The Journey to Scalas' Bistro

Today, I attended the Vanderbilt dinner at Scalas’ Bistro in San Francisco. From the time I got to the El Cerrito BART Station to the time I got off, I had an amazing journey. When I got home from school, I quickly got ready and arrived at the BART station. My mother and I were the first ones there, so we waited as everyone else slowly came pouring in. We were introduced to Mr. Ramsey, Mr. Mannix, and Ms. Kronenberg. Since everyone had arrived on time, we got a head-start and arrived in San Francisco early. During the BART ride, I was able to talk with Shanti’s sister about what steps I should take in college.

Because we had arrived early, we waited around in San Francisco. Mr. Mannix and Ms. Kronenberg gave us a description of Nashville, Tennessee along with the other universities that we will be visiting. Mr. Mannix also warned us that we will be doing a lot of walking on the trip- which I am looking forward to.

Around 5:00 PM, we walked to the restaurant. Before being seated we were introduced to Peter, who was the very first ILCER. He gave us really useful advice about applying to college. I learned that it is best to focus your personal statement on one topic rather than trying to include everything. He also told us to start our college application early, especially the letter of recommendations.

Once we were seated Ms. Kronenberg introduced the Vanderbilt alumni and the sponsors for our trip. I was seated next to Adam. I had a great time learning about his college experience at Vanderbilt. After the introductions, I had to give to a speech on what I hoped to bring back from my trip. I was a bit nervous at first. However, it  was not that bad after all because I had a very friendly audience. I did learn, though, that I need to speak up.

This is me giving a speech.

I was more relaxed after my speech, and I had a very exciting conversation with Adam. He told us how he fell in love with Vanderbilt when he first saw it. We also talked about what colleges and careers I am interested in pursuing. I found out that Vanderbilt has a really great medical program, which I am interested in learning more about. While we were having this conversation, we were served a delicious dinner along with dessert.

At the end we took a group photo with the alumni, said goodbye, and headed towards the El Cerrito BART station. I truly enjoyed the dinner and I am looking forward to meeting everyone again at the School Board meeting. The alumni were extremely nice and they had really positive comments to make about Vanderbilt. They increased my excitement for the trip, and I can’t wait!