I have these gigantic 3 ft by 2 ft calendars on my wall to see all of our activities and events for the upcoming three months. Since today was June 1, I took down my May calendar, and put up the July and August calendars… And then it hit me. I’m not even going to be working at BUILD in August! My last day at the org is July 16, and I have about seven weeks left at this organization that I called home for five years. A few days after my last day at BUILD, I’m driving down to Las Vegas to spend time with my family, and then flying to Boston to find an apartment. Crazy.
Over the last few days I’ve been trying to brainstorm all of the things I want to do/get done in the Bay Area before I leave, so below is my audacious (narrowed down) list of fun things to do. If you are around and available, please join me!
Fun things to do before I leave
One of my favorite places in the city, Dolores Park
After five amazing years at BUILD, I’ve chosen to take the next big leap in my life: this summer I’m going to graduate school at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government.
Yes, I’m going back to school! I’m moving to Cambridge, Massachusetts! I’m going to Harvard! 2010 is truly the year of leaping and landing.
I’ll have more to say about BUILD over the next few months as we go through transition — I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve done over the last several years, and very optimistic about what the future holds. I’m deeply indebted to the BUILD staff for believing in me, challenging me and trusting me with our flagship site. All of our amazing mentors, volunteers, and board members have been crucial to BUILD’s success as well, and I would be remiss if I did not thank you all.
And I especially am grateful to our BUILD students and alumni, who continually inspire me to do the work that we do and show me that our society’s educational inequities and problems CAN be solved… even if it is one student at a time.
I’m pretty sure that I’ll have more to say about my Harvard experience as I transition to the East Coast. Ya’ll know that education is extremely important to me — and I specifically wanted to model that by going back and getting more education. Special shout out to my parents for instilling the love of learning in me! And they say it takes a village… to raise a child, and then send that child to college, and then to send that child to grad school. I want to communicate a deep gratitude to all of the people who aided me throughout the application process: Oudete, Karla, Chantal, Suzanne, Larisa, Sal, Tim, Amber, Craig, Kenyon, Alex, Jim, Amber, Sandie, Regan, Steve, Adriana, Elizabeth, Tony, Jed, Richie, Bola, and of course my family–Mom, Dad, Francis & Rachel. I literally could not have taken this gigantic next step without you!
Below is a note I sent out to everyone in the BUILD Family, with a little bit more explanation for why I chose to go to Harvard.
Onward & upward!
Dear BUILD Family,
Over the last five years, BUILD has grown in significant ways. We have expanded into three sites with a robust, life-changing and innovative program. I have had the privilege of working with phenomenal BUILD students, aiding their growth into confident young entrepreneurs and college students. And I have had the opportunity to work with talented community members and partners, like you, in the fight for educational equity. I am so proud of all that we have accomplished together in my five years at BUILD.
This summer I am about to embark on another personal journey. It is with careful thought and great anticipation that I want to let you know that this will be my last school year with BUILD. In August, I will pursue a master in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. Pursuing my education in this country has been a lifelong dream. This next step will allow me to be a better leader for communities of youth in our country and around the world. After delving deeper into education policy in graduate school, my goal is to affect systemic, transformational change in the education sector at national and international levels. Although it is hard for me to even imagine leaving BUILD (and California!), I would be a hypocrite if I did not take risks in the way we ask our students to.
The BUILD Peninsula site is in good hands. Nicole Oppenheim, our current E1 program manager, will be the next site director of the BUILD Peninsula site, and I have the utmost confidence that she will lead the Peninsula team to achieve new and exciting heights. Her management experience and innovative vision and implementation of our freshman year program showcase her qualifications for the site director position.
My last day at BUILD will be on July 16th, and I encourage you to please reach out directly if you have any questions before I leave in the summer. I am equally available on phone or email.
Thank you for our relationship, your continued support of BUILD and your partnership in the fight for educational equity.
With deep appreciation and gratitude,
Rey
PS - Because of the transitions, we are hiring an Academic Program Manager and an E1 Program Manager at the Peninsula site as well as a few other positions in Oakland, DC and our Headquarters. Please check out our website for more information and please spread the word: http://www.build.org/browse/employment
I can’t believe my Aussie trip down under is more than halfway done. I had all of these grandiose plans to visit other parts of the country (like Melbourne or the Great Barrier Reef), but alas, those plans did not come to fruition as I realized that the real reason why I am here is to spend time with my extended family. And I have done plenty of that so far while exploring ridiculously beautiful Sydney.
