“YYGS Asia in the 21st Century was a great program that really opened my eyes and allowed me to have great connections with great, special people from around the world. Meeting a lot of new people from every continent including Africa, Europe, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas, YYGS was my first and the greatest opportunity to meet diverse people from different countries.”
“My seminars helped me learn and discover more about my identity than I ever thought they could. Growing up a Muslim subconti girl with loud political and feminist opinions has always been quite challenging. Perhaps it was because my society was constantly enforcing certain ideologies on me which I didn’t associate with myself, my identity, or my religion. But attending three different seminars that tackled the idea of feminism in Islam and progressive Islam allowed me to learn and decide what I believed in. I finally felt like I knew who I was.”
“YYGS helped me realise there are so many different perspectives on every issue. Before, the program, I considered myself absolutist when it came to global problems, but now I realise not everything is so black and white; it’s all shades of grey.”
“Yale Young Global Scholars was one of the best times of my life. It was an experience that gave me a taste of what college was going to be like. Having roommates, running around the campus to get to classes on time, and being immersed in my field of interest were some of the things that made YYGS priceless.”
“I feel like I am not the only person to say this, but YYGS opens your eyes to the world that is out there and teaches you to see it through not just the lenses you choose, but through those different people prefer. “
A few weeks prior to getting on the plane for America to come to YYGS, I got an acceptance e-mail to “New School International School of Georgia.”
“The environment at YYGS really did make me come out of my shell. Public speaking and debating aren’t things we’re used to at my school; it sort of felt like I had gone from walking to running in my speaking abilities and it was a bit hard to get my points across at first, but, in the end, I actually mustered up the courage to do a solo-talk! And even though I regret not having done it to a better standard, I’m really happy I just got up there and spoke in front of my colleagues and instructors.”
“I loved having the opportunity of receiving the full college experience - waking up, eating breakfast at the Davenport Dining Hall, going to lectures and then our seminars. It was all pretty amazing. Another main aspect of YYGS that I found very appealing was that it provided me with the opportunity to converse with other intellectually curious people my age that appreciate knowledge from multiple perspectives. Thus, I must confess I have never had an experience as enjoyable as YYGS.”
“Another thing that amazed me was all the incredible seminars I attended. I remember one that marked me; it was called “#meetoo”, it was about all the injustice women are suffering nowadays, and how if we continue like this in the near future women will no longer be saved. In this seminar we discussed all the problems and viable solutions for solving this global issue. The form in which everyone got along with each other was incredible, we all shared our ideas and came to a general solution.”
“I particularly liked the lecture about green engineering. The lecturer said, ‘Solve the solved problems.’ Nowadays, many products have been created to help people with their day-to-day tasks, problems, or needs. As an engineer, it can be difficult to think about what else you can create to positively impact the community or the world. However, this lecture gave me hope, faith, and certainty that there is much more to do in the field of engineering. Many products have been created but not in a sustainable way, not in a way that protects the Earth, the world we all live in.”
“In terms of academics, it was exhilarating. Each day was packed with different seminars but because I applied for the Sustainable Development and Social Entrepreneurship session, the seminars had a relatively similar underlying theme.”
