk.

Best wishes to everyone in the ILC forthe upcoming year—students, remember whatever happens, it’s up to you to makethe most of it.

Sincerely,

Yohanna D. Pepa

Yale University, BK’14

Major in Ethics, Politics, &Economics

(510) 965-7088

yohanna.pepa@yale.edu

~~~~~~~~~~

From Selene Calderon

UC Berkeley

12/30/11

Congratulations on earning the GoldenBell Award. It definitely could not have been awarded to a better program.

I graduated from Richmond High School(RHS) this past June and started school at the University of California inBerkeley the following week through Cal’s Summer Bridge program. I was allowedto take two courses plus a seminar class that were meant to introduce me toacademics at Cal as well as live in the dorms. It was a terrific experiencethat helped me get more accustomed to the campus, learn about the availableresources, and meet new people. Summer Bridge really helped make me feel lesslost in the first days of the Fall Semester and helped me meet people withsimilar backgrounds from all over the nation and worldwide as well.

Even with my experiences during summerfall semester was unlike anything I had experienced. Academically, I felt agreat freedom being able to pick my own classes, but at the same time a bitworried about whether I was making the right choices. As the 2011 IncentivesAwards Program (IAP) Scholarship recipient from RHS I got help from academiccounselors concerning what classes I should take and what combinations would beokay. Even though I got this help I still felt the responsibility wascompletely on me. I chose to take Psychology 1, Molecular and Cell Biology:Drugs and the Brain, Ethnic Studies, Chicano Studies Seminar, Chemistry P,Decal course on Sexual Health, and Education Seminar, which is required by theIAP for the first semester. I thought I would be okay seeing my unit load wasonly 15.5 but I learned that the number of units does not really matter whatreally mattered was the amount of time each of the classes was going to take.So my advice for any incoming college student is to really consider your courseload not based on the number of units or classes but on the amount of time youknow you will have to dedicate to it. Having seven classes first semester wasokay but during midterm season and finals it got very hectic. I did morestudying for tests then I ever had. I think another very important thingespecially when you are living in the dorms is to find places other than yourown room where you can study because not everyone has the same study scheduleas you and things can get disruptive. My main suggestions are the librarieswhere you not only have resources like books and internet but also quiet spacesto really concentrate.

Many times I have gotten asked whetherRHS prepared me for college and I can say that it greatly did. Even thoughcollege courses are much more difficult all the lessons that my teachers fromthe WCCUSD taught me have come in handy. Not only academic lessons but the lifelessons that each of them taught me greatly shaped my performance my firstsemester in college and I know they will continue to do so. Something that myteachers at RHS taught me was the diverse forms of teaching that you canencounter and how to better adapt yourself to each. College professors justlike high school teachers are all different from their grading to theirteaching styles, so it is handy to learn which teach in ways that coincide withyour own learning styles or ways to adapt yourself to their style to helpincrease your academic success.

Socially, I began the semester withthe intention of becoming a member of several clubs but because of the time Ihad to spend in class and out of class doing work I was unable to. I hope tohowever join a Latina organization called, Hermanas Unidas (HAU), in hopes ofgetting more in touch with the Latino/a community at Cal and also learning moreabout my own heritage. Coming from Richmond I hadn’t ever really experiencedbeing a minority and it is so sad that the only times I have been able to takeclasses with a great amount of Latinos at Cal are those corresponding to theChicano Studies department. I hope that through HAU I am able to network more andalso help out in bringing awareness to the issues affecting minority groups.Cal has a wide variety of organizations that you can easily find one or morethat interest you. In the case you can’t find one, all you need are five otherpeople and you can start your own organization.

Homesickness wasn’t really a problemfor me seeing I am only fifteen minutes from home. Nevertheless, it was achange to be on my own for the most part and have to be away. I think it isimportant to maintain contact with your family even if you do not go too farfrom home. College is stressful and especially in the first semester when youare still getting to know people it might be hard to open up and talk aboutwhat’s going on. I found that my relationship with my parents has become muchbetter now. I feel that our communication has increased and it has helped medeal with my own personal struggles. The counselors from the IAP have greatlyhelped by supporting along the way and I know I can count on them for the restof my academic career at Cal.

Well, if anyone has any questionsabout Cal, Summer Bridge, or the IAP feel free to contact me at scalderon93@gmail.com

Hope everyone has a good holiday breakand GO BEARS!

~~~~~~~~~~

From Jennifer Kuang

Stanford University

12/29/11

First off, I want to saycongratulations to the ILC on the Golden Bell Award. As an alum of the program,I can say that it is certainly well deserved. This quarter, I participated inStanford's overseas studies program in Beijing, and it has unexpectedly beenone of the best experiences of my college career so far. I know that many ofthose students who have written are a bit younger than me, so I want to takethis time to talk up studying abroad in college.

I was not at all excited to go toBeijing - I am Chinese, I have been to China multiple times, what can Ipossibly learn there? A LOT, it turns out. Living in a foreign country for anextended period of time is so completely different than anything else youexperience in college. Although there is a lot of English around in China, youreally do need to start speaking and listening to the native language tounderstand what is going on. There were 20 of us in the program, so it was asmall, intimate group, and all of us became good friends very quickly. Westudied at the prestigious Peking University (or Beida in Chinese), takingcourses related to U.S.-China relations, Chinese Criminal Law, Chinese culture,the Chinese media system, and film, as well as the language itself.

Over the course of this quarter, Ibecame more aware of myself as a Chinese person and what it means to be ChineseAmerican. The change in myself is hard to describe so I will not try it for youhere. I was lucky in that I can speak Chinese fairly well, but some of myfriends can't at all, yet they had a great time. We ate the local street food,visited all of Beijing's cultural and historical attractions, and experiencedlocal Chinese pastimes with our Beida language partners. We had cooking classesin the homes of Beijing families, learning how to make traditional dishes likechangshoumian - long life noodles, which are meant to be eaten during one'sbirthday.

The shopping in particular is amazing,due to the 6 yuan to 1 U.S. dollar exchange rate. During the weekends, we wouldgo travel around China on our own, to Shanghai, Xi'an, Guilin and Hong Kong,etc. There is something very satisfying in knowing that you can get around in aforeign country on your own successfully, navigating transportation, hostel andliving arrangements, sightseeing, and much more. You gain a new selfconfidence, and because it's in a foreign country, you gain a new perspectiveon culture and community.

I am writing this now from an Applestore in the Sanlitun district (one of the few real stores among many many fakeones), famous for its robust bar scene in the midst of the foreign embassybuildings. I don't know if I was able to articulate fully how great this studyabroad trip was for me. I thought that because I had traveled to China before,I knew everything. But studying here for 3 months, though not long, was enoughfor me to understand how wrong I was. I am not saying that everything wasperfect; I will be going back to the U.S. tomorrow with still many confusedquestions about why China is the way it is right now, in terms of governmentalcontrol and human justice issues, but that is another conversation altogether.

All I know is that studying abroad ISthe great, wonderful experience that almost all college students claim it tobe. I encourage everyone to try it if you have the time in your busy schedules.I guarantee that you will learn more than you would in your home campus. I knowI did.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Dennis Shem

UC Berkeley

12/29/11

As I look back on my experience in theILC, I realize that I am starting to recognize fewer and fewer names ofindividuals as they go through the program. Even then, it's good to hear andshare in the successes of the program.

With that, though many of youreceiving this email may not have a clue who I am, I hope that I can share someknowledge that might be useful further along in your college career.

My name is Dennis Shem, a Sophomore atUC Berkeley majoring in Psychology intending to go to medical school; I mightminor in Toxicology, but that's still up in the air. I say"intending" because well, medical school is a little bit up in theair as well. It is one of those already defined paths that I see myself goingdown until I'm able to fully process what it is I want to do personally.

I'll direct you all to this article: http://chronicle.com/article/What-Are-You-Going-to-Do-With/124651/

This article itself has challenged meto really think about the choices I am making in college. My big takeaway fromthe article and this past semester that I also want to pass on, is to make**intentional** decisions. Take time to set goals and to reevaluate them everynow and then. Activities you choose to be involved in, whether school related,career related, or for pleasure, be sure to have clear picture in your head ofwhy you're a part of it.

I hope that you all have anopportunity to read it at some point during the process of continuing youreducation. Good luck!

Dennis Shem

Gabriel Sanchez

UCLA

12/29/11

~~~~~~~~~~

From Gabriel Sanchez

UCLA

12/29/11

Congratulations on the award, I'm gladto see that your hard work and dedication into the Ivy League Connection hasreceived the attention it deserves.

This Fall at UCLA has been my mostdifficult quarter yet, but the most rewarding as well. As each quarterprogresses, my involvement and responsibility on campus continues to grow, andwill only continue to do so until I graduate. Reflecting on the past ten weeks,everything that I am doing on campus is helping me develop into a personcritical of the society we live in today, as well as providing me the skills Ineed to be successful in the future.

As I stated in my post last year, Iaccepted the position to be an administrator for Samahang Pilipino AdvancingCommunity Empowerment (SPACE), the Pilipino Organization's access project.Little did I know that this position would UCLA, known for its philanthropicefforts in LA, provides a unique opportunity for students to engage incommunity. The Community Programs Office (CPO) is dedicated towards theretention of college students of color as well as access of students living inunderserved parts of Los Angeles. As the oldest of its kind in the UC system,the CPO is not only the strongest within the Universities of California, buthas also gained national recognition for being one of the beststudent-initiated and student-run office. The CPO is composed of severalorganizations that have demonstrated specific needs for these services to existfor their communities. These organizations are the Movimiento EstudiantilChicano/Chicana de Aztlán (MEChA). Afrikan Student Union (ASU), PacificIslanders Student Association (PISA), American Indian Student Association(AISA), Vietnamese Student Union (VSU), Muslim Students Association (MSA), andmy organization, Samahang Pilipino. Each organization, funded under the CPOwhich its receives its funding from student fees, hosts a retention project,access project or both.

To provide a little backgroundinformation, the Student-Initiated Access Center (SIAC), the access portion ofthe CPO, was founded as a direct result of California's Proposition 209 enactedin 1996. Proposition 209 prohibits public institutions to consider race,gender, and ethnicity in the admissions process. Since then there has been adramatic decrease of students of color in the UC system. The projects theseorganizations host are intended to combat Proposition 209's devastating effectson our communities and provide the support these students need. As a member ofSPACE, I go to Belmont High School located in the heart of HistoricFilipinotown every Thursday to provide academic counseling to students. BelmontHigh School is a small secondary school, under LA standards, with 1300 studentsthat is home to many immigrant, working class families. Statistics show that amajority of the student body learned English as a second language. Thesenumbers are evident in my caseload, as I have had several sessions in Tagalog(the Philippines' main dialect) and have had to talk to student's parents inSpanish. My time thus far at the high school has been nothing short ofextraordinary. I have learned a lot from my students in the ten weeks of havingsessions with them and have developed genuine relationships with them.

Holding the administrator title ofParent Investment Coordinator, however, I also have the responsibility dealingwith the project's administrative tasks. My job began over the summer, where Ihad to draft the parent portion of our project's Academic Year Budget Proposaland list out the component's mission statement, along with its set objectivesfor the year and the methodologies I will use. Doing this was difficult,because over the summer I was in the Bay Area and had to attend meetings viawebcam and make deadlines while balancing an internship and summer class. Thework only became harder when the school year began, as I had the biggerresponsibility of investing my staff in the importance of parents and havingthem do the necessary work to fulfill my objectives. I had to facilitateportions of our staff meetings and workgroup meetings, research relevantreadings for my workgroup's development, and keep them accountable of theirtasks and reprimand them when necessary. My duties will only become harder nextyear as our project underwent hiring this past quarter and is now strong with30 members.

As stressful as things can be, lookingback at everything I've done, I can honestly say that I love the work I do.SPACE has provided me an opportunity to no only develop my professional skills,but also continue my understanding of what it means to be a Pilipino-Americanand a person of color in the U.S. Expanding on what I learned as an intern inthis project, I continue to become more conscious of all societal injustices,of the people's struggle, and most importantly, of my own personal endeavorsand history. The work I do in SPACE is in sync with what I want to do in thefuture, that is work in the educational field helping students fromunderprivileged backgrounds. Although I still am uncertain as to whatprofession I specifically want to hold, I know for a fact that it will be ineducation and it will be in the form of service for the community - mycommunity.

In addition to SPACE, I have alsobecome involved in other spaces that provide me with relevant developmenttowards my future aspirations. This quarter, I was a staff member for theExternal Vice President's office, part of the thirteen-member UndergraduateStudents Association Council (USAC). I specifically worked in the State-Affairscomponent, where we strived to raise issues regarding the state of the UC. Iknow Mr. Ramsey that you've asked us how we feel about the tuition hikes, andin my opinion, I am in disgust that the UC Regents have continued to make cutsto higher education. But my emotions are useless if I keep them to myself.Therefore, by being part of the State-Affairs committee, I am taking an activerole in representing the student voice. As a student of UCLA, I have so muchpride and respect for the vision UC system, which is to provide all Californiaresidents a free education (which was written in the original Master Plan).However, as tuition continues to increase, and our system continues to acceptmore students out of state, we are going farther away from this environmentwhich once existed decades ago. Although our occupy rally was short in numberscompared to Berkeley or Davis, and we did not have a UC Regent commending thesale of cupcakes as a response to repealing Proposition 209, the State-Affairs committeehas done well foster activism to the greater student body. One of the things wesupported was the Repeal Proposition 209 Rally, an issue in UCLA history thathas had significant student reactions dating back to Kandea Mosley's "Daysof Defiance."

While only a couple of days of mybreak remain, I await the beginning of the new quarter with absoluteexcitement. The biggest reason is because this Fall I was selected as a cohortfor the Junior Scholars Program. Under the Academic Achievement Program (AAP),I applied to be in this program as a means to prepare myself for graduateschool, specifically a PhD. This Winter, as a cohort, I, along with nineteenother second-years, will take a weekly class that will educate us on thefundamentals of writing a research proposal. We will have weekly readings aswell as assignments that will prepare us for writing a proposal of our own bythe end of the quarter. In the Spring, a professor will either adopt ourproposal or have us work on the research that he or she is already doing. Thisexperience is the preparation I need if I choose to pursue a profession in thefield of research.

Though this might sound like a lot,being SPACE has definitely taught me the essentials of time management andprioritizing. Although I am balancing all of this, I am proud to say that Istill have a GPA over a 3.5. As stressful as all of this sounds, I would nothave it any other way. I do everything in college with conviction, passion, andlove and it is these three things that will guide for the rest of myundergraduate career and after college.

Happy New Years!

Yours truly,

Gabriel Augusto Jomdos Sanchez

UCLA Undergraduate | Class of 2014

Political Science Major, EducationMinor

Samahang Pilipino Advancing CommunityEmpowerment (SPACE)

Parent Investment Coordinator, PeerAdvisor

~~~~~~~~~~

From Jessica Tran

UC Berkeley

12/29/11

Congratulations on receiving theGolden Bell Award! I am really glad to hear that the ILC is growing and stayingstrong.

