Tomorrow's June!
Tomorrow is June!! Meaning that...
I'm going to see Keys people! [this Friday!]
I'm going to see YPW people! [this Saturday!]
I'm going to turn 16 1/2 years old! [on June 5th]
I'm going to take my last driving lesson! [on June 8th]
I'm going to Vloggercon! [on June 9th and 10th]
I'm going to take my driving test and hopefully pass! [on June 13th]
I'm going to have my two last quizzes in French 3!
I'm going to have my last quiz in my digital video class! [due next Wednesday]
I'm going to turn in my final project for my digital video class (hopefully)! [week of June 12th]
I'm going to turn in my History seminar paper (which I should start)! [end of June.. umm what date?]
I'm going to turn in my paper about Le Petit Prince in my French class! [end of June.. again, what date?]
I'm going to hopefully not have to take my French final because I will hopefully have an A going into the final! [NEVER!]
I'm going to start German class with my mom again! [June 19th?]
I'm going to finish my spring quarter of my second year at Foothill! [June 26th if I don't have to take the French final!]
It's going to be SUMMER!! [hopefully on June 26th!]
AAAAH! I'm going to sleep.
Searching, Looking, Erasing, Adding::
The list (of colleges)::
[if there is no date next to a comment or college, it was added on May 30, 2006. everything else should have a date]
1)
Oberlin, Oberlin, Ohio
+mideast
2)
Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois
+nice college campus, surroundings
+cousin went there
3)
Haverford, Haverford, PA
+sort of know the area
+near relatives
-/+ very small
+ check out
the Center for Peace and Global Citizenship4)
Macalester, St. Paul, Minnesota
+special emphasis on internationalism, multiculturalism, and service to society.
+family friend went there and really liked it
5)
Carleton, Northfield, MN
-/+Drew, my brother, went there and really liked it
6)
Hamilton, Clinton, NY (near Utica)
7)
Bowdoin, Brunswick, Maine
+MAINE! I used to (and still do) want to live in Maine
8)
Colby, Waterville, Maine
+MAINE! I used to (and still do) want to live in Maine
9)
Reed, Portland, Oregon
10)
Whitman, Walla Walla, Washington
11)
Grinnell, Grinnell, Iowa
12)
Cornell, Ithaca, NY
13)
University of Rochester, Rochester, NY
14)
Penn, Philadelphia, PA
15)
Duke, Durham, North Carolina
16)
Swarthmore, Swarthmore, PA
17)
Middelbury, Middlebury, Vermont
18)
Davidson, Davidson, North Carolina
19)
Wesleyan, Middleton, Connecticut
20)
Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut
21)
Lafayette, Easton, PA
+where Nate, a cousin twice removed or is he my second cousin??, just graduated from.
22)
Bucknell, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania
+international focus is listed as one of their tabs
+
transfer students (they even mention transferrring from a community college) --
23)
Bates, Lewiston, Maine
24)
Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA
25)
Pomona College, Claremont, CA
And the search begins!
To continue with this college/school theme, I'm treating Foothill like my high school, which in my mind mainly means I'll be attending Foothill for four years. After the four years, I'll graduate from Foothill with an Associates degree in mathematics, a digital video editing certificate, and I'll be an Honors scholar (meaning that I'll have completed 6 Honors Institute classes), while my friends who are my age graduate from high school. Oh and I have my California High School Proficiency Certificate already (I took the exam last spring, so spring of my freshman year).
After Foothill I'll transfer in as a sophomore or junior (most likely a sophomore) to a four year college/university/whatever you want to call it. Where you ask? Who knows! I have around two years to decide! I was talking with my mom and she came up with this list of schools she's heard of and schools I've been sort of interested in.. I'm going to start my list right now and I'll be crossing out and adding schools for the next two years! I'll put the list in another post so it doesn't look as confusing with this post (if that makes sense).
Can't Complete High School? Go right to college...
