Let the Blogging Begin!

As my first blog post, I’d first like to begin by introducing myself. My name is Kimberly de Dios, and I am currently a junior at Pinole Valley High School. I will be attending Vanderbilt University and will be participating in the Med School 101 program, along with Loan Chung.

This week has been a hectic week by far. Thanks to the Educational Guidance Center at my school, I was able to explore a wide array of colleges in Southern California for four days. I found it to be a great opportunity to compare my experience from this past trip with the upcoming trip my cohort and I will be partaking in this summer. Anyways, it wasn’t until last Thursday when we were returning back to the Bay Area that I could feel my body breaking down. I was in need of some rest, but I was fully aware that the week wasn’t over just yet. One day later, I reluctantly prepared for my junior class’ prom with less gusto than expected. Nonetheless, I had a wonderful time seeing my friends in a glamorously filled night. With that being said, you can imagine how excited I was to find myself at the blog tutorial this afternoon.

As part of the afternoon group for today’s tutorial, I managed to be 10 minutes early. During the car ride over to Hercules High School, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease. Having met Don and learning the importance of time management to the ILC, I made it a point to be punctual. However, I wasn’t able to leave my house as early as I wanted. So I began to feel like I was in a bind for time. Luckily, I made it to the tutorial with minutes to spare, and as the second person to arrive as well. One of the worst feelings in the world is being late to events and reaping in the consequences.

As one of our milestone events, the time has come for my blogging experience to commence. This means only one thing: my cohort and I are one event closer to heading for Nashville, Tennessee this summer for our respective courses. I only hope I can do my adventure justice and capture these moments into my blog. I fully intend on honing in on my skills by the time I get my month long trip this summer.

Ironically, neither I nor any of the ILCers, including Don was able to fully access our blogging site. Since our main goal was to get familiarized with what we’d be working with for the next couple months, I found it frustrating for the district to censor the site. It didn’t make any sense to everyone in the room, knowing fully well of its use for the Ivy League Connection.

Despite our blogging difficulties, we were able to try out what we learned into a practice blog and cover the rest of the bases on the agenda. With Don’s tips and do’s and don’t’s, I managed to get a lot out of this tutorial. Aside from tending to our blogging responsibilities, Don also stressed the importance of acting like an adult. Since we aren’t too far from the rest of our lives as adults, his demands were for our benefit. I can only do my best to simply communicate, be on time, and know where to go.

Although I wasn’t able to meet my chaperone Mr. Mannix, I have a feeling my cohort and I will be in store for a wonderful time. Since I’m good friends with Vanderbilt’s group from last year, I’ve only heard nothing but great things, even from Don. I can’t wait to meet him in person and see for myself.

I realized not too long ago that what the Ivy League Connection asks of us isn’t for their personal gain. All they ask of me is nothing extreme, but only things that build to my character. I can’t stress how thankful I am to be a part of the ILC for giving me this once in a lifetime opportunity.