Celebrating My Birthday At One Market

May 18th, 2015, will be a day I will never forget. Starting the day off with constant Happy Birthday wishes from fellow classmates, friends, and family, to ending the night off with a fancy dinner at One Market. Even though I returned home at 10:36 PM, every second spent with my cohort, sponsors, and alumni, was well worth it.

The outside sign of One Market 

*Ring* The end of day school bell rang at exactly 3:38 PM. My mom's reminder of having to rush to the car was still fresh in my head. Upon our arrival to our house, I quickly took a shower and changed into my suit and tie. After saying good bye to my sister and dad, my mom and I raced out of the house and into the car.

I awoke from my short nap in the car to the noises of the BART trains racing up and down the tracks. Peering out the car window, I noticed Don and fellow ILCers, Julie Lum with her mom Shannon and Thao Le Hoang with her dad Henry. Once everyone arrived, Don handed out Clipper cards, and we proceeded to the loading deck. The BART ride to the beautiful city of San Francisco was quick due to the constant introductions being made. On the train ride, I met a fellow ILCer Justice delos Santos and an ILC Cornell alumni, Kevin Mendoza. 

Stepping through the doors of One Market made me realize how special and lucky I was. With the fancy ambiance and professional wait staff, I knew that the ILC was the program for me. While waiting to be seated, I met an alumni from Cornell named Jesus Verduzco and my chaperone for the trip, Alfredo Chan-Law. Both Jesus and Chan-Law shared many stories and drew my attention more and more the longer they conversed. 

After a quick go around of formal introductions, Julie Lum gave a fantastic speech to the entire group. Julie covered the topics of being lucky and thankful for the opportunity to be apart of this prestigious program, topics I completely agree with. I would like to personally thank the sponsors, Steve Kwok, Charles Ramsey, and Erica Perry, for their contribution to this program.

Once seated, I was able to meet three more fabulous people, another Cornell alumni, Dave Zahora, and school board members Todd Groves and his associate Jennifer Dao. Throughout the night, I was able to share an immense amount of information with them and gain useful knowledge from them. By the end of the night, all of us were talking like old friends. 

The saddest part of tonight was walking out the doors and back to the BART station. After saying our good byes, with alumni and sponsors, the ILCers and parents, headed back to the El Cerrito Plaza station. Bidding our adieus with one another marked the end of this wonderful night. Even though tonight is over, I can not wait to spend more time with my cohort and hopefully run into Dave, Todd, Jennifer, Jesus, and many more alumni and sponsors again. 

Cornell alumni standing behind seated ILCers who are attending Cornell's summer course this year