As a sophomore this year at Cal, Ithought that I would be prepared for the coming fall semester, but I must saythat it has been a great challenge for me. I originally jumped intoarchitecture as my major, and I had planned all four years revolving around it.When I decided to take a computer science course this past semester, I realizedhow much more passionate I was to the introduction course. I became reallyconflicted in changing majors because I had already taken quite a few classesfor architecture, and if I were to switch then many of them would be considered"useless." I am now realizing that there is no such thing as apointless class because there is always some new experience whether it beknowledge, friends, or a change of perspective. I encourage all incoming firstyear students to try out the classes they are curious about because you neverknow if something will strike your interest. Also, do not be discouraged if youcannot find the right major in your first year. There are many students in thesame position and I would recommend to talk with advisors, family, and friendsfor advice. Just know that in the end, everything will work out for the better.

In addition to academics, I havebecome more involved in clubs and sports. I am currently applying for adirector position for BCEC (Berkeley Careers in the Entertainment Club) as wellas planning to help facilitate a decal and a past class. Do not be afraid totake leadership roles; I believe that you can learn so much more about yourcollege as well as the students that build the campus atmosphere. Collegeoffers so many different activities and managing your time among everything isessential. Be aware of how much commitment is needed in the activities you signup for so that you can get the full experience. As a commuter, staying on campusfrom 9am to 11pm can be tiring; however if you are passionate about whateveryou do, then it will be worthwhile. Overall, the college experience is shapedby your decisions. Be proud of the choices you make and push forward withconfidence.

Jessica Tran

~~~~~~~~~~

FromJustine Betschart

UCLA‘14

12/27/11

Hello ILC!

For those of you who do not know me,my name is Justine Betschart, and I am a Hercules High School alumna andcurrent sophomore at UCLA. As most have stated in previous testimonials, mysecond year of college has not changed much compared to my first year. As Istated in a missive last spring, I switched majors (and schools within UCLA) toChemical Engineering within the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and AppliedSciences.

Now that I no longer have to stressabout what I want to pursue during my 4 years at UCLA, I am now diving intoengineering coursework, which is no cakewalk whatsoever. I took on a rigorouscourse load this past quarter, which in hindsight, may have not been a greatjudgment call. However, college is no time to laze around and take the lightestcourse load possible. Having a Friday off may seem nice throughout the quarter,but finishing school in 4 years with a professional degree is much sweeter.

In addition to truly being introducedto chemical engineering with my first upper division course, I focused onachieving more of an academic and extracurricular balance than I had last year.This quarter I joined the American Institute of Chemical Engineering, as wellas the Society of Women Engineers. These professional clubs have provided mewith a lot of exposure into the world of engineering that I am very new to.Additionally, I made it a point to make sure I joined a group that wasn't soprofessionally based.

To my own disbelief, I rushed asorority. Most students focused on their academics have the negative stereotypeof Greek life that I also had when I entered UCLA. However, doing a littleresearch and stepping outside of my comfort zone were the best things I didthis past quarter. I joined Phi Sigma Rho, an engineering and engineeringtechnologies based sorority that provided me with the academic and socialbalance I needed so badly. I got the best of both worlds with my sorority, sodon't discount this aspect of college life. College is a time to try out newthings, so make sure to step out of your bubble and meet new people, whether itbe by going Greek or joining the Scrabble Club!

If anyone has absolutely any questionsfor me regarding UCLA or anything college related, feel free to shoot me anemail! [ jmbetschart@gmail.com ]

~~~~~~~~~~

FromCristina Pelayo

Universityof Pennsylvania

12/27/11

Congratulations on winning the GoldenBell Award.

My third semester at Penn was abouttrying to decide what I would major in. I decided to take a bunch ofintroductory classes in different areas of the humanities to see what area Iwould ultimately major in. I'm glad that Penn allows you the option ofdeclaring your major later on down the road, although I'm advised to do it byFebruary. At the beginning of the semester, my pre-major advisor left, but Iwas immediately assigned to a new one who answered all my questions and wasequally helpful.

My old advisor even keeps in touchwith me still by asking about what classes I'm taking next semester. I wasreally surprised that she did, because she really didn't need to, but it’sPenn, I really should not have been surprised. I met with undergraduateadvisors for the major and minor I am planning on declaring, and they wereextremely helpful with their advice on what classes to take next semester. Ilove how they have walk-in hours almost every day to answer any questions youmay have, and that I don't need to schedule an appointment.

Overall, Penn is great for someone whois as undecided as I was because there are so many people willing to help youand talk to you about your future. I haven't declared my major yet, but I'mplanning on doing it sometime when I get back for the upcoming semester. Thissemester I've decided to join the West Philadelphia Tutoring Project and be aBig Sister in order to learn more about public schools, in the case that Istick with my idea of doing something with education at some point. Visitingdifferent public schools just gets me out of the college bubble for a while andhas allowed me to learn more about Philadelphia as a city.

This year, I'm doing community livingon campus. It's basically like a suite, with three bedrooms, a kitchen, and abathroom. I prefer living this way because I can eat when I want (no starvinglate at night when the dining halls are closed) and I can shower withoutwaiting for the housekeepers to finish cleaning the bathroom. This hasdefinitely made me feel even more independent because I have to plan my ownmeals and clean, and overall I really like it. Even though I consider myselfmore independent, living like this has also made me dependent on my other threeroommates to do their share of the work. Luckily, they're fabulous and veryconsiderate, and sometimes we cook together and even argue over who doesn'thave to do the dishes.

Homesickness is still something Istruggle with, especially since I go home only twice a year. I'm not going tolie, but moving in and moving out by yourself is terrible (as is lugging yourbaggage to train stations and airports). Being about a six hour plane ride awaywith your family and friends in a different time zone is hard, especially ifyou love home as much as I do. It's especially hard when you have a final onthe very last day and all your friends are home weeks earlier than you andyou're locked up in the library getting distracted while trying to study for it(yup, it happened to me this semester).

Being on the East Coast does make youexperience a somewhat different culture, but I think it's important to rememberthat the country is a lot bigger, and it's not all going to be like the BayArea. It's made me aware of how different the world is, and it's made megrateful to have been born and raised in the Bay Area. It's also fun spreadingsome of that culture to my friends at Penn. I think it is necessary at somepoint to be far from home in order to appreciate what you really have.

If anyone has questions about Penn orcollege in general, feel free to email me!

Cristina Pelayo

pelayo.cristina@yahoo.com

~~~~~~~~~~

FromWinston Long

UCBerkeley ‘15

12/27/11

Hello to Mr. Ramsey and the rest ofthe ILC organization and students! I'd like to add my congratulations to ILCfor being awarded the Golden Bell Award. I know that for me and many otherstudents, the ILC programs have not only been a highlight of our high schoolcareers, but also have significantly influenced us to realize all that we werecapable of, and I'm glad to see the ILC receive it's well-deserved recognitionfor it's effects on our scholastic lives.

As a freshman at UC Berkeley majoringin Industrial Engineering and Operations Research (IEOR), my first semester hasbeen a completely new experience for me. Even though my time at ColumbiaUniversity as an ILC student made me feel more confidant moving into thecollege environment, the transition is definitely something that is very hardto prepare for. As you've probably heard from reading many of the otherreflections, one of the biggest changes is the independence that you get whenyou move out into college. (That's the reason why everyone writes about it.)It's easy to quickly forget that you're at a university with the purpose ofstudying, especially since many students around you probably will forget why theyare there as well. For me, I found that if I needed to rigorously plan out whatI needed to do every day and schedule out all of my work in order to remain ontop of all of the assignments. It was a real eye-opener when I realized that Icouldn't glide my way to the finish as I did so often in high school, but thatI actually needed to consistently study and force myself to put forth effortjust to be on par with everyone else.

That being said, UCB has really been afantastic place to live and study at. Even though it is true that class sizesare hideously large, and tuition is being raised to astronomical heights, don'tlet that stop you from considering UCB as a college. (I was kidding about theclass sizes and tuition, it's not that bad. Really!)

The community at Berkeley is probablythe most diverse you'll ever find at a college, and the large studentpopulation almost guarantees that you'll be able to find other people that youshare interests with.

Additionally, the opportunities at Calto reach out and develop professionally are limitless. For example, in the lastsemester, I was able to contact City CarShare, a non-profit organization basedin San Francisco, and help them develop a case competition to solve theirexpansion issues. (Another former ILC student at Cal, Jeannie Wu, was part ofthe winning team.) It was a great experience for me to be able to work withreal-world organizations and know that the work that I do actually has animpact on their organization.

Also, Cal offers experiences thatwould be hard to find at any other school. For example, in my IEOR freshmanseminar, we had the opportunity to visit a nearby sandwich shop owned by anIEOR graduate which was reputed to have "extremely efficientsandwiches." (No word on how they taste, though.) We also visited MeyerSound, a local company that produces the best high-end sound systemscommercially available, and went on a factory tour (unavailable to the public)to see how they optimized their production processes.

Next semester, I'm joining thePioneers in Engineering club as a mentor for high school students in a roboticscompetition sponsored and co-ordinated by the PiE staff. I had the good fortuneto be involved in the competition as a high school student last year (3rd place,PV!), and it was such a phenomenal experience that I wanted to be able to partof the experience again, even if as a college mentor this time.

In short, this semester has passed byamazingly fast. As cliche as it sounds, college really is a whirlwind ride, andeven now I'm trying to figure out how to cram the most I can into the fourshort years I have at Cal. Don't be afraid, high school seniors! Collegeis spectacularly exciting, and you're going to have a great time! (But for now,enjoy your last high school semester!)

Go Blue and Gold!

Winston Long

Industrial Engineering and OperationsResearch | 2015

University of California, Berkeley

(510) 508 1050

~~~~~~~~~~

FromAustin Long

YaleUniversity ‘15

12/27/11

Helloto all of you prospective college students!

My name is Austin Long, and I am afreshman at Yale University. I am a proud graduate of Pinole Valley HighSchool, and I took the Techniques in DNA Biotechnology class at BrownUniversity during the summer of 2010.

I know that for a lot of you, thecollege application season is almost over, but I'm here to tell you that thereis still so much more to do! College is difficult, much more so than highschool, but it's not impossible. Although a lot of other people have said thisalready, college is an amazing experience. You'll be surrounded by the mosttalented and the most incredible people from all across the world. Yourteachers and faculty will be fantastic. Don't waste this opportunity.

When I first started this semester, Iwas lonely and homesick a lot. I felt for a long time that I didn't belong atYale, and that I was only admitted through a series of terrible mistakes at theAdmissions Office. I wasn't very confident in myself or my abilities. I didn'ttry very hard, because I felt so out of my league, and I felt too sociallyawkward and shy to really commit myself to extracurricular activities. I wasvery much not at all the person I was in high school.

Don'tdo that.

College is indeed about selfdiscovery, but you can't let yourself be crippled by self doubt or fears. Youhave to be who you are. Don't be afraid to show it. It was only at the end ofthis semester, when I started studying and working harder, that I realizedthis.

Another big problem for me: Procrastination. Don't do that either.Get rid of bad habits, fast. Otherwise, you'll spend all semester trying tocatch up. There is no greater feeling in the world than being on top of all ofyour work. You can't get by in college with the same study habits as in highschool. You actually have to study, as opposed to cramming at the last minute.Surprisingly, there is a difference between the two.

If that was too long and you didn'tread it, just be confident and workhard. I was stupid my first semester for being lazy and scared. Hopefully, itwon't happen to you.

Aside from that, college is great! Especially at Yale.

This semester, I took five classes:Writing the Modern Non-Fiction Essay, Chinese Level 1, Freshman OrganicChemistry and the corresponding Lab, and a freshman seminar on Social Controland Criminal Justice. All of these classes were fantastic. I thoroughly enjoyedeach one, not just because of the material we were learning, but also becauseof how the class dynamics were different from that of high school. There's alot less raising hands, and a lot more conversation and discussion.

Aside from classes, I also was a partof the Yale Concert Band, the Yale Precision Marching Band, Yale ProgressivePrinciples, Yale Undergraduate Aerospace Association, DEMOS, as well as STARS.Yale Progressive Principles is a new organization aiming towards organizing aconference for students to learn more about Progressivism, and to get to knowother progressive leaders. For the Yale Undergraduate Aerospace Association, weare currently working on a weather balloon, which we will be launching earlynext semester. In DEMOS, every week we go to a classroom and do scienceprojects with elementary school students, which is very similar to somethingwhich I started at Pinole Valley High School. And STARS is an organizationdedicated to helping minority students at Yale do better in STEM fields.

Socially, I'm only semi-social atYale. I don't go to parties or to dances very often. During my free time, Ihang out with my friends or study. But if you're into partying or dancing,you're in luck, because Yale has a lot of those. Yale University focuses a loton giving underclassmen the freedom to explore and to experiment with theirlifestyles, and that's something that a lot of people chose to take advantageof. I spend a lot of time with my suitemates, as I was lucky enough to be putin a suite (of 7) where my suitemates weren't like me, but rather, were similarenough that we complemented each other but yet still different enough where weall learn from each other and are able to bond over our experiences. However, Ido know that not all students were as lucky as I was, so it's really a matterof luck. And of how you fill out your rooming request form. Spend extra time onthat. You don't want to live with someone you can't stand.

I strongly encourage everyone to applyto Yale University, because more so than any other university, we focus a loton the undergraduate experience. We have freshmen counselors, classes only forfreshmen, residential college siblings, peer counselors, faculty advisers,housing for freshmen only, study breaks for freshmen, and so much more. Thefood here is good, our rooms are spacious, the campus is beautiful, and NewHaven (as long as you stay in the downtown area) is fantastic.

If you have any questions at all aboutcollege or Yale, feel free to contact me! I'm always eager to hear from others,and I'd love to answer any questions you may have. You can email me at austin.long@yale.edu,or call me at 510-260-7730.

Good luck to all of you in your futureendeavors, and I wish you all the best.

