Earlier this evening, Ivy League Connection Brown dinner at One Market in San Francisco was truly an inspirational night to remember. My aunt Jennifer and I arrived at the El Cerrito Plaza BART station late, to meet with all Brown Cohorts and their parents, Don Gosney, Madeline Kronenberg, Mr. Blackmon, our chaperons Jennifer Gilbert and Alana Scott. Thereafter, Don went over our schedule, recommended tips such as asking questions and introducing ourselves to the adults, then he handed us all round-trip BART tickets.
Our BART train arrived, so we got off, walked upstairs and One Market was a block away. One Market is a wonderful, grand restaurant, our servers showed us into our seating room. First I introduced myself to Mr. Blackmon, who was one of the founders of the early beginning Ivy League Connection. He had talked to me about the first IlCer Peter Chow who is now a graduating an Ivy League University also is hoping to make an appearance tonight. I spoke to a few of my cohorts then introduced my aunt to their parents. Soon, I had seen Cheryl Lilhanand one of three who interviewed us from John F. Kennedy High School, as we all were accepted. One of the main topics she spoke to me about was having self-confidence, believing in your goals, and to always remember you have the same amount of potential as anybody else around you while staying at Brown University in the summer. Also, I met Todd Groves who is on the School Board. His daughter went to study at Brown University with the Ivy League Connection. She enjoyed learning in the East Coast and is now a student at New York University studying Computer Science. It is fascinating to meet and speak to so many inspiring, experienced, accomplished people here at the Brown dinner.
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| Mouth-watering Strawberry Rhubard Shortcake |
Soon, we all searched for our names written in cursive on our placards. Seated at our medium sized, white cloth, round table was Todd Groves who is on the School Board, Jennifer Dao who graduated from UC Berkeley, Alana Scott Brown I chaperon, Arianne Babcock who is a middle school teacher in San Francisco also was in the air force base, Jonathan Speed a Brown Alumni Class of 84', Jagjeet Kaur (my cohort who is also attending Women and Leadership summer course at Brown), her mother and my aunt. Arnold Dimas and YeonSoo Cho gave a speech thanking the ILC benefactors, Charles Ramsey, Madeline Kronenberg, Don Gosney and all the people who are helping us in this incredible journey, spoke of returning back home with more knowledge to share in our family, school, and in our communities. Charles Ramsey created a profound speech about how the Ivy League Connection, our parents, everyone in our school district such as our teachers, all those who have helped us along my way, work so hard to help us move forward. It has always been a time to pay it forward, to share our voices, most importantly give back help and guidance to people who we cross paths, to learn and make positive growth in our communities. This night has inspired me to make a life goal to share all of the knowledge and lessons other people have taught me.
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