Grand Strategy - Canine Edition

On our cab trip from the New Haven train station, we learned of Yale's hero -- Sgt. Stubby -- from our cab driver. His exploits clearly mesh with our grand strategy direction -- here's his story:

Sergeant Stubby (1916 or 1917 – March 16, 1926), was the most decorated war dog of World War I and the only dog to be promoted to sergeant through combat.

Early life

Stubby was found on the Yale campus in 1917 by John Robert Conroy. He was of unknown breed; some sources speculated that he was part Boston Terrier and part Pit Bull, while other sources state that he was in fact a pure bred Olde Boston Bulldog[1], and his obituary described him as a "Bull dog" (which was at the time synonymous with "American Bull Terrier" and "Pit Bull terrier").[2] Stubby marched with Conroy and even learned an approximate salute. When Conroy's unit shipped out to France, Stubby was smuggled aboard the transport SS Minnesota.

Military service

Stubby served with the 102nd Infantry, 26th (Yankee) Division in the trenches in France for 18 months and participated in four offensives and 17 battles. He entered combat on February 5, 1918 at Chemin des Dames, north of Soissons, and was under constant fire, day and night for over a month. In April 1918, during a raid to take Schieprey, Stubby was wounded in the foreleg by the retreating Germans throwing hand grenades. He was sent to the rear for convalescence, and as he had done on the front was able to improve morale. When he recovered from his wounds, Stubby returned to the trenches.

After being gassed himself, Stubby learned to warn his unit of poison gas attacks, located wounded soldiers in no man's land, and — since he could hear the whine of incoming artillery shells before humans could — became very adept at letting his unit know when to duck for cover. He was solely responsible for capturing a German spy in the Argonne. Following the retaking of Château-Thierry by the US, the thankful women of the town made Stubby a chamois coat on which were pinned his many medals. There is also a legend that while in Paris with corporal Conroy, Stubby saved a young girl from being hit by a car. At the end of the war, Conroy smuggled Stubby home.

After the war

After returning home, Stubby became a celebrity and marched in, and normally led, many parades across the country. He met Presidents Woodrow Wilson, Calvin Coolidge, and Warren G. Harding. Starting in 1921, he attended Georgetown University Law Center with Conroy, and became the Georgetown Hoyas' team mascot. He would be given the football at halftime and would nudge the ball around the field to the amusement of the fans.

In 1926, Stubby died in Conroy's arms. His remains are featured in The Price of Freedom: Americans at War exhibit at the Smithsonian. Stubby was honored with a brick in the Walk of Honor at the United States World War I monument, Liberty Memorial, in Kansas City at a ceremony held on Armistice Day, November 11, 2006.

DIRECTIVES

FOR THE DURATION OF THEIR STAY IN THE IVY SCHOLARS PROGRAM, OUR YALIES ARE NOT PERMITTED BY YALE TO POST BLOGS

WE ARE OPTIMISTIC THAT WHEN THE PROGRAM IS CONCLUDED THEY MAY FEEL FREE TO TELL US OF THEIR TIME IN NEW HAVEN

IN THE MEAN TIME, THOUGH, PLEASE JUST WAIT PATIENTLY AND KNOW THAT THEY ARE SOAKING IN NEW INFORMATION

A Day in New Hampshire

Today we visited a college that I’ve always been interested in since elementary school: Dartmouth. The campus is spectacular; the people welcoming and the quaint town of Hanover, New Hampshire was adorable. 

We met with Peter Chau who is a graudate of Pinole Valley High School and who also graduated from Dartmouth College. 

We also met with the Northern California Admissions Officer, Ariel Xue. She told us a lot about what good topics were for our personal statements and how to write them best. It is best to write about not only what you are passionate about, but also WHY you are passionate about it and also to inform the college or university how you will contribute to the classroom and campus.

The drive to Dartmouth from Yale was a total of about six hours (to and from). Ms. Kronenberg, Connor, Marisol, Henry and I all drove from The Omni Hotel in Connecticut, through Massachusettes, Vermont and finally got to Hanover, New Hampshire. On the way back from Dartmouth to Yale, Connor and I let Ms. Kronenberg hear the rap we wrote about her the night before. She loved it and it made the drive go a lot faster because we were having fun. We also discussed in the car about what each of our personal statements would most likely be about and by doing so we were able to understand what each other’s values and passions are.

These past few hours I’ve been reading the latest articles on world issues so that I’m up to date on my current events/politics before starting the Yale Ivy Scholars Program.

Dartmouth College

The Dartmouth Magic Fun Bus: Where Dreams and Ideas Come True

Today the four students and Mrs. Kronenberg took a trip to Dartmouth College up in New Hampshire.

Morning: The ride to Dartmouth took about 3 hours so we woke up at 7 AM to prepare to leave. Because we are all Starbucks fans we stopped by one about 30 minutes out of Yale where I had maybe my fifth Starbucks coffee. The Dartmouth ride was 3 hours so we had a lot to talk about.