Boola Boola!

~~~~~~~~~~

FromCourtney Mariano

UCLA

12/27/11

I have just finished my fall quarteras a second year at UCLA. Last year, I wrote a couple reflections regarding myexperiences in college as a first year. I feel that those reflections stillapply to my current experience at school. College is a completely differentatmosphere compared to high school. The classes are much harder and thematerial is more difficult. In college, you are more independent in makingeducational choices, so it is up to you to seek more help if needed and youmust find your balance between work and leisure. And with the quarter system,finding this balance of time is even more important because you must stay ontop of your work and never be behind on your studies. Because once you are, itis difficult to catch up because those 10 weeks will fly by.

But one difference between thisquarter and last year is my level of involvement in school. Last year, Ifocused more on making a smooth transition from high school to college schoolwise, so I did not focus much on extra curricular activities. Thus, I was onlyinvolved in a summer camp which took up time in my spring quarter. But thisquarter, I have become increasingly more involved in the clubs at school. Ijoined a Filipino a cappella group with practices twice a week, which was asignificant change in my schedule because I had to fit in two hour practices inthe evening. But I felt that it was fairly easy for me to integrate thissinging group into my school schedule. And I recently decided to participate inmy school's Pilipino Culture Night, which will be a huge time commitment in thefollowing quarters of the year, so I must be sure stay on top of my studies.Although at times I do wonder what it would have been like if I started theseextra curricular activities sooner in my college career, ultimately I do notregret my decision to wait until my second year to really get involved. I wouldrecommend that the first years think carefully about what they want to beinvolved in and do not try to take on too much along with school. Thetransition to college will not be a piece of cake, so just be careful that youwill have a good balance. I am not discouraging first years from joining clubs,but just think about what you want to join and do not take on too much in thebeginning.

I also started a two-quarterinternship last quarter. It is with a nonprofit organization called Sydney CooperSenior Smiles. This is the first internship I have ever had, and it has been agreat experience so far. I am given a lot of independence with this internship,which can be a bit scary. But at the same time, I have learned so much morebecause of how independent I must be; I've learned that if I want to get a lotout of this internship I must put an equal effort into my work. Last quarterwas mainly about visiting the seniors at the senior home and planning eventsfor them. But next quarter will be more about the marketing side of nonprofits,which is what I am more interested in and applies more to what I want to do inthe future. Initially I didn't think this internship would be of much help tomy career, but I now think differently of it. So I encourage all students toapply for internships at some point in college, whether it be during school ifyou think you can handle it along with classes or during summer. But make surethat some aspect of this internship will apply to what you are interested in andwhat career you want in the future.

Lastly, I just want to encourage allfuture college students to explore what truly interests you in college. You maygo in to your university thinking you have a certain plan that you must follow,but don't fear a change in that plan. I came in and thought I would be a mathmajor, but I recently realized that the subject no longer interests me as itused to, and I would rather take up a major that I have a genuine interest inlearning about. After I took a communications course last quarter, I am nowplanning to apply to the communications major at UCLA. So don't be scared totake classes completely outside your major and take time to explore differentinterests. However, I would recommend that you figure out which direction youwant to head in by the end of your second year.

I am thoroughly enjoying my time atUCLA, difficulties and all. College is definitely a time of exploration andgrowth, and I wish you all the best in your college careers. Cherish these next few years of schooling, and seriously make the most of them.And if anyone has specific questions for me, like about UCLA, don't hesitate toemail me.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Guadalupe Morales

Brown University

12/27/11

Well, like everyone else, congratulations to the ILC for winningthe Golden Bell award! I know that this means a lot to the program and throughmore recognition, we can expand this program so much more to help more studentsout in the WCCUSD (who knows, maybe even inspire other districts like ours tocreate something similar?). 

 First, in short words, my first semester at Brown was amazingin so many ways! I never anticipated feeling sad leaving the campus last week.I thought I would be too excited to even study for my finals! However, itdawned on me that I was finally able to call Brown my home. At least, for thenext four years. I made such great friends, I love the community and I feel atpeace there. That is not to say I didn't miss my family and friends here, Ilove them to death. Each day that passed before I left to Providence, I grewmore nervous about leaving home. I mean, I was happy to be going to Brown but Icouldn't fathom the idea of leaving my home for so long. I didn't know what toexpect. Thankfully, I had Elizabeth Gonzalez recommend participating in the ThirdWorld Transition Program (TWTP) as my pre-orientation program to better adjustto the campus. That made such an impact for the rest of the semester and willdo so for the rest of my four years in Rhode Island.

 Well, to explain the TWTP, it welcomes new students to Brownand it shows students potential resources and opportunities they have oncampus, along with meeting new people interesting in participating in workshopson racism, sexism, classism, etc. It helped better understand how our societywas constructed and the impact these issues have today. My experience with theprogram was that it was the best way for me to adjust to a lifestyle. Iremember the first day I was herded into that room with tons of new faces I didnot recognize—I didn'tknow what to do! There was a ton of handshaking, lots of smiles, lots ofquestions and Hi-my-name-is...you get the point. Even though it kept us busyall day (and I mean, ALL DAY) it kept our mind off of home and more on buildingnew networks and relationships there on campus. Everyone was so open to talkwith, the MPCs (Minority Peer Counselors) were extremely helpful and supportiveand the whole atmosphere was one you couldn't find elsewhere. I very happy thatI participated in the program. Even though it was only for three days, by theend of the program, everyone seemed to have developed a common bond thatsurpassed the three days that the program lasted. It turned out to be afantastic time! I strongly recommend participating in a pre-orientation programfor those of you heading off to college soon and for those coming into Brownnext fall, I highly recommend the TWTP! Some of my closest friends also did theprogram and those who didn't, well, they wish they did :-) I still keep intouch with a lot of people from the program.

 Academics at Brown: I chose a good mix of classes for my firstsemester. I ended up with 2 of my original choices: Introduction toNeuroscience and Studio Foundation (basic art class). I took advantage ofBrown's famous (or infamous, depends who you talk with) shopping period. Thatbasically means that because of Brown's open curriculum, you are allowed totake nearly any class your heart desires. So I had two weeks to decide two moreclasses (I decided I didn't want to deal with derivatives and integration rightaway...that could wait) and finally, I ended up choosing a sociology class thatwas based on gender and sexuality and an introduction to ethnic studies class.I loved my classes and I learned what I wanted to learn. I admit, once youstart joining clubs and participate in social events, that's when you reallyneed time management skills!

 For finals: I have never done so much studying in my life!Neuroscience, especially, was my most difficult class—there was even a point that I thoughtI would fail the class. It's not the same like high school where your teachercan easily give you an extra credit assignment or an extension. So I toldmyself, well if I fail, then oh well...I'll just make up for it in an upcomingsemester. But then I realized not only was I letting myself down and notutilizing my time correctly, I was letting my family, friends and communitydown. I couldn't let myself do that. I changed my mentality. There's a reasonwhy my parents and a lot of other people told me to not give up and I didn't.So I studied even more—staying uplate, reviewing flash cards, going to review sessions at night—in order to pass my class and I did.Once I set my mind to it and really focused on it, all was well.

 Lesson here was that if I want something done in college, thenyou have to make it happen. It doesn't mean you do it alone, there are tons ofresources and people out there to help YOU. All for you! It's just a matter ofgoing out and finding them. I admit, I only made use of office hours once thissemester, I wish I had done it more often, since the one time I did I was ableto get an A on my ethnic studies midterm paper. Obviously, no regret there. Alot of people told me to go to office hours, but I didn't listen. I admit, Ican be hardheaded, it's something I'm always working on. Thankfully, I haveseven more semesters to explore and use the resources available to me. Soagain, my advice for classes, use your resources (just try it even once!) andfind out how to get things done.

 Aside from academics, I joined several student groups oncampus: MEChA (a latino student group), MEZCLA (dance troupe), and Taekwondo.Out of these, I love MEChA and Taekwondo the most. Having MEChA provides mewith a close group of people dedicated mostly to making a safe space forstudents on campus. Anyone can join and though it is not as politically activeas the West Coast chapters, I feel like it's a big family to me that I enjoybeing a part of. As for Taekwondo, I actually was not expecting to do martialarts in college. However, at the student activities fair, I ran into My(pronounced "me") who was our TA for our summer@Brown program for theWomen and Leadership class. What a coincidence! She was at the Taekwondo tableand told me to come to their info session. I did, and I loved it so much that Ijoined (come on, seeing all those awesome spinning kicks and the masterpunching through 5 cement blocks would convince a lot of people!). Balancing itwith my classes and social life was difficult, but planning things out for theweek and sticking to it at the beginning of each week helped a lot. Plan, plan,plan.

 I'm sorry for such a long email! How do you fit 4 months into afew words? But overall, my experience at Brown has been one of a kind. I madethe right choice in applying here and even visiting for the summer years ago. Ithink that going away has made me grow a lot as an individual with newresponsibilities and new opportunities as well. If anyone has more questions,comments, advice, etc. feel free to contact me.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Kiana Ward

Brown University

12/21/11

Congratulations on the Golden Bell Award! It was well deserved.

I just returned from my first semester of junior year. I am in a house with seven other people and I have to say, this is the first year that I have actually felt like a college student and that things have fallen into place. Preparing meals together with my housemates and getting off college hill made me feel like a real person, not just a student. It is extremely easy to get caught up in the bubble that is college and it is important to remember that there is a whole world outside of midterms and finals. Pretty obvious right? But it is surprising how completely students can begin to think that grades are everything. Yes, of course grades are important, but as Mr. Ramsey said the year I attended the Brown Women in Leadership seminar, it is the contacts you make that will really make the difference.

If you are starting college, if you are just getting used to it or if you are sick of it and ready to quit, please remember how hard you worked to get there and realize that you are truly doing the best you can. Realize that while you might not have gone to a private high school and had personal tutors, you are in all probability much more prepared for the “real world’ than most of your peers because of your educational experience and you should be proud of that. I know that this sounds corny but the members of the ILC that I have had direct contact with are some of the brightest and most promising bunch of students that I have met and it is extremely disheartening to see how much of a toll college can take. Sometimes during finals you have to remind yourself that you are a human and not a machine and that you need to sleep and eat and rest. It is grueling and by the end of it, all I ever want to do is go home and sleep for a week straight. But I also think that we all enjoy that intellectual sprint for some reason. Ultimately, we go to college because it feels good to learn and to realize how much you can accomplish in the course of a year. It is not about the grades; it is about learning topics that truly interest you that you would want to discuss outside of school. It’s about discovering yourself, your passions, your own limits and your niche in the world. College is a miniature universe. You find your place in that setting and when you graduate, you try to find that role in the real, much more complicated world. So pick subjects that interest you. When you do, it is surprising how easily good grades will follow. The easiest way to do well in school is to actually care about and be invested in what you are learning. Finding out what you like is the biggest hurdle in college, but it will happen.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Wendy Espinoza

St. Mary’s University

12/26/11

My journey with The Ivy League Connection Program began in the summer of 2007. I attended summer programs at Brown University as a high school Sophomore in 2007 and the following year I attended Cornell University. Although it is only my third year at St. Mary’s University in San Antonio, Texas I am currently a Senior.

I was originally expected to graduate in May 2013 but with college credit I earned from Cornell and my score of 5 on the AP Spanish exam I came into St. Mary’s with 15 hours of college credit and therefore I can graduate in Fall 2012. I never took any summer classes while in college but have consistently taken moderate loads of classes which also led me to finish my undergraduate degree faster.

I am thoroughly enjoying my time at St. Mary’s University. I am the society events chair for the National Society of Leadership and Success chapter at my school. I am a member of Phi Eta Sigma Honor Society for my high GPA and have been continually on the Dean’s List. I am a sister in the Alpha Phi Sorority, of which there are many chapters in California≠including UC Berkeley and UC Davis.

This year I learned the accurate use of time management. I was able to study, work out, attend sorority events, work at school, have fun and go to bed around 10 PM every night. I am a strong believer in the need for sleep. I absolutely do not advise all-nighters to anyone. Some view all-nighters as a college expectation but honestly not everyone does them. Once you hone down on using your time wisely, all-nighters will only be a thing of leisure to have fun nights out.

Many studies have shown strong correlations between the amount of sleep a person gets and their in-class performance. These studies have shown a positive relationship between sleep and performance. That is to say, the more sleep a student gets the better the class performance and the less sleep a person gets, class performance decreases.

Once I graduate in December 2012 I will apply to Graduate school in Texas and possibly in California to earn a Masters in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. I originally wanted a Ph.D but then discovered that in the field of work I am looking to have a career in, a Ph.D will only be needed if I decided to become a college professor one day and won’t significantly increase my pay.

Wendy Espinoza

Pinole Valley High School Class of 2009

St. Mary’s University Class of 2012

~~~~~~~~~~

From Yueming Wang

Cornell University

12/26/11

My name is Yueming Wang and I am a freshman at Cornell University’s College of Engineering and a proud graduate of Hercules High. Right now, I have the intention of going Pre-Med, majoring in Operations Research Engineering and minoring in Computer Science.

Before I begin writing about my experience from this past semester, I’d like to offer my congratulations to the ILC for winning the Golden Bell Award. The California School Boards Association couldn’t have given this award to a more deserving recipient.

My first semester at Cornell has been nothing but exhilarating. Over the course of four short months, I’ve made many new friends, explored the city of Ithaca and its offerings, and gained quite a bit of knowledge about the subjects I took classes on and about myself. I’ve joined many student organizations ranging from Chinese Student Association and the Cornell Daily Sun (Cornell’s biggest student-run newspaper) to ballroom dancing and Rotaract (part of Rotary International’s college chapter). There were, of course, also some low points — experiencing for the first time the pressure and stress of midterms and finals, getting sick and not having my parents take care of me, etc. However, all in all, I don’t think I could have had a better first semester!

I decided to take four core courses in addition to two supplemental courses and a dance course for my graduation requirement, totaling 19 credit units. Although a lot of my friends from high school thought that I was insane for taking such a heavy load, I assure you all that it is perfectly manageable. By that, I do not mean to understate the rigorousness of the academics. College is definitely in a different league than high school, but even with the added rigor and pressure, I thoroughly enjoyed the classes I took at Cornell more than those from high school. One of the main reasons why I feel this way is due to the academic environment. At Cornell, I can comfortably say that everyone — even the varsity athletes, “party animals”, and everyone that appears to us as not the studious type — genuinely enjoys learning. Similarly, the professors are there because they are passionate about certain subjects and are eager to share that passion with students. When you find yourself in that kind atmosphere (which is by no means unique to Cornell), it takes an active effort to not enjoy learning.

As much as I have enjoyed even the toughest classes, it took a lot of hard work to keep up with the fast-paced curricula. One of the hard truths about college is that no one will “baby” you. However, it is equally true that there are many portals where you can find help, just as long as you take the initiative to find them. For me, the portals were group studying and office hours. I completely understand why some students are intimidated and decide not to go to office hours even when they need help, mostly because I felt that way myself. In the first few weeks of school, I observed and listened to my peers and thought that I might actually be the “dumbest” person in my classes. Even when I didn’t understand the concepts in lectures, I convinced myself that I would only embarrass myself if I went to my professors’ office hours. The solution that came to mind was to form study groups. After pooling my friends together, I realized that I did understand some concepts better than they did and vice versa. Thus, we all benefitted by studying together.

Having done quite well on my first wave of prelims (midterms), I finally mustered the courage to attend a few office hours. I realized then that I had nothing to be afraid about in the first place, and that the only “dumb” students are the ones who don’t understand the concepts and refuse to seek help. Most times, professors do not have many, if any, students at office hours and are actually thrilled to have visitors! Not only do you clear up some misunderstanding about the concepts you’re learning, but you also establish a much more personal relationship with your professors. This is especially true of my relationship with my Operations Research professor; because I went to some of his office hours, he now knows me by name and has offered to help me find undergraduate research that I can start on as early as next semester.

There is still so much about college that I would like to say but I do realize that this is running a lot longer than I had intended. Therefore I will summarize into bullet points some things I think is helpful:

Don’t freak out if you don’t know exactly what you want to be doing for the rest of your life. You’ll have plenty of time to figure it out!! It is perfectly acceptable to be undeclared!
If you’re having a hard time deciding which college you want to attend, take a breath and honestly ask yourself which college would allow you to be happier. It’s okay to not know the answer and to feel stressed because it is a big decision. Talk to other people, especially your family, but make sure you make what you think is the best decision for you! As long as you’ve thought about your options, you will not be making a bad decision!
Time management is very important. You can’t emphasize this enough. From what I observe, academic success and the amount of fun you have are directly related to how you manage your waking hours. Although there’s no right way to manage your time, experiment with different ways and hopefully you’ll find something that works for you!
Do not be afraid to go to a school that is far away from home, especially if you consider yourself fairly independent. Honestly, my schoolwork and other activities kept me so busy that I didn’t have any time to even miss being home. Also, I met many people from California (even from the East Bay) who are away from home for the first time, so you don’t ever have to feel like you’re the only one going through such a big change. It is also very amusing and refreshing to be around people from out-of-state and out of the country! And which teenager honestly doesn’t want more freedom? ;)
Take advantage of your AP classes and really try to do your best! Taking AP credit can help you in many ways — have a less rigorous schedule, increase your probability of studying abroad without taking a load of summer classes or adding an extra year or semester, etc. It’s also really great to have a good foundation for later classes and even for introductory classes if you decide not to take credit for it.
Be open-minded about classes, people, student organizations, etc. There are plenty of surprises out there for everyone!

