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.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

July 9: Our Last "Good Morning Professor Kramnick"

Good afternoon, loyal readers. As you know, we are nearing the end of this amazing trip of a lifetime, and I think I can speak for all 6 of us when I say that this opportunity is most definitely appreciated and will be missed. Before I lower my head in sadness over my nearing departure, I must focus on the mission at hand: the Freedom & Justice final.

Today's itinerary followed its normal pattern: breakfast, lecture, discussion session and lunch. Today's lecture centered on Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, two of my favorite writers from this course. I enjoy the history of the civil rights movement, and hearing different perspectives of the time intrigued me. During discussion, we spent a majority of the time discussing our final Plato essays and listening to Des' college advice. On our way to lunch, Des walked with our Hercules trio and told us about fellowships and scholarships he could refer us to if we were interested in pursuing philosophy. He also mentioned how he enjoyed having us in the class and appreciated the work we put in. Apparently, he has noticed immense growth in each of us. I'm very happy that we made Des proud. Hopefully, we've made our district proud as well.

Rather than have a guest speaker, as we usually do on Thursday afternoons, our class was offered a voluntary discussion section with Professor Kramnick following lunch (a discussion a majority of our class of 70 decided not to attend, surprisingly). Loving the opportunity to gain beneficial knowledge, Julia, Ramiah and I attended the session where we
picked Professor Kramnick's brain and asked about confusing concepts. I feel like I left the session with clearer ideas of certain philosopher's beliefs. The session has left me with a drive to finish studying for tomorrow's final and hopefully, pull off a praise-worthy grade.

Unfortunately, I must cut my blog short. Tomorrow's final is nearing, and I expect my best work to be put forth. Wish me luck!

1 comment:

  1. Justine,

    Just as you needed to cut your blog short, I need to head off to a meeting with Charles, Madeline and Sue Kim where we’ll be discussing what to do with you all once you return. This should be fun.

    And unless you think that Des was just blowing smoke up your skirts, we’ve all seen the growth from this end as well. We’re very proud of all of our Cornellians.

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