Board of Excitements

As I braided my hair to get ready for the school board meeting, my parents walked into my room expressing how proud they are of my accomplishment. They're one of my biggest motivations and I'm happy they're there supporting me every step of the way.

As my mother and I arrived at  Lovonya Dejean Middle School, I immediately met with Komal and we walked in to the multi-purpose room together. As the crowd slowly gathered up we managed to find the rest of our cohort on the other side of the room.

From left to right: Komal, Bailey, Krystal, Me (Lynda), Camila, and Aimee

We saw our chaperone, Joanne Whitlock, had a quick chat and decided it would be the perfect time to take some pictures. Mini photo shoots are always key with the Ivy League.  Once we sat down, Mrs. Whitlock passed around a list of possible colleges we might visit: Emory University, Columbia University, and University of Pennsylvania. After seeing the list of possible colleges, I got very excited because these are some of the schools I was planning to apply to in the future, and it would be great to visit them beforehand and get a feeling of how they are like.

Once the meeting began, we were moved up to be one of the first presentations. As we were the third cohort to go up, I was very nervous and excited due to the fact that there was many people there. As stood up there, I was very proud of what I had accomplished, and since there was so many children there, I hoped they looked at us as role models. We were introduced to the school board by our chaperone, and then it was Camila's turn to speak. I can't emphasize on how great her speech was, I was mind-blown.

Krystal and I

All the rest of the cohorts went up and it was Arnold Dimas' turn to speak, a former ILCer and a Gates Millennium Scholarship recipient. I was very impressed by his speech. He told us the story about how he didn't get into ILC after his first interview, but that didn't stop him. It empowered him to do even better when it came to the second round. There was a few bumps along the way, but to get the Gates Millennium Scholarship clearly shows that nothing stopped him from trying, and I will always keep that in mind, because there is always different, great opportunities.

I couldn't think of anyone better than Don to end the presentation, since he is the one making this whole opportunity possible. Don concluded the presentation with a great speech honoring us all, and thanking all the sponsors.

Then came the famous group photo, it was full of laughs and smiles. I couldn't imagine a better way to my day.