Although I did not really write much about Cornell specifically, I would be more than happy to communicate with anyone who has special interests in Cornell University, being an engineering major, or going to an out-of-state college. To ensure that I reply in a timely fashion, please email me at yw386@cornell.edu.

I want to leave everyone with one parting thought: The past four months have been, hands-down, the fastest four months! And while many of my friends were joyously celebrating the end of semester one, I found that I could only join them half-heartedly. Somewhere mixed in with the relief that finals ended lingered the thought that one-eighth of my college experience is already over — an idea that genuinely scares me because I don’t think four years at Cornell will be enough for me. This is perhaps the best way for me to succinctly express my love for my school.

Go Big Red! Happy holidays everyone and I wish all seniors the best of luck in the college admission process!

Best,

Yueming Wang

Cornell University

College of Engineering, Class of 2015

yw386@corell.edu

~~~~~~~~~~

From Andrew Woo

UC Berkeley

12/19/11

I’d like to congratulate the ILC on earning the Golden Bell Award from the California School Boards Association, which is reflective of the profound impact Mr. Ramsey, contributing members including sponsors, and its prospective college students have had on exemplifying the drive to enrich the college experience for us students in the public education system. Being one of the members of the 2009 ILC Cornell Group, I am proud to acknowledge that the experience has benefitted me here at UC Berkeley greatly in terms of broadening my views. So far the journey at UC Berkeley is certainly too broad to be necessarily categorized and captured in three paragraphs, but then I did so accordingly into these three groups: academics, political activism, and the Cal Marching Band.

After completing my first semester at UC Berkeley, I felt this inexpressible, liberating feeling unparalleled to anything before, a moment in which as Kant puts it my “nonage” or inability to understand was replaced with this boldness to learn more and further enlighten myself. I am more ambitious than ever to learn and grapple as many other UC Berkeley students do with the issues we face. With a semester down, I’ve completed four courses which were comparative politics, economics, European history, and social welfare which ultimately all tied together to help understand what’s been happening both domestically and abroad, and to analyze them to a depth unfathomable to me before. In the following spring, I am enrolled in more related courses in addition to Former Secretary of Labor Robert Reich’s popular course Wealth and Poverty, which surveys the public issues that has grown to the shocking magnitude of social unrest seen across America, and even on the steps of our Sproul Plaza.

One of the things Berkeley has truly embodied that I love and support is Berkeley’s political activism, and the need for us to be the agents for progressive change, whether it be contending public policies such as SB 185 with the UC Republican’s Diversity Bake Sale to publicly rejecting “81% Fee Hikes” with Occupy Cal (Cal’s Day of Action). These social movements and the public outcries are created by the very students I see and pass by everyday, not the politicians from Sacramento or professionals who do this for a living. The students here carefully observe the current events around us and translate the very divisive issues into forums for public discourse, which materialize in the small discussion sections to the halls all over campus.

With the fee hikes, UC Berkeley’s students launched themselves onto national news, even luring in the political pundits such as Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart, while collectively fighting for what students vied for as affordable education, social equality, and a reformed society. When thousands of students at Sproul Plaza listened to Professor Robert Reich during Occupy Cal (Cal’s Day of Action), I realized that this mission of UC Berkeley is truly what it stands for, and that indeed the words of Mario Savio as Professor Reich referenced to has certainly continued to live on here.

[R. Reich@Occupy Cal]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HF6mznFrJI&feature=related

Lastly, the best experience thus far has been the Cal Marching Band. As a trumpet player among a band of 250 strong, we, as bandsmen, take pride that we represent the university, and accept the motto that whenever we take the field—highstepping through the rugged mud or frigid rain—we always represent who we are and what this institution is. I am proud after every game to watch our performances and know that the band is one of the best in the West. Over the break, we’re heading down to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl in a great opportunity to represent the school against the Texas Longhorns, so the band, as well as the football team, has exceeded my expectations.

[Teen Angst Show@AT&T]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyLlsn5U3EA

So I hope that wherever the current students in the ILC program decide to go, make it your new home and embrace all the opportunities it offers. In choosing UC Berkeley, I have certainly through only one semester found my second home not far from the first, and look forward to the next several semesters working here in the Bay Area in the years to come.

Once again, thank you to Mr. Ramsey and the ILC Program for giving me the opportunity as well as to many others, and hope to hear more success from the program in the coming years.

GO BEARS!

~~~~~~~~~~

From Carla Ramirez

Denison University

12/26/11

My name is Carla Ramirez, and I graduated from Richmond High School in 2010. I am a Biology major and a sophomore at Denison University.

Congratulations on the award, I couldn't think of another program more deserving of the award.

I just finished my first semester as a sophomore at Denison University, and I can honestly say that it has been one of the toughest yet. I definitely took classes that were too difficult for me to handle all at once. Even with the opportunities that Denison had to offer it was very difficult. Overall I am still happy with my choice to go to Denison, I have never been academically challenged like this before and to juggle Calculus, Chemistry, and Biology along with a job on campus was too much to handle for me. It has been a tough lesson but I think its something everyone learns one way or another. Like my sister Adriana wrote, sometimes we think that we can do things but when it comes to it, things don't always go as we expected.

Balancing out your schedule between hard and easier classes along with time management is something that I still have yet to master but I hope to improve in this upcoming semester. Apart from the hardships I had this semester, I love all the opportunities that have been given to me at Denison. Opportunities like working as a TA for Biology 150, which I doubt I would have gotten at a larger university and hopefully I get the opportunity to do research this summer with the Biology Department at Denison University.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Stephanie Chan

UC Davis

12/25/11

First off, I want to congratulate the ILC for earning the Golden Bell Award from the California School Boards Association. The countless hours and great amount of dedication that has been put in from everyone is recognized and greatly appreciated. I know that the ILC will only continue to flourish as the years go by and am thankful for my very own experience through the International Financial Marketing and Investments course during my Brown 2010 opportunity.

Business and Economics has always interested me. Although I am currently undeclared at UC Davis as a freshman, I do have plans to declare Managerial Economics as my major (and possibly minor in Psychology). It seems as if yesterday I was applying to colleges. It's amazing to say that I have already completed my first quarter at UCD. Despite budget cuts, I can say that my experience thus far has been a rewarding one. This quarter, I didn't choose to jump right into major courses. Instead, I chose to explore around and balance two pre-requisites with two GEs. One of the GE's I took was a course called Introduction to Winemaking. Already, the title sounds very interesting and indeed it was. I learned about the fermentation process for different types of wine at various geographic locations, how to determine what type of wine it is based on the label, and the types of fungus that grow on grapes. Ever since then, I have been curious to read wine labels on bottles sitting in my kitchen. With that said, balancing your classes with a few core classes and at least one class that you are personally interested in is not a bad idea. You don't want to overwhelm yourself with strictly calculating numbers or strictly writing pages and pages of essays. Key thing is to find your balance, especially during your first year when you are still learning about your new environment and available resources.

As an active volunteer throughout high school, I immediately explored various volunteer clubs during Welcome Week. I'm part of Circle K, a volunteer and service club that sets up holiday parties for children, serves at food banks, and much more. I'm also part of Na Keiki 'O Hawai'i (Hawaii Club), a club that promotes the Hawaiian culture and weekly lessons on Hula and Tahitian dancing. It's a very fun and active way to de-stress throughout the week from homework and studying. In addition, I have been applying to on-campus jobs, but have not been hired yet. However, I am still on the lookout for more job offerings and internships. Nonetheless, I believe that one should focus on their studies before adding more to their plate. If anyone has questions about UCD or any general questions, feel free to shoot me an email! Once again, congratulations to the ILC.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Stacy Chan

UC Berkeley

12/25/11

It is certainly rewarding to be part of a team that has taken giant leaps since its inauguration. The program is continuously thriving and I can see a bright future for our local youth who now have the academic edge with the launch of ILC.

I am now a second-year at Cal. Thus far, I find it incredibly fulfilling to meet people who bring different expertise to the table. To say that I am constantly amazed by the skill sets people possess is quite an understatement. Everyone's journey is individual. Needless to say, many students who attend Cal are undoubtedly talented and accomplished. With headlining news of the Occupy Cal movements and the "Diversity Bake Sale," I am amazed by the amount of activism in the air. This goes to show that while education is of great importance, it is equally imperative to transfer that passion and energy to a club, an organization, or in this case, a movement that has garnered national and global media attention. While its success is debatable, there is no denying that there are many students and professors alike who are strong-willed and passionate enough to make some kind of demonstration.

Similarly to many second-year students, I am now delving into courses that are more honed towards my major. The classes are more inclusive than general, lecture hall courses per se. Still, I find the value of tapping into other classes that are outside of my study. Fulfilling my last breadth, I took a global poverty class last semester with a distinguished professor, and one of the guest speakers was Robert Reich. Seeing Reich double as a key member of the recent Occupy Cal movements gives him legitimacy and credibility. I'd say this is one of the examples that provides diversity in my learning experience.

To keep this email succinct, my advice to college newcomers is to have the willingness to learn and meet other people and take classes that are outside of your study. Time at college is what you make of it. As trite as

this idea is, it holds a great deal of truth.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Irene Rojas-Carroll

Brown University

12/25/11

Congratulations to you all for earning the Golden Bell Award! You are doing great work. Thank you for introducing me to Brown through the Women & Leadership course (summer 2010); it’s amazing to me that I’ve just finished my first semester here. I apologize for the length of my email (I got excited!). For those of you pressed for time, I’ve starred the most important paragraphs.

Even though I’m excited to see friends and family this winter break, I also can’t wait to get back to Providence. I feel at home there, as much as one can feel at home in their first semester of college, especially because of activities like music and a pre-orientation program that gave me a core group of people to get to know. I had times when I was homesick or stressed because of bad planning, but overall, it’s been great. Brown students are serious about their studies but not so intense that they don't find time to chill and do things just for fun, which I like. Having so many smart and passionate people in one place means lots of friendship and organizing potential.

I also like being in Rhode Island as an activist because I think making change is more doable due to the smallness of the state (it's actually possible to make a personal appointment with a legislator, etc., things that would be a lot more difficult in a large state like California). Being in Providence (the capital of RI) means that we can actually walk to the State House and deliver petitions or legislative report cards (which one of the Queer Alliance subgroups is working on).

Among the groups I’m involved in are the Queer Alliance (QA) and several of its subgroups, BOMBS (Brown Organization for Multiracial and Biracial Students), Yarmulkazi (klezmer band), and the Brown Band.

’ve been able to jump right in and challenge myself with new activities and leadership. My role as BOMBS Advocacy Chair is new to me because I haven’t done a lot of activist work focused on race; as Advocacy Chair and Community Committee leader for the QA I need to have confidence in my facilitation abilities and take into account many diverse opinions; I’m trying to get a figure skating club officially approved, which requires patient negotiation with Athletics and the club approval system; and, even with klezmer, I’m experimenting with new styles of playing music. I’ve had dinner with Mara Keisling (the director of the National Center for Transgender Equality) and I’ve led a workshop with around 50 students in attendance. When I finished that workshop, I felt like I had really arrived at Brown: I could be a leader among leaders and hold my own with all these brilliant and articulate people. It was immensely rewarding.

**Some other ILC alumni have advised you all not to join too many clubs – I say it can be done, as long as you’re disciplined and know your priorities. I made sure I always had enough time to do the academic work I needed to do: for example, I skipped going to football games with the band if I hadn’t finished most of my reading for the week. As the semester progressed, I dropped some of my activities (like breakdancing and Zumba, which I was trying for a while) because I realized that it would take me longer to read articles and write papers than I originally thought.

**Although I’ve mostly felt prepared for the academic side of life at Brown, I do feel like my writing and discussion skills could be much stronger to keep up with this level of work. They’ve improved a lot already, but next semester I want to take even better advantage of the support available to me through Writing Center tutors and class-specific Writing Fellows. My RCs, my advisor (linked with my potential concentration and my pre-orientation program), and my peer advisor (Meiklejohn) have been awesome. I think I was secretly yearning for the plenty-of-support-if-you-ever-need-it idea, coming from a system where that was harder to seek out.

**I especially enjoyed having the freedom to choose my own classes (Punishment and Inequality in America [econ dept.], Brown vs. Board of Education, Tales of Vampirism and the Uncanny, a Latin American lit course in Spanish, and chamber music) and especially enjoyed BvBoE; it was a first-year seminar with 10 other students and the perfect introduction to my tentative concentration of Education History/Policy (I might also double-concentrate with Gender and Sexuality Studies, Urban Studies, or PoliSci). Just recently, the professor offered me a summer research position on urban/suburban school inequalities that I’ll probably take because it’s a wonderful opportunity and a subject that I’m passionate about. In fact, one of the most important things I’ve learned this semester is to plan in a more long-term way and take advantage of tangible opportunities and resources to make those plans reality.

Looking ahead, I’ll be returning to Providence a week early for a peer-led winter break project with the community service center where my optional pre-orientation program was also based. My group will be learning about youth-driven Providence education reform initiatives. Next semester’s classes aren’t totally cemented but as of now I’m taking HIV/AIDS: Politics and Culture, Intro to Gender and Sexuality Studies, Intro to Political Thought, a 21st century Latin American lit class, and a class on Asian American urban spaces. I’m trying to switch 2 of them to 1) Campaigns and Elections which is only offered every 4 years with the election cycle and 2) The History of American School Reform, which is one of the best classes in the education department. I didn’t take a work-study job this past semester partly because I didn’t want to overwhelm myself, and now that I’m more familiar with the rhythm of college life and know how much to get involved with clubs, I’m going to try and find a job or internship for the spring semester.

Happy holidays and good luck to seniors with college applications! Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions about Brown, college, or anything else (really!!)!

Irene Rojas-Carroll

Brown University 2015

Irene Rojas-Carroll Brown University 2015

(510) 439-6648

rojascarroll@gmail.com

irene_rojas-carroll@brown.edu

Just added: I also forgot to mention in my message that one of the ILC's most important accomplishments is the establishment of a continuous stream of admittances to Ivy League universities like Brown: I was able to reach out to WCCUSD graduates in every class year (Lupe 2015, Cynthia 2014, Kiana 2013, Elizabeth 2012, Donna Chung 2012, and even a fifth-year - Jonathan Yanagawa-Kuo). We even had a potluck where we shared advice on classes, concentrations, time management, and life away from the Bay Area. Having WCCUSD alumni at Brown was infinitely helpful in making me feel comfortable during my first semester.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Stephanie Ny

Northwestern University

12/24/11

Hello ILC students!

I have written to you all in the past, but for those who do not know me, my name is Stephanie Ny. I’m currently a sophomore at Northwestern University. My college experience hasn’t changed much since I last wrote, other than the fact that I am now balancing a work-study job with school.

After several job rejections and already-taken work-study positions last year, I finally received a work-study job at the school library in September. Since I spent most of my freshman year in the library focusing solely on my grades, I had the opportunity to manage my time more effectively. This definitely came in handy when I was hired at the library, as I was easily able to create a study schedule around my work schedule. The tip I have for all of you, which has already been mentioned by other students and which I learned over time, is this: do not overwhelm yourself. Don’t expect to join a sorority/fraternity, receive impeccable grades, get a job, and participate in countless extracurricular activities all at once. While all of you are perfectly capable of achieving all of these, you should ease into them, one at a time. It’s definitely the healthier path towards an amazing college experience.

