DC Chillin

Anniversary

2011-01-21T20:40:00.000-08:00

One year ago today, I was anxiously awaiting the start of the the most wonderful experience of my life. I was nervous, worried, scared, and extremely excited. I didn't know what to expect from this new program. A lot happened over the course of thos four months in Washington. I grew as a scholar and a thinker. I became a better friend and a more ethical person. I loved every minute of it.

As I write this blog post, I write not from Washington, but from my home in Ohio. Even though I am a good six hour drive from my favorite city, I know that I'm actually not that far away at all. One year later, I remain friends with everyone from my SEGL class. I stay in touch with all my teachers. I've even gone back and visited the school, twice. That's how much this program matters to me. That's how much it's made a difference in my life.

A lot has changed in the past year, yet I know that I will always have SEGL and all my friends and teachers to fall back on. The SEGL community has become a part of my family. I know that whenever I need anything, someone from that program is only a phone call away, always ready to help or just talk. That's the beauty of it. Those friendships that I formed are, as cliched as it sounds, everlasting.

I wouldn't trade this experience for the world. Because of SEGL, I am the young woman that I am today.

Thank you to all who made it happen, especially the 16 other Inaugural Spring 2010 SEGLets and the founding faculty members.

Good luck to the new Spring 2011 SEGLets. You have a tough act to follow.

Ethically,
Lesley

Megan's List of Quotes

2010-11-01T17:38:00.000-07:00

Finally!! I have in my posession Megan's list of quotes from the semester! Also I have another excuse to blog. You can't keep me away. But before I post this glorious list, good news on the social venture front. I finally have a meeting with the school that I want to work with in Cleveland. Hopefully they like my project and will let me start it at their school. Wish me luck!!

Alright, without further adou:

At the National Gallery of Art: Everett to Lesley [in regard to portraits]: "Mine's minimalist. Yours is just stupid."

Goodstuff

The Little Prince

The Closet

The Laundary Room

The Congressional

Firehook/Starbucks

Starbs/and other abbreviations

Tik Tok

DuPont

Sweet Green

"I'm sorry!" - Winson

Valentine's Czar

My Dick Jokes

Union Station

Strobe Light

Raves

Dances

Punk/Prep

Milkshakes

Spike

Sign-out Sheets

Groups of Three

No Horizontal

Clothes on, Covers off

Don't get Noah in Trouble

SEGL call

FroYo

Discount

Henry V

Animal Farm

Chore Period

Old Greg

Da Cave

We Vote to Nuke Somalia

CoGoPo

Pi Day

British Elections - Gordon Brown, Nick Clegg, Tony Blair

Hung Parliament

Winson's Gordon Brown

Yoga

Exercise Block

Gym Memberships

No SEGL Babies

Duke TIP poop story

Flooding Toilets

No Bare Feet! (=No Bar Fee)

Vegan

Friday Sick Day

Shots shots shots shotshot shots shots shots shotshot shots shots shots shotshot shots EVERYBODY!

Soccer

Broken Windows

Connections/Networking/SEGL Social

Broken Washer

$5 lunch days

The Economist

The Alarm

Knocking at the Back Door

Ants

Talent Show

Humble

Baked Ziti

Everett's dancing

Dorm Meeting

Morning Meeting

MiniFridge

I wuv you (kyra)

Guuurl (lesley)

42

Caity's singing

Cereal

Metro Cards

30 Seconds to Mars... you still owe me a dollar

Couch buddies

Weekend Planning Meeting

Henry's Bitch

Mafia

Taking the long way home from Goodstuff, sitting on the Supreme Court steps

Games on the National Mall

Snow. Lots of snow. And being the only school open.

*Isabel makes weird hand gesture*
Noah: "What is that?"

Isabel: "It's an 'A'. Can't you see it?"

Noah: "This takes me to my next point: Don't smoke crack."

No horizontal

"mexicans don't have to be horizontal." -Jorge

If you invest in Shakespeare, it’s like investing in Microsoft in 1985. -Noah

Do you read it out loud? -Noah

I whisper it to myself. –Caity

Noah: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Sophie: President.

“Unless Megan cures it first.” –Winson

“…Henry V, who in my view, is a pompous ass…” – Noah

“Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands; mock mothers from their sons, you motherfucking bastards.” -Noah

"I just pace naturally." -Everett

"Shut up Tracy! I mean... Trevor... " -Henry

"They say that Congress gets nothing done, and I see why. We spent ten minutes discussing how to vote." -Trevor

Sophie: "Any announcements?"

Aaron [excitedly]: "It's snowing sideways!"

Sophie: "Dick Cheney had a heart attack?"

Trevor: "Dick Cheney has a heart?!"

Everett: "How are you?"

Will: "Absofuckinglutely dandy."

"If you guys haven't noticed, the silverware is disappearing..." -Robbie

Robbie: "Who knows the emergency maintenance number?"

Isabel: "911."

"I'm filling in for Heather. She was going to talk about managing your finances, but I'm not cuz I live with a bunch of teenagers." -Robbie

Robbie: "What do you do to de-stress?"

Teddy: "Comb my hair and play soccer."

Sophie: "I breathe air."

Aaron: "I party hardy drink bacardi roll a fat one throw a PARTY!"

Everett: "I go in the closet. Most of the time I'm in the closet."

Jorge: "I cry."

"I’m running school meeting today, so if you have anything you want to say, just hit me up and I will put it on the board of whiteness." -Will
"Bright students who go off to Harvard, Yale, God." -Pedersen

Haiti doesn't need a hand-out, it needs a hand-up.

"If she runs the country, I will die!" - Emily, about Caity

Heather: "...chemicals made from eggs."

Everyone: "AIDS?"

Heather: "Eggs."

Megan and Teddy: "AIDS?"

Aaron: "Eggs."

Everyone: "Oh! Eggs!"

"It's basically pants. That's my whole story." -Aaron

"I know we're at the School for Ethics, but I would have killed someone if I had the chance." -Everett, about a simulation we did

"You mean euthanasia, or youth in asia?" -Caity to Megan, about application essay topic

"You learn to speak Spanish and you can pay for your own coffee." -Jorge to Megan

Trevor: "Wouldn't it be awesome if you slept with a person, you would automatically become famous?"

Everett: "Are you still talking about AIDS?"

Noah: "This shirt wasn't cheap. This shirt was $75."

Jorge: "No... this shirt is $5. This logo is $70."

"You can learn so much about yourself by reading the Bible." -Sophie

"My dad keeps our house at 48 degrees to save the world. My cup of water will freeze at night." - Sophie

"We call him the 'Dark Lord' because he keeps all the lights off." - Sophie, about her dad

"What happens in English class, stays in English class." -Noah

After hearing "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost:

"Actually, with quantum mechanics, you could travel both roads simultaneously." - Megan

"We're never going to survive this if we don't work together." -Carl Wilkens

"Every once in a while, just scratch your ear or something so I know." -Carl Wilkens, during Skype session, directions so he can tell that the screen isn't frozen

"Do cats have dog years... I mean.. cat years?" -Aaron

Noah: "Did you ever take the opportunity to artificially inseminate a camel?"

Henry: "Yes. Yes I did."

Air Hair Lair -CoGoPo

"You gain the most power by NOT acting." -Gray Pedersen

"History is an imaginary re-creation of the past." -Gray Pedersen

"Oh, her! I saw her on youtube! You have good taste." -Mr. Pedersen to Aaron

"Soviet condoms are the worst condoms I have seen in the entire world." -Pedersen's friend

"It was supposed to be printed in landscape." -Winson

"This is so Winson!" -Pedersen, in reference to Winson's schematic

"Maybe she went into another village for.. something..." -Heather, about Audrey acquiring HIV in a simulation

Kyra: "Could we see him before his testification before Congress?"

Noah: "Testification? You mean testimony?"

"This seems like a Christmas chair or something..." -Mark Dybul, in reference to comfy chair

"...introduce Mary Dybul.. uh, that's what it says." -Everett

"We had something like asupermarket, but it was always out of everything except for TVs." - Henry

"Please universalize your maxim!" - Noah, scolding a student

"They say 'no effing way,' except with a British accent." -Noah, British response to James II

"I am a 16-year-old pregnant white girl." -Aaron

"Math gives you analytical thinking you need in any field. As you move up in any leadership position, you will see charts, graphs,... if you want to be in leadership positions, you will need to be able to interpret data." -Tony Seba

"You never know what research in math is going to lead to." - Tony Seba

"The survey results are pretty useless.. unless you want to say, 'Oh, look! They don't know anything about history!" -Kevin Jennings

"About the fourth time he [Tim Robbins] did it, I wacked him with my [hockey] stick." -Kevin Jennings

"When you say the words, 'Somebody ought to do something about it,' somebody will, and it will be you." -Kris Amonson

How did you get into politics?

"I was a kindergarten volunteer and things got out of hand." -Kris Amonson

"You never make a cow fatter by weighing it." -Kris Amonson

"How did Kevin Federline become the good one in that relationship?" -Kris Amonson, in reference to Britney Spears

"EVERY single suburban parent thinks their kid is gifted."-Kris Amonson

Noah: "Winson's siffing. He's just a sniffer."

Noah: "Don't assume. Find out."

"Don't do it. We have condoms." -Noah

"Please, no SEGL babies." -Noah

"I'm not used to snow, so if I step in it, will I sink?" -Isabel

"Rubber stairs." -Isabel, in wonder and amazement (regarding treads on the steps)

"Does that say 'Heaving Committee'?!" -Someone to Isabel during morning meeting

Noah: "Does anyone know what SOL means?"

Robbie: "It's Spanish for SUN!"

"It's Ms. Dr. Megan Parsons!" -Robbie, hearing committee selection

"YOU'RE Dr. Ross?!" -Megan, to Robbie

"Last semester, we went through 4 gallons of milk per week. This semester? 10 gallons of milk per week." -Noah

"The shelves [at the store] were empty. I felt like I was in the Soviet Union or something." -Noah

"You are the pioneers. You're the ones who took a chance on this program. you will have a special place in my heart as the founder of the school ... in the history of this program." -Noah

"If it really got down to it, we'd be suing the government of Botswana." -Noah, about the water leak next door

"Is the policy for slow dances 'leave room for Jesus?' -Aaron

"DJ LD-50 will be scratching the records today." -Will

"I think you're all adults.. near-adults.. acting like adults." -Noah

"I went there this weekend and it was so fun! It wasn't creepy at all." -Noah, about going to a roller derby

"Firstly, I think we should find a way to haze him appropriately." -Noah, about new staff member Stephen

Henry: "Noah, are you suggesting that you spent Valentine's Day at a roller derby?"

Noah: "Are you dating anyone, Henry?"

"For humble, I'm not going to give a quote, because -pfft- B-O-R-ING." -Everett

Noah: "Are you not voting, Aaron?"

Aaron: "I lost."

"Isabel received a box from HouseOfRave.com. It's probably a big box of ecstacy." -Noah

"In the real world, we have rich people and poor people. If I want to get a frozen yogurt, let me get my goddamn frozen yogurt! If I go to Starbucks, I don't need to get a grande, caramel, strawberry, high-fructose corn syrup coffee." -Noah

SEGLet Cross-pollination: Homecoming 2010

2010-10-18T22:32:00.000-07:00

Alright so this weekend, 10/15-10/17 was the first annual SEGL Homecoming!! All those who could came back to DC to enjoy a weekend of fun and SEGL memories. Friday, 10/15, was also my 18th birthday, so it was a pretty amazing weekend needless to say.

