From Past to Present and Beyond

I look back and find it hard to believe how large of an impact the Ivy League Connection has had on my life. For two years now I have been a part of it, and I still find it very difficult to articulate into mere words how much my life has changed because of this program. Compared to two years ago, I now classify myself as a changed person. I feel as though I am much more outgoing and confident. Making new friendships or even something as simple as talking to a stranger is something I am more comfortable doing. I have learned that collective thinking, in addition to independent learning, is the best way to achieve a common goal or overcome any obstacle. The Ivy League Connection has opened my eyes to a world greater than that of my community and has expanded my academic horizons beyond anything I could have ever imagined possible. Two years ago, I would have never been able to imagine the change I have undergone and how much I have grown as a person to create who I am today.  

Even now, I find it remarkable how fast time can pass without one truly taking note of it. It seems as though it were only yesterday when I anxiously sat in a classroom at El Cerrito High School, awaiting the final decision from the panelists on who had been accepted for the Social Justice program at the University of Pennsylvania. I remember how nervous I was as the names were slowly read out loud and the sense of relief I felt throughout my entire body as my name was read. It was a dream come true and I could not even begin to put into words the excitement that coursed through me in that moment. This was all thanks to the panelists, who had just handed me the opportunity of a life time and whom I could not even begin to express to, how grateful I was. Upon leaving the building and heading home I instantly began to imagine the adventures that were in store for me on the East Coast.

The work, however, in no way halted there. Being selected by the panelists was only the beginning of a long line of other required events that came with being a part of the ILC. The months that led up to our departure date tested my dedication and my determination in being a part of the program. Among the first of the events was the School Board meeting, which introduced me to the numerous people I would be representing while I would be on the East Coast. Being a part of the ILC meant that I was now an official ambassador for everyone in my school district; a big responsibility which I was determined to accomplish to the best off my abilities. Next on that list was the dinner in San Francisco, which gave me a deeper taste of what I could expect while at UPenn by allowing me to meet alumni and current students. Everyone there was eager to pass on their experiences going from high school to college, and how they had been greatly impacted by the UPenn lifestyle. Last on that list was the orientation session, the final event separating me from the departure date. It was where all ILCers for the 2014 season gathered together and were given final briefings over what we were about to see on the East Coast and what was going to be expected of us while over there.

Every event that I partook in only elevated my excitement for the summer and made me long for the months separating us to turn into days. However, as the saying goes, "be careful what you wish for", as quickly those months became into weeks, then into days, then into hours. Before I was fully able to be aware, I was standing in front of El Cerrito High School, bright and early at around 3:30 AM, waiting for the shuttle that would take us to the airport. I remember that day distinctly as it was the day when I realized all the work I had put in over the months prior, had paid off, and now I was about to collect my reward in the form of an unbelievable opportunity to spend the summer on the East Coast.

College Tours

During our first week while on the East Coast, our time was primarily dedicated to college tours. Among the schools we visited were Georgetown University, Columbia University, NYU, Princeton and of course UPenn. Being a rising senior, these tours were an invaluable opportunity to do a bit of research on the schools I would most likely desire to apply to. Before departing, I told myself that I wanted to establish a list of schools that I wanted to apply to when my time came in the coming months. Being able to visit these schools, rather than reading about the through a computer screen gave me that exact opportunity. I was able to fully immerse myself in the environment of each school, and I often found myself attempting to pretend to be an undergraduate student merely heading from class to class. This was another plus of visiting these schools first hand. It gave me the opportunity to see if each school fit who I was and whether or not I could imagine myself attending. In addition to just the tours, we sat through informational sessions for each of these schools (except Princeton because it was closed due to the holiday weekend). This provided me with a lot more information about the logistics of each of the schools, and gave me a sense as to what kind of student each one was looking for. It allowed me to reflect upon myself and see whether or not I was a match for their criteria. In truth, after the first week, I had felt stumped, because each school appeared amazing to me.

Various pictures from our various college tours!

More pictures from our college tours!

 

 Social Justice Research Academy

 

A few inspirational figures from SJRA

The official name of the program I attended was the Social Justice Research Academy. However many of the students began calling it SJRA for short. I can not even place into words what this course did for me. Out of every class I have taken in my academic career, this one by far was the most impacting and revolutionary for me. Never before have I taken a class that has caused me to not only change my perspective on the world I live in, but also change my outlook on who I am. The primary reason for this was my professor, Andrew Lamas, although he urged all the students to call him Andy from day 1. On our first day of class, he began by explaining that everyone in the class was a teacher and that over the course of the three weeks, we would teach and learn from each other. His goal was always to transcend the traditional framework for teaching, which usually customarily involved a teacher spewing vast amounts of information at students hoping they retain bits and pieces of it. In order to accomplish this goal, he made the class more interactive. Among his methods for this goal were bringing in numerous guest speakers, field trips that would allow us to assess in more depth what we were learning about, and a host of group discussions where we could all express our ideas and opinions freely. I felt very comfortable in this style of teaching as it allowed me a lot more liberty to express what I believed without fear of being laughed at or shut down by the teacher. Moreover, it allowed me a new way of learning material, as opposed to the traditional method of a teacher giving instructions. I learned from my peers, I learned from the books we read and the movies we watched, and I also learned from the environments where we would take field trips. One of the most important aspects of the class that truly enhanced my experience there were the other individuals who through the course of the three weeks I went from calling my classmates to my SJRA family. As everyone came from different backgrounds, each offered a wide array of ideas and perspectives that greatly made me question my own perspectives. However, the characteristic I most greatly enjoyed was that everyone was very accepting of contradictory ideas. New ideas were always welcomed and ideas that were different from our own were respected at all times. Another key point about SJRA were the optional events that occurred in the evenings. While I tried to attend as many as I possibly could, I was unable to attend all of them. However, focusing on the ones I did attend, they were all life changing. Each one made me think of the world in a different way, and I learned that everything must be viewed through multiple perspectives. For example, one evening the issue of American aid to underdeveloped countries was brought up, which sparked the debate concerning the definition of "underdeveloped" and whose perspective it belonged to. Throughout the class we covered a variety of topics similar to that, which instigated a wide array of debates concerning the issue. What astounded me the most is that in the end, there was never a right or wrong answer as we are sometimes led to believe. Among the most prominent of these debates was capitalism, mass media, and politics. Each debate was consistently led by students which inspired others to join in until the whole class was involved in the discussions. Overall, I contribute the change I have undergone this past summer to my experiences in SJRA. Not only has it taught me a lot about myself but it has inspired me to "be the change I wish to see in the world".

