The Bloggers

Loan Chung 

Loan Chung is a rising junior at Pinole Valley High School. At school, she is a part of the Forensic Speech and Debate Club, WE Science Club, The National Honor Society, and Interact. She is also a former Stanford SMASH Academy scholar. Loan is a paid assistant at Kumon Math & Reading Center in Pinole. During her free time she likes to play with her dogs, bike with her friend, and read. 

She will be attending the Vanderbilt Summer Academy to take their Med School 101 course. Loan is excited to take this course because she plans to pursue a career in the health field. She hopes that this trip will yield some valuable lessons that may help her later on in her journey into the health field. She knows that this trip will definitely help her prepare for life in college. Like they always say, the best knowledge is experience and this trip will truly give me the best knowledge.

Kimberly de Dios

Kimberly de Dios is an upcoming senior at Pinole Valley High School. Although she has yet to make up her mind on a college major, she hopes to work closely with people in positively affecting their lives. Kimberly is heavily involved at Pinole Valley, both inside and outside of the classroom.  From being the mellophone section leader of the Marching Band, to being co-vice president of her school’s Forensics Speech and Debate Team, Kimberly will have her hands full her senior year.

Along with Loan Chung, she plans on taking the Med School 101 course this summer at Vanderbilt University. She is very excited to be a part of the Ivy League Connection not only for herself, but also for her community. She plans on taking her experiences back to Pinole and show the abundance of opportunities outside of the Bay Area. In addition, Kimberly hopes this experience will shed some insight on her impending college major and career aspirations with college right around the corner. Kimberly can’t wait to experience life on the other side of the country all thanks to the Ivy League Connection. 

Thomas Johnston 

Thomas Johnston is a rising junior at Pinole Valley High School. He plans to major in Civil Engineering in college. He is involved in Pinole Valley High School’s Marching Band, Symphonic Band, Jazz Band, Forensics (Speech and Debate) Team, and Science Club. In his free time, he likes to play saxophone and piano.

Thomas will be attending Vanderbilt University’s Summer Academy to take “Special Topics in Math.” He is excited to take this course because he wants to develop a deeper understanding of advanced math concepts. He hopes to learn a lot about math, and be able to make a more educated choice about where to go to college when he graduates high school in 2015.

Keli'i Rubin

Keli'i Rubin is a rising junior at Pinole Valley High School. He plans on majoring in business and management. He is involved in Pinole Valley High School's African American Student Union (AASU), in Forensics Speech and Debate; he also plays football and basketball. In his free time he enjoys to train for his upcoming football season, and joke around with friends and teammates.

He will be attending Vanderbilt University to take Principle of Engineering. He is excited to take this course because he believes technology is the future and there are a lot of things to learn in that field. In attending the ILC he hopes to get a life changing experience out of the trip that can not only influence him in his college choices, but also to influence people associated with him to strive for an opportunity such as this one, strive for college, and strive a life of success.