Sunday, August 3, 2008

well I've finally arrived back in California after three long weeks. Along with the jet lag comes the lag of everything else. I no longer have to get up and study all day, and I also lose that independence that I had during my time at Cornell. The final was very challenging, but after this is all said and done, I am immensely happy to have had the chance to take this class. The opportunity that the district gave me in sending me back after coming home is more than I can ever thank them for. Charles, you and Madeline have given me something that I can never thank you enough for. You have given me a chance not only to better myself in the way of academia, but as a person in general. I was able to reconnect with friends from last year and last session, and make some new friends along the way. Some of my friends are planning on coming to California some time this month to visit, and some friends from last summer came to visit us this last weekend, which along with being a wonderful surprise was a good way to end my summer. Now that I' m home I plan on picking up where I left off with the parcel tax campaign, and beginning the planning of my father's celebration. Thank you again for all that you've done for me, and I'll try and have those pictures up as soon as possible.

3 comments:

Charles Ramsey said...

Glad that you were able to come this way and get a "twice in a lifetime" experience at Cornell. Being able to go two years in a row is unique and I hope that it has been a life changing experience.

Now is the time to rest and reflect. Now is the time to find out who is Jared Jawad. I think that the last two years have given you room to ponder and consider who you are and what you want to become in the future.

No need to thank Madeline and I, we are happy to make a difference for you and the other ILC students. So keep up the good work and good luck on your application to Cornell. I hope they give you the chance to show them that you are capable of being a Cornellian.

Take care.

Charles T. Ramsey

Don Gosney said...

Jared⎯Once again we see that another of our Ivy League Connection students has learned one of those valuable lessons in life: there ain’t no such thing as a free lunch. Everything costs. You no longer have to get up and study every day but you’ve lost your independence. There are tradeoffs with almost everything we undertake, Jared. Such is life. When you learn how to make the tradeoffs work in your favor, that’s when you’ve won the game. And when you get that figured out, give me a call so you can tell me the secret.

By the way, here’s another one of those lessons: jet lag doesn’t really work when you’re traveling from the east to the west. When you travel from west to east, you’re losing time because of the time zone changes that work against you. When traveling from east to west, the time zone changes often work in your favor so there’s less of a “lag” on your system. Depending on the person, the easy to west travel doesn’t really affect them. Getting up at the crack of dawn, sitting around in airports that were never designed for the comfort of humans and then being crammed in a metal tube all day long⎯that can wear you out just as much as any jet lag will.

We had high hopes for you when you started with this program and our hopes are still high now that you’ve worked through the program for two years.

We’re glad to have you back with us and back on board the parcel tax campaign. We can use all the help we can get. Now that you have two full seasons of east coast experience, maybe you can teach us all some new tricks about how to convince the voters that we need to renew this vital infusion of capital into our school systems.

Mjawad said...

Hi Jared. I am so very happy to have you home we missed you very much. But I am also glad that you went back to Cornell, it was what your dad wanted. We are all so proud of you. Now comes the work applying and getting into Cornell. There are many people pulling for you, and if this is your dream we will all try to make it happen. Sorry about your independence, you do have a bit more then you did when you left, now that I see you can act as an adult on your own. But my job will be harder now too, acting as both a father and a mother, good thing is your dad and I pretty much were through, the foundation is in place, and then he left us all with his "pearls of wisdom" as our guide--we know what he wanted and you have given him and I the best gift ever, yourself.
Welcome home.

Love Mom