Introduction

Hello! My name is Matimba Mutantika, and I'm from Zambia. I have to admit my high school education has been all over the place. I began at Baobab College in Lusaka. Shortly after that, I moved to Chengelo, which was a Christian boarding school in Mkushi, a town in the central province of Zambia. Approximately a year later, say August 2021, my family and I relocated to Nairobi, Kenya. I continued my high school education at Braeside Lavington where I did yr 9, 10 and 11, and sat for my IGCSE exams. I'm currently in Eswatini, completing my sixth form at UWCSA WK.

Background

The story of how I got the privilege to attend Yale Young Global Scholars (YYGS) is pretty much a full fledged novel; with plot twists, recurring themes, and all! One afternoon, my mom received an ad on Facebook about YYGS, and she casually told me about it like ,”Hey you should check this out, it seems interesting”. I was pretty open to the idea, so I searched up the YYGS Web page and took a look at it. At the onset of her discovery, the prospect of staying at Yale was pretty electrifying, particularly because this happened only a few months after I’d gone to Yale for The World Scholars Cup Tournament of Champions. The memory of the Yale hallways and its glory had left an indelible mark on my mind. It had been a wonderful experience, and I said over and over again to myself until it became a mantra, “I really want to be there - I see this place in my future”. I ached to experience Yale again but alas, I did not meet the age requirements for eligibility. I was too young! Heart and dreams shattered, I went through the YYGS webpage halfheartedly. I was willing to wait, that was certain. However, as I scrolled through the page with a broken spirit, I stumbled across another program; something I was eligible for, something a bit closer to home…

Biding time? YYAS

Yale Young African Scholars, YYGS’s sister program, is a summer program oriented to preparing African High School Students for the U.S. college application process. Its duration is shorter than that of YYGS, and takes place in different countries over the continent, unlike YYGS which takes place at Yale. I applied for the regular decision, and by January of 2023, was accepted into the program. In hindsight, it’s a wonder that I was not unsure about that decision . After all, I attended YYAS, a program that was oriented to prep students for college application, when I was only around 14-15 years old. I probably would have benefited more from the experience had I been a bit older, but I regret nothing. Attending the residential YYAS program in Zimbabwe, in the summer of 2023, directly set the stage for the path my education would take in the following years.

YYGS at last!

Later that year, the applications for YYGS opened. I definitely hadn’t forgotten about it, YYGS had been the goal from day one. So I eagerly started preparing my application for the early decision round. I had to pay a small application fee. I asked one of my teachers to write me a recommendation letter, I asked my parents to help me prepare my official documents, I prepared my application essays, and I applied for financial aid as well. On 20th December of 2023 (yes, I even remember the date), I opened my application portal and I got the news that I had been accepted! I was so elated, I couldn’t imagine that it could get any better than that. I read through the notification and discovered that not only had I been accepted, I had been awarded the YYAS Alumni scholarship, which was a Full ride scholarship! My bliss was unreal. Summer 2024 arrived, and I was on my way to New Haven for YYGS.

Why YYGS

First and foremost, the aspect of interacting with so many people from so many different cultures was so enticing! Additionally, the freedom of being on campus which is basically like this controlled and safe setting, but still having the liberty to walk around town, to go shopping, to try the foods, and to hang out all in a new environment really appealed to me. Other than YYAS, which in itself was also a very new experience to me, I hadn’t gotten the opportunity to be in spaces that sounded as thrilling as YYGS. Naturally, I was also drawn to the prospect of doing a summer program at Yale, both due to the prestige of the University itself, and for the fun of travel. YYGS is an academic enrichment program that offers 4 subject tracks. In light of that, the idea of learning about something I was passionately interested in, such as Politics, Law and Economics, something that isn’t traditionally taught within the scopes of high school subjects, was insanely attractive. The cherry on the cake being the guidance of field experts and professors, coupled with the company of like-minded teens all over the globe, I was sold!

The Application Process

To apply for financial aid, I had to prepare a formal statement of need. My parents helped me prepare it, but essentially it just evaluated your need for financial aid and determined what contribution your family would be able to make.

The application essays were quite fun to write. They were a mix of short essays and a few character prompts. One of the more notable prompts asked me to reflect on a typical day in my life, and to envision what a perfect day would look like. In this essay I described how I would like to spend time on my grandmother’s farm in Zambia. 

A few examples of some of the questions were:

•  A description of how I would describe my country, customs and culture to someone who was unfamiliar with them

• If I could add any sport or skill to the Olympics, what would I add?

• About important people in my life and how they have influenced me. 

At first glance, some of the questions seemed rather whimsical. Although the planning process was a bit stressful, I enjoyed answering the questions tremendously. The outcome was a collection of paragraphs that were authentically and irrefutably me, unlike what generic application questions would have generated. 

The second set of questions had to do with the sessions that YYGS offered. First I chose my date preferences (The last week of July and the first week of August), then I was also required to explain why I chose my track of Politics, Law, and Economics (PLE), over:

(I) Innovation, Science, and Technology

(II)Solving Global challenges

(III) Literature, Language, and Culture.

Visa Application

I did not need to apply for a visa because I had a Tourist Visa (B2) that was still valid from a recent holiday. Ideally, as soon as you get your acceptance letter from YYGS, it would be advisable to start the process of applying for a visa. The Program provides a formal letter of invitation so that you can present it at the embassy, making the experience smoother for us!