Friday:
My family and I drove in from our home in Cleveland. Contrary to what everyone believes, Ohio and Cleveland are not that far from the east coast. We are about a 6 hour drive from DC. Like I said, not that far. Although we did split up the drive for convenience purposes. We drove to Pittsburgh first and then to DC Friday morning.
We arrived in DC about 4 ish after picking up my Georgetown Cupcakes from the store in Bethesda. Instead of a cake, I wanted the best cupcakes in the world for my birthday. We went to my Aunt's house. She lives in DC so we always stay with her when we visit the city. After arriving at her house, we dropped our stuff off and then went to dinner at Comet's Pizza with my whole family and her whole family. There were 9 of us in total.
After dinner we went back to my aunt's house, sang happy birthday, and ate cupcakes. My parents and I then headed to DuPont cirlce for an informal gathering at Abagail's house. She is Noah, the SEGL founder's career advisor. She has a lovely house. The best part of this event was being reunited with my classmates from SEGL Spring 2010!! Audrey, Isabel, Trevor and I were the only ones representing our class on Friday night. (Nitika and Audrey joined us Saturday morning.) There were also students from Fall 2009 there. It was so great meeting Nell, LP, Phoebe, Valentina, Cooper, Pete, and Marcus. We all clicked pretty quickly. I expected that to happen since we are all SEGL kids.
Later that evening, we left the informal gathering and headed to Good Stuff Eatery to grab milkshakes and to celebrate my birthday. It was so fun! Best birthday yet!

Saturday:
We were all to meet at the academic at 9 to start the Homecoming festivities. Beforehand, Audrey, Isabel and I went and got breakfast from Firehook, just like old times. We then ventured to the academic. Our parents had a 3 hour talk with Bud Krogh, who we all heard speak during our semesters. The students, instead, went upstairs and had our own reunion. We skyped and called everyone from our semesters and hung out and bonded with the Fall 09 kids some more. They are great. It was so fun talking to everyone and being together! I miss my semester so much. It was so amazing.
After reuninting with my semester, everyone headed out to lunch. The Spring 10 ladies headed to Sweet Green, just lik old times. Deja vu, anyone?
Upon returning, Noah did the chocolate demonstration that enticed us all to come to SEGL in the first place. We then had a fish bowl discussion about the issue. Noah wanted to demonstrate the vast array of voice in the room, so the current students discussed, then the graduates discussed, and then the parents discussed. I liked hearing everyones opinion. At the end of the discussion, Noah surprised us with a chocolate tasting at a store down the street. Yum! After that we had a panel of 4 graduates, Marcus, Nick, Phoebe, and Isabel, present about their social venture projects. I was inspired to start working on mine again. So look out for that!
Later that night there was Gala fundraiser. It was quite successful! The graduates didnt stay the whole time at the Gala instead we left early to go visit 231 Constitution Ave aka Home. We hung out there for a while with the current semester. It was crazy to see people living in my house! I got super nostalgic and it was crazy. I wish I was still there. I really do.
After being kicked out of the dorm because of lights out, we all went our seperate ways, thus ending one fabulous reunion weekend!!

Sunday:
We drove back to Cleveland. I miss my friends! I miss DC. I miss SEGL!

I'm sorry that this got so long winded. Props to you for getting this far. I miss blogging about SEGL so I had to utilize my one opportunity to do so. I guess I got a little carried away. Ooops.
That's all for now. Check back later for updates on my venture!

Never "too soon" for an Update

2010-10-07T21:21:00.000-07:00

Hey Everyone!

I haven't known what to write about for a while. Fortunately, I am heading back to the District for the SEGL Reunion, which just happens to be the weekend of my 18th birthday! I will definitely be posting an entry after the weekend. I'm so excited to be back at my school and at my house. I can't wait to see everyone either!

In other news, my social venture project is stagnant. Schools are very hard to work with. Though, I'm making progress. I'm supposed to have a meeting with the principal in November and will hopefully be able to get the project off the ground.

Also, if any prospective students are reading this... feel free to friend me on facebook and ask me about SEGL. I would love nothing more than to talk about my semester.

Alright. That's all I've got for now.
See ya in a week, DC Chillin'.

Insert SEGL Inside Joke Here

2010-07-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

Per Audrey's request, I am back to blogging. I guess you guys miss my incoherent weekly updates about my SEGL life. Here's a tidbit of my post-SEGL life.

I have been spending my summer doing school. I just finished up my physics class last week. I finished up all my make up work for the college office at my school. I am working on my summer reading and some extra math work that I have to do before I start AP Stats in the fall. I start ACT tutoring tomorrow. Needless to say, I have barely had time to breathe.
Fortunately, I have been maintaining many of my SEGL friendships. The bonds we made over those 16 short weeks will last us a lifetime. Even if we do lose touch or something, those friendships will bring us all back together in some way or another. We are indeed a family, however close knit or distant we are is dependent on the effort that we all put forth. Thankfully we all put forth a lot of effort, which shows how strong a community we really are. It's truly amazing that something like that can form in such a short period of time. But I guess that's what happens when 17 teenagers literally live on top of each other for 4 months.

That's all for now.
Peace. Love. SEGL.

Nostalgia: (n.) a desire to return to SEGL

2010-06-24T21:22:00.000-07:00

I have been home for about 3 weeks now. I miss it. A lot. It's weird being back home, but it's good seeing my friends and family again. Besides, I now have the chance to tell new people at SEGL everyday. Spread the word, obviously. Blogging was a big part of my semester away as I became the unofficial historian for the inaugural spring semester. Needless to say, I miss blogging. A lot. So, I've decided to update everyone on my social venture project. Yay!

My project is titled New Lens: Photography in the Inner City. New Lens is an after-school digital photography program for 5th graders in the Cleveland city schools. The mission of New Lens is to provide these fifth graders with a creative outlet and an opportunity to foster their passions or even discover a new one. I want other children to be inspired, to be creative, and to be passionate about something that brings me a great deal of joy.

Currently, I am in the process of applying for the start up grant from Ashoka, scheduling meetings with my 6 dedicated team members, and trying to make a connection with a Cleveland charter school where I would like to launch the program.

That's all for now. I will keep you updated. I just can't stay away from blogging.

Shiver me timbers!

2010-06-02T15:45:00.000-07:00

So as you know major parts of the SEGL curriculum are the capstone projects, one of which is the collaborative policy document or CPD, as Winson affectionately calls it. This past semester, we spent 3 weeks and then some working on our policy document about Piracy in Somalia. We even got to meet with the foremost officials about piracy in Somalia at the State Department. It was amazing. So without further ado, I present the Class of Spring 2010's CPD about Pirates! Read up!

http://www.schoolforethics.org/PiracyinSomaliaSEGL.pdf

Week 16 - Yeah, and they were all yellow

2010-05-30T21:12:00.000-07:00

Monday:
Today we had our first of our final exams. I had my math and Spanish exams, both of which went very well. It was our last Monday, which means my last dish duty of the semester. Aaron, Nitika, and I rocked it out of course. I'm going to miss doing dishes actually, but this doesn't mean that I will start doing them at home or something. Don't get your hopes up. I must continue studying. I have my US history final tomorrow.

Tuesday:
Today I had my last final of junior year! Woohoo! I studied all morning for my US history final and then I took the test in the afternoon. It went really well. After exams we had a group meeting to talk about some issues that we are having in the community. Don't worry all will be resolved before we go home on Saturday. We also did some group bonding because we aren't yet a family. We are close, but not quite there. My goal for the group is to be a family; I've always had that goal. I want us to get there. Tonight will be dedicated to working on my social venture project. They are due tomorrow and we will present them in front of a panel of social entrepreneurs. I'm excited. I love my project!

Wednesday:
Today we presented our social venture projects to a panel of social entrepreneurs. Unfortunately, three cancelled on us last minute, so we had to pull some strings. Fortunately, Dan Morrison of Citizen Effect and one of Noah's friends, was able to meet with us for an hour. He critiqued my ideas and was really helpful. I'm really glad that he was able to speak with us. We need all the feedback that we can get. Also Steve Boyd (?) made it later in the day and was able to speak with us for a little bit. I'm glad that he ended up being able to make it. I'm excited to move forward with my project and apply for the grant. In the afternoon, we chilled at the academic and worked on our credos. Those are due tomorrow. The ethical credos are our final capstone project. It is a paper about what we believe and how we will live our lives and about the ethical issues that we are currently pondering. I'm excited for that as well. I love the capstone projects here. They are innovative and amazing. After working on our projects, we did a heavy clean up of the academic building. We even cut the grass out front... with scissors. We rock at life. P.S. We are definitely acting like more of a family now. I'm really proud of us.

Thursday:
Today was actually the most amazing day ever. I was so happy. I am solidifying friendships and trying to fix any outstanding disagreements. I want to leave DC with no regrets and no animosity. I'm trying my best to fix everything or at least ameliorate it a little bit. Writing my credo really helped me to think about all of this. Our credos were due this morning. We also had to present them as well. It was really great and everyone's credo was amazing. Every person here is brilliant. I am so sad that the semester has come to a close. We have come so far and everyone has changed so much. I love everyone here. After presenting our credos and officially ending junior year, we headed to the tidal basin to go paddle boating. Isabel, Audrey and I were in a boat together and we had a very nice chat. It's great talking to people that you don't normally talk to. After boating for an hour, we walked to a shady spot and chilled for the rest of the day. We sat by the water, talked, played ultimate, and had dinner. It was an amazing day. I am going to miss this so much. Later in the evening, we were forced to pack. I don't want to pack. I don't want to leave. I'm horrible at good byes.

Friday:
Today was an amazing day. We spent the morning packing up and getting ready for our departure on Saturday. After everyone was packed and the house was clean, we headed to the academic for the final ceremony and other festivities. We arrived and were introduced to the activities of the evening which including filling out the ethical questionnaire that we filled out on the first day and writing in each other's bus books, like year books minus the pictures. We had dinner and then chatted with everyone for a bit. Henry came around and complimented everyone, just like he promised. My compliment was: Even though you are OCD, you are one of the most caring people that I have ever met. Aww Hen-Hen. After dinner we circled up and got ready for our final activities. Gray read us our college predictions and life stories. I'm going to WashU and owning a dairy farm in Wisconsin. We played the train wreck game like on the very first day. After all these fun activities, we turned the lights off and lit a candle for our final circle. We did the quaker thing that we did earlier in the semester - so everyone said their final good bye or thank you to the group when they felt moved to do so. It was really emotional. I love my DC family so much. After an emotional 2 hours, we watched Caity's slide show of the year. That was emotional as well. This was honestly the best semester of my life. We came back to the dorm late that evening and we hung out in the common room for a bit, just spending these final hours together. The first floor girls were finally allowed to have a sleep over with the third floor girls, so we stayed up all night chatting and laughing. I miss it already.

Saturday:
The very last day. We all woke up early to finish packing and saying good bye. Graduation started at 11 at the academic. Everyone's family and friends were there and it was so cute. The teachers said some final remarks as did all of us. After the ceremony, we all walked around and met peoples parents, took lots of pictures and enjoyed the final moments together. This was truly the most amazing semester of my life. I have a new family and 16 best friends. I learned more than I ever could in any other setting. I grew as a person and am now ready to change the world. We all are. We are going to. It's going to be amazing, just like these past four months.

P.S. I might keep updating this periodically with stuff about my social venture and other SEGL related things. I'll be back. Don't you worry.

Week 15 - Let's Get Together and Feel All Right

2010-05-23T14:12:00.000-07:00

This was a tough week, but it was still a good one. I love everyone! (like I haven't said this before...) I don't want to leave, but then again I can't wait to see my friends and family at home. The end is always bittersweet.

This week we focused on the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict and negotiation skills.

