Connections

Last Wednesday evening, I managed to wait as long as possible (I couldn’t bear to leave and miss the Celtics game of course) before heading over to BART to meet up with my ILC cohorts to go to the fabulous restaurant Town Hall in San Francisco. Surprisingly, I was able to arrive at around the same time as everyone else, even beating Mr. Ramsey by a whopping two minutes. I was a bit nervous about the dinner going in, and the sight of Don in a fancy suit did not settle these nerves. For those who have not met Don, he is a more casual man, who even told me the first time I met him that I would “never see him dressed up anymore than his usual button-down shirt and khaki shorts,” so needless to say, seeing him in a nice suit showed that this would be a very serious dinner. Fortunately, the dinner turned out to be fun as well as serious.

Once we got inside our private dining room, I began looking for my place card while the adults drank their wine. I found my seat relatively early and instantly became jealous of fellow students Jobel, Kevin, and Terilyn, who were fortunate enough to sit at the same table. I was a bit nervous about sitting with more strangers than people I actually knew, but that too turned out to be a great experience. Seated at my table were my mom, Joe Arciniega and his mom Melissa, School Board member Mrs. Kronenberg, Hercules assistant principal Ms. Terri Ishmael, Cornell alums and classmates Bill Vederman ('63) and Peter Lee ('63), and the self-proclaimed youngest alumni, Ms Irma Anderson ('55).

The boisterous crowd made it quite difficult to hear across the table however, so I never really had the opportunity to talk to Ms. Ishmael or Ms. Anderson. Lucky for me, I happened to be seated directly next to the most entertaining and insightful guest at the whole dinner, Mr. Peter Lee (class of ’63). Now I know all of my cohorts will blog about how they were at the best table and that they had the best alums to talk to, but I am afraid that simply is not true. I can say with complete confidence that Peter Lee will be by far one of the most interesting people I will ever meet. He happened to be a guest of honor of sorts (of course) and even gave a speech about what opportunities Cornell gave him. My fellow ILCers Taylor and Terilyn also gave nice speeches, and they happened to be lucky enough to speak before Mr. Lee went up and worked his magic.

Peter instantly made me feel comfortable as soon as I met him, and he asked all the questions I would have expected, “what’s your best subject, what is the program about,” and the question alums seemed required to ask, “Are you planning on going to Cornell for college?” Once he began telling me about his experiences at Cornell did I fully realize that the ILC was giving me a once in a lifetime opportunity in attending a class at Cornell. Both my parents had gone to Cornell, so I was clearly going to be considering that as a potential college for me, but Peter told me something about Cornell that got me even more excited about this program, which I did not think was humanly possible. Peter Lee explained to me that Cornell was not only a place where you could receive a fantastic education, but also “a place where you can make connections that will last a lifetime, which is really what college is all about.” I look forward to making these connections at the summer program I will be attending, and am now looking forward to college more than ever, thanks to Mr. Peter Lee.

Putting the Wonderful in Wednesday

The company was sublime, the food was divine, complemented by a venue with panache, and the night was- well, cold…but nonetheless turned out to be electrifying.

Leading up to Wednesday evening’s adventure in the City, I was jittery but excited for the chance to grill alums on the Ivy League experience and to get acquainted with the ILC sponsors whose monumental support I had witnessed a week before, at the School Board Meeting. A floral Neiman’s number reserved for the occasion lent me a boost of confidence as I stepped out, determined to have fun and to forget about the AP test that awaited me in the morning. I was in for an eye-opener.

My father and I had the pleasure of being joined at the table by chaperone Ms. Tiffani Neal, ILC Selection Committee members: Mr. Izzy Ramsey, Mr. Henry Ramsey, and Mr. Herman Blackmon; the latter also was an ILC sponsor along with Mr. Wally Gordon.

Our table was rounded out by Mr. Kuehne, who happened to be the father of my friend and ILC Brown member, Erin Kuehne. Erin hadn’t told me that her dad was an alum of the Cornell School of Engineering, which was well-represented that night.

The inspirational speeches set the mood for the electrifying evening to come. My admiration goes out to Terilyn and Taylor, both of whom genuinely expressed exactly how I (and I’m sure the rest of us Cornellians) was feeling at the moment, their words better than I ever could have put it. As alums, sponsors, selection committee members, parents, school district supporters ‘popped up’ to introduced themselves, I marveled at how many people were gathered here in support of us. It really echoed what Mr. Peter Lee had said about the importance of forming life-long connections and the embodiment of being a Cornellian. I realized that there was a greater network of support behind us out there, much bigger than the eight of us journeying to Ithaca. Joe Arciniega put it impeccably that these were people who wished us success and had already made contributions to our success. I’m ready to make them proud in New York and share what I’ve gained from the experience with fellow students.

Mrs. Lilhanand, Mr. Ramsey, and Mrs. Kronenberg stressed the importance of bringing back to the WCCUSD community what we’ve learned from the ILC experience in the form of service learning projects and encouraging other students to reach for the Ivies. Indeed, ILC alum and future freshman at Cornell University, Yueming Wang certainly brought that quality to the table Wednesday night. Her stirring description of how Cornell and the ILC completely altered her point of view and bolstered her confidence that she and the rest of WSSUSD could compete just as well as anyone else from more privileged areas, fired me up for what will be the most difficult but most exhilarating three week experience of my life.

As the amazing evening carried on, I got to know Ms. Neal much better, as we chatted about what her past experiences chaperoning for Cornell were like. She is really pleasant, friendly, easy to talk to, and eager to help; I’m so glad she’ll be accompanying us to Chicago and Ithaca this summer! I was very impressed by Harvard Law graduate Mr. Izzy Ramsey. I have never been to the East Coast before, so his and Mr. Kuehne’s descriptions of the weather (especially the winter weather) made me all the more grateful for this summer sojourn.

Later on, Genevieve told me about the alums at her table, the sweet story of how Doug Mitarotonda and his wife Rachael Reichenbach met and got married at Cornell. I was also awed by Doug’s triple-major status and marveled at how he managed that while participating in varsity athletics. Genevieve passed onto me Doug’s tips from his cross-country days on the best trails to run during our stay at the beautiful Cornell campus. Genevieve, Joe, and I have already made plans to try them out; I’m so excited!

Amidst our conversations, the Cornell alums and ILC students were ushered outside to take group photos. I will always remember the iconic shots of the eight of us popping a pose on the courtyard boulders. We made it back in time for a sumptuous desert which concluded the evening. My one regret was that I never got to take a picture of the delicious, quickly-devoured food.