Travel and Orientation

I flew from home, I was in Zambia at the time, to JFK airport. Transport from the airport to campus had been arranged for the YYAS Alumni scholarship recipients, so when we had all gathered, we began the journey to Yale.

We were given a really fun orientation day, where we became familiar with our residential colleges. There were three different colleges that we stayed at, one was Trumbull, then there was Davenport, and lastly Pearson College. I was staying in Trumbull. After that we also needed to familiarize ourselves with the city, because a lot of the venues where the workshops and panels would be taking place were all over the city. So we just mapped that out with our group leader, and got to see the city itself which was really nice. The rest of my first day there was spent settling in, resting, and interacting with the other scholars.

An experience like no other :)

YYGS was a 2 week program, so naturally we had a schedule that we were following everyday. On a typical day, we would be checked in, basically like an attendance roll call, then have breakfast. After that we would have something called family time, with your family, which was a group of other students and a tutor who had been assigned to us. Before we’d arrived we’d been given the opportunity to sign interest forms, choosing what seminars and lectures we wanted to be placed in for the summer. So we would all attend lectures in the hall, and the smaller seminars that happened exclusively to the track (subject) that we had chosen. Personally, the Capstone project was one of my favorite parts of the program. Over the course of the 2 weeks, we had to come up with a mini project which would show what way we would address different global issues. In our Capstone project we simulated our own political parties, campaigned and presented our policies, and even carried out a vote. It was a very light-hearted affair, and was so much fun to put together with my teammates! Outside of our classes, we had so much fun with the different things that we could do. We had a talent show and a YYGS student speaker series where we signed up to give Ted talks. There was also a YYGS staff speaker series, where different members of the staff gave us a sort of a mini Ted talk on a topic of their choice. During our free time we got to roam around New Haven. They'd tell us how long we had, then you could go around, get your Chipotle, go have ice cream, as long as you don’t stray too far from campus grounds. You could maybe be in your room, be speaking to your family. So anything you choose to do, hang out with your friends, just in the common square in between the residential colleges.

Friends and Networks

Networking and Connecting with others was such a fun and integral part of the program!  There was a Zambian girl who I became very close with over the course of YYAS, and amazingly, we reunited in YYGS! We actually had a group chat for the YYAS alumni for my year, so we had been talking, finding out what sessions everyone was going for. I had a few friends who were in other sessions, but in mine I had (I can’t name drop, can I) a girl from Ivory Coast, a Malawian boy and an Ethiopian girl, those were the four of us from YYAS in that session! (Much love xx). 

Many of the in-built structures of the YYGS program also made it really easy to make new friends, activities as family time and the Capstone projects. There's some people that you'll meet there that you won't forget about when you leave and you'll keep in touch with. For me, my YYAS cohort who also went on to attend YYGS with me are friends that I’ll never forget. I'm sure our relationships will blossom even further as we go into college and who knows, we may even end up attending college in the same states or at the very least in that same area, which is a thought that really makes me happy. At YYGS, you also become friends with many people you didn't think you would. There’s people who you connect with, and others that you don't really connect with and that's okay. It really does also open your eyes to the kinds of experiences you'll have at college, and all the different types of people you’ll meet in different stages of your life. For instance you’ll meet the legacy kids, you’ll meet people who come from generational wealth, you’ll meet people who you may have certain divisions with, people who you may or may not be fully able to relate to, which I feel was a very necessary experience for me to have. I was quite disillusioned about the kinds of experiences and the people I would interact with, so it also made me think about things I’d never really given much consideration to when choosing where I’ll go for university. I began to wonder “What culture do I want to be surrounded with,”, “ Am I looking for a highly competitive atmosphere?” and similar stuff that I’d never really given much thought to. So even in the simplest of things at YYGS, talking to people and making friends, I learned valuable lessons and left having had a memorable and necessary experience!

Advice

What's something I wish all applicants knew? I think to start as soon as you can, because there's a lot more to applications than just putting in your stats. If you decide that you want to apply for a certain summer program, start preparing as soon as you can, regardless of whether you’re applying for Early Action or not. Start compiling your recommendation letters. Start working on your financial aid statements and compile all the documents that may be needed from you. Start drafting your essays because trust me, they can tell when someone hasn’t put much thought or effort into their responses. Starting early really helps keep the stress at bay as the deadline approaches, and of course, will be reflected in the quality of your application!

Parting wishes

If you were to take away only one thing from my story, I would say let it be to apply, apply, apply! I’ve been thinking, if I hadn't taken that leap despite my doubts or reservations, my life would probably have turned out very differently. I wouldn't be here today if I'd looked down on YYAS and said, “Oh, no, I'll just wait for YYGS because I don't want to do the African one. I want to go to Yale,”.  I'm so very grateful for both my experiences at YYAS and YYGS, the way they turned out was amazing. Never, ever write anything off as too unworthy of your attention; for any opportunity that comes your way, no matter how big or small, try and do your best to seize it. You could miss out on experiences that could shape the next few years of your life, even if it’s just as small as an encounter, or a formed network that has the potential to alter the course of your life. If it's in your cards, things will work out. I'm a firm believer that everything happens for a reason , and everything works out the way it should, so please try and seize every opportunity that graces your path with both hands!