Monday:
Flip flopped schedule. E&L was in the afternoon. We met with Jeffrey Helsing from the United States Institute for Peace. He introduced us to our case study for this week which is the very complicated Israeli-Palestine conflict. I'm really excited for this case study. We have been waiting all year to get in depth in this intense issue.

Tuesday:
Today was pretty much a normal day at school. It was our last school meeting though. Tear tear. I'm not letting this semester end. After school meeting, we had a giant group hug and we sang our semester songs and just stood there and it was amazing and special. I love moments like that with everyone. We need to make these last 2 weeks the most amazing and special and terrific weeks here. It will happen.

Wednesday:
Today was our last Wednesday E&L. I hate this word last. It signifies the end of something great. I'm not letting this great thing come to an end. Today was a great day though. We spent the whole day examining all sides of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict. First we Skyped with Thaer and Suhayb, two Jordanians who attended SEGL last semester. They provided an interesting civilian outlook on the conflict. We then met with Ghaith Al-Omari, the Advocacy Director of the American Task Force in Palestine. He provided the Palestinian view of the conflict. After that we ventured to American-Israel Public Affairs Committee or AIPAC to meet with Jonathan Kessler. He provided a very interesting Israeli viewpoint. It was a fascinating day. I really loved how we were able to look at all sides of the issue.

Thursday:
Today was a normal day at school. Our second to last day of classes. Where has all the time gone?

Friday:
Last day of classes. Last day of junior year. What is this nonsense? Wasn't it only yesterday that I was partaking in our first day traditions at HB? Here I am now... different "state" and different person. Time has flown by. Today was a normal day though. For E&L, we debriefed about the week, and then we did an interesting negotiation activity. We were split into two teams (boys vs. girls) and were sent to different rooms to come up with our rules for Capture the Flag. We would come back to the main room and have 2 representatives from each group negotiate the rules of the game. Once a consensus was reached, we all went home, changed, and then went to the park to play. It was so fun! I love playing sports with everyone here. It doesn't help that we get to play on the national mall. After that we had dinner, and then a group of us went to Good Stuff Eatery. Typical Friday night.

Saturday:
I had my last French class of the year. Au revoir! After that we came back to the dorms and chilled until Alanna arrived to give us a budget seminar. We are in the process of creating budgets for our social ventures projects and we needed a little guidance. After lunch, we all went and chilled in the park. It was such a beautiful day. We came home and hung out some more. We need to spend as much time together in this last week. This might be the last time that we are all together as a group especially because Sophie is going to Norway for 2 years. In the evening, a group of us went to Good Stuff again. Typical, typical. We came home and enjoyed a movie that Noah had chosen. He's such an 80s kid. He picked Say Anything. It was a good movie and a good way to end a good day.

Sunday:
Time to study for exams. We have them on Monday and Tuesday! Ah! So yeah, I have to go and continuing studying. Whoot.

Week 14 - 20 miles of...

2010-05-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

Amazing week version 14.0. I'm not leaving. Ever.

Monday:
During E&L, Henry introduced us to our case study for the week: Grand Strategy. He presented a power point that laid out all the general knowledge about the subject. I love this subject! It's so fascinating. I'm also really excited for the simulation on Friday. We will all have different roles at the White House and have to develop a strategy to solve a major crisis. Ah I can't wait! After that it was a normal school day.
In the afternoon, we had exercise block with Henry. We went to the Capitol park and played Ultimate Frisbee. We had some people stop by and ask if they could play. A coach also watched us play for a while. Tourists took pictures of us. We are so legit.

Tuesday:
Today was a normal day. Although we had a lunch time speaker. Jane Mayer of the New Yorker came to speak to us today about her work in investigative journalism. She specifically focuses on torture and terrorism. Her job is so cool! She is pretty much what I aspire to be. She leads this amazing life where she writes for the New Yorker, writes books, travels, and has a family. I'm on my way though because I was recently selected to be an editor in chief for my school's newspaper. I am also the international liaison and will be helping to start a newspaper and teach about free press at a school in Baghdad. I'm so excited! For Flex period in th evening, we watched the movie 13 Days which is about the Cuban Missile Crisis and grand strategy. It was fascinating.

Wednesday:
Today was a strange day. I had my last AP exam of the year at NCS. I took the AP English Language and Composition exam, and it was breeze. Hopefully, I did as well as I think I did. After the test, Teddy, Aaron, Jorge and I went back to school like we were told to do so that we could participate in E&L. When we got there, no one was there and the power was out. We called Henry and were told to report back to the dorm. No one was there. Everyone was at the Holocaust Museum. You needed tickets to get in today because it was so crowded. Instead, we stayed home, ordered Chinese food and watched a movie. It was a chill day. Once everyone arrived back at the dorm, we debriefed the day. (Everyone spent the morning walking around the monuments. We didn't miss anything big.) We also discussed the simulation that will be happening on Friday. I can't wait for that! It's going to be awesome.

Thursday:
Today was a pretty normal day at SEGL. In the afternoon during Arabic and Chinese block, we had E&L where Henry and Noah briefed on the simulation that is happening tomorrow. I'm so excited for it. I hope I am either a journalist or the head of the CIA. I think those would be the most interesting roles. It starts at 3:45 tomorrow. Can't wait!

Friday:
We had a normal school day up until E&L block, which is when we had the most epic simulation. It was the grand strategy simulation where everyone had a role in the government or some sort of related agency. A crisis hit our nation and we all had to figure out how to deal with and how to finish our daily tasks as well. The crisis that hit our nation were terrorist attacks in Yemen. Our grand strategy was to stay passive and not attack unless we were attacked first. It was pretty successful, only 3 American lives where lost. Although we did end up with a military coup in Yemen and an exiled president that we decided not to help. Isabel ended up being the President. Kyra and I were Washington Post reporters, just like I had hoped. It was so fun! We go to mess with people and write a lot of articles. We also uncovered the governments lies about the CIA drone incident. We wrote about how the president drinks a lot. (Direct quote.) It was great! I love being here second semester because we get to do all the cool things that first semester never got to do. We are obviously the superior semester. After the simulation, president of the board, Matt Ellis did a private guitar concert for us. It was great. We all sang along. Noah and Matt did a duet and so did Matt and Gray. Everyone here is so talented. I love it. I love moments like the concert when everyone comes together as a group. We all love each other, and during times like those it's very apparent.

Saturday:
I had a three hour French class this morning. After that, we had a quick English class where we were allowed to walk around and find some alone time to reflect about our Credo. Our final capstone project is writing an ethical credo about everything that we learned this semester. I know exactly what I'm going to write. It's going to be amazing, or brilliant as is required of the project. After that we had a chill day. I played Scrabble with Jorge and Aaron. Later in the day, I went to Eastern Market with Sophie, Trevor, Audrey, and Winson. We ended up at this amazing book store called Capitol Hill Books. It's th e second hand bookstore with books about everything. It's so cool. In the evening, we played Hide and Glow seek which is essentially hide and go seek with a twist. Will orchestrated everything. The point of the game was not to get caught by Everett and you had three lives. Every time you were caught you would get a glow stick, if you got three you lost. You could also find tonic cards that either added or subtracted glow sticks. Plus all the lights were out and trash bag streamers were hung all over the house. It was so epic. After the game, we had a glow in the dark rave. Whoo fun day! Unfortunately we were missing 4 girls. They all went home for prom. It was weird having so many less people.

Sunday:
Today we had brunch and then we went to Georgetown to go shopping! It was great. It's so cool and trendy and fabulous. It's great shopping as well. After spending a few hours walking around, we went to Leopold's Cafe, which is this really trendy Viennese restaurant that is owned by a friend and board member of SEGL, Phillipe Leneer (?). He sat and ate with us and treated us to some great food. We had calamari, fries, and salmon pizza. We were all allowed to choose our own dessert. I had this mango cheesecake and it was amazing. It was by far the best food that we have had all semester. After we came home, I just chilled with everyone and enjoyed the time I have left here in DC. I'll be back in Cleveland before I know it.

One regular week left. What is this nonsense? Honestly? How have I been here for four months? Seriously? I love it. I'm not leaving. You can't make me.

Week 13 - Justin Bieber

2010-05-09T19:12:00.000-07:00

There are not enough days left here in DC. I can't handle it. Time, please slow down.
Although this was a great week. I love it here and I love everyone here.

Monday:
Study all morning for CoGoPo exam. Went to NCS to take my CoGoPo AP Exam. I think it went really well. I felt great coming out of the exam. After the exam, we went home and then we had exercise block with Henry. We went to the Capitol park and played Ultimate Frisbee. We are getting really good according to Henry. I really like ultimate. I want to play it back home.

Tuesday:
Regular day at school.
During Flex, we are having a APUSH review session. My exam is on Friday. Ah APs!

Wednesday:
Visited Georgetown and had a great tour by a student from the School of Foreign Service. I love the school! It's definitely up at the top of my college list. We then had a philosophy and ethics lesson from one of Noah's old students named Paddy McShane. It was really interesting. We pondered the Theory of Double Effect. After a wonderful morning, we went back to school and had classes because we missed them on Monday.
In the evening our dorm turned into a barber shop and three of the boys now have much less hair. Henry cut Everett, Aaron and Tracy's hair. Tracy also has a mohawk now. Work it, boys!

Thursday:
Normal school day.
Although during Arabic and Chinese we had fascinating speakers from NAIS, the National Association of Independent Schools. We did an activity about race and had one of the most interesting discussions I've had in a while. All the adults were very impressed with the complexity of our conversation. It brought a lot of new light to many topics that we all grapple with each and every day.

Friday:
Took the AP US History exam this morning at the National Cathedral School. I think it went really well. Unfortunately, I have to wait until the end of July until I get my scores back. The rest of the day was pretty normal. During E&L, we worked on our Ashoka Action Plans, which are the business plans for the organization that we will be starting once we graduate. I'm really excited about my idea! Once it gets up and running, everyone should check it out!
After dinner, we all went to Good Stuff. Typical Friday night. I'm going to miss this so much.

Saturday:
Instead of having French and English class this morning, we went to the National Gallery of Art where we met with Nathalie Ryan and had a personal tour of the museum. We discussed some portrait pieces and then we went to the education studio and made our own portraits out of Polaroid pictures that had already been taken of us. We used water colors to embellish the pictures. It was a really fun event. After a long day out, we came home and just chilled. We watched some movies and had sundaes after dinner. We had an impromptu dance party like old times and then we just sat around and talked. I'm going to miss this so much. I don't know what I'm going to do without everyone. Time has gone by way too fast. It's unacceptable.

Sunday:
Today was a pretty chill day, like a typical Sunday. Although since APs are pretty much over, everyone has a lot more free time. We went to the National Mall to play some kickball, which is actually DC past time. Unfortunately, I kicked the ball into a tree so the game ended early. We came back home and chilled out, had dinner, and had dorm meeting. Now here I am, doing my homework. Hopefully, I will go to sleep early tonight. We are also in an epic prank war with the boys. Watch out...

Next week, our case study is about strategy. It's the second to the last. Not okay. Where did these months go?

Week 12 - 8th Grade Tour Group, No Punch Backs.

2010-05-02T09:24:00.000-07:00

How is there only a month left? This is not acceptable. If I don't see everyone over the summer, I will not survive. Literally. Time just needs to slow down.

In other news, we had another greattttt week! But every week here is great. Duh.

