Friday, May 17, 2013

One Step Closer

Wednesday I became one step closer to packing my bags and heading to Tennessee. On Wednesday May 15, 2013 I was scheduled to stand in front of the district's school board in a formal attire, which had me nerve racking and some what excited during the school day.

When I first arrived at Lavonya Dejon Middle School in Richmond, California, I was literally sweating bullets, because I didn't know what to expect when the meeting began. Before the meeting began all the Ivy League attendees were grouped together in a corner, while we waited for our chaperons to arrive. While my Vanderbilt cohorts and I were talking, Don swooped through and grabbed us so we could take our individual head shots which looked gorgeous for the ladies and handsome for the men I might say. But as soon as we returned Kim and I met our chaperon Mr. Mannix for the first time, while Thomas and Loan just caught up on lost time. Meeting Mr. Mannix was great he made us feel comfortable, he talked directly to us, and he cracked the occasional joke that made everyone smile. 

Mr. Mannix made us aware of our plans for the summer, like us traveling up and down the east coast seeing multiple colleges and just site seeing. Then we went over the agenda for the night. First we covered the order in which we would stand in front of the school board, then we went over what would be said in front of the school board, and then we just got to know each other a little better. Then the board got our attention and we all took our seats while they spoke about our opportunity.


When the board started talking I realized how great of  an opportunity it really is to be apart of this program. The board through out some major numbers of people who applied for the program, but only 38 people were accepted which in my eyes was an unheard of percentage of acceptance. Right after the board finished talking we got straight to business, introducing ourselves and our schools to the people who took the time out to support us. While the school attendees were talking and introducing themselves I couldn't help but feel nervous for Kim who was going to give a speech at anytime they called on her to speak, but after a few schools Vanderbilt was called and we were all introduced. Then it was my friend Kim's time to shine with a very heart felt speech that I honestly thought was the best speech presented. 


Towards the end of us presenting we all received certificates that had our name, school, and course we were taking, but the main thing I was worried about was my name being misspelled which was correct. Instead my course was wrong, and the course that was on the paper was Med School 101. Which really wasn't that important as my name being incorrect, but they offered to fix it anyway which was great. After I think Penn went to speak, all the Ivy League participates and their parents took a picture instructed by the great Don Gosney and then we all were told we could go home. But before I took the long tired trip home my mother and Mr. Mannix met up for the first time and exchanged contact information. With contacts being exchanged, my mom feels way more comfortable letting me fly across the country on July 4th. She is kind of ready to get me out the house and I am more than ready to leave and go experience this great opportunity.



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