Dartmouth: We arrived at Dartmouth at about 11 so we had about one hour before the campus tour. We first stopped at the bookstore where Brandon bought several books and then walked to the admissions office. An interesting thing about the admissions office was that it was closed so there was no information session. Dartmouth is in the city of Hanover which is classified as rural. However, the city of Hanover is very good city where it doesn’t have the certain feel of rural which makes the college much more appealing to urban people. The campus tour was about 1.5 hours in an unusually big group. The college of Dartmouth has a very beautiful campus. A unique aspect of this college in respect to the others is that Greek life is an essential part of it which is certainly a good thing. After the tour we had an opportunity to have lunch with a former PVHS student and Dartmouth Alumnus Peter Chau and our current admissions officer Ariel Xue.

Ride Back: After Dartmouth we had another 3 hour ride back. An interesting thing about the ride was that Connor, Marisol, and Brandon fell asleep but not all at the same time more like one at a time. Being the good friends we are all now we took pictures of each other sleeping. I was an exception because I did not fall asleep. During the ride we shared our aspirations and goals for later and life and realized more than we thought we can do.

Dinner: We arrived back at Yale at approximately one hour before dinner. At dinner we had the fortune of meeting to Brown Alumni that are somewhat local to the New Haven area. All of us had a wonderful chat with them about Brown and anything in general.

Tomorrow is the big day and I am totally excited about it. I am looking forward to the program and will end my blogging here.

Visiting the Small Town Feel

After my first night in Connecticut, our final destination, we had a very smooth morning. Due to the fact that we had only one car the group to Dartmouth was smaller then expected. Connor, Henry, Brandon, Ms. Kronenburg, and I left Mr. Ramsey and Mr. Miranda at the hotel while we took a road trip. The drive from New Haven, Connecticut to Hanover, New Hampshire was three hours. 

We took the Magical Fun Bus, a self proclaimed car full of laughter and stories. Our grand combination of personalities made everything a thousand times more fun. At the beginning of the trip we stopped at the beloved location of Starbucks. After the caffeine kick we each took turns sleeping in the car. For some reason we were naturally on a rotation; no two students were ever sleeping at the same time. The only one of us who wasn’t cursed with an embarrassing picture of themselves sleeping was Henry, who only slept for five minutes. Luckily, being the sly girl that I am, I was able to make mine disappear.

Once finally reaching Dartmouth we saw the small town of Hanover. Unlike the two urban colleges we looked at the past two days there was little going on around the college. There was a cute town with a few stores and a very rural feel. Our tour guide was fabulous and the boys really connected with the campus. I am still a little unsure but definitely enjoyed some pieces of the Dartmouth culture. Guess I’m a city girl through and through.

In Hanover we had the amazing opportunity to meet with two Dartmouth alums, Peter Chau, who now does fundraising for the college, and an admissions officer by the name of Ariel Xue. We had a relaxed lunch with them and received tons of advice and insight on the admissions process. The best part was that all the information was applicable to all the college’s processes. They were both very nice and easy to talk to.

On the way back there was more sleeping in the car, mostly from Brandon, and lots of talk about personal statement topics. However, the highlight was Connor’s amazing rap for Ms. Kronenburg. He and Brandon came up with a rap to tell all the highlights of our wonderful trip. It was an amazing display of a talent I completely envied.

Once back at the hotel we got ready for yet another amazing dinner. There we met two Brown alums. Although we did not get the chance to visit the campus of Brown, their stories helped paint a picture of the atmosphere there at Brown. I sat next to Guy, a Mechanical and Biomedical Engineering double major. It was fascinating to here his story. He got into Brown by accident he claims and was the first in his family to attend college.

All of the dinners have prepared us for the elite campus of Yale. I can’t wait to start to feel at home there. Tomorrow we begin the Ivy Scholars program. I am very excited and can’t wait to bring back some amazing tales of challenge and success.

Magic Bus to Dartmouth: Connor's Perspective

Woke up early this morning to begin our three-hour road trip to New Hampshire. After a brief Starbucks stop we were off to Dartmouth.

The road trip was a blast. We called Mrs. Kronenberg's rental car the "Magic Fun Bus" because that's what it was. We listened to all types of music, debated pressing issues, and laughed for long stretches of the road.

Brandon fell asleep first and drooled all over his jacket. I took a picture, but Brandon made me promise not to put it on the blog. Later I snapped a picture of Marisol sleeping with her mouth open, but she snuck into my camera and deleted it. Eventually I fell asleep and they exacted their revenge. I believe the picture is on Henry's blog post.

We arrived in Hanover, the small town where Dartmouth is located. It was a charming little city, clean and safe. I soon realized the extent of the town was about a block long and the rest of it was the college.