Monday:
E&L, Henry introduced us to Ashoka and their part in our Social Venture project. We worked on it all morning and started to get in contact with various people from back home to get the ball rolling on my project. I'm getting my friends involved and my teachers as well. I can't wait for everything to be ready and to actually start doing my project.
Noah, Alanna, and Gray are all in NYC at an event, so basically Henry is in charge for today and tomorrow. He taught our English class. We discussed Getting to Yes. It's a surprisingly useful, but annoying book.

Tuesday:
Shortened classes because we had to go register for APs. We went to the National Cathedral and walked around until we had registration at National Cathedral School. Much different all girls atmosphere than HB. Although I like how St. Alban's and NCS have the same campus. I wish HB and US had that.

Wednesday:
E&L, we went to Ashoka to get their intro to the project. It was not what we expected and all stuff that we had already done. It would have been perfect had this been the start of our social venture projects.
Jorge, Isabel and I had our lunch club meeting and we went to La Tomate. It was so yummy.
In the afternoon, we had a block English class to get ready for the AP. In the evening, Trevor, Jorge, Nitika, Caity, Emily, Audrey and I went to the Sewall-Belmont House for a panel discussion about women in public office. We heard Jennifer Lawless, who ran for Congress in Rhode Island and Ann Kornbult, author of a book about women in the presidency. It was really fascinating. They were great speakers.

Thursday:
Normal day, except for we had a speaker during lunch. National Geographic photo editor, Kurt Mutchler, spoke to us about ethics in photography. He was fascinating. Also, you will be excited to know that the famous Afghan girl cover has no photo editing! Yes, her eyes are THAT green.
We also had our last Chinese class where we discussed Chinese education.
We had exercise block with Henry. We played an epic game of Capture the Flag on the Mall.

Friday:
E&L, we have been working on our social venture projects. Today we had to deliver our elevator speeches. The elevator speech is the abbreviated business pitch. We did a role play where we ran into Noah in an elevator and had to get his business card. I successfully got his business card with my awesome pitch. It was a funny and great exercise. We didn't do anything in the evening because a lot of us have the SAT tomorrow. Oh joy.

Saturday:
I had to wake up early for the SAT, but it wasn't bad because Robbie made us pancakes! What a guy! I think the test went pretty well though. Unfortunately, I missed Open Embassy day. For English class, everyone walked around and visited different embassies and got free food and henna tatoos. We chilled at home all afternoon. In the evening though, we had the most epic scavenger hunt ever! We were split into three groups and we were given various tasks to complete all throughout the city. We ended up at Good Stuff, of course. It was such a fun evening. I hate how there is only one month left. Where did all the time go?

Sunday:
I have to study for my AP tests all day long. Gross.

Week 11 - Estrella

2010-04-26T21:30:00.000-07:00

It's late. I'm tired. Here's what happened last week. It was a great week and the debate was awesome. It went better than expected and I actually enjoyed doing it. I learned a lot about myself. Also the talent show was a huge success. I love everyone here. So many people sang various SEGL versions of pop songs and wow it was awesome. We are all so quirky and amazing.
Who built the ark? Noah. Noah. Who built the ark? Brother Noah built the ark.

Monday:
Intro to Immigration. Intro to Campaign.
Lesley, Liberty Party vs. Tracy, Freedom Party
Chief of Staff Caity
Liason Megan
Prep Audrey
Team Members Aaron, Jorge, Trevor, Everett, Isabel
Plan meetings for E&L on Wednesday

Tuesday:
School meeting. Continue the discussion about cliques and leaving in small groups.
Flex Period: Financial Fitness with Heather

Wednesday:
Spent the whole day traversing DC, meeting with various people.
First thing in the morning, met with Congressman Martin Heinrich from the 1st congressional district of NM and his chief of staff Steve Haro.
Met with Megan, Audrey, and Isabel at Starbucks in DuPont and we researched for a while. Then we went to Pew Research Center and met with Mark Lopez, associate director. Fact tank. Then we went to Brookings and met with Audrey Singer. Check out Ms. Singer's recent blog about immigration on the Brookings website. Yes, we met with her. We are that legit!
Amazingggg day!

Thursday:
Major venting session in English. Everyone was pissed about the workload and upset with everyone's lack of compassion. Fortunately we got the work load changed.
Otherwise normal day.
But we are starting to act like the movers and shakers that we will be in the future.

Friday:
Debate this afternoon! It was so successful.
We had an hour and a half of prep and I was definitely prepared. Everyone got to submit questions to the town hall style debate and everyone asked a different pressing question. Skeleton's in the closet came out and added some interesting elements to the debate. Tracy had some issues in the beginning so he tag teamed and Will took his place. Will is very articulate, so for debating with little preparation he did an awesome job. You can vote for the winner on the website.
Went to Yogato with everyone after school.

Saturday:
Prep for Talent Show in French Class
Interesting English discussion about race. Noah always likes to make us think.
Prep for the Talent Show all day.
9 PM Talent Show! Amazinggg! There were so many songs about us as a group and it was truly remarkable. I really do love everyone here. We are all so quirky and amazing.

Sunday:
Went to the Climate Rally on the Mall. Saw Passion Pit and John Legend. It was really cool. We wonder what Woodstock was like. Was it anything like the even we witnessed today?

It was yet another great week. One month left. I'm starting to cry already. I love this place. Love it!!

Week 10 - Just like a waving flag.

2010-04-19T21:42:00.000-07:00

We've had yet another amazing week here at SEGL. Yes, I'm aware that I over use the word amazing. But honestly, there really isn't a better way to describe this program. It's simply amazing.

Monday:
Today was the due date for our rough drafts. We were allowed to use morning E&L to work on the paper. Those two hours were insane. We worked during the whole period and got all our work done. I like working under pressure. Maybe that's why I like journalism. Hmm.
During math class Anne Baker came to speak to us about the importance of math in everyday life. I'm beginning to think that I might actually need this stuff. The funny thing was that she's actually an HB grad. I noticed her class ring and we have the same one since she went to my high school. She's also the best friend of my little sister's best friend's mom. Small world.
We had exercise block with Henry. It's brutal but so worth it in the end. We played soccer in our normal park. Unfortunately, we had a little run in with the Capitol Police. Apparently that park is still Capitol grounds so we aren't allowed to play there any more. We have to run down to the reflecting pool to play now.
Also, Maylen finally cooked for us! She made us salmon tikki masala. It was sooo good. I hope she cooks for us more often.

Tuesday:
Today was another ordinary day at school. We all got our edited rough drafts back. They were very harshly graded, but we need to see that in order to make them the best that they can be. This week will be crazy. Somalia deadline is drawing near!
During Flex, we finally had our financial fitness class with Heather. We learned the basics of budgeting, credit cards, and salaries.

Wednesday:
Today was an amazing day! On our walk to school from Robek's, we saw our first major protest. The Vietnamese-American Community of Massachusetts was protesting against communists.
For E&L, we worked on our Somalia project. So much time has been devoted to this. The rest of the semester will be similar. We only have 3 more case studies left. To break up the monotony of paper writing, we took a trip to the State Department to meet with THE people in charge of counter-piracy initiatives. We met with Robert Maggi and Peter Hearl. They provided us with a lot of insight into our papers. At the end of the session, Isabel, Kyra, and I were jumping for joy because we figured out the angle of our paper. Finally! After that we got a tour of the 8th floor which is where all important State events are held. We got to go out on to the balcony and snap a few pics of the great view. I felt so patriotic. Basically it was an incredible day!

Thursday:
Today we continued to freak out about Somalia. Why on earth did we pick a legitimate failed state to write a policy document about? It's so difficult to fix since it already failed. It feels like we need to save the world.
We had Chinese class again. This time we talked about Chinese holidays. We don't learn as much language rather culture. It's still fascinating though.

Friday:
We worked all during last period E&L and we finished our papers and turned them in at 6 pm sharp. We are done finally! In other news, today's Robbie's birthday so this morning as he left the academic we chased him down the street, hugged him and then serenaded him with happy birthday. I think we scared some people. Oops.
In the evening, we went to Good Stuff for milkshakes and sat on the Supreme Court Steps. Typical Friday night. It's our little tradition.

Saturday:
Beautiful day.
During English class, we worked on the final touches of our policy document. It should be ready to send out early next week.
We went to Old Town Alexandria and walked around. I shopped and walked around with Caity, Emily, and Kyra. Those 3 are definitely yaya sisters. It was such good bonding, especially lunch at the little sushi restaurant.

Sunday:
Typical chill Sunday full of homework.

Now onto yet another busy week. We will be studying immigration in one of our last case studies.

Week 9 - Somali Stress

2010-04-13T21:40:00.000-07:00

Time is going by so quickly. We are more than half way done. It's unreal. I don't want this semester to end.
So this week was major work on our Collaborative Policy Document Week, culminating with the "Murder Boards" on Friday. It was on whirlwind of a week though.

Monday:
We started the week off with a visit to the Carnegie Endowment on International Peace to meet with Peter Reed, VP of Communications. We discussed the think tank itself as well as policy document writing. It's a big task but once the paper is published there is a lot of reward. It's also really satisfying knowing that you came up with a solution to a world problem. Not many people can say that they've done that.
After school, we all rushed straight home to get ready for PE block. Every Monday after school we now go to the park to play games with Henry. This week we did Henry's exercise boot camp and then played a fantastic game of Ultimate Frisbee. It's so much fun! You should definitely try playing it if you have never before. It's great.

Tuesday:
Today, I ran school meeting. Noah commented on my interesting leadership style because instead of calling on everyone during each of our discussions, I let the person whose topic we were discussing lead. I found that system to be much more efficient.
Also, we got a new staff member today. Her name is Sarah and she's Robbie's best friend from Harvard. She's so cool and I'm really glad to have her at the school.
During Flex period, we watched Henry V, the movie. Earlier in the year we read the play and on Friday we will be seeing the play. Of course we had to watch the movie as well.

Wednesday:
For E&L today, we spent the whole day at George Washington University's Gelman Library as special guests. The library isn't open to the public so it was a privilege that we were able to use their resources for our Somali pirates project. We started the day in the dorm though with a mini public speaking lesson. We discussed how horrible our impromptu speeches were and we examined good speeches from our past presidents. After that short session, we metroed to GW. First thing in the morning, we had a library overview with the head librarian David. He was so nice and funny, especially in his attempts to get rid of the stigma that comes with being a librarian. Unfortunately that didn't work out so well. The rest of the day was spent researching Sea Law with my partners Kyra and Isabel. It was a really productive day.

Thursday:
Today we had our first Chinese class during our Chinese and Arabic Block. Our teacher is Megan Linzer and she is the Chinese teacher at Thomas Jefferson High School which is the best high school in America, according to US News and World Report. It was a fascinating class. We were introduced to China, some culture, and we even learned how to count.
Back at the dorm, everyone was scrambling to get everything ready for the "Murder Boards." Everyone's nervous, but I think it's just hype. I mean, after all, it is Henry...

Friday:
Today was an extremely busy day. We had morning meeting at the dorms and then we had 2 hours to prep for the "Murder Boards." After hurriedly prepping, we all walked to the Shakespeare Theater to see the play Henry V. We got there early so we were allowed to walk around and locate food. Jorge and I walked around China Town. It's not a town at all though. It's more like a China Street. After walking around, we enjoyed the play. We had front row seats on the thrust. They were awesome seats! The play was awesome as well! After the relaxation of the play, we ventured back to school and had a quick discussion about it. We then settled into our seats for the infamous "Murder Boards." Basically, each Somalia group prepared a policy briefing which we presented to our panel of experts: Henry, Noah, and Gray. Each of then proceeded to completely tear apart our presentations. It was very helpful in gauging what other research we have to do. It also gave us the experience of working under pressure which is extremely important in the real world. Each exercise or activity that we do here is so applicable later in love. That's one of the many things that I love about SEGL.

