Inspiration and Aspiration From the Board

Tonight was one of the first events with the ILC aside from the cohort dinner at the School Board meeting at Lavonya DeJean Middle School.  Prior to the meeting every ILC member was given a heads up on this event and were told that one person from each cohort would give a speech to the School Board.  When the list of speakers was sent to us, I let out a great sigh of relief and felt a slight tinge of happiness that I didn't have to deal with the nervousness and pressure of a speech (Good job by the way, Jack!).

When I arrived at the school, I looked around in search of the ILC group and only saw the Cornell group. With their helpful direction I managed to find the rest of the ILC group and realized I was the third to arrive from my cohort.  We were briefed on what to do during the meeting and we found out that the Brown-I group was the first to go.  Although all I had to do was simply stand, look nice, and hold a flag, I felt nervous.  Don gave us an anecdote about a Yale cohort from the past where they held their flag upside-down, and being in charge of holding the flag in my cohort I was afraid I would do the same.  Thankfully, everything went smoothly and both Ms. Scott and Jack delivered eloquent speeches.

The cohort and I, I should probably try to smile more

Since the Brown-I cohort was the first to be introduced, I was able to sit down, relax, and learn about the other cohorts.  In particular, I noticed that other cohorts are going to visit the schools of other cohorts such as Columbia. Listening to the speeches of the student speakers inspired me to try my hardest for the upcoming Brown program and helped me remember the main points of going across the country to visit schools: to open our eyes to the world outside of California and to give us new experiences.  

After the introductions were over, the entire ILC group moved to a corner to take our group photo with the clear guidance of Don.  Although the photo was a great success, I have to mention that my legs were cramping while everyone was getting in place. Placed between two Kevins, I had to endure the cramps for about three minutes or so. I was about to stretch my legs out a bit, but then I noticed that Arnold was either having the same struggle as me or was re-positioning his legs and ended up moving the carpet that Don had so nicely placed. In order to not further delay the picture, I decided against stretching my legs out.

The group picture

It was finally time to go and I introduced my mother to some of the parents of my cohort and met the parents as well.  Regrettably, I wasn't able to meet many of the other ILCers, but I did meet a veteran ILC student who took the DNA course at Brown last year, Jia Cheng.  Hopefully I'll be able to meet some of my ILC peers at tomorrow's dinner at One Market and have a good time as well!