Never Too Late to Learn New Things

Today, I arrived De Anza and almost got lost looking for room 206. It was a good thing that there was an ILC chaperone close by. After signing in, I chose to sit close to members of my cohort, Tomi, Tamilyn, and Michelle. Our first task was to get ourselves connected to the internet since most of us brought our own laptop. However, it was much more difficult that we thought. First, no one had the passwords for connecting to the Wi-Fi. And second, the Ethernet cables were not long enough. The cables in the computer lab and the cables we brought ourselves were too short. After more struggling, most of us decided to just use the computers in the computer lab.

Tamilyn sat on the left of me

Then began the learning. We went over blogging first. In addition to Don telling us how blogging is properly done, we were also able to practice blogging hands on. This was very helpful because I tend to learn better when I actually attempt the task instead of just listening and watching. Although it was my very first time blogging, I thought I did a pretty good job and only practice makes perfect.

Next, Don went over photography. I always thought that taking pictures from a cell phone was better because it was convenient and the quality wasn’t that bad. After seeing Don’s pictures using an actual camera, I knew I was wrong. Don went over how to edit the picture taken and rename them. We needed to use the MediaFire site, but unfortunately, it was blocked. We then practiced taking pictures around room inserting the pictures into our blogs.

Don adjusting his camera for Tomi to use

After hearing Don tell us what we had to look forward to (dinners, school board meetings, luggage packing, etc), I felt even more excited about the trip than I already was. I’m very grateful for being selected to be a representative for the ILC. I really look forward to this learning experience and opportunity to give back. 

In addition to the words of wisdom Don gave us, we finally met with our cohort chaperone, Mr. Chan-Law. He gave us some advice in terms of what to bring and what not to bring. He also talked about the different places we could visit on the weekends. Once again, I felt even more excited about the trip and I can't wait for the summer to start already.