ILC Tutorial 101: The More You Know!

You learn something new everyday. Today, I learned a lot of useful information about ILC responsibilities, blogging, photography, and traveling essentials. I arrived at DeAnza High School on time before 8:00 AM. At ILC and basically every important event ever in life, punctuality is key. Don has stressed this point numerous times; it's now stuck in my head and all the other ILC'ers, I am sure. He also stressed that communication and fulfilling the whole lists of responsibilities in our "I Understand" list is essential. The ILC has pushed me to be a mature adult and to follow directions. I will be making sure that I only see Good Don and not Evil Don.

We had already set up our blog accounts prior to the tutorial, so all we had to do was pay attention to instructions on how to properly format and publish our blogs' text and photos. I will have to get used to not indenting my paragraphs for these blogs. Anyway, these are not essays for my AP Literature class. While creating our practice blogs, some people faced some technical issues with their computer. I actually am not surprised. This happens all the time in school computer labs, unfortunately. After, we learned some tips and tricks about photography. Don showed us that holding the camera close to your body and leaning on something makes arms more stable, resulting in a clearer and not fuzzy picture. I was also fascinated by the photo enhancement examples he showed us, removing blemishes and red eye. We tried taking some photos ourselves outside.  My dear friends from Richmond High and I ended up taking some priceless photos with Don's digital cameras. I also got to talk and laugh with ILC'ers from other schools, which made me more comfortable and excited for my journey in the ILC.

Can you tell how excited we are for The Ivy League Connection?
From left to right: Mauricio Morfin, Aimee Cortez, Jacqueline Rojas, Diana Ramirez, Edward Hernandez

After, we were reminded again of our responsibilities in the ILC, such as the School Board Meeting and our dinners. I look forward to all the new people I will meet in these events and what we will all have to share to each other. I may have to buy more attire for occasions like these. Dressing well is so important; it gives people their first impression on an individual! 

Then, we moved on to the traveling part of the tutorial. We got a whole packet with our luggage options. This surprised me because it was apparent that so much colored ink was used to print it. Don also showed us a long checklist of items we will need for our trips east. Currently, I probably do not even have half the items listed. I will be checking a lot of items in the loaner item request form. I did not even know what a laptop security cable was until Don presented us one and we got to try using it for practice. Traveling requires long checklists, but it is a thrilling experience.

Overall, the ILC tutorial provided a lot of valuable information that I could use outside of the ILC as well, such as maintaining responsibilities, taking decent photos and being prepared for traveling. It was very interesting to see all the bright students sharing this experience with me and I am very excited to experience more with the ILC. This is the start of something new and tremendous in my life.