Joshua Baehring

USA & Germany
BBS 2019

“My favorite lecture was, “Planarians: Masters of Regeneration and Pluripotency” by Professor Josien Van Wolfswinkel. I thought that the idea of planarians being able to regenerate major body parts and Wolfswinkel’s research on how this could be applied to other studies was interesting. I was also able to use her introduction to pluripotency for my Capstone project—we included pluripotent stem cells in our attempt to find an alternative treatment to glioblastomas. As a whole, this program has inspired me to explore even more and work harder. Although I learned so much at YYGS, I still feel like I have only scratched the surface of what science has to offer—yet this was a great start.”

My friend Prottoya Chowdury told me about an organization called Financial Literacy for You or “FLY”. I soon learned that Financial Literacy for You is a nonprofit organization dedicated to educating future generations on the necessary skills for personal finance. The program started in California, inspired by the high poverty rate of youth in America. We learned the program was planning to expand, so we reached out to them.

They accepted us into their program, and with the help of four other friends, we formed the Northeast FLY Branch. We took a course in California run by FLY program creators that educated us on financial skills and what we would need to know to teach others. At the start of our junior year, we got to work. We are currently working in New Haven, but we hope to expand even further. We are communicating with any schools that are willing to allow us to teach in after-school programs.

As of now, we teach our lessons with another program known as New HYTEs, which is located in New Haven and incorporates a curriculum that helps students academically while also teaching them to play tennis. Our branch only started in the fall of 2019, but we hope to expand soon. The experience is great, and I am glad that my friend included me in his journey to help others.

Ambassador Year: 
2019