SJRA Family!!!

 Residential Coordinator/ RC Group

 

Among the parts of my experience at UPenn that truly influenced me was my RC and my RC group. My RC's name was Jordan Gaither and from day one he was set on differentiating our group from every other. From day one, he was able to make 12 complete strangers into close friends and from there we only became closer. My RC was probably one of the most inspirational figures I met while on this trip. He was very philosophical and passionate about literature. He had even published his own poetry book called, "Poets Elixr" which really surprised me considering he was only 23 years old. Throughout the course of the three weeks, he became our older brother and our role model. On one occasion, as an RC group, we had decided to all go on one of the excursions for laser tag. Being that at that point we had all grown very close together, we all formed one team with our RC as the team captain. In both matches we emerged victorious because of our coordination and communication as a group. Our RC later told us that the unity we had displayed had been truly inspirational to him and that he was proud of how far we had come. In addition, my RC group had a profound influence on me. From our first day we became friends very quickly and soon we had developed a system for around our schedules so we could always spend time hanging out. Out of the twelve of us in our group, five were a part of SJRA, five were in the Biomedical Research Academy, and two were in the Physics program. At the end of each day or over dinner, we would usually spent a bit of time discussing what we each had learned in class. I felt that compared to the RC group I had last year, the one from this year was much more united in the sense that we stuck by each other for almost everything. If someone was sick we each volunteered to bring them food or anything they needed; if someone was stressed we all did something fun in order to take their mind off of whatever was troubling them. This strong unity is what kept me, in a sense, from feeling to nostalgic because it allowed me to have that sense of support I would get at home. Through the course of the three weeks, we went from strangers to friends and ultimately to brothers. Although many of us are now thousands of miles apart, we still constantly check up on one another and continue to act as brothers, which is a quality I hope will continue long into the future.

My amazing RC group

Columbia to UPenn

Being that this was my second year as part of the ILC, I have had the wondrous opportunity of attending two highly prestigious schools, Columbia University and the University of Pennsylvania. Often when I told someone about my experiences at Columbia, they would ask me a common question: "which one do you like better". For some this question might be very easy, however for me it is a very difficult question to answer. I chose to attend Columbia last summer because I was greatly interested in the course, Constitutional Law. For a long time I had had my mind set on desiring to become a lawyer, and even now this dream lives on strongly within me. However, my decision for desiring to attend the Social Justice program at UPenn came from a more personal perspective as I wanted to learn more about the social issues that exist not only in my community or country, but those on an international scope as well. When attempting to decided which school I liked best, I could easily argue in terms of logistics (amenities, friends, campus) but the way I view the question is, which one impacted you the most. The answer to that question is much more difficult for me as each school has left a lasting influence on me in different ways. Each has allowed me to grow as a person and has developed a new form of intellectuality in my mind. I see the world in ways I could have never imagined possible for a teenager growing up in a small community in the Bay Area. In addition, I am also asked how Constitutional Law could be related to a course based on Social Justice. For me, the answer to that is quite simple. At Columbia I learned lot of the legalities associated with common social issues that made their way up to the Supreme Court and why the justices ruled in a certain way, however at UPenn I was able to delve a lot deeper into the social issues and understand a lot more about the different points of view that surround them. In my opinion, both courses constitute two of my personal characteristics. I still have strong dreams of seeking a profession associated with Law, but I also want to be an activist for social change. I want to  be a catalyst for social change and reform the society we live in through Law.

