Happy Labor Day from the Joyce Ivy Foundation! It's the end of summer and our 2014 Summer Scholars are all back home now, but our series about their experiences from this past summer will continue for a couple more weeks. This week's guest blogger is Sydney Mantell from Cincinnati. Sydney attended Joyce Ivy's newest partner program, High School Summer Scholars at Washington University in St. Louis.
Merhaba! My name is Sydney Mantell and I am currently a junior at North College Hill High School in Cincinnati, Ohio. I am involved in just about every student organization. I play on the Varsity Volleyball team, am a member of the Student Leadership Team, participate in the drama department, am a student mentor of Girls Creating Change, and am captain of the Academic Team. I also volunteer at the Newport Aquarium with the WAVE Foundation. This summer, I spent five weeks living in St. Louis on Washington University’s campus while taking part in their Summer Scholars program. I took condensed credited college classes, learned to play ultimate Frisbee, sang karaoke, had all-night study sessions, saw OneRepublic in concert, made friendships that I know will last a lifetime, and even picked up a little bit of Turkish (hence the prior greeting).
I took two classes at Washington University, Introduction to Global Climate Change and Fiction Writing. These really gave me an insight to how classes are once you get to college. The whole learning environment is different, for sure. The classes allowed for me to become more independent because the amount of work that I completed was totally up to me. No one was keeping me on a leash, asking if I studied or did homework the night before. My effort would be reflected in my tests and assignments. Getting a good grade was completely up to me; I had to make the right decisions on my own.
Something unexpected about the particular program that I attended was the number of International Students. About half of the participants of WashU’s Summer Scholars Program were from outside of the United States from countries such as China, Turkey, and Vietnam. This resulted in most of the American students being paired up with international roommates. I was exposed to many different cultures and traditions throughout the five weeks as I taught some of the other students about my own.
My friends and I in front of the Art Museum in Forest Park
There were a lot of activities planned for us in St. Louis. We took field trips to places such as Six Flags, the Gateway Arch, Forest Park Zoo, the St. Louis City Museum (which is so much more fun than the name implies), Cardinal’s baseball game, and a trip to the Muny Theatre to see “Suessical.” I had never done any of these things before, so it was definitely a summer full of firsts. We also had free time to explore the city on our own, going to places like the History and Art Museums. In addition to all of these things, our Program Assistants planned activities for us. My favorite had to be the Christmas in July party. I organized a Secret Santa exchange since many of the international students had never even heard of something like it before. It was a lot of fun and gave us all a chance to bond.
A group picture at St. Louis' famous Gateway Arch
Something unique about the Joyce Ivy Foundation in particular that I really appreciated was the fact that each Joyce Ivy Summer Scholar was assigned a mentor living in the city of their college program that you could always turn to. Dorothy Chan, Jessica Wilson, and I had two amazing mentors, Karen Conant and Christine Pritula. Christine is a currently a senior at WashU majoring in Psychology. Karen owns her own very successful flower shop not too far from the campus. These ladies were always checking up on me, wondering how everything was going. I knew that I could always go to them with any problems or questions I was having. This was especially the case for Karen, who sort of became like my St. Louis mom. She took us on various outings, and took us to meet her friends. It was definitely nice just to get off campus for awhile. They kept our heads on straight, giving us advice that we appreciated. I know that even in the future I can go to either Christine or Karen and they will help me with whatever I need. Without the Joyce Ivy Foundation, I wouldn’t have these mentors in St. Louis, or for the future.
Dorothy Chan and I with our mentor, Karen Conant
The five weeks I spent on Washington University’s campus was definitely the most memorable part of my summer. I got the chance to give college a test drive and see how things really were. Not only was I challenged by my classes, but I was also interested since I got to choose them on my own. I also managed to kick my college transcript off right, earning both A’s in my courses. The best part about my summer experience, though, was meeting so many amazing people. I have great confidence in our friendships lasting for many years to come. None of this would have happened without the generosity of the Joyce Ivy Foundation and their many sponsors, and for that, I will always be thankful.
Sydney at Brookings
Hall, one of the main buildings on Washington University's campus
I took two classes at Washington University, Introduction to Global Climate Change and Fiction Writing. These really gave me an insight to how classes are once you get to college. The whole learning environment is different, for sure. The classes allowed for me to become more independent because the amount of work that I completed was totally up to me. No one was keeping me on a leash, asking if I studied or did homework the night before. My effort would be reflected in my tests and assignments. Getting a good grade was completely up to me; I had to make the right decisions on my own.
Something unexpected about the particular program that I attended was the number of International Students. About half of the participants of WashU’s Summer Scholars Program were from outside of the United States from countries such as China, Turkey, and Vietnam. This resulted in most of the American students being paired up with international roommates. I was exposed to many different cultures and traditions throughout the five weeks as I taught some of the other students about my own.
My friends and I in front of the Art Museum in Forest Park
There were a lot of activities planned for us in St. Louis. We took field trips to places such as Six Flags, the Gateway Arch, Forest Park Zoo, the St. Louis City Museum (which is so much more fun than the name implies), Cardinal’s baseball game, and a trip to the Muny Theatre to see “Suessical.” I had never done any of these things before, so it was definitely a summer full of firsts. We also had free time to explore the city on our own, going to places like the History and Art Museums. In addition to all of these things, our Program Assistants planned activities for us. My favorite had to be the Christmas in July party. I organized a Secret Santa exchange since many of the international students had never even heard of something like it before. It was a lot of fun and gave us all a chance to bond.
Something unique about the Joyce Ivy Foundation in particular that I really appreciated was the fact that each Joyce Ivy Summer Scholar was assigned a mentor living in the city of their college program that you could always turn to. Dorothy Chan, Jessica Wilson, and I had two amazing mentors, Karen Conant and Christine Pritula. Christine is a currently a senior at WashU majoring in Psychology. Karen owns her own very successful flower shop not too far from the campus. These ladies were always checking up on me, wondering how everything was going. I knew that I could always go to them with any problems or questions I was having. This was especially the case for Karen, who sort of became like my St. Louis mom. She took us on various outings, and took us to meet her friends. It was definitely nice just to get off campus for awhile. They kept our heads on straight, giving us advice that we appreciated. I know that even in the future I can go to either Christine or Karen and they will help me with whatever I need. Without the Joyce Ivy Foundation, I wouldn’t have these mentors in St. Louis, or for the future.
Dorothy Chan and I with our mentor, Karen Conant
The five weeks I spent on Washington University’s campus was definitely the most memorable part of my summer. I got the chance to give college a test drive and see how things really were. Not only was I challenged by my classes, but I was also interested since I got to choose them on my own. I also managed to kick my college transcript off right, earning both A’s in my courses. The best part about my summer experience, though, was meeting so many amazing people. I have great confidence in our friendships lasting for many years to come. None of this would have happened without the generosity of the Joyce Ivy Foundation and their many sponsors, and for that, I will always be thankful.
Our final group picture at the banquet that was held on the last night of the program
Want to learn more about Joyce Ivy's Summer Scholar program? Click here! Applications for Summer 2015 will be open in December.
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