Charles -
I can't say enough to thank you for opening our eyes (me, my wife and Courtney's) about colleges and universities beyond the UC system and Stanford as options for Courtney to apply to due to the ILC program. Since Courtney's summer session in UPENN, she has received a ton of letters of invitations to visit different colleges and universities all over the country (This sure was a HUGE difference comparing it with her older sister - 90-95% of the college solicitations came from within California).
A major impact of this program to Courtney is that she has expanded her career options; for a long time she's been set on getting a nursing degree in UCLA without much hesitation from her when asked. Just three weeks ago, while we were having a father-daughter dinner at a Chinese restaurant, she asked me what's a good career combining biology, chemistry and math (I can only attribute this to the bio-medical class she took in UPENN last summer.) Because of my state of shock - the first thing that came to my mind was biochemistry which can lead her to multiple paths i.e. research (drugs), medicine and even nursing. I also told her that chemical engineering might be a good option for her. I told her to ask her school if they do office/plant/lab visits as part of their college career program - I sensed that she can't imagine what they do so she can't decide on whether she will like a certain career or not.
I still hope that she will consider attending an Ivy League school for college (crossing my fingers!) But, like I mentioned to you from past phone conversations, I will ask her to apply to the Ivy League schools even if she is not considering them at this time. (Not for her to know that she could go to an Ivy League school but for the Ivy League schools to be an option for her in case she changes her mind).
Joey Mariano
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Friday, March 13, 2009
El Cerrito High School Dad
BACKGROUND
My name is Sean Ward. My daughter Kiana, a senior at ECHS, took part in the ILC program last year.
The ILC program paid for Kiana's plane ticket to go to Brown's summer program last July. She took the Women in Leadership program which Brown paid for through a full scholarship. The scholarship was of course requested by the ILC program leaders Ramsey and Kronenberg so in effect they were the ones who got Kiana the scholarship. Kiana loved everything about being at Brown; the campus, the students she met, the professors, the course material, and being able to meet people like Deans Rose and Takesue who ultimately played a significant role in getting Kiana into Brown. Dean Takesue wrote kiana a letter of recommendation.
Kiana also really appreciated all the attention she got from ILC members. The Brown dinner in San Francisco really drove home that this is a serious program for future leaders.
EFFECTIVENESS OF THE ILC PROGRAM
The ILC program is in my personal experience a very effective program. I say this because my daughter Kiana was not even considering applying to an IL school, and now she has been accepted early decision to Brown University. Kiana has gained a lot confidence being in the ILC program.. She had the opportunity to speak in public at the Brown dinner in SF, and even though that was her first real "speech" and she was nervous, she did well and I think that made her very happy and confident. Getting to know the other kids at Brown was a little intimidating at first because, unlike the majority of students there who are quite well off, Kiana comes from a low income single parent household and lives in the flats of Richmond. By the end of the two weeks at Brown she knew she could compete academically with these students and came back with a completely changed attitude about applying to Ivy League schools. And now she is one of our district's sucess story. She is very excited about going to Brown and very thankful for the ILC program. As her father, I am ecstatic about the program and the fact that she is going to Brown.
One of the main reason I belive that Kiana got in to Brown was the personal recommendation she got from Brown dean Takesue. And she never would have gotten that without having participated in the ILC program.
I can't speak to the overall effectiveness of the program because I am not aware of how many students actually get into IL or other top colleges and universities as a result of the program. I do believe that we must be careful not to put all of our resources into our lower performing students because we just assume the top students can take care of themselves. Many of the top WCCSD students don't aspire to the very top shcools in the country. My eldest daughter Kalina is going to UCLA and that was her first choice. We were and are very happy for her. However, she had the same grades, scores and activities as her sister Kiana. Could he have been accepted to Brown, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, etc.? We will never know because she never applied, or even thought of applying. I think most of our top students feel the same way: aspire to UC Berk and UCLA and that's the highest your aspirations should be because that's the school district we come from. They think Yale is only for students from rich private schools or wealthy public school districts out in Walnut Creek or Pleasanton.
The main effect of this program is very simple: our students are starting to realize that they can aspire to be the Barack and Michele Obama's of the world. They are starting to realize that they are excellent students, who like the Obamas, can come from humble backgrounds and graduate from Columbia or Harvard.
IMPROVEMENTS
It is hard to think of improvements to the ILC because it seems to be working so well and because I am not that familiar with the inner workings of the program.
