Through WCCUSD’s Ivy League Connection program, Hercules High School Students Justine Betschart, Stacy Chan, Ramiah Davis-Shephard, Louisa Man, Julia Maniquiz, and Yueming Wang will be attending Cornell University to either study Freedom and Justice or Hotel Operations Management during the summer of 2009.

Saturday, June 20, 2009

We Have Arrived

Finally, we have made it to Ithaca, New York. I must say our traveling experience was quite eventful. We made it to the airport, but both our flights – from San Francisco and from Detroit – were delayed. Nevertheless we made it and got situated in our dorms last night, or should I say this morning. I was still very excited and could not sleep. As Mr. Ramsey wished, we were able to pick our side of the dorms. I unpacked and got a few quick hours of sleep.
Early this morning – very early considering my brain is still on California time – we were up and enjoyed a great breakfast at the Statler Hotel. The “Holtelies” actually got a couple of pointers from our waitress. After that we were off to Syracuse University. It is a beautiful campus. I cannot stress that enough, Syracuse is absolutely beautiful. The first part of the tour consisted of a video presentation followed by an open question and answer session. We then continued with the actual tour of the campus. Unfortunately, we had to cut that short, because we had to be back to Cornell in time for orientation.
At orientation we learned that there are supposed to be over 800 summer Cornellians on campus over these next couple months. Students sat with their respective classes at orientation and then broke out with their professors. After Professor Kramnick’s introduction, Julia, Justine and I introduced ourselves to him. I am so glad to be in his class, he seems like a great professor. My impression of him so far is that he is a very interesting individual; and I mean that in the best possible way.
Next Mr. Ramsey took us to the book store and purchased our course packets and sweatshirts. Actually, Mr. Ramsey has been taking very good care of us throughout the entire trip. He always tries to make sure we have everything we need. (Thank you once again Mr. Ramsey!)
It was after our trip to the book store that we finally got to eat again. The dining hall “North Star” took us a minute to get used to, but the food was pretty good. It was better than I expected it to be. Another big plus in my book is that North Star is only a short walk from our dorm. It seems that 15 minutes is the average time it takes to walk anywhere on campus from the dorms; but not this one.
After eating we finally got a chance to relax. I intended to take that time to set up my Internet access, but fell asleep in the process. I did, however, wake up in time for the ice cream social. (The mango sorbet was delicious.) As soon as I got back to my room I set up the Internet and started my blog. I did not finish it right away because we had our first floor meeting tonight. The undergraduate students who are in charge of our dorm activities – aka RA’s – thoroughly broke down all of the house rules for our dorms.
I have also bonded with my roommate. She actually reminds me of one of my roommates from a LeadAmerica conference I attended in January. Her name is Jessica and she is from Long Island.
Well, it seems like we lady Titans are off to a great start; and I’m sure you can expect things to get even better.


*Ramiah

1 comment:

  1. Ramiah,

    Great to read about your first day In Ithaca and the trek it took to get there.

    I've been playing with these blogs for several years and it never ceases to amaze me how much of the space is devoted to eating. Not that that's a bad thing, Ramiah. I eat as often as I can (as can be observed by my hefty girth) and I've been know to indulge in some of the less healthy offerings (that mango sorbet sounded pretty good).

    Just from what you've written it seems that your level of confidence has worked to your advantage already. You may not have noticed it but some of the exercises with Sue Kim, with the dinners and even appearing before the school board and city councils were all designed to help build and reinforce that level of confidence.

    Even though Mr. Ramsey may call upon you at the drop of a hat to give a speech to a large group of strangers, I've never heard anyone say that traveling with him has been second class. We take care of our own, Ramiah.

    When you get a chance, tell us more about your accommodations. Tell us about the dorm set-up (photos would be nice) and tell us more about your roomie.

    I can't wait to read about your adventures in class once it starts in earnest.

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