Conclusion

For two years now the ILC has been my gateway to a distant world. It has allowed me to expand my horizons far beyond anything I could have imagined. It has taught me more about myself than even I was aware of.  Before my first participation with the ILC, I was a shy and very introverted person. My greatest displeasure was public speaking and having to talk to new people. However, through my time with the ILC I have become much more extroverted and social. I am no longer afraid to walk in front of a crowd and speak my mind. I no longer fear having to meet new people or make conversation with complete strangers. The ILC has changed my life dramatically, especially in my outlook towards colleges. For a long time, I had my eyes set on attending school within the university system of California because that was the mainstream ideology of college. Anyone who believed otherwise was normally struck down by being told of the miniscule possibilities of ever being admitted. For that reason I never once could have pictured the reality of what existed beyond. The ILC has allowed me to realize one crucial detail about Ivy League and East Coast schools in general, they do not seek perfection. Nobody is perfect, and schools look for students that they feel will best fit their campus, which is not necessarily manifested in whoever possess the highest grades or has attended the most prestigious high schools. Before the ILC, I could never envision myself ever standing a chance of being admitted into a prestigious school outside of California, however I have come to learn that your background does not matter. Your ethnicity, socio-economic status or even beliefs do not hinder your ability to be able to attend a good university. What matters most of all is the dedication and the determination you place in everything you do. Everything I have learned through the ILC has truly revolutionized my life. I cannot even begin to express how thankful I am to everyone who allows this program to function. Don, Ms. Kronenberg and Mr. Ramsey surpass the abilities of any individual I have ever met and put in so much work and time to allow this program to prosper. I am truly amazed at the success it has in impacting the lives of students because I am honestly one of the students it has greatly changed. I must extend my gratitude to my chaperone, Mr. Hillyer, who not only spent the majority of his summer guiding us through our experiences at UPenn but served as an inspirational figure. Everything I have learned from my time with the ILC will stay with me forever and I am proud to say that my life will never be the same because of it. Although this is my last year participating in the ILC as a high school student, I stay true to saying that was consistently mentioned on our last day of SJRA, "this is not the end, but rather it is only the beginning!"

The end of our UPenn journey

 

From There and Back Again

Man, what an adventure I have had this past year! It seems so long ago when I first embarked on this journey to do the ILC physics program. I'm so glad that I applied for this program. When I heard Don this year at my school, something just clicked and I realized that I wanted to take advantage of such a golden opportunity as this. Writing the essays weren't as nervewracking as the actual interview, but in both the essays and the interview, I was able to express myself in an adequate way. And to my elation, I got in! But the journey didn't stop there, it just started. During the mandatory meetings and tutorial sessions with Don, I learned what was expected of me and of how I should behave back in the East Coast. The dinners and meetings with the other ILCers like my UPenn cohort were refreshing as I met and gathered insights from other people who were driven, intelligent individuals like myself.

 Then the day of departure finally arrived! Though packing up all of my linens, clothes, suits, and toiletries was a bit of a pain, I survived and I had a lot of fun visiting Washington D.C. with all its memorials and monuments as well as touring some colleges. What were especially helpful were the Georgetown and UPenn tours. From these tours, I learned that colleges shouldn't be chosen just for their academics but for their ability to help people grow as a whole. I also learned that you should just be yourself in your college applications, expressing your unique, personal life values and experiences. 

After tours, I moved into the UPenn dorms. Living in the Penn campus was a new experience for me as I was by myself in a dorm with no one to tell me what to do and so I had to learn how to keep myself accountable with my time. Now for the main part of the program, the physics class. I really enjoyed my physics teachers as they were funny and yet able to teach hard concepts well. What I also liked was that they wanted us to not be just scientists but communicative thinkers who were able to express their ideas clearly. The friendship that I developed in the class made physics even more enjoyable in learning science together. The thing is that these relationships weren't superficial, but were much stronger than some of the relationships I had with my friends before. The friends that I made here were so close that I felt that I had known them since I was young. 

In conclusion, I really learned a lot about not only college or life, but also about myself during this trip to Penn. College is where people go to not only learn, but to develop close relationships with others whether it be professors or students. It's also a place where people are tested in their time management skills and will to succeed for themselves when no one's there to help encourage them. These things are essential to success not only in college, but in life as well. In addition, college shouldn't be a decision done by anyone else but yourself. Only you know what values you want in a college, environment you can thrive in, and what kind of community you can thrive in. I'm thankful for the ILC program for providing access to information like this and for my parents for helping me prepare for such a unique opportunity as this! But I won't be selfish with this knowledge I learned and I plan to share it to my friends and my schoolmates through informal conversation or formal speeches. College life should be an option for everyone and I want everyone to know that. Thanks ILC for starting this desire!

All good things must come to end

It seems like it's been so long since last fall, when I first started my application for the ILC. My first choice had actually been a program at Vanderbilt, but it was very popular (forty people applied!) and I didn't even get an interview. That program had one of the earliest deadlines, while Penn was one of the last, so it was several months before I sent in another application. I remember spending time over Christmas break trying to finish my essays for the Penn ILC application early--and yet, just a few weeks before they were due, I was still frantically finishing up.

I was very excited when Don told me I had an interview. As the date got closer, my excitement was replaced with nervousness. I was afraid that once I got into the room with the interviewers I would freeze and panic, and my mind would blank, ruining any chances I had to get into the ILC... I was over dramatizing things, of course. Most of the questions were just physics problems, and I loved my physics class so I had no trouble answering. Then my nervousness built up again as I waited for a few hours as the rest of the applicants were interviewed. Finally, they decided who had been accepted, and I heard my name with relief. After all, I hadn't even gotten to the interview stage applying to Vanderbilt. It was only the start of a long process, though. After countless emails, forms, and more applications sent in, I was finally ready to go off to the East coast with the rest of my cohort.

Meeting all the different admissions officers and going to the different college campuses was an interesting experience for me. It also gave me insight into what kinds of things I'll be looking for when I apply to colleges in a year.

Living in Philadelphia was a completely new experience for me. I was on my own, independent, and I found that it wasn't terrifying, that I liked independence. I was on my own in a place where no one knew me, where I had no reputation to live up to, where I could make first impressions acting however I wanted. It was also a completely new experience to have decisions like when to get up in the morning and where to go in the afternoons be entirely up to me. New, but exhilarating. 

