While most YYGS students attend their preferred academic sessions, complications due to visa delays, scholarship availability, or other logistical variables lead students down completely unexpected paths.
Here’s the experience of two participants who bravely chose to accept their admissions offer and explore an academic discipline they were pretty unfamiliar with…
Damian Otsile Rantshabeng, Botswana
Biological & Biomedical Sciences
Damian was very excited to attend YYGS after completing the Yale Young African Scholars Program the year prior. He was offered a Young Leaders Scholarship to attend YYGS, which included tuition and travel fare. Damian was interested in science and engineering, but did not have a strong background in biology. He was surprised when he received an admissions letter for the Biological & Biomedical Science session.
“I remember making it a mission to completely immerse myself in a new environment to give myself the room to be adventurous before I start university next year,” he says.
He admits that he had to work hard to keep up with other students, but he was pretty surprised by his newfound interest in this subject area: “I was fascinated by the research going on today and how the future is looking for scientists…Lab research is not a common thing here so I really appreciated the exposure. I was particularly intrigued by planarian worms and how the research could potentially help humanity.”
Damian enjoyed the session so much that he’s considering a career path in this field.
“A part of me strongly feels I haven’t been exposed to what I truly want to do because of where I grew up. YYGS supported that, so thank you!”
Omar Alkashef, Egypt
Creative Arts & Media
Omar is very interested in engineering, and he was initially accepted into the Applied Science & Engineering session. After experiencing delays with his visitor’s visa, Omar missed his preferred session. The only available option was attending Creative Arts & Media. He debated going, since it was not a field he was interested in, but his parents encouraged him to attend and he accepted his offer of admission.
Once Omar arrived, he was surprised to realize how much he was interested in the humanities. “The topic of the program was brand-new and fascinating for me,” Omar says.
“I really fell in love with the seminar ‘Rapid Response Theater: Art in a Time of Crisis.’ It was the first time that I learned that something as simple as a theater performance can influence people, prompt an action or a movement, or change a society.”
Omar was so interested by his humanities discussions that he’s now considering a career in this field. “After my experience at CAM, I am now considering having a side major or taking courses in a related field. I might pursue creative writing.”
Yale Young Global Scholars seeks to promote diversity both culturally and academically. We admit students from over 125+ countries and all 50 U.S. states in order to motivate young leaders and expose our participants to new areas of academia. We are so very thrilled that both Damian and Omar had such a transformative experience at YYGS.