One improvement would be to make the program more well known to students and parents. When Kiana was plucked out of class and told she should apply to the program, neither she nor I had ever heard of it in spite of the fact that it was a few years old at that point. Two of Kiana's friends were in the program and had done two summers at Brown and yet they never mentioned it to Kiana. I think the program leaders need to harangue the ILC kids to talk up the program. They should be required to tell all the students they meet about it. And there has to be a way for interested students to find out more and to apply for the program. At this point I have no idea how students are picked, or how and why Kiana was picked. I think she was a very good selection for the program, but the question comes up, why wasn't she picked sooner like her friends were?
We should promote the program to the community as much as possible. We may already be doing that, I don't know. But we should be making community leaders, real estate agents, teachers, other school districts, etc. aware of our successes with this program.
Kiana's only recommendation for improvement is to let students pick the programs they will attend. For instance she would have been more interested in Brown's program called she thinks Global Engagement since she is interested in the Watson Institute and its international studies program.
END REMARKS
Thank you so much for this program. It is exactly what is needed in our district. It raises the expectations of our best students. The strong relationship the ILC leaders have forged with these prestigious schools is tremendously beneficial to our students, and to our school district. Our school district desperately needs some great successes that we can point to so that when people are thinking about moving into the district we can have something very positive to point to. In closing, I urge you to fully support, and even expand, this very beneficial program.
Sincerely,
Sean Ward
Proud WCCUSD Parent of an Ivy League Student
My name is Sean Ward. My daughter Kiana, a senior at ECHS, took part in the ILC program last year.
The ILC program paid for Kiana's plane ticket to go to Brown's summer program last July. She took the Women in Leadership program which Brown paid for through a full scholarship. The scholarship was of course requested by the ILC program leaders Ramsey and Kronenberg so in effect they were the ones who got Kiana the scholarship. Kiana loved everything about being at Brown; the campus, the students she met, the professors, the course material, and being able to meet people like Deans Rose and Takesue who ultimately played a significant role in getting Kiana into Brown. Dean Takesue wrote kiana a letter of recommendation.
Kiana also really appreciated all the attention she got from ILC members. The Brown dinner in San Francisco really drove home that this is a serious program for future leaders.
EFFECTIVENESS OF THE ILC PROGRAM
The ILC program is in my personal experience a very effective program. I say this because my daughter Kiana was not even considering applying to an IL school, and now she has been accepted early decision to Brown University. Kiana has gained a lot confidence being in the ILC program.. She had the opportunity to speak in public at the Brown dinner in SF, and even though that was her first real "speech" and she was nervous, she did well and I think that made her very happy and confident. Getting to know the other kids at Brown was a little intimidating at first because, unlike the majority of students there who are quite well off, Kiana comes from a low income single parent household and lives in the flats of Richmond. By the end of the two weeks at Brown she knew she could compete academically with these students and came back with a completely changed attitude about applying to Ivy League schools. And now she is one of our district's sucess story. She is very excited about going to Brown and very thankful for the ILC program. As her father, I am ecstatic about the program and the fact that she is going to Brown.
One of the main reason I belive that Kiana got in to Brown was the personal recommendation she got from Brown dean Takesue. And she never would have gotten that without having participated in the ILC program.
I can't speak to the overall effectiveness of the program because I am not aware of how many students actually get into IL or other top colleges and universities as a result of the program. I do believe that we must be careful not to put all of our resources into our lower performing students because we just assume the top students can take care of themselves. Many of the top WCCSD students don't aspire to the very top shcools in the country. My eldest daughter Kalina is going to UCLA and that was her first choice. We were and are very happy for her. However, she had the same grades, scores and activities as her sister Kiana. Could he have been accepted to Brown, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, etc.? We will never know because she never applied, or even thought of applying. I think most of our top students feel the same way: aspire to UC Berk and UCLA and that's the highest your aspirations should be because that's the school district we come from. They think Yale is only for students from rich private schools or wealthy public school districts out in Walnut Creek or Pleasanton.
The main effect of this program is very simple: our students are starting to realize that they can aspire to be the Barack and Michele Obama's of the world. They are starting to realize that they are excellent students, who like the Obamas, can come from humble backgrounds and graduate from Columbia or Harvard.
IMPROVEMENTS
It is hard to think of improvements to the ILC because it seems to be working so well and because I am not that familiar with the inner workings of the program.
