Sitting at home with
nothing to fret over other than school summer assignments, upcoming tests, and
college applications definitely feels alien to me now after spending weeks
worrying about all aforementioned subjects, as wells as summer college applications, fancy dinners, travel preparations,
and class work usually given to college freshmen. I had grown accustomed to waking up in the morning to greet my
roommate Marika, walking to breakfast at Robert Purcell Community Center with
Christian, greeting the cashier, and speed-walking to McGraw Hall for Professor
Kramnick’s morning lectures. Despite the lack of air conditioning, I had grown
to like the lecture hall, as well as the small room—the only section room
without air conditioning—where I joined in intellectual discussions about the
history of the feminist movement. I joined the Ivy League Connection thinking
to expand my intellectual horizon, but I returned home with worlds of
information which I will carry with me wherever I go.
Having applied to the
Ivy League Connection last year, I was accustomed to the application process
and was determined to go to Cornell this summer. This year Cornell’s Freedom
and Justice program was made school-specific to Hercules Middle/High School,
and after researching the class and Professor Isaac Kramnick, I knew I wanted
to take the course. I wrote two essays before being accepted for the interview,
one short general essay about what is expected of me should I be chosen, and
one program-specific essay about freedom and justice. I was selected for the
interview among five other students, and with some confidence and positive
thinking made it fairly smoothly through the interview. I was overjoyed when
Christian, Tamilyn, and I were chosen to attend Cornell University’s Freedom
and Justice Summer Program.
The dinners were
definitely the tastiest element of the program; from braised beef short rib to
basil soup, each dinner was mouth-watering, belly-warming, and complimented
great conversations between students, alumni, alumnae, and admissions officers.
Everyone, even the admissions officers, learned something at each dinner, and
it was a wonderful opportunity for students to ask questions about college, as
well as experience the life they can have if they are successful in future.
The college tours were
also very productive and I only wish we could have visited more than two
campuses. Chicago and Northwestern provided two very different campus settings,
from a “Harry Potter” feel to a more modern and plain institution, but a
greater variety would have been more favorable. The University of Chicago had
many beautiful Victorian-styled buildings and was a rather small school.
Northwestern University was slightly larger, though it had more modern-styled
buildings on its gothic campus. It was a wonderful opportunity for me to see
examples of the different colleges I available for application.
Cornell, however,
definitely caught my attention. It is no small exaggeration when people say
Cornell is “Gorges,” and I loved the natural beauty and grand size of the
campus. I was assigned to a double on the fourth floor of North Balch Hall,
where the heat would rise and my roommate Marika and I would do our work with a
fan in front of our faces. While Marika and I did not have time to truly sit
down and have a heart to heart chat, we got a long well and conversed about
trivial matters that taught us more about the other. I initially hoped to have
a room to myself, but at the end of the program I was glad I had a roommate for
the three weeks to talk with, share stories with, borrow laundry detergent
from, and to tell me to go to sleep when I have been studying for too
long.
The other students at
Cornell, the Resident Community Advisors, undergraduates, and fellow
classmates, were also very friendly and pleasant people who opened my eyes to
other cultures and academic institutions. Two of my new friends, Purva and
Gloria, taught me about education and holidays in India, as well as life in a
California boarding school. I really enjoyed my classes with Professor Kramnick
and Kevin, and I will miss the long hour and a half morning lectures in which
the professor would often incorporate modern topics into our lessons, even
trying to convince us to watch Bling Ring
(which Gloria, Christian, and I watched) because he thought it might appeal to
us younger folk. Learning about writings from people who have been dead for
hundreds of years may seem unimportant, but the ideas of these people are the
basis of our modern society and have shaped American culture, politics, and
economy. Our teacher assistants were exceptionally helpful, as Kevin said: the
professor is like our verbal textbook and the TAs are the teachers in every
other aspect.
The Cornell cohort was
kept busy in our classes, but on weekends we would usually go on trips
together, whether it is to Niagara Falls or the Ithaca Commons, and usually on
weekdays Christian, Rochelle, Tomi, and I would have dinner together. We
definitely grew closer together, and even talked with Mr. Chan-Law as he was
one of us. Mr. Chan-Law was a very capable and experienced chaperone, and he
was up to speed with everything and made sure everything went smoothly. I was
glad to have him as a chaperone, and I am grateful to the Ivy League Connection
for making this experience possible.
I have learned so much
more about the world, and I truly appreciate the effort Don, Mr. Ramsey, and
Madeline Kronenberg put into helping high school students succeed. The Ivy
League Connection is not the only scholarship program offered, but from my
talks with other students at Cornell, I have found the ILC to be the most
rigorous and dedicated. ILC students have a unique opportunity to dine with
alumni and admission officers in expensive restaurants we will usually not eat
at, an experience no other scholarship program does that I have heard, and the program also ensures that the students are prepared for the course, giving students course material before hand, which we were very thankful for!
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