My favorite lecture was the one about music and health, how being able to hear music could help you improve your skills in the medicine field. That lecture made me understand STEM in a different way, because I study arts at school, so being able to see how these two things can connect and help each other is awesome.
The fact that we all came from different backgrounds - socio-economically, geographically, or ethnically - was what made our interactions meaningful. We were not only talking about the world but with the world.
YYGS was life-changing. It allowed me to develop an appreciation of different cultures and to explore my curiosity.
I am currently serving as the Head Girl, which is the highest role held by a student leader in my school. While I serve in this capacity, it is my community initiatives that I am most proud of. I was able to successfully organize a vaccination blitz in my rural community with the help of my local government representative and my parish health outreach officer. Approximately 50 members with either the Astrazeneca or Johnson and Johnson vaccine.
After two weeks of intellectual sessions and seminars, I started viewing things from a different point of view. Learning about the ways in which people solved problems in their areas taught me that there is no single way to tackle a problem, there are always indirect solutions to problems.
During simulation, I was paired with others who similarly advocated to combat drug abuse and who sought to expose COVID-19’s correlation to opioid addiction. Throughout our group’s time together, we created a non-profit (https://beyondtheneedles.org) with the intent to publicize support and awareness for drug addiction recovery. To this day, we have accumulated over 3,700 followers on our Instagram page, and we continue to exchange ideas amongst each other on how to scale our organization further.
YYGS has given me the opportunity and resources to discover new passions. For example, in my “Glamorizing Suffering” seminar, I learned about the exploitation of minorities’ suffering in the media. This seminar, much like every other lecture and seminar I attended at YYGS, has opened my eyes to issues I was unaware of. It pushed me to think critically about the media I was consuming and how it could affect my perception of the world. Through YYGS seminars and lectures, I learned that my actions have impacts that extend far beyond my personal narrative.
YYGS is a global education program that enabled me to increase my cultural exchange but also helped me to see the world without stereotypes and befriend some of the most genuine and talented people I now know in my life.
YYGS has made me more confident and open minded. I find myself doing more critical thinking and voicing my ideas.
The lecture by Professor Benedito Machava on the European colonization of Africa stuck with me the most. The extent of the effects historical factors had and continue to have on African politics, in general, made me relate the two social disciplines of history and politics closer together.
Around the end of July, Turkey experienced one of the most destructive forest fire seasons in its history. Ravaging almost the entirety of Southern Turkey’s forests, these fires were critically damaging the communities of the region and its wildlife.
I realized that YYGS’ ability to challenge students is exactly what makes it a truly worthwhile experience. YYGS pushed me to attempt questions to which the answers have yet to be discovered, and exposed me to ideologies, philosophies and events unfamiliar to most. Family Time, the Simulation and my work on the media team as a humansofyygs content creator especially allowed me to meet some of the most impressive, potential-filled persons I am now proud to call friends.