My brother emailed me
this New York Times article about people going to college without completing high school. I'm assuming that you (whoever you are) know that I spent a week at my local public high school and then left and went to Foothill, my local community college. Fortunately, as my brother pointed out when I was trying to decide if I should try out high school or just go straight to Foothill, the high school started August 23rd and Foothill started a month later so I could try out the high school and see how it went and then I would still have time to get to Foothill for the fall quarter! And that's just what I did. It was actually pretty weird. I spent the summer at Foothill working on the summer musical, and I'm really glad I did because I met some really cool people who I ended up being at school with. Then I got ready for high school, went there for a week and got sort of into "school mode." Then I left after a week and then I was back in summer for like 3 weeks! Then I started school again... it was odd, but I like it, Foothill (most of the time).
So... uhh that was off topic but still on topic.. I read
this NY times article and I thought it would be mostly about students who left high school early and went straight to college (like I did) like the title suggests.. but most of it was about people older than high school (and college) age who hadn't completed high school but still have had the chance to attend college. There was only one paragraph on the second page (you'll see it) about a 16 year old guy who left high school early. It wasn't a bad article or anything, it was informative, but just not about what I'm as interested in. However, I do think that the group of people who are mainly discussed in the article are a group that is really interesting and I didn't know a whole lot about them. But I do also think that the group of people I'm included in aren't discussed that much either. There's the group who aren't interested in high school and learning at all but are probably really smart, they just aren't turned on at all. And there many programs for these kinds of people.. but what about the really incredibly turned on students who aren't interested in going to high school either? They are at risk as well because they could become really turned off to learning if no one (teachers, mentors, friends) helps them and makes sure they're learning more and more all the time. I'm so glad that my parents, friends, or anyone that has an influence on me made me stay in high school because I knew and still know, I just had this gut feeling that being at this place for four long years could potentially turn me off to learning. I know that after a year in high school for my brother started to feel like he didn't want to go to school, he didn't want to learn. And I know that I wouldn't want to feel that way. I'm afraid that many students in high school are getting turned off to learning new things. But I guess I don't know that much about other people, but I do know about myself. So whatever floats your boat, I really don't care if anyone else likes or wants to go to high school. I won't make you leave if you don't make me stay.
Email to Senator Boxer::
My brother emailed my parents and me this...
The big news around the psych department this afternoon is that some Republican senator from Texas is trying to force NSF to cut all funding to social, behavioral, and economic sciences. (Presumably that includes the type of funding that I would be applying for in the future--and maybe my fellowship, too.) She's claiming that limiting NSF funding to physical sciences and math will be of more direct economic use. So I gave a call to Barbara Boxer's office and left my little comment. If you have a minute tomorrow, could you send in a little e-mail comment too? Apparently this is up for a vote tomorrow, and although I don't know the full story, it does sound like a big deal.
So I sent an email to Barbara Boxer...
Dear Senator Boxer,
I wanted to send you a quick email message regarding the National Science Foundation funding reevaluation. My older brother, Drew Dara-Abrams, is currently attending University of California at Santa Barbara as a graduate student in Cognitive Sciences. He had the privilege of being selected as an NSF scholar and he will be receiving money for his next 3 years as a graduate student. Obviously, as a graduate student he doesn't make a lot of money or have a lot of money and he was sooo extremely excited to hear that he had gotten the NSF funding. I think his research is JUST AS IMPORTANT as a physical sciences and math.
At the moment I am getting an Associates degree in math at Foothill College in Los Altos Hills (meaning I'm into math a whole lot) and I don't think I deserve money for research more than my brother does. I totally believe that his research will help our national economy and our global economy just as much as a physical science or math graduate student's research would.
I don't know why this should even be up for debate but hopefully you will take into consideration the students this reevaluation of the NSF funding would exclude.
Thank you,
Cassie Dara-Abrams
Hmm.. I don't know how correct all of my statements are but I think she would get the jist of my email... uhhh she? Who is going to read this?? I wonder how many emails she gets per day? per hour? I wonder if she picks and chooses or her assistant picks and chooses which she reads.. well I hope SOMEONE reads this, someone excluding a computer since I did really put a lot of effort into this and trying to make it personal and heart felt (seriously, I wouldn't joke).
: )
Okay, now I guess I'm getting in bed because I spent a couple of hours that I should have been getting ready for my French quiz tomorrow (on reflexive verbs and body parts, hmm so related!) on my computer websurfing.. if only I spent as much time sleeping as I did websurfing and using my computer! On that note, I'm going to sleep.
