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.
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