Uncharted Territory

Although I’ve lived in Pinole all my life, it seems like I’ve just recently begun getting to know the area. There’s so much more to Pinole than what people give it credit for. I was one of those people not too long ago. Needless to say, I’ve started to enjoy myself in what my city has to offer.

Among the places I’ve ventured off to in Pinole, one place I have never set foot in until today was Pinole’s City Hall. Since today was the day to introduce this year’s Ivy League ambassadors to the City Council members, I had no choice but to venture off into uncharted territory. With my mother off running errands, I was on my own. However, it wasn’t difficult at all getting to and from the meeting since I live a quarter of a mile away.

Although the meeting didn’t begin as soon as predicted, I was able to reacquaint myself with an old friend of mine, Audrey Webb. While waiting, we were able to catch up and talk about our upcoming senior year. It feels strange seeing how far we’ve come, especially since we grew up attending the same elementary and middle school. And with our junior year coming to a close, the future seems to be creeping up even faster.  This only means that our trips are that much closer within grasp. 

With the Ivy League Connection at the top of the agenda, and with a limited amount of time, today’s meeting was a lot shorter than last week’s School Board meeting. Since Mr. Ramsey and Ms. Kronenberg were unable to attend today’s meeting, Don spoke on behalf of the ILC. Out of everything he said, what struck me most was when he said “We may be broke, but we are not broken” in regards to the harsh financial woes our district has faced. It hit me close to home, and I know I wasn't the one person in the room feeling that way. 

Since I spoke at the last meeting, Loan was chosen to deliver a speech on behalf of our cohort. But unlike the School Board meeting, each of us introduced ourselves. By the time I finished speaking, one of the most important things I forgot to mention was my name. At that moment, I couldn’t help but feel slightly embarrassed but shrug it off. All I could do was smile and hand the podium off to Loan. She did extremely well controlling her nerves while speaking to the City Council. Actually, every ILCer who delivered a speech did a wonderful job of portraying how humble we are to represent this year’s program.

 With 12 ILCers from Pinole, we quickly rapped up the meeting with a photo shoot including members of the City Council. Since we were taking time out of their meeting to take the group photo, we all followed accordingly to Don’s instructions and left as soon as we could.