Aside from now being employed, there isn’t much else that has been going on in college. I’m still fulfilling all of my distribution requirements and still have not decided on a major, although I have very, very, very few possible majors in mind. I have two more quarters before I have to decide, so hopefully I’ll be able to narrow it down by then.

Also, as many have already said, congratulations on the Golden Bell Award! I’m quite pleased and unsurprised that the Ivy League Connection won this, given the countless opportunities it has provided and continues to provide to alumni and high school students. I’m beyond grateful for how much this organization has changed my life, and I hope it continues to change the lives of others.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Adriana Ramirez

UCLA

12/24/11

Hello fellow ILC students,

My name is Adriana Ramirez, and I graduated from Richmond High School in 2009. I am now currently a junior at UCLA studying psychology and political science.

am very thankful for all the opportunities that the Ivy League Connection has provided for me and many more students, and thus the program is very deserving of the award.

I just finished my 7th quarter at UCLA and I can give some pieces of advice I didn't get from other people but had to learn on my own. College is VERY different than High School, looking back at my High School years I can say that not much effort had to be put into my work to get good grades, and now in college I feel like I have to give more effort than ever. Reading hundreds of pages a week, and keeping up with papers, homework, work and social life is very difficult. There are many decisions to be made and in College no one is there to tell you what decisions are best and which aren't, you're on your own.

his past quarter was one of my hardest quarters, I decided to take more work than I could handle. I work part-time at school, 20 hours a week, I am part of a student organization, did community service, and took 3 of the most difficult classes in both of my majors. I ended up having to drop a class to focus on my other two classes, had a family emergency the day before my midterms and ended up failing both of my midterms. I cried a lot after seeing I was failing but what got me through was knowing that I have worked so hard all my life to be where I am, I couldn't give up so easily, and I hope that none of you are ever in this type of situation, but if you are, you should know that it's okay to not be perfect but rising from your failures is what matters the most. I had to work ten times harder than ever to raise those F's... and I did it. I passed my two classes and I am still maintaining above a 3.0 GPA.

In high school I was a 4.3 GPA student and it was heart aching to see myself failing, but you know things happen and we have to pull through. So my piece of advice for anyone who is college bound is, take a work load that works for you, do not over work yourself. We tend to believe we can do everything but we are human and we make mistakes, but what counts is what you do to rise from your falls.

This quarter what I've learned the most is to grow up, and suck it up if I am ever in an unpleasant predicament. College is not just about studying but also about growing up, no one will be there to baby you, cook for you, take care of you, you have to do this on your own and keep up with your responsibilities.. and that's something I thought I had already learned but I really experienced it this past quarter. I am glad that ILC gives students a taste of the college lifestyle in its summer programs, because it does get your ready for what living far away from home and taking care of yourself is like, If I had not experienced that early on I don't think I would have succeeded this past quarter.

Final advice: Keep your head up when the going is tough, and don't ever give up, things do work out.

P.S. sorry that my response is more of a depressing one but I feel like it's a side of college that I feel is important to share... It's not always perfect but it's also not terrible, its a process of learning not just academic but also personal learning.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Jessica Ong

UC Berkeley

12/23/11

Congratulations on the Golden Bell Award — the ILC definitely deserved it!

I am amazed that my third semester at Cal is already over. In fact, it hadn't hit me until recently that I am now a sophomore in COLLEGE; it really goes to show you how time flies...

Overall, this semester was quite a change for me. For one, I am no longer living on campus at Clark Kerr. I, like Julie and Jessica Tran, now commute from home. Most of the time, I take the BART which is much faster than taking AC Transit and probably cheaper than driving and paying for parking/gas. Indeed, living at home has had its benefits, especially financially; nonetheless, it definitely takes much more time for me to get to and from campus which can be a hassle.

As I mentioned previously, I am going to be a Molecular and Cellular Biology major. Though a lot of students under this major are pre-med, I am aiming to be a researcher and will probably look into going to graduate school. With this in mind, over this past summer, I found myself a research position in the He Lab at UC Berkeley. Luckily, I was able to continue working for them throughout this past semester and will hopefully stay until I graduate. The lab focuses on the functions of microRNAs and their role in tumorigenesis so a lot of the research is cancer and immunology based. I have learned a lot of different techniques from my peers and the graduate students/post-docs in the lab and aim to start my own project soon. I spend more than 15 hours a week in lab so balancing school and lab work has been quite tough for me this semester; but I am sure everything I am doing is worth the effort.

For those who are interested in doing research, I recommend that you not only look into the research programs offered on your campus (like the Undergraduate Research Apprentice Program at UC Berkeley) but also get to know some of the science professors who might be able to recommend you to some labs! (That's how I got into the He Lab).

I am hoping that this upcoming semester will be easier now that I know how to manage my time better with commuting, taking classes, and going into lab. It has been one crazy semester but it has been a blast. I cannot wait for more to come.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Christopher Habash

UC Berkeley

12/23/11

First of all congratulations for the ILC program for being awarded the Golden Bell Award and for continuing to broaden high school students’ college perspectives. I remember getting emails just a while ago from former ILC alumni and I am happy to do the same and share my experiences so far this semester!

Before I get into details I’d like to take a moment to just congratulate all the current ILC participants for finishing their first semesters in high school and if you’re a senior, for finishing (hopefully?) college applications, because I know what a stressful process that was. Writing all those essays and getting all the information for the applications while balancing homework is awful. But just take a breather and don’t stress out when answers come in a few months. Still being in high school, I know this email is not as relevant right now and that you just want to know what schools you’re going to get into first. So I think the most helpful thing for me to do is talk about the differences between high school and college and also to specifically give you examples from my semester so you’ll get an idea of what college is like.

My name is Chris Habash and I attended the Hotel Operations and Management course in Cornell University over the summer of 2010, and I am a Hercules High School alumnus (that feels so cool to say …) I just finished my first semester at UC Berkeley and all the intense and enjoyable moments that came with it. After my last final on Dec. 15 at 9 pm (yep, you’ll get used to weird schedules) I felt like a ton of pressure was lifted from my shoulders and I was ready to go home and celebrate the holidays. Granted, I live 25 minutes away from home, so it was definitely not the first time in the semester I saw my family.

Dorming - Just first off, I’m sad/happy to say that Cornell probably gave me my only opportunity to dorm, unless dorming prices go way down in Cal. I am currently renting an apartment for the entire year off campus because it ends up being much more financially pleasing than dorming. Unfortunately, this had major drawbacks and some advantages too. In Cornell I met and interacted with dozens of students and made friends every day on the floor and in the building. My apartment in Berkeley means that I see practically no one unless I go to the dorming units or on campus, which is about a 15-20 minute walk from my apartment. Additionally, it means I get no cafeteria privileges/meal points :( On a good note though, I have a bathroom, kitchen and a living room to share with 3 people. You can guess how annoying a roommate can be to deal with everyday, but I guess you just learn to accept them and their behavior. I highly suggest dorming your first year in college because it was such an awesome experience in Cornell and I am really thankful for that.

Classes and grades – The structure of the classes makes it extremely intimidating, because it constantly seems like there are few chances to get a good grade when every class is strictly divided (in general) with a final that’s worth 30-40% of your grade, two midterms that are 20%, 10% quizzes and so on, whereas in high school you feel like you have a million chances to get an A, especially with extra credit. But not to worry. Definitely be prepared to not do as well as you expect to do, because college exams are very different from those in high school and will take time adjusting to. To give an example, my molecular cell biology class had two midterms and one final, with the midterms being 20% of my overall grade. I completely stressed out for the first midterm and studied for it nonstop for a whole week, probably making 30 note cards. So when I discovered I got a C- I went into panic, thought I blew it and that there was no way for me to get an A in the class. The kind of effort I put into studying would most likely have gotten me an A in high school, but I was not used to the test format. But you know what? All you can do is just keep working harder and get accustomed to the class structure. I was proud to get a high B on the second midterm and even more so to discover I got an A- in the class. No doubt a curve in the class helped, so definitely don’t give up from the start. There’s really no other way around it. People here in college keep wondering what kind of score they have to get to do well in the class and some even switch the class to Pass/No Pass (which I was tempted to do, but stuck it out). But I just kept studying even more and going to the review sessions and even to office hours to talk to the professor about what I could do to improve. This is the most important thing you can do to get a good grade.

Office Hours/Intimidation – I learned from the ILC program how important Office Hours are. They are probably the greatest advantage your professors can give you. Aside from learning not to beat myself up for not doing my best, I realized how crucial office hours can be. My English professor was the most intimidating teacher I have ever met. She went to Columbia University after high school, then to Oxford for graduate school and was now teaching in Cal. For me, it seemed like she requested so many different things that it seemed impossible to please her. Consequently, I was literally intimidated into writing “bad” essays and got Bs on both my first two essays. I forced myself to go to office hours for them, without anything to show my professor. This resulted in an awkward conversation in which I didn’t have much to say because I didn’t have anything prepared. I realized I just needed to calm down, go back to my normal writing methods and listen to the many comments she left on my essays. I came in to office hours with a draft of what I wanted to write for the final essay and left feeling so accomplished that I finally had a direction for the essay and wouldn’t spend countless hours figuring out how to go about it. All I needed to do was engage with the teacher, because in class it can be intimidating with so many students. I was surprised to get an A on the final essay but happy I stopped being intimidated and had a productive time at office hours. We even started at some point to talk about horror movies, probably because the focus of the class was ghosts in literature.

Time Management – What can I say? Everyone is right about managing your time. You come to learn that everything is on you to do. You have to wake yourself up in the mornings and make sure to leave enough time to get to class/office hours. Unfortunately, I overslept for some classes because I didn’t have someone to force me to wake up. I had a lot of gaps in my schedule, which meant like 3 hours from my 10 am class to my 1 pm class. This was nice, as it gave me some time to walk around campus and catch something to eat. But you learn that you have to make a mental schedule. If you want to go downtown with friends, you have to make sure to be back for your classes, which can be anytime from 8 am to 8 pm.

Extracurriculars – In addition to my three classes, I joined a journal on campus through an email my teacher sent me, which ended up being a cool thing. I looked into it, thought “what the heck,” and applied for a position on UC Berkeley’s Comparative Literature Undergraduate Journal. And while I’m at it, please check it out at (http://ucb-cluj.org/) haha! I have a blog on there, and it was hard but also fun to make. The cool thing is that I also got 2 units of credit for being an editor for the journal xD You might be tempted to try to join a million clubs/activities, especially with the club fairs they have in the beginning of the semester. While this is a great idea, I honestly don’t even recommend joining so many things your first semester. Definitely don’t overwhelm yourself right off the bat. Leave plenty of time to get comfortable in your classes first and establish yourself academically. Hey, you have 4 years to do stuff. I thought about this when I was freaking out about which classes I have to take my senior year for a major that I wasn’t even ready to declare and then realized I’ve only been here 3 months. Again, don’t be intimidated and scared about having to join this and that, because there’s plenty of time.

All in all, I came to Berkeley all the more confident because of my ILC experience. I had an idea of what a refined institution expects from its students and I also got credit for the Cornell class! I sincerely say that I wouldn’t trade my ILC experience for anything and that it was one of the most memorable summers of my life. The experience still applies now.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Julie Liang

UC Berkeley

12/23/11

Congratulations on the Golden Bell Award; it is definitely well deserved.

My third semester at UC Berkeley was definitely a busy one. I moved back home in order to save money, and now I commute by car every day to get to class. I also started working a part-time job on top of working for my parents one day a week. I switched my major to Chemistry from Chemical Engineering, and I joined a biofuel research group on campus. This entire semester has been a battle to efficiently manage my time.

Moving back home after spending a year in the dorms was a challenge. I added about 45 minutes to my commute every day, and I was cut off from most campus activities. But the experience helped me become more organized with my time; and surprisingly, I actually got more done than I did while living in the dorms, which just goes to show that living at home is not necessarily limiting my experience.

I took my first chemical engineering class this semester and I learned that chem eng is definitely not for me. Switching my major was a difficult decision because a chemical engineer is virtually guaranteed a job right out of college. Not having the same kind of job security was a worry I considered before switching to chemistry. But I realized that I would rather do something I loved than waste four years of my life and my future doing something I did not find exciting.

I remember mentioning in one of my previous e-mails that going to office hours for your professor is a very good idea. This actually paid off this semester because when I e-mailed my previous professor to ask about working in his lab, he remembered me from his class! I'm not sure I would've gotten the position if I had not gone to his office hours. I look forward to next semester and will definitely share my experiences working for a research lab.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Cynthia Fong

Brown University

12/23/11

Congratulations on the Golden Bell Award, I'm glad to see that the Ivy League Connection is flourishing.

My third semester has been amazing. Freshmen year, I was still adjusting and getting use to the environment, the teachers, the way that they expected us to learn, etc. But this semester, I felt like I had the opportunity to really experience and explore the environment.

The extracurricular activity that I learned the most from was my position in Health Leads, an organization that puts volunteers in hospitals to connect clients to resources. It taught me many lessons about our health care system, the flaws, people skills, and the social determinants of health. It also taught me about time management. Some weeks, we spent as much as 10 hours on this job working with clients, which is tough to juggle with school work and other extracurriculars.

At the same time, I feel like I've accepted that A's on my transcript will not be the most important part of my college experience. I have not decided what my major will be (though I'm leaning towards the Human Biology or Community Health direction) but there are so many other things to enjoy and experience at Brown. I'm still trying my best to get good grades but I've learned about opportunity costs.

If any students have any questions about Brown, feel free to send them my way!

~~~~~~~~~~

From Megan Robb

Denison University

12/22/11

Congratulations on the Golden Bell Award. My first semester of college was amazing. I loved all of my classes and my professors were amazing. I learned so much in so little time. It took me a week or two to adjust academically, but I adjusted quickly. I learned that college takes a lot more studying than high school and that there is no such thing as a day off. Despite a minor bump at the very beginning, I have had a great semester.

Living away from home has had its good and bad points. I have become more independent and have grown as a person because I was on my own. I did not miss home except for the fall break and Thanksgiving break.

Student life at Denison was quite different than what I am used to. I was surrounded by students with different political opinions, religious beliefs, and academic backgrounds. Everyone was very willing to share their thoughts about politics and religion, which is traditionally not talked about. It was interesting to hear people’s thoughts on a variety of issues. Although Denison is very different from home, I feel as though the differences have allowed me to grow as a person and I am grateful for that.

If it were not for the Ivy League Connection I would have never thought of going out of state for college. Thank you again for this and I am very happy that the California School Board Association has recognized the importance of this program.

Go Big Red!

~~~~~~~~~~

From Beulah Agbabiaka

Columbia University

12/21/11

Congratulations on being awarded the Golden Bell Award! You all truly deserve it for the fantastic work you do in our community. I have officially just completed my first semester at Columbia University and I am beyond excited and relieved. It has been very difficult at times, but that makes my victory all the sweeter. Being at school 3000 miles from home (or 2901.34 miles via I-80 East according to mapquest.com) is definitely a roller coaster—enough of a roller coaster to make one want to figure out that it would take them about 43 hours driving non-stop to get them home—but it's completely worth it. Being in New York makes me feel like I'm at the center of the world and there is always something amazing going on. I've seen a board member on the Federal Reserve give a lecture about our current economic state, I've seen jazz greats Jimmy Heath and Bobby Sanabria give lectures for the Jazz Studies Department, I've been to the Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Natural History as well as to every borough in the city besides Staten Island, I've been to the Jazz Standard twice (a famous jazz club) and I learn so much in class every single day.