Talking to Bill and others was also a wonderful experience. In this program I got to talk to people who not only truly understood what I was talking about when I went into long explanations about scientific theories I had, but had questions that made me think even more. I've never really had that experience before--usually people just say "yeah, that's cool" and hope I don't expect them to repeat what I said.

This summer has truly been a life-changing experience for me. There are so many good memories from my time on the East coast--some have been immortalized below in the form of quotes.

Julia M.: You're like a math onion. Every layer you take off is just more math!

John: Darwin would be proud. (On people jumping over and through miniature fireworks.)

Bryan: Does hand sanitizer kill 100% of germs?!? No! (In an argument with Andrew about absolutes being necessary for things to work. Bryan won.)

Gwennie: I know I've laughed before...

Julia M.: SPOONHENGE!!

Andrew: I want a margarita. (Don't worry, it was a non-alcoholic one.)

Donna: The air conditioner is burning.

Julia S.: Twenty minus six. Give me 10, I mean 6. No wait, 15, no 13! Don't look at me like that Gwennie, it's 6:30 in the morning! (Trying to get change from a taxi driver. The taxi driver was not as amused as I was.)

Gwennie: Why are all the pillows on the floor?

Julia S.: Don't judge me. I had arguments with those pillows. Dem b****es sleepin' on the floor!

Julia S.: I just burped. Now my life is complete.

Gwennie: Aren't I awesome? Yes, yes I am.

Julia M.: I am the special-est.

Mary: We broke physics again.

Bill: Quite simply, we don't exist. (In reference to electromagnetic principles that are broken by atoms all the time.)

Sophie: I hate men.

Sarah: I know, but they're so darn cute.

Sophie: Exactly, that's the problem.

Julia M.: They have free water here? WIN!!

Julia S.: Ewwwww, spider-butt strings! No, don't quote that!

Student A: I heard antimatter costs like a billion dollars an ounce.

Mary: They're selling antimatter?!

Student B: Where?

Student C: Home Depot!

Julia S.: Wow, that's a tiny dream catcher. You're just not allowed to have big dreams.

Bill: A photon doesn't bother a ping-pong ball, but it knocks the daylights out of an electron! It's like looking for light bulbs by firing bullets at them.

Gwennie: Well, when you have such huge numbers, an extra order of magnitude or two doesn't make as much difference. (Trying to justify getting a speed of light with an error of 2500%)

Eric: That's great! Now we know why we were wrong. The only problem is that we're not right...

Alison Sweeney's lab assistant: When you're scuba-diving in deep ocean, you have to stay tethered at all times, because if you don't and you drift away, there are no landmarks or anything in the ocean. So you probably won't be able to make it back to the boat, and that's not super great.

The Journey Ends

My last morning at the University of Pennsylvania began with gray skies and rain. My mood matched the weather. I considered the symbolic importance of the rain, then finished packing and saying goodbye to Maayan. Maayan wrote goodbye letters for Julia and I, which was almost my undoing. (I will miss Maayan so much.)  As we left the dorm for the last time I felt an unexpected pang of sentimentality and nostalgia. 

After checking out of the Summer Discovery program and returning my keys, it was time to leave for the airport. Luckily, or unluckily, we had six hours to wait in the airport. We passed the time with one giant meal at Chickie and Pete's, and an intense game of Munchkin Cthulhu, which I would have won, had it not been for a sudden and unexpected betrayal by a close friend. (Et tu Julia?) At last it was time to board the plane and leave Philadelphia once and for all. 

The plane ride was uneventful. I divided my time between talking with the people next to me and sleeping. It was with another pang of nostalgia that I realized our plane landed at the same gate we had departed from lo those many weeks ago.  In honor of this continuity, we opted to take our group picture in front of the gate which marked the beginning and ending of our journey. 

Sunset over the bay

After that is was but a short walk to the baggage claim where we all reunited with our families, and the trip was officially over. I can't believe how much the trip changed me. Before going to UPenn, the prospect of going to college, especially on the East Coast was daunting. Now I am certain that I can and will do just that. I will always carry the memories of my time at Penn with me. 

Back to the Bay

Goodbye, Philadelphia

This morning I woke up at nine (and this is after having finally gotten to bed at FIVE A.M.) I said goodbye to my roommates, who promised to keep in touch, and packed most of my things that I hadn't gotten around to (I mean... did a little bit of last minute packing). My suitcase was so full (and how is it possible that it was so much emptier coming here?) that my roommate and I both had to sit on it in order to zip it closed.

My cheesesteak

I turned in my keys outside the quad and met Mr. Hillyer and the rest of the cohort there. After many teary goodbyes to the friends we'd made, we took a shuttle to the airport. Since we had to leave the quad by eleven, but our plane wasn't until 5:30, we got to the airport six hours early and had a lot of time to kill. We found a restaurant near our gate and had brunch (brunner?) there. I had a Philly cheesesteak. We also played a round of Mr. Hillyer's game, Munchkins of Cthulhu,which killed a few hours and was really fun.

Airplane food--not as bad as it could be

Finally, we boarded the plane. After almost six hours of staring at clouds, we were finally home. We landed and came out the exact same gate we went in a month ago, and took a group photo there in our Penn sweatshirts. Then we met our parents at the baggage claim. After we'd said goodbye to each other and John (sniff sniff) we went home.

This last month was a unique experience for me, and I really enjoyed it. I'm glad to be back, but the last month in Philadelphia has changed me and the way I look at things.

