“It was insightful that after you’ve studied a certain [global] problem in a certain country, you get to have an insider’s view of it [at YYGS]. While I’ve previously known the Venezuelan hyperinflation crisis, I had a conversation with my Venezuelan roommate, Kesia, about what’s like to live there under such circumstances. It’s not just the existence of diversity, it’s the exchange of it. Everyone is curious about everyone else’s culture, and no one is afraid to ask. Everyone has got something to say, and at YYGS, every opinion counts.”

“I got to know a lot of cultures, but most importantly I got to learn about the topics of my interest with people that shared those same interests.”

Since leaving YYGS, I have continued doing my motivational videos on social media. I was self-motivated to do motivational videos for other people, and the people at YYGS helped me continue doing them by requesting specific videos.

“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.

“For most of my life, I’ve been constantly reminded of how well I do in my math and science classes. My parents have often tried to push me in the direction of the medical field and my teachers have frequently encouraged me to become involved in STEM activities. As much as I have always enjoyed these, I have honestly always felt that the humanities have truly sparked my interest; it has been in the moments of discussing literature and philosophy in my classes that I have felt the most interested and engaged in school.

“My Capstone project also affected me in far more ways than I could predict. My group’s project topic on the ethics of journalism during American war, the research we put into it, and the presentation we made introduced me to new ways of research, more complex analyses of ideas I had once thought simple, and to friends who taught me and learned with me on a daily basis.”