Being a Political Science and Jazz Studies Major is amazing at Columbia University. There are so many opportunities! In the Poli-Sci Department there are guest lectures from world leaders all the time, the Political Science Student Association hosts "Pizza with Professors" so there are small get-togethers (capped at 15 people) with professors to talk politics outside of class, and some of the great minds in politics teach our courses. In the Jazz Studies Department, we have world renowned faculty, private instruction in our instrument, we're placed in performing ensembles, and there are opportunities to "gig" in the city once you are advanced enough. I literally feel myself getting smarter every day and I know that the opportunities afforded me at an Ivy League university in a major city are contributing to that. Unlike my classmates from Middle College High School, my AA degree in Math and Science and my Certificate of California in Forensic Criminalistics don't do anything here in terms of helping me finish faster, but I took that into account when I applied and I think I made the right choice despite that fact. My advisers (one is my general adviser and one is specifically for jazz studies) have been really helpful in making sure I understand what I need to graduate in four years with everything I want to do and still study abroad. It's going to take a lot of hard work, but my education at MCHS and my summer study here in the 2010 Presidential Powers course help me feel sure that I can handle it.

While Columbia College and the engineering school of Columbia University are much smaller than the UCs, finding a niche is extremely important to maintain sanity while here. It was definitely a struggle for me at first, but extra curricular activities really helped me find my place. I volunteer for the Double Discovery Center tutoring program for high school students in Harlem and Washington Heights, I'm on the Multicultural Recruitment Committee and the Undergraduate Recruitment Committee (so if you ever come to Columbia for a tour I might be your guide!), and I'm in the Black Student Organization and I'm on the planning committee for Black History Month at Columbia. I try to participate in anything fun on campus like playing the bass for this years Christmas musical and a really great extra curricular poetry class offered by the MFA program in Creative Writing. For me, fun things include student activism and while I didn't get to participate in Occupy Wall Street or Occupy Columbia this semester, I plan on getting involved next semester and being part of the change I want to see (while maintaining my good grades of course).

This semester I focused on music for all of my classes outside of the Core Curriculum and PE and my schedule was University Writing, Iyengar Yoga, Literature Humanities, Jazz History, Music Fundamentals, Ear Training I, Jazz Bass Instruction, Jazz Ensemble, and Poetry Writing Through Radical Revision. I never expected to be graded on my private bass lessons in college, but it was definitely great motivation to practice regularly! My schedule was difficult, but I'm glad I chose to focus on music this semester to get my feet wet in the department as well as study subject matter I was familiar with to boost morale when it started getting really hard around midterms. Next semester my schedule will be a bit more difficult since I'm adding Political Science to the mix, and I won't have an easy PE class to fill up space. I'll be taking Frontiers of Science, Literature Humanities, Race and Ethnicity in American Politics, Salsa Soca and Reggae-Music of the Caribbean, Diatonic Harmony and Counterpoint, Ear Training II, Jazz Bass Instruction, Jazz Ensemble, and hopefully another extracurricular writing class. Next semester will be extremely difficult, but I'm confident I'll do well—even if that means spending every weekend in the library!

While every school has flaws, I can't be enough of a cheerleader for Columbia or enough of an advocate for higher education in general. The opportunities I've been blessed to have here thanks to the support of my family and my ILC family help illustrate for me how important it is for all people to have access to these opportunities, and exactly what change I want to help affect in my future career in politics. Getting a taste of world class education this semester and seeing what I have and haven't been prepared for is helping show me what type of education policy we need in all places to make sure all students are ready for college, which is one of the areas of politics that I'm most passionate about.

I'm definitely rooting for some future lions from the WCCUSD!

Roar Lions Roar!!!

~~~~~~~~~~

From Julia Maniquiz

UC Berkeley

12/20/11

Hello Mr. Ramsey and fellow ILCers,

I just completed the first semester of my sophomore year at UC Berkeley. The previous e-mails I have written in regards to my college education still accurately reflect my current experience. Attending college is definitely an entirely different experience than high school; it is far more challenging, requires a much greater deal of effort and time, and is a much richer experience. The only thing that has changed between this year and last is that I am now balancing school with a job.

Over the summer, I was offered an internship at the Bar Association of San Francisco. As a pre-law student, I jumped at the opportunity. I was very fortunate, because my summertime internship was able to transition into a part-time job throughout the year. I think it is very important to give yourself time to adjust to the college environment. Do not be too hasty during your first year and try to do everything at once. You need to give yourself the opportunity to get used to all the new that comes with college.

After completing my first year at Cal, I felt as though I was ready and comfortable to take on more, aside from on-campus extracurriculars, which is why I pursued this internship and accepted the job offer. As you progress in your college career, naturally, your education becomes much more focused as you begin taking classes for your major. I am actually in the process of declaring a major and minor (or possibly a double major). For me, this semester was definitely more challenging than any previous semesters, but I believe that is a result of having completed all my breadth requirements and moving onto major requirements. College definitely gets more difficult as you progress, but you also get more and more comfortable with the environment, so it kind of balances out.

Although things are getting harder at Cal, I'm definitely enjoying myself way more now that I'm taking classes directed towards my major and my specific interests. College is a great time to explore and try and different things, as well as to find what it is you are truly passionate about. I wish you all the best of luck in your education and in your futures.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Michelle Saechao

UCLA

12/19/11

After finishing my first quarter at UCLA, the first word that comes to mind is relief. I'm so relieved that I've survived the most intense 10 weeks where I was incredibly busy getting lost on campus, reading hundreds of pages for my classes (procrastinating the readings a little too), making new friends and adjusting to being away from home. One thing that I'm sure just about everyone starting college would say is important is time management. To be a good student, and person in general, you have to be able to balance academics, clubs and other school affairs and your social life—and you need a social life to maintain your sanity.

Something I'm happy to have done this quarter is arrange an appointment with an academic counselor. Together we decided which classes would be best for me to take in the upcoming quarter, figure out which classes I've taken at Contra Costa College that qualify as a General Education—or GE—requirement, and discuss my potential major. As of now, I'm considering double majoring in International Development Studies and Economics. Because I attended Middle College High School, most of my GEs are already completed, so taking just three classes each quarter without counting summers, I can still graduate in four years. Without the direction and motivating words from my counselor, I don't think I would be as confident as I am to continue with my UCLA education.

Even though I go to a university where large classes with notable professors comes are common, I've been blessed to have very caring, humble professors who regularly invited students to office hours. Like Brandon said, it's possible to make a big school feel small, you just have to be assertive. And having family, friends, and community members, like those from the ILC, behind you is a big motivator.

No matter what the school, you can't expect to just automatically belong. You have to work at it by networking, persisting and being involved. However, UCLA is a pretty cool place to do those things.

GO BRUINS!

~~~~~~~~~~

From Jennifer Kuang

Stanford University

12/19/11

First off, I want to say Congratulations on the Golden Bell Award. As an alum of the program, I can say that it was certainly well deserved. Secondly, I am still in Asia and will be for the next couple of weeks. My laptop is hopelessly broken and I am only able to write to you via the free computer/Internet service in the Hong Kong subway station. I only have a limited time left, so I want you to know that I have received your email and I will write my response as soon as I get back to the U.S, I promise!

Thanks for keeping me in the loop, I appreciate it.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Elizabeth Gonzales

Brown University

12/18/11

Congratulations on the award. It is great to see all the hard work pay off. I am truly happy for the blessings that the program has been for many students. As an outgoing senior, the advice I am about to give will probably seem contradictory, however that is not my intention. I would rather focus on brainstorming ways in which students will feel well-supported at the schools once they decide to attend. I had a very rough fall and it is my hope that this will not occur to more students. You do not have to forward this, however I am hoping that this will serve a purpose.

I will never deny that I indeed received a phenomenal education at Brown University. I do not regret my decision, however it has been challenging beyond my imagination. The amount of pressure we students place on ourselves is not normal, especially when one comes from an educational background that may not be up to par with my fellow Brunonians. There are so many obstacles one encounters in the Ivy League and I have felt that the culture within the institution has had some detrimental effects on me. Of course, I feel stronger for getting over those obstacles, however my health has paid a heavy cost. While my self-esteem has greatly improved from the point where I was considering leaving Brown, it is in my hope that WCCUSD students do not repeat my mistakes and do no go through what I went through. I am not victimizing myself for I have been greatly blessed, however students must know that this is indeed a challenge and we must support them in the transition.

It is essential that students develop a strong safety net and learn how to maneuver through this schools. This is not to say that other universities are not as rigorous, however being thousands of miles away from home and away from the community for the first time is another experience in itself. I guess what I am proposing is perhaps setting up a counseling program for incoming and current WCCUSD students to help them transition into these schools. Many resources are provided by these schools, however just speaking on behalf of my experience, often I did not feel entitled to them. Something must change. This issue does not have to be addressed by the ILC, however one must have these conversations in the best interest of the students.

I would be happy to elaborate on anything that I have mentioned.

