Wednesday, May 23, 2012

Public Speaking

Earlier tonight, all the Hercules ILCers ( Frank He, Helen Naizghi, Rachael Redlo, Jobel Vecino, Tanya Krishnakumar, Kelly Xi, and myself) met former ILCers Beilul Naizghi and Terilyn Chen as well as Mr. Chan-law, Mr. Litvin, Mr. Crosby, Mrs. Ishmael, Principal Zak, and Don at the Hercules City Hall for the May City Council meeting.

Each of us were expected to make a speech, and to be perfectly honest, I didn't write one out. Instead, I made a general outline of the topic I wanted to hit during my speech. I did my best to remain calm and relax because I knew that if I didn't allow my nerves to get the best of me, I would be fine when I had to step up to the podium.

Like my fellow ILCers, I thanked the City Council members for their support of Hercules education and expressed how honored I felt to serve as an ambassador of not only my school and school district, but of this "quintessential American town" as Mr. Litvin calls it. The one point I really wanted to emphasize in my speech was that schools of the caliber of Cornell, Columbia, and UPENN, aren't out of reach. I learned first hand at Columbia last year that my peers from Hercules High School are just as capable and just as smart, if not smarter, than some people who might be from a more affluent background. The ILC has opened my mind to options besides the UC and CSU systems and allowed me to aim high.

Following all of the current ILCers speeches, Terilyn and Beilul spoke about how the ILC affected their college applications. Finally, Mr. Litvin delivered a very eloquent speech and made the student who he had seem as if we're a lot better than him when in reality, we all look up to him.
 
The second milestone event is now over and it is time for the third of four milestone events - the school board meeting.

No comments:

Post a Comment