Hard to say goodbye

Nostalgia

The Franklin dormitory meant only a foreign building to me. A castle-like structure with the frequent cockroaches. An area where students tend to reside in after class to finish up school work or take a break from a hectic day. 

But that was only how I felt when the program had just started. 

Sooner than expected, that foreign building became home. UPenn was home. And just like anytime when you're away from home, you get homesick. Heartbreak and nostalgia is already following me after recently arriving back in the Bay. 

I've never realized how beautiful Philly is at 6:00 in the morning until today. Probably because nothing looks beautiful at 6:00 AM. But today was special: it hosted the moment when our wonderful journey finally ended. Two of my friends, Annie and Prateek, were scheduled to leave on the 7:00 AM shuttle to the airport, so our small group of friends decided to get together at Starbucks and have one last meal with them. After many exchanges of hugs, we went to see them off, and that's when the chain reaction of depression began. 

It first started when the sky seem to transition into a dull gray and even began to rain at one point. Jordy joked about how rain was a good way to hide your tears, and it wasn't really helping the situation to be honest. Soon after everyone else boarded their buses for their trains, it was the time for my departure. Being one of the last few to leave Penn from my group of friends did give me an advantage to see them all off and wish them a safe flight, and I was more or less ready to leave. As I rushed into my dorm to grab my luggage and check out at the front of the Quad, I couldn't help but feel attached to my triple-room-dorm. It isn't the best place to live, but I had quite a lot of memories in there: from late night blogging to finishing up projects with friends. I had to stare around my room for a bit before leaving, and ended up meeting with the cohort outside. 

#Waka Flocka Group

We were all pretty exhausted from a long morning of good-byes on our ride to the airport, but Mr. Hillyer soon broke the desolate vibe when we went to Chickie's and Pete's for lunch. He also pulled out a game for us, and it was my first time playing Munchkins, but Mr. Hillyer decided to teach us all how to play. The intense game took up a lot of time that we had before our flight.

Being back in the Bay lets me realize how much that I have done and how far that I've went in terms of academics and personal growth. The program opened me up and allowed me to express my true colors, be all that I can be, and strive towards improving the person that I am.

I will never come across another experience such as this one, because nothing else can amount to my amazing summer well-spent in UPenn! 

The End?

Some of My Penn Friends!

Today was sadly the last day in Philly! I woke up early today to catch some of my friends before they  left to go to home. It was so hard saying goodbye to all my new friends at Penn. Even though we had been together for only 3 weeks, it felt like we knew each other for much longer than that. I hope to see them in the future and I wish them the best of luck in college

 

The Last Tastes of Philly

After saying my goodbyes, I packed up all my stuff which just means that I threw random stuff in my luggage and zipped it up in my bag. Putting our stuff in the shuttle, we drove to the Philly airport and ate at Chickie's and Pete's, our last Philadelphian meal. There we had their signature crabfries and a strange dish, a lobster cheese steak. To be honest, the cheese steak didn't really look like much. But when I tasted it, it was heavenly! To kill some time after brunch, we played the card game Munchkins at the restaurant which supposedly finishes in 1 hour, but we actually finished in 2 and a half hours. 

Welcome Home!

The plane ride was nice and I caught up with some sleep on the way to the SFO airport. Unfortunately, I didn't sit next to anyone new on the ride back, but I still talked with the Penn cohort on how the program was so amazing for them. After getting back home and unpacking my luggage, I relaxed and reflected on my experience at Penn. I'm so thankful for Don and John for helping make this trip possible and for my friends and teachers that I met at Penn for making this experience so worthwhile! This trip really opened my eyes to what college life was like, specifically in the East Coast. Though I left Penn and all my friends today, I won't forget them and I know that this isn't the end in my journey to discovering what college is like and best for me. It's only just the beginning and I hope that other people can share in this journey as I did or at least hear it from ILCers like myself. College life, get ready to be explored because we're going to have to tango pretty soon!

Day 20: A Chapter Concludes

Well, as I have dreaded since the beginning of this week, it is over. After three weeks of pure enlightenment and profound self-reflection, the end has finally arrived. No matter how much I may beg and wish that I were living in an illusion and that somehow time had not passed as rapid as it did , I know that I strongly lack the ability to do so. That regardless of how much I may want to stay, I know that I must go. However, the greatest emotional pain comes not from abandoning the life style with which I have grown so enamoured over the course of the last 3 weeks, but rather because of the individuals I have had the greatest pleasure of meeting and befriending. Without them, my experience at Penn would have been very different and each one has educated me in a multitude of different ways, which not only have provided me with different outlooks on the reality in which I live in, but also have caused me to mature as a person. 

Saying goodbye to two of my favorite RCs, Kelly and Jessica

Reflecting upon the influence others had on me while at the program; perhaps the greatest example is epitomized in the unity established between my RC group. To express how united we were, we escorted and assisted each one of of us out of the dormitories and to their pre-determined method of transportation. This process began bright and early at 4:00 AM and continued up until only one was left, at which point none of us could assist him. It is remarkable to think how much we have grouped together and how we have supported one another through every step of the way. My RC group in large part contributed to my overall happiness of the program, because I knew that even on my most stressful days, I had each of their support to lift me up. I will miss all of them dearly, but thankfully social media will allow all of us to stay connected so we can continue that sensation of unity and support. 