Week two was slightly more relaxed and chill than week one. I didn’t go on any 5-hour bike rides, but I did wander the city one day by train, bus and ferry (Good Lord, the view from the ferry was just amazing). And below, you’ll see pictures from Michael’s fun-filled Bucks Party (aka Bachelor Party), which took up the entire Saturday from 7:30 am (that’s when we started playing paintball… who plays paintball at 7:30 am??? Apparently Aussies do) to midnight, when we continued the party at his house with not one but TWO evening entertainers. To protect the innocent, I haven’t posted any scandalous pictures up, but I’m sure you can use your imagination.
And to top off the week, I took the twins, Jeff & Chris, to our first live footy (that’s what they call rubgy down here) game. The Sydney Roosters lost to the North Queensland Cowboys, and even though our home team lost, it was a great experience for all of us.
This week we’ll see a HUGE influx of family flying in from all over the world, including my parents, who I’m picking up tomorrow (I haven’t seen them since April, so we’ll be reunited, too. So this week is all about spending quality time with all of the family, and of course, the whole reason why we’re all here is Michael’s wedding to Charmie on Saturday. And then just like that, I’ll be whisked away to the US on Sunday and back to work at BUILD after a three-month sabbatical on Monday! Excited about getting back to my home and work, but not looking forward to leaving this beautiful place. Check out the pics below.
Painting of Sydney Harbour at Art Gallery of New South Wales
Went to Manly Beach, which is a 30-min ferry ride away from Sydney
Gorgeous day, but it was way too cold to swim
"Manly" was everywhere, and I couldn't resist...
Random Family Time
Sefton Playhouse... not my idea, promise
Delicious Japanese food with Kristie and Jeff
Eating Meat Pies (Really popular in Oz) with Beef, the dog
Kristie's lola's birthday party
Michael’s Bucks Party: Part 1 - Paintball Wars
Chris, Mike and Jeff are up really early to play paintball
So butch
That's Mike's Best Man shooting at him!
We played about 10 games at different fields. Quite the testosterone filled actvity!
So far my brother and I are having a great time in the Philippines with our family. I can’t believe a week has flown by, but we’ve done a lot! Check out some pictures below or on my Flickr account. You can also follow my tweets on Twitter.
Nanay Ising’s 80th Birthday Party
Family Potrait
Cousins
Roasted Cow (Lechon ng baka)
All Nanay's children and grandchildren in attendance
All of Nanay's children (except my dad!)
All of Nanay's grandchildren in attendance
Check out more pictures after the jump or on my Flickr…
November is going to be one heck of a month. I can’t even believe it’s less than a week away till Halloween is over, and the presidential election is over. And before we know it, Christmas and New Years will be upon us and a brand we’ll usher in a brand new 2009. Here’s what’s on my calendar for the next four weeks:
Oct 31-Nov 2 - Los Angeles for Cindy’s wedding, hanging out with Billy, USC’s homecoming for a hot second, and visiting Ms. Van Hunnick, hopefully
Nov 4-9 - Cancun for Shanif’s wedding. Yup. Cancun!
Nov 14-15 - College Tour with BUILD sophomores and juniors. We’re going to St. Mary’s, Cal, UC Davis, and Sac State
Nov 26-30 - Vegas for Thanksgiving with the family
If you are in a city near me, give me a call or email to get together. If you’re going down to USC’s homecoming, I’m going to try to make it to the tailgate before the wedding, and I’d love to see you!
And by the way the photo has nothing to do with this post, but I figured I would add it anyway since Kenyon and I had a lovely afternoon in the Mission drinking tea and coffee on Saturday.
I’m just now getting a chance to do a recap on my first College Summit workshop, which happened at the end of June. We already know that the CS workshops are phenomenal, and that I highly recommend volunteering at them.
