From Beilul Naizghi's Parents

To Ivy League Connection Team,



The Ivy League Connection was a priceless opportunity to our daughter. It was the perfect opportunity for Beilul and I, to actually see her off to college before she has to. Every step of the ILC program was a rich experience not only in attending college,and visiting and learning about other colleges, but also the whole process of applying to the ILC program and the colleges; giving personal speeches in front of the school board and city council meetings; learning to live thousands of miles away from home, in dorms. They lived and learned with students from different parts of the country and the world. They also had a chance to test life in small town (Ithaca, New York) and one of the busiest cities in the world (New York), sight seeing, going to the shows, using the subway, orientation at NYC, museums, etc. It is all amazing. The experience she got both in Cornell (2010) and Columbia University (2011) has sharpened and focused her educational goals. I see a more confident girl ready to take on more challenges. This rare gem of a program, takes kids to the best colleges in the world and with chaperons! Priceless. I feel very fortunate that my daughter got this chance. Thank you to Dr. Ramsey, Mrs.Kronenburg and Mr. Don Gosney, the school board, the school district, the generous donors and all the chaperons. Specifically, I would like to thank Mrs. Swellen who accompanied my daughter to Cornell in 2010 and Mrs. Lilhanand who accompanied her to Columbia in 2011. With all the choices the students had, it was great that the chaperons included vital exposures to culture and unique tours to the locations. It was also possible for the students to visit many colleges with the presence of chaperons.


Preparing for the program, the students met numerous times for information, orientation, speech, lessons on MS Windows and MS Office, etc. These meetings were great orientation for us parents too. One very important thing I loved about the program was the exchanges of experience of the alumnus. Those who went previous years gave very detailed account of their experience. The parents and students and ILC team also dined with alumnus (of ILC and the colleges) at 5 star restaurants. Students heard from graduating alumnus, and from those accepted and going to the colleges they attended through ILC. This year when applying to colleges, the students have ample opportunities to explore their college plans through all the network provided for them due to ILC.The experience is great, the possibilities are unlimited. This is a glimpse of what I think was how the students were preparing for their college experience but it is also how my confidence grew and I felt comforted to finally see my daughter and her peers go off to college thousands of miles away from home for the summer.

My thanks to the ILC team.

Gratefully

Nardos Mussie

Ephrem Naizghi