Thank you very much for your dedication. It has not gone unnoticed.

~~~~~~~~~~

From Brandon Amargo

UC Berkeley

12/19/11

First and foremost I’d like to congratulate the ILC for earning the Golden Bell Award from the California School Boards Association. I actually viewed the board meeting on television where Board President Ramsey made the announcement. What a proud moment for our school district!

I’ve just finished my first semester at UC Berkeley and all I can say is how grateful I am for experiencing the Yale Ivy Scholars Program (YISP). It has definitely prepared me for my courses at UC Berkeley. I’ve just completed a comparative politics course, quantitative analysis and methodology (Political Science) course, American History course and an internship with the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG). These classes are prereqs for my major in Political Science. Thanks to my education at Middle College High School I will be graduating with the class of 2013. Next semester I'm enrolled in a religious studies course on Hinduism, a public policy course taught by former labor secretary (Clinton) Dr. Robert Reich, a political science seminar in which local politicians speak and a political theory course. On top of these four courses, I was offered a job at the Vice Chancellor for Research Office at Cal and will be working there next semester as an administrative assistant.

I advise everyone in ILC to highly consider Cal when applying to universities. Despite budget cuts, it truly is an amazing place that provides an unbelievable amount of services and resources to its students. Remember, you can make a big school small, but you can't make a small school big. Here at Cal, every student finds their niche whether it be a club, organization or association. Another myth is about financial aid at Cal. We see in the news rising UC tuition, but just last week Chancellor Birgeneau announced that UC Berkeley will be the first public university to provide its middle class students a financial aid plan. Below is a press conference video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zawMGUjXGa0

This leads me to our Occupy Movement at Cal. UC Berkeley is obviously notorious for it’s student activism. On November 15th, Dr. Robert Reich came to speak to an astonishing 5,000 people at Sproul Plaza on the dramatic economic inequality that now exists in the United States. If your interested in student activism there is absolutely the place for you! Below is a video of the Occupy Cal movement that my friend actually created. He’s an intern for NBC Bay Area and sure knows how to work the camera.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-g8n8fRydk

Best of luck to the ILC.

Go Bears!

From the Richmond Confidential

2011-11-04T01:26:00.000-07:00

IVY LEAGUE CONNECTIONGIVES LOCAL YOUTH AN ACADEMIC EDGE

Julia Marshall

Richmond Confidential

November 2, 2011

Ivy Leagueschools are known worldwide for their prestige, academic rigor and exclusiveadmissions. The Ivy League Connection funds trips to IvyLeague summer enrichment programs to create that college-going academic culturein Richmond.

Last Thursday,the ILC hosted a private dinner with Elizabeth Hart, the director of minorityoutreach at BrownUniversity.

“If we’re goingto be a democracy we really need to give a voice to all segments of oursociety,” Hart said. “I really think education is the path for all communitiesto have a voice.”

Richmond High School sophomores, Brittany Ferguson, Naxhlleli Ramirez, Elizabeth Alonzo, Julie Le (front, from left to right) and Marco Hernandez (back left) pose with Richmond High School counselor JP De Oliveira at Ivy League Connection dinner.

The ILC wasfounded in 2006 by Board of Education members Charles Ramsey and MadelineKronenberg. The idea was to promote a “college-going culture” among students inthe district. The innovative approach allows teacher and counselors torecommend students for the highly selective program. Then the studentinterviews for a spot.

“This programstarted with six kids, now we have hundreds,” Board of Education PresidentCharles Ramsey said.

Studentswho are accepted into the ILC have their grades monitored, attend mandatorygroup meetings and have exclusive access to university admission staff likeHart.

“It’s reallybeneficial for Richmond High kids to have the opportunity to be in a programlike this because of the reputation of our school,” Richmond High sophomoreBrittany Ferguson said.

Brown University's Director of Minority Recruitment, Elizabeth Hart answers questions from Ivy League Connection students at a private dinner.

This year, 35students from the ILC spent the summer studying at Ivy League institutions.Each student is still responsible for applying to the summer course and must beindependently accepted by the university. The six that went to Columbiatook a course on constitutional law or presidential power but each schooloffers different courses.

ILC spends anaverage of $9,000 per student on course fees, flights, food and lodging. Thestudent only needs money for extra spending cash.

“Ninety percentis privately financed from labor unions, contractors, engineering firms,architects and private donations,” ILC administrator Don Gosney said. “Theother 10 percent is paid for by the district, but only covers sending districtemployees as chaperones.”

Attending summersessions gives students an extra experience to put in their collegeapplication. Meeting professors and getting a feel for a campus helps studentsunderstand if a school is really right for them.

All of thestudents in ILC are smart but before joining the ILC many of them had neverconsidered applying to schools outside of the University of California system.

“They [ILCadministrators] know how the applications work and have a lot of resources tohelp students,” said Richmond High sophomore Marco Hernandez.

They also helpparents understand Ivy League opportunities.

Before Irene Rojas-Carroll graduated from ElCerrito High and was accepted to Brown, her mother, Leah Carroll, found supportin the ILC.

“They hired thisprivate counselor, she usually works with rich kids but they got her to come inand talk to all the Ivy League Connection,” Leah Carroll said. “She had thisbinder that was laid out in a color coded, rational, chronological order, witha little touch of humor. She just really de-stressed the process.”

Each year theprogram gains momentum and more students are nominated.

“Theidea is not to send 30 kids a year to summer programs,” Board of Educationclerk Madeline Kronenberg said. “It’s to create a college-going culture.”

Ivy League Facts

The 8 Ivy League schools are Brown (RI),Columbia (NY), Cornell (NY), Dartmouth (NH), Harvard (MA), The University ofPennsylvania (PA), Princeton (NJ) and Yale (CT).
The term 'Ivy League' originally referredto the athletic conference, ironically none of them offer athleticscholarships.
The Ivies are among the nation's oldestschools. Cornell is the youngest and was founded in 1865.

Guadalupe Morales was part of the ILC. She graduatedfrom Richmond High last spring and started at Brown in the fall.
Click the link to see a video about her.

Yohanna Pepa ~ My First Year at Yale

2011-08-23T17:25:00.001-07:00

I am very eager to share my thoughts about freshman year at Yale. I myself found it useful to read these ILC student testimonials when I was a rising senior in high school and even more so when I was an anxious pre-frosh. Also, as cliché as it sounds, this past year has probably been the most exhilarating time of my life thus far, though I must warn that it was simultaneously the most exhausting. Allow me to explain.

I will address initial expectations and fears; the pros and cons of first semester classes, second semester classes, living in New England/dormitory life, extracurricular activities, social life, homesickness; and important things I have learned for next year and possibly for life.

Whether one admits it or not, every college pre-frosh is congested with expectations and fears for the four years ahead. I know I was. The only true medicine for this is to actually experience freshman year, but it does help to recognize and confront these presumptions and anxieties early on rather than being in denial over them when they do or do not happen. Some of my own major concerns included “Coming from WCCUSD, will I be able to keep up with academic pace of Yale and also feel at home socially?”, “Will I be able to live 3000 miles away from my family, friends, and hometown for months at a time?”, and most importantly, “Will I be happy?”. Thankfully, the answer to each of these questions is a resounding “Yes!”, but there are many intricacies that lie beneath this response, beginning with my academic experience of first semester.

I took Directed Studies this past year. Directed Studies is a voluntary yearlong freshman program that consists of a comprehensive study of the western canon, from Ancient Greece to the 20th century. There are 125 students in DS each year and all are required to take the three designated classes of DS—literature, philosophy, and history/politics—for both semesters. The required reading seems nearly impossible because DS students have to read essentially one book per class each week, a total of three monumental texts each week, such as Plato’s Republic, Dante’s Divine Comedy, and Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. Additionally, DS students must write one double-spaced five-page paper each week. The essay prompts rotate among the three DS disciplines. Of course, all this DS work makes one wonder why a student would inflict “directed suicide” (a nickname for the program that I read in Fiske’s Guide to Colleges) upon oneself during freshman year.

I think, however, that the benefits of DS outweigh the academic hardships it causes. First of all, the faculty in the DS program is extraordinary. It is an honor for a Yale professor to teach a DS section, thus DS students have the even greater honor of having the very best Yale professors as teachers. This entails not only informative and provoking lectures, but given the seminar style of DS, students have the opportunity of knowing these dynamic professors in such an intimate setting.

Each DS class has a section of about 15 students each that meets twice a week for a close discussion of the weekly text. Although a professor is present, he or she only ignites the conversation and guides it if it goes off tangent, thus prompting us students to think as critically as possible and to voice our thoughts when we have them.

This leads to another benefit of DS: the intense motivation it creates for one to not only read the western canon, but to enjoy pursuing knowledge from every possible angle. I had always wanted to read classical texts while in high school, but I didn’t know where to begin and it was easy to get distracted. As I read the required books for DS, I developed a stronger drive not only to finish the reading, but also to read in a way that probes the text for deeper meaning while simultaneously enjoying doing so.

In a bigger context, this translated to changing the way I think of “boring” activities in my life—now I try to understand the way in which each activity is meaningful and can relate to something I am interested in.

This leads me into the third and final reason why I loved DS, which was the way it metamorphosed the way I think. I could talk about this subject in many ways, but a summary is that it has made me view all areas of knowledge as things having a conversation with another. This consists of old works speaking to newer works (e.g. Homer vis-à-vis Nietzsche), different disciplines speaking to each other (e.g. math and philosophy in the thinking of Liebniz), or different cultures speaking to each other (e.g. eastern-based Russia and western-based France in Tolstoy’s War and Peace). This interdisciplinary, dialectic way of thinking is one of the priceless treasures that comes with studying the humanities, especially through Yale’s program Directed Studies.

I must admit—the first semester of DS was quite an adjustment period for me in terms of academic rigor. Lectures were accessible, but the six weekly seminars of 15 students each were an extreme change of pace from the classrooms of 40 students that I had become accustomed to in high school. I loved the close discussions that went on during these seminars, but they were initially intimidating.

Most of my classmates had attended prep schools with the same small classroom style and were used to voicing their analytical opinions every few minutes. I had always spoken up in class in high school, but now I was in awe of the highly intelligent observations framed with superb diction that my Yale peers were making every few minutes. I did comment every now and then, but I would usually spend a bit of time formulating my statement in my head before raising my hand to share it with the class. In this sense, fall semester of DS was a time for me to adjust my thinking and speaking abilities to a level in which I felt there was no longer an academic divide between the “smart prep school kids” and me. It was not the easiest transition, but I worked and studied hard, and I can confidently say that I had an ideal academic level during spring semester DS (which I will carry on for throughout the rest of my time in college). I now frequently contributed during seminar my observations on the works of thinkers such as Petrarch, Kierkegaard, and Marx.

Contrary to popular belief, my academic life was not solely Directed Studies. I also took Italian Level 1 during first semester and Italian Level 2 and Intro to Psychology during second semester. I took French for four years in high school, but after visiting some cities in Italy with my mom the summer after graduation, I had fallen in love with Italian language and culture, thus I decided to take L1 Italian on this whim.

It was by no means a “gut” (easy) class, because like any beginner or intermediate language class, it met five times a week. However, I enjoyed learning the language and additionally the learning environment was ideal.

I had an enthusiastic professor (a fabulous lady from Modena, Italy) and there were only six students in my class so we each received much needed attention where we personally needed it. Thus, I continued my study of Italian by taking L2 Italian during spring semester and then by having the extraordinary experience of studying intermediate (L3/L4) Italian this summer for three weeks in New Haven then for five weeks in Siena, a gorgeous medieval city in the Tuscan region of Italy.

I was fortunate that Yale is so generous with its endowment, especially in terms of studying abroad. The tuition for the Siena program was by no means cheap, but I used my International Summer Award (ISA), a scholarship pro-rated the same way as one’s financial aid that Yale offers undergraduates to use during one of three Yale summers to cover the majority of the costs.

Returning to the subject of classes, Yale has a credit system wherein each class is one credit (some exceptions include labs or foreign language classes, which are 1.5 credits). 36 credits are needed to graduate, but the recommended number of credits for a freshman to take each semester is 4 credits. However, I found this a hard standard to follow, because many classes piqued my interest. Luckily, taking DS prevented me from “shopping” (the first two weeks of each Yale semester are a shopping period in which students can try out any class they wish to before declaring their official schedules at the end of the fortnight) countless classes, but I still ended up taking more than 4 credits each semester.

Taking L1 Italian first semester resulted in a total of 4.5 credits. Taking L2 Italian and Intro to Psychology second semester resulted in an even more insane total of 5.5 credits. I really had not planned on exceeding 5 credits in one semester, but I could not bear with bypassing Intro Psych because it is one of those “you-must-take-this-before-you-graduate” classes at Yale.

Also, during spring semester my rockstar residential college master Marvin Chun [of Berkeley College] teaches the course. To alleviate my load, however, I availed of the extremely helpful option of taking Intro Psych as credit/d/fail. This pass or fail option can be used up to four times as an undergraduate and it allows students to take on other classes that they are highly interested in without risking damaging their GPA.

Although I had a heavier load second semester, I felt that I excelled much further academically during the spring. Instead of feeling that I was transitioning to the level of my peers, I now felt that I was on equal footing with the other students in my class. During my first four months of college I had developed a more discerning style of reading, a more critical mode of thinking, a more eloquent manner of speaking, a more productive method of studying, and a more polished way of writing. Now, instead of worrying if I could make at least one comment per seminar I was worrying if I would be able to say all the perceptive observations I had during a single seminar. I put more time into studying during spring semester, but more importantly my genuine interest for my classes intensified. I spent countless hours in libraries and coffee shops studying, but I enjoyed the subject matter and improvement soon was evident in my grades, which improved vastly.

However, academics are not the only element of college life. Dormitory life matters immensely. This past freshman year, I lived in a four-person suite. This consisted of two doubles, a common living room, and of course, three other girls.

Luckily, I quickly became best friends with my roommate Mariya, a math genius from Florida and originally from Bulgaria. I also got along well with my other two suitemates, Samantha (from Connecticut) and Aaminah (from Pakistan). Although I was fortunate to be compatible with the people I lived with, it was common for me to hear from friends who did not really connect with their suitemates. Both cases are completely normal, but the best advice I can give regarding roommates, suitemates, and other students in general is for one to have a default attitude of being welcoming and open.

I often made strong friendships with people who I would not have normally befriended in the past. Sometimes random conversations or situations also sparked good friendships. The bottom line is to keep a positive rather than hostile attitude toward others because it will make your day-to-day experiences pleasant and your overall experience rewarding. Also, even if you really just do not get along with your suitemates, maintain your demeanor as a respectful suitemate toward them. The worst situation you could put yourself in is one in which returning to your room is akin to entering a war zone.

Some of my friends, however, did involuntarily have rooming situations that resembled battlefields. Thus, they were thankful that college life exists beyond academics and dorm life.

People always ask me if there are enough activities to absorb me in New Haven. I respond by saying that New York is just a $14, one-and-a-half hour train ride away, but I rarely find time to take this trip to my favorite city because there are always so many extracurricular activities taking place in the “bubble” of Yale University. All colleges have numerous and diverse organizations for every type of interest imaginable. Thus, a university student is constantly preoccupied with one’s own meetings and events and with one’s friends’ events.

I was not an exception to this stereotype. During both fall and spring, I was an active member of Kasama, the Filipino club; the Yale Undergraduate Business Society; Smart Woman Securities, a finance organization geared at women; and Berkeley College Orchestra. In addition to my own weekly meetings and events, my days were constantly filled with attending the events of organizations that my friends were in. Although extracurriculars are often big commitments, the time one puts into them absolutely pays off. Through on-campus organizations I have acquired leadership positions, dynamic skills, and invaluable friendships.

The subject of friendship leads to the topic of social life. I have found that one common personality trait of Yalies is loquaciousness. This talkative environment produces a friendly, supportive environment, because a conversation between people leads to a sense of understanding and a foundation of common ground in which it is easy to build a positive relationship over. Thus, I love Yale’s social environment, because it is welcoming and ubiquitous—it exists from the moment lecture ends and you strike up a conversation with a classmate about the Hegelian theory of the dialectic that your professor just explained that soon turns into a conversation over how this theory is present in the structure of an electronica song you both enjoy.

Or, from the moment when you sit next to someone you have never met before in the dining hall and after a few minutes of talking you realize that you live an hour away from each other and you soon begin talking like old friends.

Or, from the moment when you are at Starbucks and you mistake someone for your friend but then you and this previous stranger mutually laugh over this, realize that you get along well, and decide to grab lunch together next Friday.

Keith Ferrazzi, a Yale alum, wrote a book about networking titled Never Eat Alone, and I have to say that this title is a wise principle to follow during your undergraduate years.

College can be busy and stressful, but a student always has to eat and generally longs to socialize, therefore turning lunch and dinner into parts of my social life has proved to be a successful and enjoyable way to multitask. While Greek life and parties do exist, a healthy social life is accessible to any Yale student, because with a student body so talkative and approachable, one does not need to go to a crowded frat house for fun. Rather, Yale social life happens in places like the 12 beautiful residential college dining halls where long, entertaining, and fruitful conversations take place.

So far, I suppose most of what I have said sounds like an extended segment of the “That’s Why I Chose Yale” video. However, despite my overall extraordinarily wonderful experience I did simultaneously face quite a few difficulties. Three problems for me included homesickness, weather adjustment, and lack of sleep. Previously, the longest time I had been away from my family was the two-week period of the Yale Ivy Scholars Program that I had attended the summer before. I am a pretty independent individual, but of course there were periods in which I really missed my family, friends, and hometown. Luckily, we live in the well-connected 21st century so homesickness did not become a serious problem for me. I could call and text my parents and friends when I missed them. Although Yale has good food in terms of college dining hall food, I did often crave my mom’s delicious home cooking. Sending me her tempura or her adobo was out of the question, but my mom’s care packages filled with my favorite chocolate and other thoughtful things kept intense food cravings to a minimum.

