There's a Whole World

A picture of the meeting's site
(Credit to Lisa for taking this picture)

Yesterday, all of the new members of the Ivy League Connection got together for a school board meeting. I came home from school early and got dressed for the upcoming event. My mom drove me to LoVonya Dejean Middle school and we got there around 5:30 as the first ILC family to arrive. When I got there,  Don was setting up the area that we'd be taking our group photos in. The meeting began with the Board members deciding on the order of the agenda and they decided that the ILC members should go first. 

Our cohort chaperon, Mrs. Thrift

The first two groups to speak at the podium were the Brown cohorts of sessions one and two. My Columbia cohort and I were up next. Our chaperon, Mrs. Thrift, introduced all of us, which grade of high school we're in, and the classes we'll be taking at Columbia. She then presented a list of schools we'd be visiting while we're there and asked me to give a short speech. 

Me at the podium

I got up to the podium extremely nervous and introduced myself to the board members and audience. I thanked everyone who had contributed to the program for allowing us this opportunity and choosing such a wonderful group of students. I went on to say that getting in to the program was extremely difficult but very rewarding and how excited we all are to go to New York. When I come back to my school, I want to show that there's a whole world outside of California and it's waiting for them to explore it. After my speech, everyone congratulated me and said that my speech was great. 

After each group finished the ritual, we went to Don's photo area with our parents and chaperons and we all took a group picture. It took quite a few flashes of the camera, but we were able to get enough shots to get a perfect picture. Around eight o'clock, we met with our chaperons to get our ILC certificates and then we returned home. I got home extremely tired so I decided to take an hour long nap before I posted my blog. Unfortunately, my alarm clock didn't go off. Thankfully, Angry Don hasn't noticed yet, but he'll probably be a little upset when he reads my post.