Hey everyone, my name is Lucas Lochner Bravo and I am a
sixteen year old junior currently attending El
Cerrito High School.
I was raised by two parents who, partially because they were not born in this
country (my mom is from Chile
and my dad from Germany),
gave me a childhood a little different than most people toward growing up in America.
I think this has been a fantastic thing, although that opinion may vary from
person to person. Of course, I have still found my own way to blend in to this
culture, as I finally joined Little League sports and became a passionate fan
of American football. That being said, I still get funny looks from the
majority of people when I tell them that I’ve never owned any video games or
that I really do not wish to drive a car. I enjoy these looks, though, as I am
very proud of the person I am and I don’t mind at all what others think of it.
 |
Martin Luther King Jr., someone I find to be one of America's
most inspirational leaders. |
All this being said, though, I still have a whole lot in
common with kids my age. Like every teenager, I struggle every day to find the
precarious balance between academics, health and personal interests, all while
(trying to) avoiding the distractions flying at us from every direction in a
world that becomes more and more complicated every day. There are days when I love
school, when I am able to soak up information about the things I love, such as hearing
the stories of World War II survivors and debating the numerous meanings of
symbols in George Orwell’s 1984. Of course, there are just as many days
on which I feel that there is somewhere else I could be, something else I could
be doing, and a much better way to use precious time. When not absorbed by
schoolwork, I spend the majority of my time pursuing personal interests,
particularly baseball and some of the many issues concerning society. I am
currently starting for El Cerrito’s
Varsity baseball team and am a member of El Cerrito’s
speech and debate team. I am extremely passionate about politics and issues
concerning not only myself but every one around me, and if I were to have the opportunity
to use my time differently, it would in some way be related to this passion.
 |
People across America weighed in on whether or not they felt
the Occupy movement had taken the freedom of speech too far. |
In fact, come this summer, I will have that opportunity.
That is precisely the reason I applied to be a part of the Ivy League
Connection; I was offered the opportunity to pursue some of my most passionate
interests. The person I am and the goals I have drew me particularly to the
Constitutional Law course at Columbia
University. The course focuses on
the role of the U.S. Constitution and its connection in the relationship
between law and society on a variety of topics including freedom of speech, gun
control and civil rights. This focus is achieved primarily through class
discussion and debate, a format design to help students develop skills reading
and interpreting Supreme Court documents and to sharpen reasoning and
analytical skills through forming persuasive arguments. From the sound of it,
this class is taught in a way which I feel will truly help me succeed in the
course, and it covers a wide range of topics encompassing exactly what I was
looking for when I applied.
With the help of the Ivy League Connection, students in the
WCCUSD like myself are able to spend their summer studying what interests them at
some of nation’s most respected universities, all expenses paid. What this
experience means of course, is different for every student. Many will find
themselves being guided toward a particular path in academics, others will simply
find themselves changed as a person. Through offering the opportunity to
experience college life and study a topic which fascinates me, I feel that the
Ivy League Connection will help me to gain that knowledge of politics and law that
comes with experience, get a taste of college life, and by studying something I
truly love, enjoy myself! I enjoyed simply writing the application essay; now I
will be taking an entire course on the topic! As a person, the Ivy League
Connection will help me learn what it is like be away from the life I know, and,
living in an area of predominantly Democrats, gain the perspective of others
who live and view the world differently than I.
At the conclusion of this program, I will share my experience
with others to generate more interest in college and the ILC, and describe to
others what the unknown is actually like. Hopefully I can bring back advice on
what an experience like this can do for one, and help combat any uncertainties
others may have regarding stepping out of one’s comfort zone or challenging one’s
self. I will also integrate what I have learned into my school and community,
be it as a club leader at my school on a small level, or 50 years from now as a
politician on a much larger stage.
 |
| Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut |
In addition to attending a course at Columbia,
our cohort will be making numerous college visits in the days leading up to the
course. In preparation for this, each of us was assigned a university to do
some research on, and I was lucky enough to pick up Yale
University. Yale, consistently
respected as one of the top universities in the United
States and the world, is a highly selective private
school located in downtown New Haven, Connecticut.
Applicants aspiring to be a part of Yale’s class of 2015 were accepted at a
rate of only 6.8% --- one of the lowest rates in the country and Yale’s lowest
acceptance rate in history. Roughly 5500 undergraduate students attend Yale,
12% of them coming from outside the United
States.
Yale University
was originally founded in 1701 as The Collegiate School by members of
the colony of Connecticut
aspiring to create an institution to train ministers and leaders for the
colony. Originally the only college in Connecticut,
The Collegiate School was for the sons of the elite. In 1718,
businessman Elihu Yale of the East India Company donated a large sum to the
college for the construction of a new building, and out of gratitude the school
was renamed Yale University. Curriculum and culture at Yale
University revolved greatly around
religion in 17 and 1800’s, in fact, until the mid 1800’s it was considered a
campus crime to express disbelief in the Bible or profanity toward the Sabbath.
Today, students are a little less restricted in their interests
and beliefs, as they are given the opportunity to study roughly 100 majors over
13 different schools, all while boasting a low student:faculty ratio of 5:1. Were
I to attend Yale, I would love to study International Relations and Affairs,
Political Science and Government, or Sociology, although I would be grateful simply
for stepping into a class for 10 minutes to listen.
 |
John Kerry and George W. Bush during the a debate for the
2004 Presidential election. Both graduated from Yale. |
Yale has produced numerous respected alumni over the years including
49 Nobel Laureates, 2 U.S.
Secretaries of State, 19 Supreme Court Justices, several foreign heads of state
and 5 U.S.
Presidents (William Howard Taft, Gerald Ford, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton
and George W. Bush). Yale alumni are represented in all levels of government
across America,
in fact, Yale alumni were represented on either the Democratic or Republican
ticket for every presidential election between 1974 and 2004. Both Bushes and
Senator John Kerry were as part of the Skull and Bones secret society, although
they refuse to reveal what their role was.
I acknowledge that I have a habit of overworking and staying
up until ungodly hours, so I’ll wrap it up here. I also acknowledge that my titles are very uninteresting; I'm working on this.
