Today all the ILCers from all seven high schools in our district assembled at LoVonya DeJean Middle School for the May School Board Meeting. Ever since this year's ILC experience has begun it has been said time and time again that this year the ILC is sending 42 students, the most ever, to prestigious institutions like Cornell. While I understood that sending 42 students was a new high, it didn't really set in until I got to see all 42 ILCers in one venue, at the same time. I was amazed by how much the ILC has grown since its founding.
The night began with several adults who were concerned about the funding for adult education. They were relieved that the School Board decided to continue to fund adult education for 2012-2013. Several adults signed up to speak and after 50 minutes of thank yous and urges to keep funding adult education, the night progressed and soon each cohort was introduced and I got to start putting names to faces. It was wonderful to see that all seven of the high school in our district was represented.
Following the introductions Austin Long, a rising sophomore at Yale, delievered a very eloquent and motivational speech about the ILC and the type of people that come out of the ILC. Then Terilyn Chen stepped up and used anecdotes to demonstrate how the ILC has allowed her to be more comfortable in situations when she has to react to unexpected events such as talking about the Spongebob theme song in here Harvard interview. Who knew, Spongebob could be a topic at these interviews.
As we waited for the group photograph, it was neat that the beneficiaries got recognized for providing the funds that allowed the Ivy League to Connection to prosper and flourish.
We ended the night with several blinding flashes and attempts to smile and not blink. The group photograph is taken and now I can look forward to the orientations and June 19th - the day we depart for Philadelphia!