Saturday:
This morning I took the ACT at a local high school. Standardized testing is stressful, but necessary. I just hope that I did well.
Once I got back from testing, I went to Good Stuff Eatery with Kyra and Isabel so we could discuss our document and get a break from the house. It's tough living basically on top of each other all the time. Sometimes you just need a little break. We didn't do any group activity today. We all voted to stay home and just come and go freely (with signing out and groups of 3, of course.) Everyone was tired and stressed and just wanted to relax. Saturday was a chill day. It was nice. In the evening, we played a rousing game of Mafia. I love playing that game. We always get so into it. It's great!

Sunday:
Yet another lazy Sunday. I'll be up late tonight working on my Somalia project.

Week 8 -- Home

2010-04-06T07:39:00.000-07:00

This week was our first week back from break! It was great to see everyone again. My family was reunited. Finally. But, I just need to highlight one amazing thing from break: The Newseum. If you are ever in DC, you must go to this museum or you will have severely missed out. Jorge and Aaron can attest to that because I dragged them along with me on Saturday and Sunday of last weekend.

Sunday:
Okay. So Sunday, we all arrived back in DC. It was a normal evening with dinner and a dorm meeting.

Monday:
Monday was the day that we chose our topic for our Collaborative Policy Document, one of three capstone projects of the semester. We chose the topic of Somali Pirates and Sea Law over Nuclear Proliferation. It was very close, but the pirates won because they are way more legit than nuclear weapons. We also had to get back into the swing of homework and school work and everything. I'm not looking forward to it.

Tuesday:
Every Tuesday we have school meeting, but the exciting part is: next week I'm leading school meeting! Excitement! We also had our Passover Seder. Kyra organized everything because she loves the food. Madame led the Seder and everyone really enjoyed it, especially the kosher grape juice. It's great that we are able to experience so many cultures, religions, life styles, and ideologies while we are here in DC. It makes the whole experience that much better.

Wednesday:
All day Ethics and Leadership! In the morning, we were split into our specific groups and then we worked diligently on gathering information for our policy document. My group, Isabel Kyra and I, is studying law of the sea. After lunch we had Lissa Muscatine come speak to us. She is Hilary Clinton's speech writer. She was a really interesting speaker and I'm so glad we could have her speak with us about the Clinton's and speech writing and working in the White House. After Ms. Muscatine's talk, we were split into groups to work on our Social Entrepreneurship projects, another of the capstone projects. In the small groups, we helped each other strengthen our ideas for our projects. I'm pretty sure I know what I want to do and it's so exciting. I cannot wait to get the ball rolling on this project.

Thursday:
Happy April Fools! In spirit of the day, I had paper feet dropped on me from the second floor because I hate feet. Thanks guys. Great joke. :-) My neighbors were in town for the Cherry Blossom Festival so I got to have lunch with them which was great. It's always fun having visitors, so feel free to visit me any time! We haven't started the Chinese portion of Arabic and Chinese, instead we are practicing public speaking. Everyone had to give an impromptu speech that was video taped. Some time next week we will be analyzing our public speak styles... oh boy.

Friday:
Sick Day! 10/17 were sick so they cancelled school. I was sick so I slept and watched movies. The healthy kids spent the day chilling on the national mall.
We were supposed to volunteer at the soup kitchen but that didn't happen because of the illness. We still did get our catered meal from the soup kitchen people though.

Saturday:
Everyone was feeling a lot better. In the morning, Bill McKibben spoke to us about climate change and his mission with 350.org. I feel more inspired and now have a need to participate in this movement. Look out for this next year, AP Environmental class. In the afternoon, we went to the Cherry Blossom Festival. There were thousands of people and it was insanely crowded. But the cherry blossoms were beautiful so it was worth facing those monstrous clouds. We hung out on the mall all day and it was super fun. I love hanging out with everyone because they have become some of my best friends. In the evening, we watched a fireworks display and walked around all the magnificent monuments. I love this city! It's beyond amazing.

Sunday:
It was Easter. I spent the day with my DC relatives. I went to mass at St. Alban's and then to brunch at some old English place in Maryland. It was a fabulous day with beautiful weather!

That's all for now. I'll keep you updated on my exciting life here in the district

Week 7 -- Amazing

2010-03-11T21:32:00.000-08:00

This is my last blog entry before I take a two week hiatus for spring break.
This week has been amazing! It's been stressful and crazy, but still amazing. No one really wants to go home, or everyone is having mixed feelings at least. We have grown to be one unit, and it's strange to see that we are all parting ways. I know that a lot of people don't really stay that close with their high school friends, but I sincerely hope that these 16 other people remain in my life forever. Everyone is amazing and everyone keeps surprising me.
Earlier this week, I wrote in my journal about my life philosophy. I think that everyone is inherently good, no matter what. The people I've met and the friends that I've made here reiterate that point to me. They are all brilliant and remarkable. Spring break will be weird without them. But also I'm so excited to see my friends from home, and my sisters. It's tough being away from everyone and everything that is familiar to you. It makes you grow up a lot, which is good though. I definitely needed that. I know that my life is still very sheltered, but by coming here, I'm a little less naive.

Anyway, here's how the week has gone.

Monday:
E&L in the morning -- We were introduced to our social venture project. I'm so excited for it! I know exactly what I want to do for it. We also had Dan Morrison speak to us about his social venture project, Citizen Effect. His insight about starting your own project or whatever was immensely helpful. His story is very intersting. I suggest that you check out his website. Change the world or something.

Tuesday:
I'm pretty sure it was just a regular school day. Although, my laptop broke early in the morning, so I was unable to finish my english essay. I was stressed, like way more than normal. But since then I've been really chill. I have been a lot more emotional lately. Normally, I bottle things up, but I guess not anymore.

Wednesday:
E&L day! We had 8 speakers. We started the morning talking to three powerful women. After spending last week on the Hill, a lot of the girls had voiced an issue with the weird looks that they had recieved while walking around the Capitol. Personally, I didn't really notice any of this, but I wasn't exactly looking either. First, we talked to Lorelei Kelley who works in national security. Next we talked to Paige Cottingham-Streater who works in US-Japan Relations. Next we talked to Tricia Griffin who is a lobbyist at an all-female firm. They were all amazing and dynamic speakers.
We went out to lunch. I went to Firehook with Will, Everett, and Winson.
In the afternoon, we had a social entreperneurship (sp?) lesson from Tom Adkins who has been a part of 7 start ups in the last 10 years. He's a very interesting guy and he had a lot of great tips. Finally, we had a panel discussion with 4 social entreperneurs (sp?). We met with Adam of Dreams for Kids, Jeff who runs an organization that helps get Democrats elected, another guy who runs Climate Lab and with Kate who runs an NGO about climate change and the environment. They were all very intersting people! Noah brings in great speakers.
I had a nice, but brief conversation with Adam. He provided me with a lot of good advice for my social venture project. He really loved my idea! I'm really excited for it! This program just keeps amazing me. The people I meet just keep on amazing me.

Thursday:
Today was an amazing day. Yes, I use the word amazing a lot. I know. But it's just such a fitting word.
It was a pretty normal school day but the weather was, well, amazing. Spring is actually a season. It exists. It's not just a myth. I understood math and I think I did really well on my test! Also, english class was amazing. We went outside and sat in the park and Noah read from our journals. I love journals. They are the best idea ever. Everyone just writes down their thoughts and their stories and their feelings. Noah reads them anonoymously. I just love hearing everyone's voice. After we finished hearing all the journals, we did a Quaker meeting. It was amazing. Everyone was so willing so share their own personal anecdotes, no matter how tough it was for them. What I don't like is how everyone seems to be grappling with some issue when I have none. Although, Megan pointed out to me that I take up everyone's problems, make them my own, and I grapple with those. I try to make everything better.
Later in the evening, we had a networking lesson from Josh. He was really nice and his tips were helpful. After his session, we were thrown into a reception at the school so we could practice our networking. It was great. I met another journalist! Yay! Expanding my network already.
We packed up tonight. I'm having mixed feelings about leaving.

Tomorrow will be strange. We leave for 2 weeks and then come back. And then 9 weeks later we leave again for good. It's a really difficult concept to grasp.

I was feeling particularly inspired tonight. That's why this is so long.
Peace and Love. And I honestly mean it.
See you in two weeks.

Week 6 - We are Family

2010-03-07T20:47:00.000-08:00

Monday:

Ethics and Leadership intro at Capitol with Blake Chisholm, Committee on Standards of Conduct

Regular school day -- out to lunch with Winson, Isabel

Went for a run

Tuesday:

Regular day of school

School meeting

Flex period -- college meeting

Wednesday:
Trevor and I attempted to go to Academic Hearing -- but it was full, over flow room was dumb
Went to get gallery passes from GA rep -- ran into Gray -- went with him to Veterans hearing
Watched Biden roll up to Capitol, saw some gay marriage protesters
Left hearing, went to get passes from OH rep, walked around Hart and Russel buildings trying to talk to senators
Went to Senate Gallery Hearing on budget, heard Sessions speak
Lunch at Longworth building with Kyra, Caity, Trevor, Tracy
Split up -- Kyra and I went to Library of Congress to get library cards
Walked to Longworth building, split up
Meeting with Anthony Trevena (Chief of Staff for Boccieri) -- did some baller networking while waiting for Trevena
Talked about ethics with Trevena, Waited for Boccieri and then said hi to him and got a picture with him
Walked back home -- discussed our days with everyone

Thursday:
Regular day of school, except it was our last day of Arabic and we learned how to write our names

Friday:
Regular school day, except E&L in the afternoon, we discussed the ethics hand guide and rules.
PBJ activity and writing new rules for SEGL activity
Robbie was on duty, so we all just hung out and chilled in his room and sang as he played songs on the piano -- i absolutely love these people. spring break and life without them will be tough

Saturday:
French class
English class -- Noah read from my journal. some people knew it was mine and it made me feel really vulnerable, but I think it was a good thing.
ROLLER DERBYYYY! We all got dressed up and went to the derby. Montreal won. We also made some friends from Emerson. They want to have a mixer with us because they know about us from Lala who goes to their school.
Walked back and parcoured all the way home
Dinner and then went to Good Stuff Eatery. Got Spike's autograph for Haley since she is a foodie
Watched Ferris Buehler
It was an amazing day! Quite possibly my favorite day thus far. We are such a family now and it's amazing.

Sunday:
Normally just a chill day, but instead we went to Eastern Market.
Got an amazingggg vintage purse, ran into an HB grad. Successful day especially because it's so warm and springy.
Did my homework and here I am now still working.

I hope this was a sufficient post. Who needs complete sentences anyway? Not me.
I come home on Friday for Spring Break. Two weeks without everyone will be weird, but I get to see my friends so yay to that!!

Build Me Up, Buttercup -- Week 5

2010-02-28T22:35:00.000-08:00

So week 5 has gone by and it's been one whirlwind of a week. We had some drama but we sorted it all out. We are a lot closer as a group now.
Here's the week update. I'm gonna keep it brief yo.

Saturday:
Last Saturday, we had french class and then english class. We chilled all afternoon and then we got dressed up and went out to Bethesda to see a play called Permanent Collection. It was about a black men who is put in charge of a impressionist art foundation. The underlying theme was race which provoked a lot of interesting discussion. Another highlight of the evening was getting the oppotunity to chat with the cast of the play.
Sunday:
I love lazy sundays which is basically what today was.

Monday:
We had E&L this morning. We were introduced to our case study for the week which is about economics and the new Tata Nano --"the People's Car." It's this new phenomena in India. I'm really excited for this week.

