“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.”
“If there is no me actively participating in YYGS, I would not have the chance to talk to so many people from different countries having various pursuits. If there is no YYGS alumni encouraging me to pursue the idealistic educational model, I would not be confident to apply for UWC and got accepted. My life path has been diverged by YYGS to a brand new branch, where I have never dreamt before.”
“Personally, my most favorite part of YYGS was seminars that had a variety of academic fields and were all offered by undergraduate and graduate students. All the seminars were well-organized and intriguing: for example, Music In Medicine, which I was looking forward to the most, gave me a new perspective and potential of music.”
“The highlight of my YYGS experience would be getting the chance to speak in the Speaker Series. It laid the platform for me to uphold my nationality and culture formally in front of the entire BBS Block. I shared with everyone what it meant to be a Bangladeshi in the 21st century and also shed light on the ongoing Rohingya crisis: an international crisis being borne solely by Bangladesh with minimal coverage in the West.”
“YYGS helped me realize how people from different backgrounds and stories are still able to empathize with others in some way, because they are people, and therefore, have troubles, thoughts, challenges which are, dare I say, universal.”
The Jovens Adultos (Young Adults) project started because a few friends and I are really passionate about literature and thought it would be incredible if there was a website where we could share the pages we had been writing.