Honestly, adjusting myself to New England weather was a much bigger problem for me than homesickness. Four seasons is an alien concept for a girl who has lived all her life in Northern California. The summer weather was hot and humid, but it was tolerable and it permitted me to wear summer clothing that the cold Bay Area summer had not. The autumn was beautiful and the brief snowfalls before Christmas break were nothing to worry about. However, spring semester was a whole new shocking world. When I returned in January, there was snow everywhere. It was beautiful, but only for the first three days. It soon turned to slush, ice, and everything intolerable. Additionally, the weather was consistently below 30 degrees until mid-March. I learned many lessons during this time period, such as that snow boots do not necessarily transport you safely on ice. I suppose that on the bright side, I studied harder and did better academically since I preferred to be inside a library than frolicking outside and freezing. In the end, however, I still enjoyed the winter months at Yale minus the weather and now I know important lessons like to buy warmer layers for spring semester. After all, college is a learning experience.

This learning experience, while I would not trade it for anything, did deprive me of sleeping for long periods of time. I must admit that this burden was largely self-inflicted because of the number of credits I chose to take and the number of organizations I chose to be active in, but it is not at all remote for Yale students to have a sparse sleep schedule like I did this past year. I often would study past 2 a.m., then wake up early the next morning to go to class. That was on good nights. Sometimes I would need to wake up before the sun rose to finish a bit more work before class, and I pulled all-nighters quite regularly for writing papers (I had to write essentially one double-spaced five-paged paper every week for Directed Studies). I would sleep in on the weekends, but not for too long, because I always had a plethora of work due on Mondays and Tuesdays. The sleepless nights resulted in good grades, but also in exhaustion and a weaker immune system, so I spent much of my three weeks back home in May sleeping and recovering from this busy schedule. I have learned that I am capable of taking many hard classes and being active in many groups at once, but I have more importantly learned that I need a greater presence of both time management and rest in my life. Therefore, this fall semester I will continue to challenge myself, but I will also make sure I sleep enough so that I can have enough energy to tackle these challenges and remain healthy.

Balance is a word not only needed for my sleep schedule. When people ask, “How was your first year at Yale?” I quickly respond, “The most exhilarating time of my life and the most exhausting time of my life.” Freshman year was definitely a vigorous beginning to my undergraduate time at Yale. I now know, however, that if I want to maintain an equally extraordinary experience for the rest of my time at this incredible university, I must work on cultivating balance in all aspects of my Yale life. Thus, as I return for sophomore year, I—not exhaustion—will get the most out of my Yale experience.

Best,

Yohanna Pepa

Yale University BK'14

P.S.
Mr. Ramsey, I just want to thank you and the Ivy League Connection once again for all you and your program have done for me. Doing the Yale Ivy Scholars Program two years ago (which was possible through the ILC) prompted me to expand my academic goals and to work harder to achieve them. The ILC helped me to begin my journey on the path that—with hard work and perseverance—will eventually lead to the realization of my collegiate and career goals. However, I feel blessed because some dividends are already apparent. In addition to having a fantastic freshman year (I had a cumulative GPA of 3.45) my participation at Ivy Scholars has already come full circle. The program’s director, Professor Minh Luong, offered me a job as an instructor/staff member of Yale Ivy Scholars 2011. I enthusiastically accepted the position. My two weeks on the job were much like my first year at college—mentally and physically exhausting (this year we had two simultaneous programs but the same small number of staff for one program) but an invaluable and fun learning experience. I look forward to seeing more bright WCCUSD students like Dyana, Matt, and Thomas when I work at the program again next summer!

Show Me The Money!

2011-06-17T02:52:00.000-07:00

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.

They're Off! Brown-I Departs

2011-06-14T13:47:00.001-07:00

At what point in the process can we say that the Ivy League Connection is past the point of no return? Surely we can turn back after the interviews and even after the dinners with the alums and sponsors. Even after our cohorts come before their city councils and the School Board we can always turn back if need be.

But once the airport shuttle leaves the parking lot at ECHS we are probably at that point and our cohorts know for sure that they’re really on their way.

Don offers a wide variety of 'loaner' items for our travelers. From laptop
security cables, Ethernet cables, USB cables for their cameras, card readers
for their cameras, umbrellas, surge protectors, extension cords, alarm clocks
flash drives, desktop lamps and even laundry bags, Don's one stop bazaar

table offers that last minute shopping experience.

All luggage is weighed so our
intrepid travelers aren't hit by
the ridiculously high
overage charges.

Such was the case at 3:46 AM on this beautiful morning.

We had asked our cohorts to arrive in plenty of time to pick up their loaner items, get their last minute instructions, weigh their luggage and take the obligatory group photo.

If nothing else it seems that we’re getting our ILCers properly trained in showing up on time. Every one of our students arrived plenty early—early enough so that we were finished with all of our tasks early enough so the airport shuttle could depart nearly 15 minutes ahead of schedule (because we all know how much fun waiting at the airport can be).

Even before our ILCers arrived, though, Don was paid a visit by a patrolling police officer checking to determine why this guy in the loud shirt was standing outside the local high school at three in the morning.

Excitement was in the air.

Despite the early hour and the fact that this was a time of day better suited to catching some zzz’s, our ILCers were wide awake and ready for their adventure to begin.

Why are we still here? Why aren't we moving?

Despite the early hour and the fact that this was a time of day better suited to catching some zzz’s, our ILCers were wide awake and ready for their adventure to begin.

Many thanks to Joann Miller for the use of some of her great photos.

The Hercules City Council Hosts the ILC

2011-05-24T21:54:00.000-07:00

The evening was a beautiful climax to a typical Spring day here in West County. The Hercules City Council opened their meeting as they have so many times in the past by welcoming the Hercules residents who are cohorts of the Ivy League Connection.

After the warm welcome from Mayor Joanne Ward, West Contra Costa Unified School Distirct School Board President Charles Ramsey explained to the gathered crowd--and those watching on TV from the comfort of their homes--about the history of the program and how the program positively affects so many of the young people from our community.

Following Mr. Ramsey, Hercules High Assistant Principal Terri Ishmael spoke on the application process and how these cohorts went from the "what's this all about" stage to the "what time does our first class start" stage. Ms. Ishmael introduced the cohorts and invited each of them to step to the microphone to talk about their own involvement in the ILC.

Concluding the presentation, and before the traditional group photo, former ILC cohort and Hercules resident (and the big sister of current Columbia Constitutional Law cohort Eric Wang) spoke about how her own participation as a two time ILCer affected her. Yueming Wang was a Hotelie at Cornell two years ago and last summer she attended the Presidential Powers course at Columbia University.

Yueming eloquently spoke of how she was a dyed in the wool Cal Bear fan until she saw what else was available to her. After attending Cornell and Columbia her views towards Cal were altered-altered to the point where she will be studying engineering at Cornell starting this Fall.

What was clear this evening, as it has been since the beginning, the ILC saw once again that the Hercules community stands firmly behind their young students and if the ILC will help their young members of the community, then the Hercules community stands behind the ILC.

Guadalupe Morales is Bound for Brown

2011-02-21T18:56:00.001-08:00

RICHMOND HIGH STUDENT GUADALUPE MORALES IS IVY LEAGUE BOUND

Richmond Confidential
Ashley Hopkinson
02/11/11

Guadalupe Morales knows what people think when they hear the words “Richmond High School.” They think of poverty, crime, low-test scores and of a horrific gang rape that still blemishes the school’s image one year later.

But despite what people think, and despite disconcerting statistics about the number of Latinas who graduate high school and college into professional careers, Morales is determined to make a life for herself after Richmond High School.

Don’t feel sorry for her, she insists: This fall she is going to college. The 17-year-old senior will attend Brown University, an Ivy League school, on a full scholarship.

As she makes her way down the hallway of RHS, Morales is the subject of stares and questions. “Hey Guadalupe, what are the cameras doing here?” And “Hey, Guadalupe are you going to be on TV?”

In a brown-colored sweatshirt lettered with the words BROWN UNIVERSITY in bold, she doesn’t stop to answer. She smiles brightly but averts her gaze.

Morales will graduate June 19 at 9 a.m. It’s a date she’s been working toward for a long time. RHS is the last school in the West Contra Costa district to graduate because of its academic performance, Morales says casually on the way to her locker.

In fact, the school’s graduation rate is only 77.1 percent—four percentage points higher than the district average—according to the California Department of Education. The dropout rate in the district is 22 percent and RHS is almost double that averaging 46 to 47 percent.

Morales plans to study neuroscience; she wants to become a doctor. “The whole aspect of being a doctor is helping other people,” she said. “I like that. I feel like it’s natural to me. It’s also a way to prove something to myself. If I can make it as a doctor then I know all my hard work that got me to this point was worth it.”

Her academic achievements are a source of pride for counselors and educators across the school. As one faculty member put it: “She is a teacher’s dream.”

Guadalupe Morales in a hallway of Richmond High School. Morales said she never dreamed four years ago that she'd be going to a prestigious Ivy League school like Brown University.
Photo by Ashley Hopkinson.

Morales doesn’t quite see it that way. She acknowledges working hard, but said she can’t imagine working any other way. “My mom has always had a high expectation of me and seeing her work all those jobs taught me never to give up and to stay persistent,” she said.

In her essays that she wrote for Brown, Morales was asked to pick something that defines her and she chose the traditional Mexican dish tamales. Her parents are both from Mexico. They immigrated to the United States 22 years ago.

For Morales the tamale is a metaphor for her life — on the outside it may seem like a typical Mexican dish, but inside there’s always something unique. She recalled a period in her childhood when she perfected the art of making tamales, helping her mother make them to sell.

Her family faced some tough circumstances, but they did not break her and she is stronger because of it, she said. Her family moved often, ten times so far, she said. And once, they were evicted, she said, smile fading.

“It’s hard to keep a house because my mom has worked so many jobs. Sometimes you get a lower-paying job and can’t make the rent,” she said. “For a couple a days I felt pitiful, but I got the realization fast not to feel sorry for myself because you can overcome obstacles and do something about it.”

It’s easy to think, “Oh I live in the ghetto, I go to a crappy place like Richmond High,” she said, “but even though it’s like that I will work hard and even though I have impediments to my success I can overcome and do better than if I was going to a richer school.”

There have been times, she admits, that she’s wanted to be somewhere else, at a school where every resource is at a student’s disposal. “I’ve thought about it at times, but I like being at Richmond High,” she said. “The people that are there genuinely care for you. The teachers that are there are really there because they want and you get a sense early on who the teachers are that care about you and how well you do.”

Guadalupe Morales will attend Brown University starting in the fall of 2011.
Photo by Ashley Hopkinson.

Jean Pierre De Oliveira is one of five counselors at Richmond High School. Each has an average caseload of 400 to 500 students, and De Oliveira says they work at their jobs because they love helping students.

Still, he said, the outside socials ills seep through the walls of the school, and sometimes that makes the job more difficult. “We serve a demanding and needy community,” he said. “A lot of our kids come from homes of violence homes on welfare tough environment. … Sometimes kids come to me and they have eight problems and you have to decide which one to help them with before you can help them academically.

Eighty percent of the RHS high school population is listed as socioeconomically disadvantaged on official school accountability reports.

De Oliveira said teachers know that a student’s life circumstances affect academic performance and it makes his job easier and more joyous when one of his students, like Morales, succeeds despite life’s challenges.

“With Guadalupe getting into Brown, this just makes my day,” he said.

Plopping down on the floor between three closed classrooms doors to take a pre-approved break in between classes, Morales relaxes. Now away from the curious glances, she is at ease. She bursts into a smile, fussing with her long dark brown hair.

Morales’ first experience with studying at Brown actually happened last summer, when she participated in the Ivy League Connection Program, a privately funded scholarship organization that works closely with the West Contra Costa Unified District to sponsor a group of students to visit and study at Ivy Leagues for the summer.

The qualifications to apply are demanding: a GPA of 3.7 or above, a PSAT score of 140 or above and an SAT score of 1700 or above. The program requires an essay in addition to the academic requirements. Eighteen Richmond High Students met the qualifications to apply out of approximately 400, and seven finalists were chosen from the entire district. Of these, three Richmond High students were chosen to participate in a Brown program called 2010 Women in Leadership. With 11 AP classes under her belt and a 4.27 GPA, Guadalupe Morales was one of them.

Still, Morales didn’t know she’d been accepted to the full college program until mid-December. She recalls opening her acceptance letter in the middle of her afternoon multimedia class. “I was completely surprised and amazed,” she said. “I couldn’t really comprehend at first. It didn’t connect. But then I was really happy.”

In her blog she started keeping over the summer about her experience at Brown, Morales wrote: “I’m still amazed at what wonderful news I received just last Monday. Four years ago, I never thought that I would be attending one of the most prestigious universities in the world, much less, qualify for one. I suppose it’s the Richmond High mentality, the one where the dream school for everyone is U.C. Berkeley, and the only one. There’s nothing wrong with that—Berkeley is a great school. However, in these past couple of months, I’ve learned that there are more opportunities beyond what is here in California.”

She made the decision to attend right away.

Krista Jann, Richmond High’s college and career coordinator who has worked at the school for more than a decade, is equally happy. Jann said Morales has mastered a concept faculty needs to teach students—the ability to compartmentalize. They urge them to not forget their problems, but focus on getting an education despite them, she said.

As for Morales, “she has what it takes” to succeed, Jann said.

Jann is the RHS liaison for the Ivy League Connection Program, and she points out that even though 18 students qualified, few applied. Morales said motivation is lacking for some students. “There are supportive people here to help you but it’s really up to you to make a difference,” she said.

“You have to deal with your peers who are going down different paths and it motivates you to be an example to younger students to show them they don’t do the same thing,” she said.

Morales said that her parents are happy about her success, “but mostly I could tell they were scared that I would go so far.” Brown University is located in Providence, Rhode Island.

A few minutes before the bell rings Morales heads off to class.

“This is like the American dream,” she said. “I feel amazed. Even though I’ve come out of Richmond, all of us at Richmond can come through difficult circumstances and be successful.”

Our Yalies Depart

2010-07-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

It was dark outside. It was also chilly with a wind that helped the chill slice right through us. But then again it was 4:30 in the morning so why should we expect anything different?

Our Yale Ivy Scholars—Marisol Clemens, Brandon Amargo, Henry Hung and Connor Miller—gathered at El Cerrito High School with their chaperone Mario Miranda to board the airport shuttle that will begin their journey to New Haven, Connecticut where they will spend the next several days visiting Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University and Dartmouth University.

Accompanying them on this initial phase of the journey were ILC administrators Madeline Kronenberg and Charles Ramsey.

Before boarding the airport shuttle, our scholars went through the Gosney Bazaar where they could pick from baskets of umbrellas, laundry bags, computer cables, laptop security cables, Ethernet cables and even alarm clocks—all just to make sure they had what they needed to survive the next three weeks at Yale.

Fond farewells were said with the obligatory hugs from the parents and then the requisite group photo was taken before they headed east to seek knowledge that will turn them from mere high school students into future pillars of our community.

Studying Grand Strategy under Dr. Dr. Minh Luong, they will cram a full year’s study into just fourteen days. Attending class from dawn to well past dusk, they will then be allowed to return to their dorm rooms to read a few hundred pages, prepare their Marshall Brief and study some more—and some more—and some more.

Our four Ivy Scholars will depart well prepared for this course having already read the 3,749 pages of material that will be studied and discussed. Books about the Peloponnesian War, Homeland Security, Sun Tzu, the ancient Chinese and Greeks, Genghis Khan as well as the inimitable Cyrus the Great will ready our adventurous students for this course. (The book on Cyrus the Great has been said to be one of the best books ever written and one of our Yalies has already vowed to read it to his future children as bedtime reading.)

Students from previous years have written about this program. They write that our Yalies will be swamped with their studies and be given instruction from some of the greatest minds in their respective fields. From across the nation, though, previous Ivy Scholars have lamented that they would give anything for just another hour’s sleep. I’m sure that when our Yalies return they may likely add to that chorus.

We wish our Yalies well.

Cornellians TRY to get to Ithaca

2010-07-18T14:33:00.000-07:00

June 23^rd, 2010

Packed to the gills for their 24 day adventure in Ithaca our Cornell cohorts met at El Cerrito HS early on June 23rd where they had their baggage weighed, received their laptop security cables, took a solemn oath to blog every day and then hopped on their airport shuttle to take them on the first leg of their adventure at Cornell.

Studying under Professor Kramnick in his course: Freedom & Justice: An Introduction to Political Philosophy are Alex Elms, Andrew Gonzales, Andrew Woo and Dyana So. Across campus Jacky Lares, Beilul and Chris Habash will study under Professors Reneta and Mark McCarthy in the course: Hotel Operations Management: Tactics for Profitability. Both of these courses are rigorous endeavors but the education learned there has, in the past, been invaluable tools for our ILC team members.

Although their collective travel plans were well mapped out there was little they could do when Chicago's O'Hare Airport was shut down due to extreme weather conditions. There just seems to be something about aircraft and tornados (with lightning) that aren't a good mix.

The Cornell contingent spent their first night in a variety of airport lounges as they were moved from gate to gate and had the opportunity to enjoy some of the finest cuisine available in late night airport eateries before their flight was finally cancelled.

Along for the ride, ILC Administrator Charles Ramsey had to scramble to find an alternative means of getting to Ithaca in the shortest amount of time. Their current plans--always subject to change--now includes a flight to Hanford, CT where they may then enjoy a four hour van ride to Ithaca.

We wish them well.

From Far and Wide They Head to Columbia

2010-07-18T14:29:00.000-07:00

June 24^th, 2010

The weather was cool, breezy and overcast but their spirits were high as our six ILC ambassadors prepared to depart for Columbia University.

Michael Whittemore and Jamie Pines will study in Intense Seminars in Modern Chemistry while Michelle Saechao, Beulah Agbabiaka, Yueming Wang and Winston Long will study American Presidential Power at Home and Abroad: From George Washington to Barack Obama.

Guiding them through their studies will be their chaperone Ms. Terri Ishmael.

While in the area our Columbian cohorts will also be visiting other selective colleges and universities such as Penn, Vassar, Yale and Bard.

Once our team has soaked up all there is to learn they will be returning to the Bay Area on July 17th where they will prepare to share their newfound wealth of knowledge with students, parents and instructors throughout the community.

A Mother's Perspective

2010-07-18T14:18:00.001-07:00

Melissa Arciniega

Now that Matt is beginning to pack up and head for Columbia University, I often find myself reflecting on the past eighteen years. There are so very many incredible memories in this young man's life already and I'm feeling very blessed and thankful for the person Matt has become and the direction his life is taking.

The Ivy League Connection has played a huge role in sending Matt in the direction of Columbia University. His two weeks at Yale last summer gave him the chance to prove to himself and others that he, indeed, can compete among some of the best and the brightest students in the world!

Often times, students from the WCCUSD are afraid to dream big or don't know how big, big can be. Because of you, Ms. Kronenberg, Mr. Gosney, and the many individuals who run and fund the Ivy League Connection, Matt is about to attend a world-class university in preparation for a career in public policy and politics.

From a very special place in my heart, I thank you and the ILC for showing these kids how big dreams can be. The world WILL be changed because of your mark on their lives!