Tuesday:
Tuesday was a generally chill day of school. In the evening though, during flex period, we had our rescheduled meeting with Justin Goforth of the Whitman Walker AIDS Clinic. He had a lot of interesting things to say and it was great hearing his perspecitve about the AIDS epidemic in DC.

Wednesday:
Today was our all day session of E&L. We spent the whole day at school but it was really interesting never the less. First we had a session with Matt Ellis, who helped Noah start the school, about econ and why the Tata Nano rocks. He presented from the sellers perspective. We then had a session with Henry about peoples perspective on the Nano. He provided a lot of insight especially because he live in India for 9 months. We had a session with Noah about corporation persepective. We had a session with heather about environmental perspective. We then went out to lunch. I went to Sweet Green with Megan, Kyra, Emily, Caity, Will, and Isabel. It's a good salad place. DC has a lot of those. They are really trendy. After lunch we met with Naharika Joe, the General Manager of Tata North America. She was amazingggg! By far my favorite speaker thus far. After her presentation, we had a nice group discussion about gender and the business world and politics. We always have the most amazing discussions here.
Wednesday's I have french class, but while I was at french class some drama went down. It was blown out of proportion, but now it's all been resolved.

Thursday:
No one really slept because everyone was up until 2 talking and trying to get everything sorted out. It helped that the alam never really got set so we were kind of free to move around the floors. Needless to say, everyone was crazzzzzy tired all day. The teachers noticed and they did not approve. Consequently, we had an early check in that night, which was fine with me. People got off my floor earlier, making it easier for me to do my homework.

Friday:
We had a regular school day. But in the afternoon for E&L, we met with Welford Dillard, the VP of OPower. We discussed clean energy and the business world with him. I still need to figure out how our meeting with him relates to the rest of our case study. Any ideas?
Later on Friday, we went to Noah's career mentors house for dinner. She has the most amazing house ever! The outside is like a brick row house, but the inside is like a wonderful ski chalet. We had a great dinner, and we all just hung out and rebonded as a group through silly games and of course, Apples to Apples.

Saturday: I have to wake up earlier than everyone else for french class, but that's fine because I really like french class. After french we have english class where we all recited our memorized St. Crispin's Day speeches from Henry V. After class we had lunch and then we all ventured to the mall to explore the various Smithsonians. I went to the Air and Space Museum with Aaron, Teddy, Trevor, Sophie, and Nitika. It was good to hang out with them and get to know them better. Later in the evening, we all dressed up as either preps or punks, and then we went to Good Stuff Eatery again for milkshakes. All the weird looks we got were priceless. That might have been one of the funnest nights here. After milkshakes, we had yet another rave. I see a tradition arising.

Sunday:
Sunday's are chill days. All we do is hang out and do homework. It's great to be able to relax since our weeks our so hectic.

Alright. On to week 6. I'm excited for this week because I'll be meeting with my congressman on Wednesday -- yes, our case study for this week is about congress. Yay! Time is flying, but now I must go to sleep. Good night!

"to whom much is given, much is expected." week 4

2010-02-20T13:03:00.000-08:00

Everything is seriously going by way too quickly. Week 4 is coming to a close, and here's a brief look at what all went on this week.

Monday:
Every Monday morning, as you know, we have our Ethics and Leadership case introduction. This week our case study was about education. To kick off our case study, we discussed Social Contract Theory and the veil of ignorance with Noah. He then asked us several questions about our ideal school (while we were under the veil of ignorance of course). After that Heather presented a detailed powerpoint about the different education divisons - public, charter, and private. I'm really excited for this case study because it relates directly to us! It's a hugeeeee part of our lives. Today we also had a very interesting speaker in math and spanish class. Maylen likes to find various spanish speaking people to come speak to us so we can expand our knowledge of the language. We met with Tony Seba, a professor at Stanford. He talked to us about his work in clean energy/solar energy. He talked about the same thing when our math class met with him. Today was also one of those days when we go out to lunch. I went to Firehook, a bakery and cafe, with Winson, Jorge, and Teddy. Firehook is yummy and we get a 20% discount with our student id's.

Tuesday:
Tuesday was pretty much a regular school day. Yay school!

Wednesday:
This week was another one of those crazy weeks where the schedule gets flipped around. Instead of having E&L, we had a regular day of school. It was another one of those out for lunch days. I went to Smoothie King/Subway with Will, Everett, Trevor, Teddy, and Aaron. We also have a new staff member! His name is Stephen, and he just graduated from WashU. He's our new food coordinator and he's really cool!

Thursday:
Today, we had E&L in the morning and regular school in the afternoon. We met with Kevin Jennings, Assistant Deputy Secretary for Safe and Drug-Free Schools. He provided a lot of insight about education and reform. This week's case study has been very interesting. We also had another Arabic lesson and we learned a lot of new words. It's really hard to learn, it's such a fascinating language. Also, I went to dinner at my Aunt and Uncle's house. It was really great to see my cousins and family for the first time since I've been in DC. We watched the olympics and just chilled. It was nice.

Friday:
Today was legit E&L class. We visited a think tank called Education Sector to meet with Kristen Amundson. She had a wealth of knowledge about school systems from her many years serving on the Fairfax county school boad. After that we were all allowed to go out to lunch. I went to this little indian restaurant called Naan and Beyond with Kyra and Winson and then we went to Robek's. In the afternoon we did school visits to see how different types of schools work. We visited Sidwell Friends to get the private school outlook and then we visited Thurgood Marshall Academy to get the charter school point of view. Both schools were amazing! After dinner we went on a special field trip to Good Stuff Eatery, which is Chef Spike from Top Chef's restaurant. I had one of the best milk shakes that I had had in a long time.

Today, we are going to see a play called Permanent Collections. It should be really good! I'm excited!

Yupp. This is my home now! I don't want to leave. Everything is going by way too quickly.

Week 3 Comes to a Close

2010-02-14T21:26:00.000-08:00

Heyyy! So it's late and I'm tired so this will be a very brief blog entry.

Wednesday: We were the only school open within a 50 mile radius. Sweet. We had classes at the dorm, the congressional, and via skype.

Thursday: Ethics and Leadership was rescheduled because of the snow on Wednesday. A lot of the really exciting stuff was cancelled because basically everything in DC shuts down when it snows. This city just cannot handle it. The streets weren't plowed for like 3 days and I laughed at all the horrible drivers. Anyhow, for E&L, in the morning we had a make up english class where we discussed the Plato's Allegory of the Cave. We were then introduced to an exciting part of our case study -- the proposal. We were split up into 3 groups: Haiti, India, and South Africa. I was on South Africa with Audrey, Nitika, Tracy, Teddy, and Jorge. We were to research HIV/AIDS in South Africa and formulate a proposal to PEPFAR on what they should do to help solve the epidemic. Later in the day we met with Ambassador Mark Dybul who was in charge of PEPFAR during the Bush Administration.

Friday: Things were pretty much back to normal. Although, we did reschedule our Arabic Class that was supposed to be on Thursday or Friday. We met with Philippe Leopold, a real estate developer in DC, Portugal, and UAE. He talke about starting a business in the Middle East. He also brought us some yummy Austrian snacks from his family's restaurant in Georgetown. Also we had a speaker from Global Citizen Year speak to us about their gap year program during lunch.

Saturday: French and English in the morning, per usual. Although, Noah wasn't there to teach class so Henry did. We worked on our proposals for a bit and then, instead of discussing Henry V, we staged a war modeled after the one in the play. In the afternoon, everyone walked to the Native American Museum and the Botanical Gardens. After our Chinese New Years dinner, we had a Valentines Day dance party. Woo!

Sunday: Today we had brunch at 12 and just chilled out all day and did homework. We were supposed to go ice skating, but no one wanted to go. We delivered Valentines and watched the Olympics. Sundays are very chill.

Alright, week 4 starts tomorrow. This is going by way too fast.

Week 3 Update

2010-02-10T09:16:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! It's wednesday morning, and I'm sitting in my dorm room, staring out the window at this ridiculous blizzard. DC is not supposed to get this much snow. Any how, today is a weird day. It's supposed to be Ethics and Leadership, but due to the white out snow conditions, we are having our thursday classes in the dorm today.

Alright: Here's my update of the past 5 days or so. Blogs are very hard to stay on top of.

Friday:
1. For our Ethics and Leadership class, Bud Krogh returned to talk to us about one of his many ehtical dilemmas during his time on Nixon's White House staff. We talked about the BIA protest and how he resolved the problem without bloodshed. It's a really interesting story. You should look it up.
2. Later that night as Ethics and Leadership continued, we all watched a documentary about Rwandan genocide. The movie was PBS production and it was called "Ghosts of Rwanda." It was a fascinating and eye opening movie. The movie certainly had a different effect on everyone. Some were furious, some were stunned and silent, some were in hysterics. It was a very powerful movie that led to us all asking the question: Why?
3. After the movie a very heated argument, or discussion if you will, occured in the foyer. Trevor and Caity were arguing about the existence of God and how he could let something so horrible happen to so many people in Rwanda. Eventually everyone got into the argument and it turned into abig 2 hour ordeal. Robbie, the RA, said that this would be the first of very many of these type of argments.

Saturday:
1. Due to Epic Snow Part 2, my french class this morning was held over the telephone. It was rather strange, but I guess it worked. My french class tonight (wednesday) will be held them same way because of Epic Snow Part 3. Thank you Washington.
2. DC basically shuts down in any snow, so, of course, the airport was closed so our guest speaker couldn't fly in to talk to us. Fortunately, skype exists. So for our english class, we skyped with Pastor Carl Wilkens, who was the last american in Rwanda during the genocide. He answered our questions and provided us with a lot of hope about the situation. He is a very powerful speaker and a very special guy.
3. The snow kind of cramps our style here at SEGL. Our saturday night plans were cancelled again -- but we made do with what we had, which was a lot of snow! So all of us ran down to the park and had a giant snow ball fight. It ended up in a truce though because everyone was cold and wanted to go back and get hot chocolate. After that, we all watched EuroTrip in Will, Teddy, Tracy, and Winson's room. That is one funny movie and it was a great bonding time! We do a lot of bonding. After dinner, we watched Up! and then we had a spontaneous dance party in Kyra and Emily's room. It was a lot of fun. We are planning on buying some strobe lights so we can have awesome dance parties every weekend. Although, a lot of think that we needt o make some friends in DC to invite to our dane parties. 17 people isn't that much of a party.

Sunday:
1. Sunday's are chill days. We sleep in and have brunch at like noon. It's great. We also have lots of free time to sign out so we can do fun things around the neighborhood. Kyra, Audrey, Caity, Emily, Trevor, Aaron, Tracy and I all signed out so we could go hang out at Union Station Mall. I definitely remember being there in 8th grade on my DC trip. It's so weird because back then I would have never guessed that I'd be spending this amazing semester in DC right now. I love ittttt.
2. An integral part of Sundays is homework time. I'm getting to be a pro at doing my homework with lots of distractions because living in this house means constant distractions, but I wouldn't trade that for the world. We help eachother stay motivated to finish our work and we help eachother with things we don't understand. We even have giant study parties for math tests and history tests.
3. SUPER BOWL SUNDAYYYYY! We had a giant super bowl party, complete with all the unhealthy game time snacks you could ever want. Everyone pretty much cheered for the Saints, so it was awesome to see them win!

