Orientation at Pinole Middle School

Today all the ILCers attended the Orientation that took place at Pinole Middle School. I was glad it was at Pinole Middle because it’s familiar and close to my house (though the McDonald's next to it certainly was useful afterwards).

Since my parents came straight from work, we left the house later than planned, resulting in one very stressed Famorcan family. However, we got to the school at a reasonable time. After everyone found their seats, Don put a stop to everyone’s conversations.

The first part of the Orientation was Don re-introducing himself and the chaperones to the parents. He talked about itineraries and forms and told us what we'd discuss tonight. He soon told our cohorts to separate into breakout sessions.

Our Chicago cohort went over the rough draft of our itinerary, filled out some more forms, and talked about what to expect at the places we’ll be going to. Alie, our chaperone, answered any questions our parents had. The cohorts soon walked back to the multipurpose room.

The post-breakout session part of Orientation was a review of the checklist Don discussed during our blogging tutorials. Don and Ms. Kronenberg also told us things we can expect back East (like hot weather and evil thieves). Like Don said, the review was mostly for the parents’ benefit (though having our parents know does come back to benefit us, the students).

The Orientation was a nice way to get us all prepared for our trips. I’m glad the ILC has Ethernet cables and gorillapods and things like that to let us borrow. I’m so excited for this trip!!