Sunday, June 17, 2012

Off To The Races

Well, junior year is over and I couldn't be happier. After endless nights of studying for SATs, SAT Subject Tests, ACTs, and AP tests, it feels wonderful to have them all behind me now (until I get my results back...). My mother always told me that junior year would be the most crucial year of my high school career, and boy, was she ever correct. Night after night I would stress out about my grades and sort through every possibility to get my grades up. In the end, I managed to get straight A's (I think...*knock on wood*). Overall, I would not trade my junior year for anything else because it has taught me valuable academic skills as well as showed me my mental and physical capabilities.

Now that school seems to have ended about a month ago, I could not be more excited to go to the East Coast! I have finally finished packing and quadruple-checked my packing list and thanks to Don, who brought my loaner items to me yesterday, I am sure I have everything I need.

This whole week I have been looking forward to this trip. Every day, I read and reread all the handouts and itineraries concerning Cornell and the other colleges we'll be visiting (Princeton, UPenn, and Columbia) during our one week stay in Philadelphia. I hope to absorb as much information as possible during these campus visits and dinners with the admission staff of each college.

As the time approaches, concerns fill my head: will I wake up in time? What if I forget something? What if my shampoo explodes in my luggage? I have set my alarm for 1:45 AM just to make sure that I cannot possibly be late (since Don foiled my plan for not sleeping tonight). However, I pretty sure I will be too anxious to sleep anyways.

I will be totally honest with you, throughout all my travels on planes, I have enjoyed the plane ride more than the actual trip itself 9 times out of 10 (mainly because I want to work in aerospace/aeronautic engineering or become a pilot), but I 100% positive this trip will be that one where the trip itself will surpass any of the flights I may go on in the future. And who knows, maybe my initial career goal will change once visiting the other colleges and taking Freedom & Justice at Cornell. The possibilities are endless.

This is it, in 15 hours we'll all be at El Cerrito High School ready to embark on this amazing trip. I cannot thank Don Gosney, Mr. Ramsey, Mrs. Kronenberg, and all the supporters of the ILC enough times for giving me this opportunity. I don't think I have ever been this excited to go to school in my life. East Coast watch out, because this WCCUSD entourage is going to blow your mind!   

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