After taking my last few glimpses of the Quad as the cohort drove away I could not feel profoundly sad inside. For three weeks it had been my home away from home. It had been a hub for socialization as well as safe haven. To see it disappear into the background was greatly impacting, but I knew that soon I would be back in my true home.

For lunch/dinner, we grabbed a bite at Chickie's and Pete's. Being that it was my last day in Philadelphia, I decided to pay homage to the Philadelphian cuisine by ordering one final cheesesteak sandwich. It was great to eat as a cohort once more. It brought back many memories of when we first began our adventure almost a month ago. After eating, and being that we had plenty of time before our departure flight, we decided to play a game known as Munchkin Cthulhu, one of the items we had bought John for his birthday. It was fun playing as a cohort and having a time to just relax after three weeks of intensity. After someone had taken victory we headed over to our gate where we patiently awaited the boarding time. 

The plane ride, like many, was long, however, it did provide me a long time for reflection not just on the program, but also how I have changed as a person of the past three weeks. I began seeing a new person within me. An individual who no longer wanted to conform to being shy, but wanted to be extroverted. An individual who saw the world for how it truly was and wanted to speak out against it. An individual who not only had been given the tools to make changed, but also was confident in his ability to do so. 

Upon arriving back in San Francisco, I was bombarded with countless emotions. On one hand, I was happy to be home and to be in my natural climate (cold and not humid). However, the other part of me missed everything about Philadelphia, even the small nuisances such as the humidity. As I adjust back to being at home, I know that my experiences at Penn will always be with me. 



Final group photo of the trip! Back where it all began!

There's No Place Like Home

In the morning, I finished packing and said goodbye to Maayan. There were some roommate-y hugs and Maayan gave Julia and I letters about how nice it was to share a room with us. Soon, Maayan was gone, and Julia and I were left to make sad faces at each other while we finished throwing stuff into our bags. Somehow, Julia's suitcases shrank and her library—sorry, the few books that she brought—grew, so I ended up taking four of them in my backpack. We left our dorm just the way it was when we first came. It felt different now. When we came, the empty room was emotionlessly waiting for us to fill it, but now that we were leaving, it was forlornly longing for the mess we had once left in it, wanting us to come back. Maybe I'm misinterpreting it. I don't speak room. 

We got into a cab for the airport, checked our bags, and walked to find something to eat. We ended up going to a place called Chickie's and Pete's, which was definitely not a breakfast place, but by then it was late enough that we should be eating lunch. (I secretly wanted pancakes.) I got soup, and once we had all eaten, Mr. Hillyer took out a version of Munchkin, the game we had bought him for his birthday. He taught us how to play, and we ended up having the longest (it killed hours) and most intense (I think Julia will never forgive me for sabotaging her victory) game of Munchkin ever played. I'm definitely going to make my family play it sometime, it was really fun!

We made our way over to the gate, where we killed more time reading, listening to music, or in my case, filling out ILC forms so I wouldn't have to worry about them once I was home. 

We boarded the plane (all of us were in Row 18 except Julia, who was banished to Row 19) and took off. It was a long flight, and I was tired, so I slept for a few hours and filled out the Post-Mortem Questionnaire, a 160-question quiz about the ILC experience. It's not multiple-choice, so it took a long time. After about five hours, we were about to land.

The first thing I realized was that I missed the fog. The second was that our slow march back into the real world was speeding up. When we landed, we left the plane in the exact same gate we took off from a month ago. We took pictures, got our bags, and said our goodbyes in one big blur, and then I was in the car with my parents, heading home (my brother is in Santa Barbara, so he won't see me until tomorrow). Despite my exhaustion from travel, I found my energy warming up when my parents asked me about the experience. When we got home, I only spent a little while playing piano and eating pasta before I started my blog (even though I didn't spend long before I ended my night, my mom probably still has around fifty pictures of me stabbing pasta and putting it in my face...but I'm sure in her eyes, I was stabbing pasta and putting it in my face here for the first time in a month).

A month. A month can change everything. Leaving the class, leaving all of the people I might never see again, leaving Penn...it was heartbreaking. It's over. I know there are new experiences out there for me, but...nothing quite like this. I've been trying to think of anything that could have made Social Justice different for me, better maybe, but I don't think I would want it to change. I don't want different memories. I want mine.

A month can change everything. It did.

Goodbyes

Playing with Oobleck

This morning in physics the first thing we did was play with Oobleck... a whole swimming pool of it, thanks to the group studying non-Newtonian fluids. People ran, danced and jumped across it, and one person did a belly-flop on it (ouch... oobleck feels like any other solid when you apply pressure, and I don't see anyone trying to belly-flop on the ground). I wisely stayed out of the way so as not to get cornstarch all over my clothes for the rest of the day.

"It wasn't actually that intense."

Then we went back inside and started presentations. First were the four groups who still hadn't presented their exponential and Hershey Park experiments (my group included). Most had taken data on roller coasters... with varying levels of intensity. Then the interest group on High Energy Physics presented. They were a huge group, consisting of a third of the class. Their project had been on detecting cosmic rays.

Cosmic ray detectors

After lunch, we continued with presentations from the rest of the interest groups. First the group that had been making radio telescopes went. They had been working with James Aguirre--the man who came in the other day to talk about looking deeper into the cosmos by using larger wavelengths. The second group was the one working with a cloud chamber to detect muons. They had some interesting videos (and wow, well-timed) showing muons entering the cloud chamber and leaving glowing trails behind them. After that, my group went up and presented on quantum mechanics.

