Clarifications and Reminders

Tonight was the final meeting before our long-awaited departure to the East.  The entire ILC group met at Pinole Middle School with our parents and chaperones for one last briefing on guidelines and what to pack for our trips.  The meeting started at 6:00 PM and ended at approximately the estimated 8:00 PM.  I arrived at the school with cargo shorts somewhat resembling Don's typical shorts and a plaid, button-up, collared shirt as a substitute for an aloha shirt.

The meeting began with the introduction of the chaperons and Tour Guide Don giving us a few words before sending each cohort into their respective break out sessions. He touched on things such as the fact that we are to be adults and are going to be treated as adults and what is expected of us.  Ms. Kronenberg gave a few words of wisdom as well.  Once each cohort was told to go to their break out sessions, I quickly found my cohort of five plus our parents and chaperone, Ms. Scott.  Ms. Scott gave us an official document for our parents to fill out regarding safety and medical terms.  She then gave us a sheet of paper with one of her signature clip arts on the top of each of her handouts.  This paper contained her guidelines and rules for during our trip at Brown.  One of these rules is that each student must have at least one other student with them if they are to leave campus.  This feels surprisingly lenient (not that I'm complaining) as I expected us to need at least two or three.  After a few more questions, everyone returned their attention to Don.

Don closed off the night with topics pertaining to our luggage and what to expect at our dorms.  He explained the different loaner items he had for us from cameras to shower bags.  It was also explained that certain necessities would also depend on which school each of us would be going to.  For example, Cornell would not need fans as they have air conditioning whereas the Brown cohort will be drowning in fans.  After a few questions, everyone was dismissed and dispersed.

However, for some of the Hercules ILCers, we had a small event planned for Don.  Chiamaka, Thao, Shanti, Kevin (Mendoza), and half of myself walked into the orientation matching with Don's attire.  We each wore shorts resembling Don's usual casual bottoms and flowery aloha shirts (with the exception of me as I do not have a flowery aloha shirt, so I opted for a plaid shirt instead).  I'm sure that many others were confused about our attires as Vanderbilt chaperone Mr. Mannix stated, "I thought you guys had spirit day or something!"  To truly end the night, the five of us took a lovely photo with Don, leaving everyone even more excited for each of our trips starting in approximately two weeks.