I had a great time co-rap directing with my best friend Karla at our alma mater. It was a perfect recipe for a great workshop, and I met some great alumni leaders and volunteers. But to top all that off, we had a fantastic group of 50 students from Arleta High School with whom I literally fell in love. It’s hard to describe it when that magic moment happens at a workshop, but it happened with us at USC. Volunteers and workshop staff do workshops for many reasons, but I cannot describe the real draw, which has something to do with the love that encompasses the entire workshop. This is what makes volunteers keep coming back year after year, and this is what makes the workshops succeed.
Below are a couple pics from the USC workshop, and a tribute that one of our students, Jay Jay, made for us via youtube.
This is a video capture that Jay Jay uploaded of Karla and I at the banquet:
Hopefully that gave you a small taste of why I love College Summit workshops.
I knew my month-long trip was going to be awesome, but I didn’t really expect it to be as life-changing as it was. I just got home today, and I’ve got a lot more processing to do on the entire trip from LA to North Carolina to New York and then Miami, but let’s just say it was a cathartic and freeing adventure.
I’ll write more about it later, once I get some proper sleep in my own bed (instead of 4 hours a night on a mushy hotel pillow).
All I can say is the house was rockin’! It’s an sharply satirical look at the military’s insidiously ridiculous “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and it’s available on DVD. I really recommend it for anyone who enjoys a great show, enjoys Gilbert & Sullivan and who understands how stupid the whole policy is.
It’s 3 am, and for some reason I cannot fall asleep. Well I suppose it has something to do with the month-long, action-packed, 8,000-mile, cross-country trip that I’m starting tomorrow… first to Sausalito for a BUILD work retreat.
As a parting gift, here’s a fascinating TED talk by artist Chris Jordan, who blends visual art with unimaginable statistics to uncover the excesses and truth in American culture.
1 million plastic cups are used on airline flights every 6 hours and virtually none of them are reused. What? Insane. I’ll definitely be using my travel mug on my flights.
I’m really looking forward to a crazy, fun, and travel-filled summer filled with multiple trips to the South, a quick visit to NYC, and a full-circle trip to USC to facilitate a workshop with Karla at our alma mater. I signed up for this new Twitter-like social-networking site called Dopplr, which touts itself as an online tool for frequent travelers. Anyway, if you’re on it, add me, and I’ll see about posting my Dopplr badge on my website (I’ve added the application to my Facebook already, but we’ll see how long it stays on there). It’s a good way to keep track of where I am at any given moment, and to see if there are any locational overlaps between you and your friends (Oh, you’re going to New York then, too? Let’s meet up at Hiro on Sunday!).
Till then, you can see what I’ll be doing / going in the next few months in the table below:
What/Where
Date
Notes
EOY Beach Party with Incubator students in Santa Cruz, CA
June 9
Going to the beach with 50 students… for work! I love this job.
BUILD E2 Orientation
June 10
At the office
Karla in SF
June 11
Woohoo!
BUILD Mentor Appreciation Night
June 12
At the office
BUILD Staff Strategy Retreat at the Headlands Institute in Sausalito
June 23 to 25
College Summit workshop at USC, Los Angeles, CA
June 25 to 30
Facilitating a College Summit workshop at USC with Karla.
I’ll have a free night on Sunday, June 29!
College Summit workshop at UNC-Asheville, Asheville, NC
July 2 to 6
Facilitating another College Summit workshop at UNC Asheville with Zenia. Never been to North Carolina, but have heard that it’s beautiful.
Quick Vacation in New York, NY
July 6 to 11
Visiting Tony in New York. Finally a vacation!
International GALA Chorus Festival in Miami, FL
July 11 to 20
Performing with SFGMC and lounging at the beach, I assume. Bring on the sun!
Back to SF
July 20
Back to the city after 3.5 weeks of jetsetting.
I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank College Summit, and particularly Oudete, for rocking out and allowing me the immense privilege and opportunity to be a Rap Director at USC and UNC Asheville. I can’t wait!
So this week is all about spending quality time with all of the family, and of course, the whole reason why we’re all here is Michael’s wedding to Charmie on Saturday. And then just like that, I’ll be whisked away to the US on Sunday and back to work at BUILD after a three-month sabbatical on Monday! Excited about getting back to my home and work, but not looking forward to leaving this beautiful place. Check out the pics below. 