One improvement would be to make the program more well known to students and parents. When Kiana was plucked out of class and told she should apply to the program, neither she nor I had ever heard of it in spite of the fact that it was a few years old at that point. Two of Kiana's friends were in the program and had done two summers at Brown and yet they never mentioned it to Kiana. I think the program leaders need to harangue the ILC kids to talk up the program. They should be required to tell all the students they meet about it. And there has to be a way for interested students to find out more and to apply for the program. At this point I have no idea how students are picked, or how and why Kiana was picked. I think she was a very good selection for the program, but the question comes up, why wasn't she picked sooner like her friends were?
We should promote the program to the community as much as possible. We may already be doing that, I don't know. But we should be making community leaders, real estate agents, teachers, other school districts, etc. aware of our successes with this program.
Kiana's only recommendation for improvement is to let students pick the programs they will attend. For instance she would have been more interested in Brown's program called she thinks Global Engagement since she is interested in the Watson Institute and its international studies program.
END REMARKS
Thank you so much for this program. It is exactly what is needed in our district. It raises the expectations of our best students. The strong relationship the ILC leaders have forged with these prestigious schools is tremendously beneficial to our students, and to our school district. Our school district desperately needs some great successes that we can point to so that when people are thinking about moving into the district we can have something very positive to point to. In closing, I urge you to fully support, and even expand, this very beneficial program.
Sincerely,
Sean Ward
Proud WCCUSD Parent of an Ivy League Student
Hercules Mom
Dear Mr. Ramsey:
Attached is a rather belated "thank-you" message to the ILC - "What the ILC Means to Us." Many thanks - we were quite busy these last three months, with appointments w/Ms. Kim and preparing our taxes for financial aid.
The application process was quite a process! Thank you all for providing Ms. Kim's services for us. We cannot imagine being able to go through this process without her. She always responded promptly to our questions about the financial aid forms, etc. She is extremely knowledgeable and we were impressed with how well she "connected" with Janna. A tremendous help.
Sincerely,
Julie Lee
(please see below about the ILC).
What the Ivy League Connection Means to Us…
We have many reasons to be grateful for Janna’s experience through the Ivy League Connection:
• The very generous ILC donors made it possible for a student such as Janna to gain a broader vision and perspective of the opportunities available.
• Janna’s grandparents, who were not able to finish high school, by necessity, had to quickly become self-sufficient as teens, working several jobs. They dreamed of their children and grandchildren going to college, and made great sacrifices for them. This would have made them very proud and happy (as well as this mom—a junior college “night school-er”).
• The ILC provided chaperones for all the groups. Janna’s chaperone, Ms. Lilhanand provided great peace of mind for the parents. Her guidance and encouragement, balanced with just enough wise restraint, let the students have the freedom to grow. The daily student blogs were a great “plus”!
• We are gratefully indebted for the professionalism and kindness of Ms. Sue Kim, who helped our family navigate through the formidable application and financial aid process. She definitely knows the universities and colleges well, having personally visited many, many campuses, and she provided excellent guidance and recommendations. There is a ton of information to wade through, and Ms. Kim is incredibly knowledgeable about the details--such as tax tips, college atmosphere, and the academic specialties each college has to offer. With her help, Janna felt confident about her choices for application.
• Thanks to Mr. Ramsey, Ms.Kronenberg, Mr. Gosney, and all of the members/donors who gave hours of hard work, organized parent informational meetings, personal calls/emails, and gave a tremendous boost to make all of this possible.
• We now feel confident about Janna going out of state for college, after her experience at Columbia. Only one of five gals in her Physics class, she enthusiastically embraced the challenge. She handled the dorms, life in New York City, and class demands with maturity. She grew in many ways this past summer.
How will this whole experience impress upon Janna? This past summer coincided and culminated with the election of President Obama, whose single mother challenged him during his high school senior year to not be “casual about your future.” She spurred him on to go to the “mainland” to Occidental, which led to Columbia and Harvard… The applications are in, and our seniors are waiting to see where they will be accepted. Hopefully, Janna may end up at a college back east, or at a California university. Any high school senior should feel that he/she will significantly contribute to others around them, whether they go to trade school, an Ivy League university, state college, local community college, etc. The most important impressions are the character building-blocks that seniors will take along with them.
The “Summer 2008, Ivy League Connection” recipients were given the priceless example of “paying-it-forward” to the next generation of learners, as presented and modeled with excellence by the Ivy League Connection members. I hope students everywhere will remember that no matter where they go they can make a difference to others.