Our project had been taking data with single- and double-slits to show the wave-particle duality of light. Right after us the Franck-Hertz group presented on the quantum nature of atoms, which is related to the wavelength of the electrons (and the fact that they have a wavelength). Finally, the Oobleck group presented the theoretical aspect of their project, talking about the quantitative behaviors of non-Newtonian fluids.

Bill's not actually as surprised as he looks

After the presenters finished, Bill showed us a few really cool demos, and for the grand finale blew up a house (don't worry, just a house the size of a breadbox) with "lightning." It is really sad to think that the program is already over and I won't see Bill and Mary again. I will be staying in touch will Bill though, which is awesome. Unfortunately, the class had run so long that we didn't get out until almost 5:30, so we missed our meeting with John in the bookstore to get Penn sweatshirts. Andrew and I came back at 9:00 to get them, and Donna will meet John in the morning.

I can't believe we're leaving tomorrow already, and I'm sad to go, but I'll also be really glad to be home.

Bittersweet

The realization that today was the last day didn't hit me until the end of the day. It was just another routine morning at Penn:

Get ready for breakfast. 

Walk to breakfast in 1920's with friends.

Head towards class.

I am not that much of a sentimental person, but the fact that we we never going to be eating there together for breakfast and dinner ever again does make me feel sad, to say the least. Aside from missing friends, my grown attachment for my Physics class and teachers has never stopped growing, and seeing us walk away from each other was quite disappointing. 

Bill and his bubble-making machine

After several demonstrations on mindblowing physics, and our presentations on interest groups, I realized how much that I would be missing from this experience. Never again will we be able to see Bill Berner explode wooden house sculptures or ride on a cart powered by a fire extinguisher. Although our last day of class today was filled with laughs and amusement, it was also very sad for all of us as well. Mary showed us a PowerPoint that she put together about Bill and all that we've accomplished in class. Just to make sure that we won't forget what is already an unforgettable experience, each student received a flash drive with class memories saved inside them. 

After a few more of Bill's demonstrations, class was finally coming to an end. It was not easy to say goodbye to the people who've given me such an amazing summer experience here at UPenn. Bill, Craig, Mary, and everyone else who helped make this possible did not only teach me a bunch of amazing physics. They also taught me how to be passionate about what you love, that intelligence is not based off of a letter grade, and that perseverance and determination will always help you reach your goals. 

Group Picture with Bill Berner

After class ended, my friends and I decided to head to an Indian buffet for dinner and celebrate our last day together. We all gathered in the lounge after and played games throughout the night. Despite the fact that I will miss everything and everyone from this program, knowing that I will be leaving Penn in a couple of hours does not make me feel sad. These fantastic three weeks has impacted me in such a way that I am ready to return to California with a new and improved mindset!

Day 19: "Emotional Ends of Everything"

Like all great things in life, they must always have an end. As sad as it may be, my time here at UPenn is officially coming to a close. With just today separating my experiences here and my departure date, the reality of how time can fly when you are having one of the best times of your life.

Teaching Fellow Posters

Now to recap my lavish day. It began bright and early compared to others. Being the last day, a large portion of the class had decided to show our appreciation of Andy and the various teaching fellows by making giant posters which everyone signed and elegantly decorated to manifest the personalities of each one. We all decided to "commandeer" control of the class before anyone showed up in order to set up the posters and create a brief PowerPoint presentation to highlight all the subjects we had discussed in class over the course of the past 3 weeks. The greatest moment of this experience was seeing the emotional look on the faces of all the teaching fellows and Andy. To me, it appeared as a face of proudness in all of us. Some even got a bit emotional as this was such a surprise for many of them. It was a reaction that made feel good inside and one that will be imprinted in my mind for ages to come.

After our brief celebration, it was back to business. As part of the morning session, we were treated to a guest speaker, Professor Butler, who taught African American history at UPenn. She came in to talk to us a bit about her experiences with combating racial injustice throughout her life. For example, she explained how the experiences her father had sustained with the Jim Crow laws in the South had portrayed to her the level of racial injustice that existed even after the abolition of slavery. Furthermore, she also discussed various issues she found in terms of religion and how they manifest a sense of racial and sexist inequality. Each religion was briefly depicted to contribute in some form to this level of injustice in society. Moreover, to enhance this argument, she illustrated the present issue that existed between Israel and Palestine and how the struggle epitomized the effects of religion on society. Lastly, she left us with a few words of valuable advice for anyone who sought to make social change in society. First was that with any social movement, there is always a cost. At times this involves political, societal or even internal challenges that must be overcome in order to achieve success. Second was that, in life, you should always do, that which makes you feel fulfilled. No matter where you go in life or the economic disposition you may find yourself if, doing the things you love will always bring you happiness. Never let anyone tell you that you cannot achieve something because as the saying goes "if you can believe, you will achieve, and you will succeed".

