Jerry Jiao

Canada
BBS 2019

“The breakout sessions fostered the collisions of diverse, sometimes opposing ideas in a respectful and intellectually curious setting. From arguing the ethics in genetic engineering to brainstorming the evidence against Darwinism biology, I felt right at home learning from all kinds of perspectives. As a result, I now constantly seek out new ideas and new approaches to problems. I fell in love with liberal arts education because it provides me with the interdisciplinary resources for me to tackle society’s biggest questions from multiple angles.”

It is a humbling honor to become the president of World in Focus, a youth-run charity which I have been involved with in the past three years. We raised over $3,000 to sponsor 48 cataract surgeries for Ethiopian children in need. My team and I transformed our fundraising events to incorporate more social media popular elements, such as escape rooms. We will be hosting our annual movie night on the first day of Christmas break! Our committee will be embarrassing ourselves by singing as an opening act :))

YYGS has expanded my horizon and challenged me to step out of my comfort zone. As I take on the leadership positions for multiple initiatives, I have realized that with dedication, persistence, and openness to new ideas, the boundaries placed around us bold, fearless seventeen-year-olds are merely imaginary.

Ambassador Year: 
2019