ILC Part II

My name is Jia Cheng Lian, and I am a second-year participant of the Ivy League Connection. Last year, I was a part of the Brown I cohort, and I took a course titled "Techniques in DNA-Based Biotechnology" at Brown University. It was a life-changing experience that empowered me significantly, and in addition, I had a lot of fun in the East Coast.

I have returned this year to participate in the ILC again, and I am a part of the Vanderbilt cohort. I will be taking a course titled "Special Topics in Math" at Vanderbilt University, and I am excited to travel to Nashville, Tennessee, in addition to wherever else we may visit. My experience from last year has been helping me significantly, but even then I may or may not need a refresher.

Today was one of the first events for the ILC. We had tutorial sessions, and they marked the increase of rate of events for the Ivy League Connection. In these tutorial sessions, the others learned about blogging, photography, responsibilities, protocols, and preparation for the trip. I essentially knew most of the information, though this session did serve as a refresher course for me, and it let me focused on things that I could improve.

The location of the tutorial session. My own high school, De Anza.

We began by setting up our blogs. I am familiar with the blogging procedures; after all, I did blog every day for nearly a month last year. I tried to use my experiences to point others in the right direction. I suppose I should focus on improving the content within my blogs.

Don stands at the front of the classroom, discussing procedures.

We were given breaks between sections, and there was a lot of photography going on then. After all, in the second section of the tutorial, we had an overview of the usage of photography when blogging. Everyone wanted to get plenty of pictures for their blogs, and even Don took pictures to document the tutorial. Again, I already understood what Don spoke about, but while I was taking photos, I took note that I needed to improve my technique to get more and better photos.

I tried to take a lot of pictures.

So did Don.

We were given the opportunity to wander about the campus to take pictures, so we could practice photography and practice manipulating photos while blogging.

Towards the end of the tutorial, we discussed the protocols for the events for the ILC. Since I already attended quite a few events last year, I feel like I didn't need much of a refresher here, though I'm sure it'll help the other ILCers. We then discussed the trip, as well as what to bring, what to expect in the dorms, and what to expect while living away. I tried to share some of my experiences at Brown.

I don't feel like there is anything new and especially important for me to take note of during this interview. I would not say it was a waste of time, though. It helped ease me back into posting blogs again, and it helped me focus on what I should improve. I need to focus on writing about the most important parts of events, and I need to control my camera better. I have some limitations with my camera, and I need to learn how to utilize those limitations to take better photos. Finally, I need to be more prompt and I need to adhere to protocol more closely, to ensure that things will run more smoothly. The tutorial was successful.