Oh also, I went to the last SCIL (don't ask me what that stands for at the moment... I'll get back to you) talk at Stanford. Tonight it was the founder of Wikimedia Foundation, Jimmy Wales, speaking. The talk gave me a better idea of what Wikimedia/-pedia... is and how to use it. I'm glad I went with my parents. I'll put my notes up soon.
Thank you::
Picture I took at 8AM when I arrived at the conferenceMay 9, 2006
Dear Thea Plesenth*,
Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to attend this year's Professional BusinessWomen of California Conference. I attend Foothill College in Los Altos Hills and I'm 16 years old. I decided to leave high school early because I felt like I would be wasting four years of my life at a place I didn't enjoy. Sometimes I feel like I don't have a very good peer group at my school since I'm much younger than many of my peers. However, during and after the conference I really felt like I could count on women of all ages around the Bay Area to help me succeed in and enjoy my life. I very much appreciated the theme for this year's conference, The Power of Connection, since I feel like everyone needs to have connections with others, whether personal or professional, to be able to have an enjoyable life.
I participated in the seminars called "Making the World a Better Place," "Self-Esteem: You Can Never Have Enough," and "Managing a Cross-Cultural or Virtual Team." Just by the titles, all of the seminars sounded like they would be interesting, and they were. I found all of them thought provoking and fun. I attended the "Making the World a Better Place" and the "Managing a Cross-Cultural or Virtual Team" seminars because I am very interested in having a career that involves the whole world. At the moment, I am working on my Girl Scout Gold Award project. For my project, I'm creating a documentary called Connecting Youth to Youth. I have filmed a drama group in Johannesburg, South Africa, a group of students in Luebeck, Germany, and a group of deaf students who attend the School for the Deaf in Fremont, California. These two seminars helped me better understand how businesses and professionals are communicating with others from around the globe.
After the wonderful keynote by Dr. Bertice Berry I definitely wanted to attend her seminar about self-esteem. Her seminar was not only about self-esteem but about connection as well. During the Question and Answer period at the end of the seminar, one of the young women who won a scholarship from PBWC asked if she could find some women mentors to help her answer difficult life questions. Dr. Berry asked all of the women without children in the audience to come and stand by the young woman. And then she asked if any other young women would like to have mentors as well. I went up and received business cards from a number of incredibly friendly women. This part of the conference was a magnificent example of the power of connection.
Not only were the seminars, booths, and keynotes exciting and informative but I also gained a lot from the conference experience itself. I know that I will be very well prepared for my future business career because of all the conferences I have attended and plan on attending in the future.
Again, I'd like to express my appreciation for giving me the opportunity to have these incredible experiences at the Professional BusinessWomen California Conference. I hope I will have similar opportunities again in the future.
Thank you,
Cassie Dara-Abrams
*name has been changed (HA! I've just always wanted to do that)
--
So wait, what IS this thank you letter about? Well, I attended the Professional BusinessWomen of California Conference in SF this past Tuesday (May 2nd) and I'm about to give this thank you letter to the Honors Institute (who got the scholarship for me to attend the conference) to be sent in to thank them for letting me come! I really did have a great time as you can see....
Me with my blinding name tag in front of Moscone Center in SF where the PBWC conference was held. This was taken by my mom right before we quickly drove back to Foothill (my school) for my 6PM French class. I got to class only a couple minutes late (only because I really needed to pee).
Y FEST 2006!!!!!!!
Come to Y Fest 2006!! There's going to be music throughout the day (noon-5pm), organizations to get involved with, speakers, food, and people who want to CHANGE THE WORLD! (I think that's pretty cool). I'm obviously going to be there... I'm stage managing!
Want to know
more about it?
Blogging and sleeping::
I really want to blog but I just don't have the energy to sit down and type a lot. I definitely need more sleep than I've been getting. Tonight, I'm going to sleep by 10:30PM. Yes, seriously, I will be asleep by then. If I extremely want to do something, I can do it.
Actually, I'm going to blog, just not on this blog. Look at my history seminar blog and see what I'm doing this weekend [reading about the Great War!]!