Monday:
1. Every Monday marks the beginning of a new case study. This week our case study is about the HIV/AIDS Epidemic in Washington, DC and the world. Also, every Monday during our Ethics and Leadership block we do a simulation to kick off the new case study. This week we were all members of a tribe in Africa that had been infected by AIDS. We had viles of fluid that we had to exchange with three other people so we could see how quickly the virus spreads. We did that three times, but each time more and more people were using condoms instead of freely exchanging fluids which showed how protection can greatly reduce the spread of the virus.
2. I also had an APUSH test today. I think it went pretty well. It was a lot different than KP's tests, but I liked the format because there were no multiple choice which is what I'm really bad at.
3. Finally I got my phone fixed! Yay! I'm back to texting. Unfortuntely though, they couldn't transfer any of the software or data over so I lost all my numbers. My number is still the same so feel free to text me your number.

Tuesday:
Today was a regular school day. Although, we were given $5 dollars to go out to lunch. I went to Chop't, this great DC area salad restaurant, with Kyra, Nitika, Audrey, Winson and Jorge. It was a jolly time. Recently, the subways have been super delayed because of the bad weather -- they are calling it the "snow-pocalypse." It's blizzarding today. Sweet.

That is all. Maybe I'll start to update more frequently. Bye!

History does not repeat itself, but it can rhyme. 2/1 - 2/4

2010-02-04T18:16:00.000-08:00

Again, I'm going to try to keep this short and sweet. I'm going to list 3 exciting things that happened each day this week thus far. Stellar.

Monday:
1. We had ethics and leadership first period. It was awesome and intriuging as usual. We were divided into two different civilizations with distinct characteristics and were instructed to act like our various groups and try to work together. I was a Henxor. The others were the Alanians. The whole simulation was about how groups interact with each other, like in invasions and wars etc. It was very interesting. I'm starting to think that every Monday we will have an interesting and fun simulation to introduce our case study for the week.
2. I also got my first practice APUSH essay back. I got a pretty good grade on it which is weird because normally that is not the case. Maybe being in DC will cause me to get better grades? Hmm, but that sure would be nice. I also might now be taking the AP exam. I've got so many things to figure out now haa.
3. All in all, Monday's are rough. It's just a regular school day and we have to get up way too early for my liking.

Tuesday:
1. Tuesday is a pretty lame day too. It's just a regular day. We don't have special classes or anything. First we have school meeting, then I have a free, and then APUSH, Lunch, Spanish, CoGoPo, PreCalc, and English. During my free, I walked down to the Verizon Store on L Street with Megan and Aaron. As most of you probably know, my phone hasn't been working for the past few weeks, so I'm finally getting it taken care of. Verizon is shipping me a brand new phone and it should arrive any day now.
2. We also had a PreCalc test. It was an epic fail for everyone. We have been moving too fast, but thankfully Maylen cut down the course, so now we are moving at a much more managable pace. This week we are starting trig. Good thing I've already learned all of this.
3. It snowed again on Tuesday night, so we decided to have a spontaneous snow ball fight. The little things like that make me absolutely love being here! Everyone is so fun and full of life which makes this experience all the more enjoyable.

Wednesday:
1. Every wednesday, we have Ethics and Leadership all day long. Generally we go out to visit various think tanks and converse with important people in DC. This week we travelled to The Center for the Study for the Presidency where we talked with Dr. David Abshire, a Special Counselor to President Reagan and the U.S. Ambassador to NATO from 1983-1987. After briefly meeting with Mr. Abshire, we met with Mr. Egil "Bud" Krogh, one of the Plumbers who was imprisoned for President Nixon's Watergate Scandal. He made a presentation about integrity in the government. His presentation was very eye opening; he showed that he wanted to better his life after he made so many mistakes.

2. Also on Wednesday, we were introduced to another part of SEGL's lunch program, which is the ability to eat out 2-3 days a week. We are each given $5 to spend at 4 restaurants around DuPont where SEGL students have a special discount. I didn't go to one of those restaurants, instead I went to Saigon Bistro with Kya, Jorge, Winson, Teddy, Tracy, Will, and Everett. The food was good, but it took a while to make, so we were a little bit late getting back to school. Oh well. But I'm really excited for these lunch time opportunities to explore DC.
3. An important part of SEGL is the leadership component. Wednesday afternoon we discovered what type of leaders we are. First we were split into groups by whether we made gut decisions or decisions through reasoning. Next we were split into groups by whether we were the first to talk in the group or the last. After we were divided into groups, we were given the task of designing the perfect day. Each group presented their perfect day and then Noah explained the leadership type of each group. There are the Drivers, the Analysts, the Expressives, and the Supportives. I was a mix of Supportive and Expressive.

Thursday:
1. Thursdays are generally pretty chill days. The only exciting part is Arabic class. Today we learned more about general Arabic phrases and a lot more about writing. Today we learned how to say and write hajj. You write it like this: الحج. I'm really horrible at writing and speaking Arabic. I think it's going to be one of those languages that I will never get the hang of.
2. I finally got mail! Today, I got two letters, one from Ellie and one from Emily. Thanks girls! Soo everyone send me mail. Please send all mail to the address listed on my facebook. :)
3. Another exciting part of today has been the power outage at the Residential building. So needless to say, I am STILL at the school. It hasn't been a very productive night since there is really nowhere quiet to study. We are leaving to go back to our cold and powerless dorm in 20 minutes. Yay!

This week has been pretty awesome. It's going by so quickly though. I wish it would just slow down.

Week 1 Update 1/28-1/31

2010-01-31T22:20:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone! So here is my week update. I'm going to name 3 exciting things that happened from Thursday through Sunday.

Thursday:
1. We had our first Arabic and Chinese class. The first 5 weeks of the class will be spent learning Arabic. So far I can greet people and say my name is. We also started to learn how to form the characters. I can write الباب, which means door. Yay!
2. We had our first French class too. The class is very small; it's just Caity, Audrey, Jorge and me. The class also only meets on Wednesday (Thursday this week because of the State of the Union Address) and Saturday for 90 minutes.
3. Thursday was a normal school day. It was not very interesting. I also can't really remember what happened. It feels so long ago.

Friday:
1. I had two quizzes on Friday. One in Math and one in CoGoPo. It's officially started to feel like school. It's not as crazy as HB yet. I'm sure that's coming though. I have an English essay due on Friday.
2.We our final ethics and leadership class of the week. We wrapped up our Case Study on Haiti. Noah gave a Powerpoint about the history of Haiti which involves a lot of corruption. After the presentation, we were divided into 4 groups, and we were all give a challenge. The challenge was to research various organizations to find out which one was the best to donate money to for Haitian earthquake relief. My group was Caity, Trevor, Teddy, and I, and we were assigned to research NGO's like the Redcross and MSF. Forty minutes later, after making various extremely professional phone calls, we decided that MSF was the best organization to donate to. After everyone was finished, all the groups met back up in the parlor to discuss which was the best way to donate money. The other groups were UN Organization, Microfinance, and Alternative. Through thorough discussion, the group decided that if we were to donate money to Haitian relief it would be through Microfinance. Microfinance has the outlook of "teach a man to fish" which is the best way to provide relief to third world countries because it teaches the people how to live and to thrive.
3. Even though Friday night isn't the official start to the weekend, we treated it like one. After having Thai food for dinner at school, we trekked around DuPont Circle in search of Ben and Jerry's but we ended up at Krispy Kreme instead. Once back at the dorm, we all played a giant and extremely epic game of Scattergories. It was a great way to bond. Everyone is really starting to click! It's amazing how in just one short week, we have all become great friends. Everyone keeps saying how it feels like we've known eachother for years.

Saturday:
1. Saturday morning classes are not fun; at least they don't start until 9:20 and are at the dorm instead of the academic building. At 9:20 I had French class for 90 minutes. It's not bad at all. We do a lot of dictation writing stuff. My speaking is getting better as well. After that, at 11:00, we had English class with the whole group back at the dorm. We discussed to articles that each presented a different view on ethics. Stemming from that discussion came a very larges discussion on whether or not it was ethical to donate $200 dollars from our food fund to the Microfinance organization that we had decided on on Friday. Everyone had such good input. My favorite thing that was said was "my parents didn't graduate from high school and they may not know chemistry, philosophy or calculus, but they did teach me humility and integrity. I think that we should, of course, donate the $200." I found that statement extremely persuasive, because honestly to those whom much is given, much is expected. And yes, we did decide to donate $200 dollars from our food fund for the next 2 weeks.
2. It was snowing like CRAZYYYY for DC, at least. There are at least 6 inches of snow here. My mom told me that we have more than Cleveland which is so not normal. All the people from Seattle and the South were loving the snow, while the majority of the northenerns were just rolling their eyes, thinking oh joy. Everyone did end up embracing the winter wonderland. A group of us, myself included, decided to walk to a park and play a game of football in the snow. It was super fun. After that we walked to the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. It's amazing to see our history right before our eyes.
3. Saturday night was so much fun. Noah was on duty so he cooked us a great dinner of turkey burgers and steamed carrots. He's my favorite chef so far. Later that evening after spending some time chilling in various people's rooms, everyone decided to play a game of Mafia. It was so fun! I ended up being killed early on. Darn Mafia! After that we played Apples to Apples which is normally played with people you have known for years, so it was unusual to play with people that I've only known for a week. It was still so much fun though! I love the people here! I just love being in DC in general.

Sunday:
1. Basically, I sleep like a pro. I slept until 11:30 and was like the last person up. My room is on the first floor, directly across from the Common Room. Yupp, sleeping through all that noise takes skill.
2. Today we ventured to a new line on the Subway. A group of us took the red line to the green line to the Columbia Heights stop so we could go to this epic Target. It's huge and it's definitely bigger than the one in University Heights. After that some weary members of the group headed back to the dorm while the rest of us went to Ben's Chili Bowl. Apparently it's a big deal in DC, but I'd never heard of it. The chili was really good, so it was definitely worth all the hype.
3. We had our weekly dorm meeting today. Robbie, the RA, had us play a game where we all said a name of someone in the group that correlated with each statement. For example, who reminds you most of home - Caity because she is a lot like Helen; who makes you laugh - 2 people said my name, so I guess the strange things I do are funny? That's always a plus. No more being reserved! (cough Helen cough); or who are you most curious to see what they are doing in 20 years - the most popular answer was Will.

Overall, it's been an amazing first week. Everyone is settled in and loving it. I can't wait for week 2 to begin, so we can have more fun adventures and experiences. But it's late and it's my bed time. Night Cleveland and DC. :)

"Haitians don't want a hand out; they want a hand up" - Ambassador Raymond Joseph

2010-01-27T21:06:00.000-08:00

Soooo, I'm going to try to keep this short and sweet. Today was our first all day ethics and leadership class. We had to get all dressed up because we were going out on the town. Our first stop of the day was the academic meeting for a session with 2 joint staff members, Lt. Colonel DeMartino and Major Hanson. They discussed leadership in the military -- their panel gave me a whole new outlook on the military and made me almost want to enlist. After that we walked to American Enterprise Institution, a giant think tank in DC. There we sat in on a panel of experts discussing the crisis in Haiti, but first, Ambassador Raymond Joseph of Haiti spoke. ANDDDD this panel was shown on C-Span aka I WAS ON TV!!
After that we split up into 2 groups. Half of us went to the UN Foundation, while the other half of us went to Brookings Institute, the largest think tank in DC. I went to Brookings. There, we met with 2 people about internally displaced people, but specifically in Haiti. This week is obviously centered on Haiti because it is our first case study.
The day was over and we headed back to the residential for a debriefing of the day from Noah. We also discussed proper etiquette for these meetings. Then we had dinner which was chicken, rice pilaf, and brocoli.
Later, we went and walked around the Capitol to see if we could spot anyone important because everyone is in town for the State of the Union Address. The metro and DC in general were super crowded today!