Thank you,
Mrs. Julie Lee
Attached is a rather belated "thank-you" message to the ILC - "What the ILC Means to Us." Many thanks - we were quite busy these last three months, with appointments w/Ms. Kim and preparing our taxes for financial aid.
The application process was quite a process! Thank you all for providing Ms. Kim's services for us. We cannot imagine being able to go through this process without her. She always responded promptly to our questions about the financial aid forms, etc. She is extremely knowledgeable and we were impressed with how well she "connected" with Janna. A tremendous help.
Sincerely,
Julie Lee
(please see below about the ILC).
What the Ivy League Connection Means to Us…
We have many reasons to be grateful for Janna’s experience through the Ivy League Connection:
• The very generous ILC donors made it possible for a student such as Janna to gain a broader vision and perspective of the opportunities available.
• Janna’s grandparents, who were not able to finish high school, by necessity, had to quickly become self-sufficient as teens, working several jobs. They dreamed of their children and grandchildren going to college, and made great sacrifices for them. This would have made them very proud and happy (as well as this mom—a junior college “night school-er”).
• The ILC provided chaperones for all the groups. Janna’s chaperone, Ms. Lilhanand provided great peace of mind for the parents. Her guidance and encouragement, balanced with just enough wise restraint, let the students have the freedom to grow. The daily student blogs were a great “plus”!
• We are gratefully indebted for the professionalism and kindness of Ms. Sue Kim, who helped our family navigate through the formidable application and financial aid process. She definitely knows the universities and colleges well, having personally visited many, many campuses, and she provided excellent guidance and recommendations. There is a ton of information to wade through, and Ms. Kim is incredibly knowledgeable about the details--such as tax tips, college atmosphere, and the academic specialties each college has to offer. With her help, Janna felt confident about her choices for application.
• Thanks to Mr. Ramsey, Ms.Kronenberg, Mr. Gosney, and all of the members/donors who gave hours of hard work, organized parent informational meetings, personal calls/emails, and gave a tremendous boost to make all of this possible.
• We now feel confident about Janna going out of state for college, after her experience at Columbia. Only one of five gals in her Physics class, she enthusiastically embraced the challenge. She handled the dorms, life in New York City, and class demands with maturity. She grew in many ways this past summer.
How will this whole experience impress upon Janna? This past summer coincided and culminated with the election of President Obama, whose single mother challenged him during his high school senior year to not be “casual about your future.” She spurred him on to go to the “mainland” to Occidental, which led to Columbia and Harvard… The applications are in, and our seniors are waiting to see where they will be accepted. Hopefully, Janna may end up at a college back east, or at a California university. Any high school senior should feel that he/she will significantly contribute to others around them, whether they go to trade school, an Ivy League university, state college, local community college, etc. The most important impressions are the character building-blocks that seniors will take along with them.
The “Summer 2008, Ivy League Connection” recipients were given the priceless example of “paying-it-forward” to the next generation of learners, as presented and modeled with excellence by the Ivy League Connection members. I hope students everywhere will remember that no matter where they go they can make a difference to others.
Thank you,
Mrs. Julie Lee
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Hercules High Mom
My daughter Susan Lee from Hercules High spent four weeks at Penn’s summer Biomedical Research program last year. Although it was Susan's first time away from home and family, she enjoyed herself and learned a lot at the same time. During her study at Penn, she was not only able to gain more knowledge in science, but also meet people who could help her through the college applying process. This year during President's week, ILC sent Susan and I back to Penn for a college visit to help her get a feel of actual college life with students on campus and classes in session. Whether or not Susan is able to study at Penn in the future, by giving her all these positive new learning experiences, this program has changed Susan's life.
For more than a half year since Susan took part in ILC program, we have received a lot of information, guides, helps and encouragement from the ILC. Charles Ramsey, Madeline Kronenberg, and Don Gosney never hesitate to speak out their thoughts, or share their knowledge, experiences and resources with us. They have spent enormous amount of time on emails, phone calls, or personal meetings to help this program work effectively. From facing important benchmarks, comparing colleges, figuring out financial help, and private school interviews, we have never been alone. Because of their help, we chose colleges that fit her.
Susan is our only child, so we never before wanted her to go far away from home for college. We thought bay area schools were the best option for her; either we thought the east coast schools were out of Susan's reach, or too far for her to go. Without ILC's generous offer, we would never budget her to visit other schools out of CA. After Susan was back from Penn, she told us a lot of
wonderful things about her stay, and that she feels the life at Penn is exactly what she is looking for. After our second visit, Susan told me she liked the school even more. Although we still don't know which school will accept her and which school we will finally chose, we have our minds open and know what Susan wants.