We took an informational tour of the campus and I realized that I no longer wanted to go to Columbia. Dartmouth is the college of my dreams. I'll explain why.

• School Spirit: Dartmouth is famous for its school spirit. They run around bonfires at the beginning of the year, they have too many weird traditions to count, and they have an awesome store of Dartmouth Merchandise.
• Location: Though Hanover is far from any major city, it is a perfect town. If you ever visit, you will understand why. The day we were there the grass was green, the skies were blue, and the people walked as if they were about to break into song at any moment.
• THE BLUE LIGHT CHALLENGE! - Every Ivy League campus is equipped with a Blue Light Safety System. These consist of telephones strategically placed across campus so that students can call for help if they are ever in danger. Since Hanover is such a safe town, no one uses the blue light system for safety. What they DO use it for is the blue light challenge.

The Blue Light Challenge is as follows: To touch as many blue light telephones as possible on campus. Naked. Without getting caught.

I told this to my dad over the phone.

"That's right up your alley!!!" He said enthusiastically.

For lunch we talked to the admissions officers over burgers. I tried to use all the skills I learned in "Never Eat Alone" to establish a strong relationship with these people, because I knew their friendship would be key in providing me the opportunity to participate in the blue light challenge.

Afterwards we rode back to New Haven. I performed a rap Brandon and I wrote the night before for Mrs. Kronenberg. Here's an excerpt:

"We got Mario Miranda, we got Ramsey, we got Don / but the sickest of the crew is this coffee loving blond / Kronenberg is quite cool because she never gets mad at me / when she buys an espresso cashiers call her Natalie."

It was filled with inside jokes from the trip, and she appreciated it very much. We brainstormed for a bit afterwards and we realized that we should write a rap and make a music video to promote the Ivy League Connection. Brandon and I will work on it when we get back.

That evening we ate dinner in New Haven with Brown graduates. It was fun talking to them, though we were all a bit sad because this was the last dinner of the ILC. Tomorrow our rigorous two week course begins, and we will be enjoying cafeteria food instead of French restaurants.

Now I'm typing my blog in the lobby of the hotel where there's free Wi-Fi, and a guy with a beer walked up to me.

"Are you playing online chess?" he said drunkenly. I shook my head.

"Isn't that what you Yalies do?" He spilled some of his beer as he pointed at me. "You look like a legit Yalie, man."

I gestured to Henry, Marisol, and Brandon. "They're going to Yale too."

"No." he said. "You're the only one who looks like an Ivy League man." He raised his fist in the air.

"Good job."

He staggered to the elevator and we all laughed. But I felt a little more confident about tomorrow. At least I won't stick out too much if I apparently look like I belong at Yale.

From Urban to Suburban

How cool was it to coincidentally sit next to a senior from Yale on the train from Philadelphia to New York?! Right off the bat we got started talking like we knew each other for the longest time; she was very amiable. She informed me of student life on campus and Yale’s total atmosphere. This was my first time in the Big Apple and I must say it was AMAZING! Ms. Kronenberg, being a New York native, was the best tour guide ever! Besides being able to go on top of the Empire State building late at night and also going to Times Square and buying an “I ♥ New York” t-shirt for just $3; we had a very informative time at Columbia University.

I would like to just make a few notes before blogging about Columbia. New Yorkers aren’t rude. It really is a stereotype. While walking, a guy bumped into me and apologized. People say please, thank you, etc all the time here. Another thing is that New York has hardly any humidity. The weather actually felt pleasant. Before going to Times Square, we had dinner at Charlie Palmer: Aureole New York. It was amazing. I had the New York strip loin and for dessert the New York Cheesecake. They were both very delicious. It was also great staying at the Hotel Wolcott because it was ideally located in between 5th Avenue and Broadway at 4 West 31st Street. Also, it was interesting to see “Sidewalk Catwalk” which were mannequins dressed with designer dresses in the Fashion (Garment) district. Earlier we met with David Buckwald, Senior Assistant Director and Admissions Officer and he was a major contributing factor that reinforced my desire to attend Columbia University.

Today we took the train from Penn Station in New York to New Haven Station in Connecticut. It just so happened that I sat next to a woman that was from San Francisco, graduated from UCLA and was attending a wedding in Connecticut. That was fun. The humidity was back and we checked in at the Omni Hotel in New Haven. The Omni is only about two blocks away from Yale. We visited Yale and attended an information session after unpacking at the hotel. The information session brought up a few good points such as reminding the student that the SAT is just a test score and that Yale weighs in on the transcript much more heavily and also that Yale requests all your SAT and ACT scores; not just your highest scores.

After the Yale information session we had much needed rest time at the hotel and later had dinner with Dr. Luong, Associate Director of the Brady-Johnson Center in Grand Strategy. We had a great time and discussed our pleasant time so far in the East Coast and expressed our excitement for the Ivy Scholars Program, which starts this Sunday!