Is this short enough Izzie? :-P

Day 2 of Escuela

2010-01-26T22:17:00.000-08:00

Hola mis amigos! Today was our second day of school. But before our lovely commute to the academic builidng, everyone had to wake up and eat breakfast and get ready for the lovely day ahead of us. Today was my day to do dishes - along with Winson and Everett. Everyone has a different day of the week when they are assigned dish duty. After completing our dish duty task we walked to the metro. Today was unusually crowded for an 8:30 commute; this is because there was an accident where 2 metro wokers were killed at a suburban stop. So after bearing the crowds, we all arrived to school perfectly in tact.

The day started with morning meeting which is basically just a debriefing of the day ahead of us. Next we had school meeting which is when we discuss prevalent in the group. Today we discussed the possibilities of a group blog - the idea which was spurred from this very blog. Also in school meeting, everyone was assigned their chores for the academic building. My chore is to make sure that the second floor hallway and the stairs leading up are clean. In the future, school meeting will be lead by one of us students.

After school meeting, I had a free period, so instead of working on my homework (I actually finished it all the night before) I went to a cafe with Tracy and Aaron. I got a mocha which was actually really good. Audrey and Kyra want to break my caffeine addiction, but I really don't see that happening. The three of us also walked around DuPont Circle for a bit before returning back to the academic building for class.

My first class of the day was APUSH with Gray. We continued our very brief review of all US history up until Reconstruction. Also, apparently my history notes from HB are amazing. Gray told me that I should sell them. People were also apparently talking about their amazingness because Jorge just asked me about them... Thanks KP for teaching me such amazing note taking skills.
After APUSH, we had lunch which was falaffel sandwiches or turkey sandwiches. Lunch is a great time to just chill and talk to everyone - and that is exactly what I did.
After lunch, I had Spanish. I'm really starting to like this class because all we do is converse. I feel like my conversation skills have already gotten a lot better.
After Spanish, I had CoGoPo. We discussed the section on Britain that we had read the night before. I really like this class and the material. I also really like that its a class based on concepts so I feel like I will be able to do really succeed.
After CoGoPo, I had PreCalc. We learned about logs. It was jolly. I have a really big class and it's in a really small room. It's kind of a struggle. Oh well.
After PreCalc, I had my first English class which Noah teaches. Basically all we did was get a course overview and discuss what our previous English classes had been like.

Basically I hate blogging. This blog hates me. I completely finished this post and then it wouldn't post. Now it's disappeared into the vast world of the internet. Ksweet.

After PreCalc, I had my first English class which is taught by Noah. It will be an interesting class with lots of great discussion. After English school was finally over at a very late time of 4:35. After that we did our chores and returned home. We stopped at the neighborhood convenience store to buy some food. I purchased diet coke, because yes, I am a caffeiene addict.
After that we had dinner which was pasta. We also had cake in celebration of Teddy's 17th birthday. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TEDDY!! After dinner, Winson, Everett, and I cleaned up the kitchen and did our dish duty. After dinner, it was time to do our homework. I went to the Congressional with Sophie, Winson, Teddy, Aaron and Trevor because we all wanted a quiet place to study. The Congressional is another building that we have access to that has lots of quiet rooms to study in. After finishing my work, we all came back to the residential and went to bed. Yay! What a long and fun and eventful day! Just like everyday here in DC. I love it!

Tomorrow is our first day long Ethics and Leadership class. We have to dress up because we will be visiting the Pentagon and the Hatian Embassy. I'm really excited! That's all for now -- and hopefully my posts will stop deleting themselves and not posting. :)

Finally in DC. 1/23-1/25

2010-01-25T22:13:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! I'm Lesley, and this semester I will be studying in Washington, DC at the School for Ethics and Global Leadership. I'll be here in DC for 4 months with only a short 2 week spring break back at home in Cleveland. With my incredibly busy schedule, it's been tough keeping in touch with everyone back home. But crisis averted, thanks to the blogging world. I started this blog at the urging of my very smart friends who all want to be updated about my life here in the capital. So here I am now, writing to you, from my new home on Constitution Ave.

I arrived to DC on January 23rd around 12. For once, the Wellener's were not late to something. It was very surprising considering how difficult it was to leave that morning. Anyhow, once at the residential building on Constitution my family and I unloading my many suitcases and brought them to my room, which thankfully is on the first floor. I have 2 roommates whose names are Megan, from Michigan, and Caitlin, from Massachusetts. We get along really well, which is great! Okay, so after unpacking and kind of organizing my room, I headed with some other members from my class to the academic building which is about a 40 minute walk/metro ride away. We walk to Union Station and board the metro towards DuPont Circle, which is where the academic building is. The amazing thing is that the residential building is basically neighbors with the Supreme Court building. I'm literally in the heart of DC. Okay, so once we arrived at the academic building we met all the other people in the program. There are 17 of us in total. We are all really geographically diverse. There are 2 boys from Seattle who love recycling and compost. I guess it's a Seattle thing. There is a boy from Atlanta, who claims that he isn't southern enough to like sweet tea. There are 2 boys and a girl from Texas who all say "ya'll." I just can't get over that. There is one really reserved boy from New Hampshire, and then there's me the Clevelander.

One of our orientation activities was to decide, as a group, what we were going to do that afternoon. Our options were to go the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery to walk around and to also see the Elvis impersonation contest, to tour our neighborhood around the residential building and to get some ice cream, or to take a walk to the Mall and to see if there were any major protests going on. We chose the latter, but unfortunately there were no protests going on, but it was cool seeing my backyard. Basically, DC is the coolest city out there. I used to be obsessed with NYC, then Hong Kong, and now DC, and I really think DC will be my absolute favorite.

After our walk around DC we returned to the academic building for a dinner of Baja Fresh. We returned to the residential building after a long and exciting first day in our capital. We had our dorm meeting and just hung out. Our RA, or resident adviser, is named Robbie, and he graduated from Harvard last year. He is one of the coolest and funniest people I have ever met. Henry is one of the staff members at SEGL, and he also acts as an RA sometimes. He lives below us. He seems kind of mean and scary at first, but he is really awesome as well. He's a recent Columbia grad. Finally, after a long day we were able to go to sleep.

On Sunday morning, we were allowed to sleep in because we didn't have anything to do until 11:30 brunch, which was really nice. As most of you know, I love to sleep whether it is at home or in class. ;) I'm always sleeping. For breakfast, we had a hearty brunch of pancakes, bacon and eggs. From there we walked/metroed to the academic building for a day filled with fun team building activities. We were separated into 2 groups. My group consisted of Audrey from MN, Nitika from NJ, Trevor from GA, Aaron from TX, Jorge from TX, Kyra from NY, Megan from MI, and someone else who I am blanking on. A lot has been going on so please excuse my short term memory loss. We did activities such as trust falls, spider web climbing, and mine field surviving. Through these activities we grew as a group and really bonded, especially because people were falling and crawling and being lifted waaaaay off the ground. After the trust activities, we made a much needed CVS and Starbucks run. You knew I couldn't stay away from Starbs for 4 months. :)

After that we returned to the academic building for a dinner of pizza and our first "academic" session. We had our very first lesson in ethics and leadership. We watched the CNN coverage of the terrorist attack on 9/11/01 and then we discussed them. We then discussed what we wanted to get out of this program academically and intellectually. It was very thought provoking and great discussion. My favorite question to ask people is how they found SEGL. Everyone has such a different answer and such an amazing story about how they found this amazing program. Anyhow, after the ethics and leadership class, we headed back to the residential building for yet another dorm meeting with rules. The rules for the dorm are simples: doors must be open 90 degrees; close on, covers off; no horizontal. Those apply for when the genders are intermingling though. Haha yes, there are boys here. No more all girls’ education for me. And again, we were finally able to sleep.

Today was our first day of legit classes. I got up at 6:45 took a shower and ate breakfast. We were out the door by 8:15. Classes start at 9:00 and end at 4:30. So once we got to school, we had school meeting which is basically just like checking in to make sure everyone is doing okay. After that we all had ethics and leadership for 90 minutes. First we did this skittle simulation exercise. Basically we were the only people left in the world after a nuclear war. In order to survive, we had to find and eat 10 skittles. Unfortunately, many obstacles were thrown our way. Some people broke their leg and had to eat 5 more skittles to be able to move. Some people were mute or blind or allergic to a certain color skittle. Others had guns and others had bullets. So of course alliances were formed. I found my 10 skittles and thought that I was safe until I came across some puppies that I needed to save. Winson, from Seattle, is the nicest guy ever, so instead of saving himself he decided to save everyone else. He gave me the 5 skittles that I needed to survive. After I went upstairs to the third floor in search of more skittles, and then I stumbled across the "safe bunker" in the English room. This bunker was Will form NH's idea. I was the third person in the bunker after Will and Megan. The three of us controlled the bunker and tried to help save as many people as we could. It was a very successful and interesting simulation. After the 50 minutes were up, we went back to the big room in the front of the school and discussed the simulation and the ethics of it. It was very interesting and very fun. For the rest of our ethics class, we discussed the philosophies of Aristotle, Kant, and John Stuart Mill.

After ethics, I attended APUSH which is taught by Gray Pederson, who relocated to DC from the Lakeside School in Seattle. He is an amazing teacher and has a great personality. All we really did today was figure out where everyone is in class. I'm the farthest ahead because I'm at the Progressives already, while everyone is somewhere around Reconstruction. I'm so confused as to how everyone is going to be ready for the AP exam. I'm where I'm supposed to be and I'm not even taking it.

After APUSH, we had lunch which was 3 different types of salad: one vegan, one vegetarian, and one normal. I tried them all and my favorite was definitely the vegan one.

After lunch, I went to Spanish 4, but I'm only in Spanish 2. I think everything will work out fine though. My teacher, Maylen who is from Cuba, believes in me and my class is only 2 other people so Emily from NJ and Everett from MD will be able to help me a lot. All we really did today was basic conversations. Maylen said that she didn’t think that I was behind in speaking, so I guess I'm on the right track. We will just have to see how it goes.

After Spanish, I had Comparative Government and Politics or CoGoPo for short, which was also taught by Gray. He actually helped to create and write the course for the College Board, so I am really excited for that. Also, the class is a very conceptual class which is the kind of history that I'm good at, so I'm excited for that as well. In CoGoPo, we study the governments of Britain, Russia, China, Iran, and 2 other countries that I forget. It's getting late so please excuse my very short term memory loss.

After CoGoPo, I had Precalc, which Maylen also teaches. This is her first time teaching math and we have a lot of material to cover because everyone has learned different things so far this year. Hopefully everything will get done and everything will be okay.

After Precalc, I had a free period where I worked on history homework and talked to my fellow classmates. Everyone is so interesting that talking to everyone is beyond amazing. So far, this program has brought out the very best in everyone.

Finally after my free period, we went back home to the residential building. We were able to chill out and listen to music and talk and play outside and go for runs etc. until 7, which is when dinner starts. For dinner we had quesadillas which were prepared by Alanna. Alanna is our resident chef. She is staff for SEGL and an advisor, but most importantly she is our chef. And she is wonderful! Cooking for 17 voracious teens is no easy task yet Alanna manages to do a wonderful job. After dinner were quiet study hours. I was able to finish my homework in like 2 and half to 3 hours. It was amazing. But I'm almost positive that the homework load will only continue to get heavier and heavier.

Okay now I'm done. This is officially the longest blog post ever. Those of you who read the whole thing are amazing people. And yes, I do use the word amazing a lot, but it's just an AMAZING adjective. Mkay, well, I'm gonna go to bed now so I can be ready for school tomorrow. Everett, Winson, and I are on dish duty. Oh joy.