I feel that is very fortunate for students in our district to be able to gain ambition and confidence through being in the ILC program. Our students deserve to have someone guide them to places where they can succeed academically. For teenagers, their environment influences them more than parents do. That's why I think the ILC program is so important. What the program offers is a lifetime gift to our kids, so they can catch an important chance and be lead to their future success.
As I know, many students in this school district are from low income families. Since most parents are busy making a living, they might not care about Ivy League schools, or are not even know what they are. Also, a lot of parents like me don't want to send their kids out of state, either because they didn't have the chance to explore opportunities out there or because they think it is too expensive. Because of these circumstances, a lot of excellent students miss their chances to see a much bigger world, study in one of the nation's best schools, and gain powerful knowledge in their field of interest. That's why, in this school district, we need good programs like ILC program. Just like we have special programs for underachieving students, we need programs for our outstanding students as well. Even though they are already outstanding, they still need help to reach their goals.
As we know, the schools in the Ivy League are all tough schools. Since they only pick the top students, just getting to know these schools and wanting to apply for them is not enough. Kids also need to prepare and work for their goals throughout high school. Thus, the earlier students know about this program, the better. I would be happy to see this program known by more and more young kids, who will be able to prepare to apply to this program, and be further prepared for college as well.
We would like to thank the ILC program members, especially Charles Ramsey and Madeline Kronenberg, for making this wonderful program and for inputting their time, energy and love on our kids. Without their passion, hard work, and tremendous efforts, this program would not have gone anywhere. We would also like to thank the sponsors, whose generous gifts make the program possible, and help our kids build and work for their dreams. The ILC has truly helped make our district even better, and continues to provide our students with life changing opportunities.
Frances Yang
For more than a half year since Susan took part in ILC program, we have received a lot of information, guides, helps and encouragement from the ILC. Charles Ramsey, Madeline Kronenberg, and Don Gosney never hesitate to speak out their thoughts, or share their knowledge, experiences and resources with us. They have spent enormous amount of time on emails, phone calls, or personal meetings to help this program work effectively. From facing important benchmarks, comparing colleges, figuring out financial help, and private school interviews, we have never been alone. Because of their help, we chose colleges that fit her.
Susan is our only child, so we never before wanted her to go far away from home for college. We thought bay area schools were the best option for her; either we thought the east coast schools were out of Susan's reach, or too far for her to go. Without ILC's generous offer, we would never budget her to visit other schools out of CA. After Susan was back from Penn, she told us a lot of
wonderful things about her stay, and that she feels the life at Penn is exactly what she is looking for. After our second visit, Susan told me she liked the school even more. Although we still don't know which school will accept her and which school we will finally chose, we have our minds open and know what Susan wants.
I feel that is very fortunate for students in our district to be able to gain ambition and confidence through being in the ILC program. Our students deserve to have someone guide them to places where they can succeed academically. For teenagers, their environment influences them more than parents do. That's why I think the ILC program is so important. What the program offers is a lifetime gift to our kids, so they can catch an important chance and be lead to their future success.
As I know, many students in this school district are from low income families. Since most parents are busy making a living, they might not care about Ivy League schools, or are not even know what they are. Also, a lot of parents like me don't want to send their kids out of state, either because they didn't have the chance to explore opportunities out there or because they think it is too expensive. Because of these circumstances, a lot of excellent students miss their chances to see a much bigger world, study in one of the nation's best schools, and gain powerful knowledge in their field of interest. That's why, in this school district, we need good programs like ILC program. Just like we have special programs for underachieving students, we need programs for our outstanding students as well. Even though they are already outstanding, they still need help to reach their goals.
As we know, the schools in the Ivy League are all tough schools. Since they only pick the top students, just getting to know these schools and wanting to apply for them is not enough. Kids also need to prepare and work for their goals throughout high school. Thus, the earlier students know about this program, the better. I would be happy to see this program known by more and more young kids, who will be able to prepare to apply to this program, and be further prepared for college as well.
We would like to thank the ILC program members, especially Charles Ramsey and Madeline Kronenberg, for making this wonderful program and for inputting their time, energy and love on our kids. Without their passion, hard work, and tremendous efforts, this program would not have gone anywhere. We would also like to thank the sponsors, whose generous gifts make the program possible, and help our kids build and work for their dreams. The ILC has truly helped make our district even better, and continues to provide our students with life changing opportunities.
Frances Yang
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