More teaching fellows and Andy's

A few figures who have served as my inspiration

From this point on, the story of my day turns into a more emotional one. For the first part of the afternoon session, we were treated to a special guest performance by the musical activist group, Mahina Movement. They were composed of three woman from entirely different backgrounds who possessed similar ideas of social justice and elected to combine their talents in music to become activists. They sang a few songs for us all of which possessed very powerful and impacting messages that truly touched my heart. The topics ranged from heritage and one's own identity, to the reality of the corruption of the U.S and how the capitalistic mindset is the burden it carries. As a workshop exercise after their musical performance, we were given a set of three words, out of which we had to write down words we felt were associated in some way to them. The three words we were given were "love", "community" and "I am...". All of these inspired a wide array of ideas and opinions, however, one thing that surprised me was the amount of students who participated in reading out what they had written to the class. Even the shyest of students mustered enough courage to go up and speak which was truly inspiring to me. The last part of this portion of the session was that we were asked to help create a song that revolved around social justice. As a theme we chose community, and therefore we named our song "I am Somebody, We are One". It manifested not only unity by not only incorporating the same phrase in a vast array of languages, but also brought us all together through music. After this, the true emotional part came where we heard our final remarks from all the teaching fellows and Andy. It was very moving to see how close we had all become over the course of the past three weeks and it felt good to have developed that sense of community between us all. My aspirations are for us all to keep in constant communication and I hope to be able to succeed.

The evening was very similar to the afternoon session, many people all saying goodbyes and enjoying the last of their time together. Personally I know I will miss everyone I have met here, because in some way they have influenced who I have become and who I strive to be. Now that the program comes to an end, I realize the value friends play in my life and how I owe a lot to each and everyone of them. I cannot even put into words the emotions I feel for having to leave everyone, but I know that wherever life may take us, we will become the future leaders of tomorrow.

The best RC group I could have ever asked for

Fears, Cheers, and Tears with Peers

It was the last day of class today. We're getting on a plane and leaving this all behind tomorrow. Maybe not all of it: we get to keep the memories.

Yesterday, we signed posters for the teaching fellows and Andy and Michael, and since some of our classmates went to the room early to set up, the posters greeted us when we entered the decorated classroom. 

Anthea Butler

We milled around and talked for a while, then Andy asked us to set up for a guest, Professor Anthea Butler. Our final speaker. Professor Butler talked to us about race and about her life. She talked about the LA race riots, and told us about a time when she had, after being a part of a church for five years, been welcomed to the church as a newcomer by a white woman because to her, she was just another black woman. What I loved most about her presentation was her advice. "What you put in you is what's going to come out of you, so you gotta put the right things in you." 

"Don't let somebody make change for you. You be that change."

We got in a circle and gladly spent an hour and a half on what was meant to be a half-hour activity. We reflected on the course, one by one. When it was my turn, I cracked a joke about becoming BFFs with Andy over thee summer and said to the class, "I want to seek out stories and experiences to learn and share, because I think nothing makes change like the right story." I felt waves of emotion when we talked about our intentions and needs, hearing people express my own feelings: how the course has changed us, inspired us, bonded us together. "I'm not the same person I was three weeks ago. I see more, I know more, I feel more."

The teaching fellows did the same reflections, and Brendan spoke last, speaking about the program with shaking hands and a cracking voice. This was more than just a class. It touched all of us. 

After lunch, we heard from Mahina Movement, a group of three female storytellers, musicians, and poets, Gabby, Lorena, and Moana. What they shared was heartfelt and very fitting, as though they wrote their pieces just for our class.

They actually had us stand up and perform a type of poetry where a group of us would go up, and one at a time, we would say a word under a theme like "love." 

After that, we wrote our own song as a class, "I am somebody, we are one," repeated in several languages. 

Then we had to say goodbye to all our classmates and friends, all the teaching fellows who gave us their own perspectives and experiences. I said goodbye to Andy (I've been ordered to email him, so I only said goodbye in person), and I thanked him, tearing up, and we hugged, and he thanked me too. The last thing he said to me was that he was already sharing my poem with other faculty members. I think, in a strange way, that says a lot about Andy. He truly listened to us and cared about us, and for everything he has done for me, I owe him so much. At the moment, all I can give is gratitude, appreciation, and a few lines of verse. 

Our incredible teaching fellows

And yes, I cried.

We headed back to the dorm, missing the class already. We picked up our Penn sweatshirts, and then Mr. Hillyer and Julia and I went out to the Philadelphia Museum of Art to comfort us in our time of Social Justice withdrawal. 

The Quadrangle was sure to look extra lovely on our final day of class

The art museum was amazing. Mr. Hillyer was surprisingly knowledgeable about art, and the pieces were incredible. 

One of my favorite paintings today, Liverpool from Wapping.
The fog and the glow are just so perfect.

Julia and I tried to analyze the art as we went through the museum, and I stopped on this piece and pointed out something that was brought up in Ways of Seeing, about the tactile aspect of some paintings. If you move across the piece, you can imagine what it would feel like to touch the different surfaces. But, despite the apparent focus on touch, the name of this piece is "Music," and the center of the image is a violin with a broken string. Very deep.

This was definitely my favorite one. When you stand in front of the polished stainless steel, you become a part of the piece. At first, Julia didn't get why I liked it so much, so I said, "They're watching you, and you're watching them watching you," which pretty much blew her mind. 

We walked through Photography for a little while, then left for cheese steaks, because we were starving. Oh, yeah. Cheese steaks. That one thing that Philadelphia is famous for which I totally forgot to do. 

 
All I'll say is...

They're famous for a reason.

Wow.

(Plus, did you guys know that pizza fries existed?!?)

*Sigh.*

But, much like that cheese steak, Social Justice ended too soon.

Julia and I said goodbye to the McNeil building,
where we had our classes, before we went to bed

Three weeks.

Three weeks can do so much.

How do I feel? That's a big question. Sad...but also hopeful, passionate, inspired, grateful. Excited to see my family and friends again. In Social Justice...well, one of my classmates put it best. "Thank you...You all opened up my world."