Embedded Files
"To begin our journey in YSE, we began by brainstorming what a social entrepreneur meant to us. Furthermore, we visited Belvedere in the Sphinx to learn more about the architecture and design planning of our city center. This all came together as Urban development, giving us a foundation on what we are focusing on. Overall, the experience was quite refreshing as we were able to socialise and work together with people that we have known for a long time and people who we hadn’t had the chance to speak to yet. It was very interesting learning about the city around us as well as being able to discuss relevant problems that affect each one of us individually." - Alison (Urban development)
"I went into YSE with a sense of frustration: this program was just one more thing to add onto my already full plate, one more thing that I didn’t see the value in. At the end of the three days, however, I can see where there is value. I have a better understanding of what exactly Social Entrepreneurship is and why it’s valuable in society. I’m now more energized to actually try and accomplish my project and have a renewed sense of optimism that it may be successful." - Charlotte (Environmental sustainability)
"In the second day of YSE, we went more in depth to understand which campaign/action should be become reality. Since this morning, we have been discussing about social problems that we, as social entrepreneur, are going to solve. After, an interesting brainstorming we came up with 7 main problems to base our campaigns on. The issue I was most interested in was corruption in the juridic field. My group, composed of four more members, and me started a brainstorm to understand the problem. To succeed in this task, we broke down the issue in different components which clearly identify the the main features of the argument. We did so to understand in the next days what problematic features our action can be efficiently solve. In conclusion, this session has been incommensurably useful to the creation of this potential and possible campaign." - Armando (SE development)
"On the initial day of YSE, we went to a science studio in the city for a tour. I was really amazed by the work they do there. I was in awe of the projects they have created to solve social and environmental issues. And, with all the amount of email the UWC community has been exchanging with each other, we came up with the idea of creating a brochure that would explain the different features that the Gmail accounts include. This is because we had realized that many people within the community are not aware of the ways of communicating effectively with emails, thus we end up with tons of emails filling our inboxes." - Wendy (Science and technology)
"At first our projects and project ideas seemed quite far away and large to complete by high school students. However I got into a group where we decided to do a project within UWC Maastricht and that seemed more attainable. I remember the scale by which we could judge our projects in terms of feasibility and impact. I think our original project ideas would have maximum impact but minimum feasibility, now I think we have less impact but much more feasibility. I feel quite glad that my group agreed upon an idea that we all feel strongly about and I think this was reflected in our pitch. We are all on board to make the same change and I think we will have a good time together." - Noah (Urban development)
“Don’t limit your challenge, challenge your limits.
On the third day of YSE, we started our YSE projects and we realised that we tend to go for what is easier. Therefore this quote demonstrates what we are doing right now by questioning our projects to see if it will do a lasting impact. As we fleshed our projects out we made multiple worksheets including the YSE venture idea. This enabled us to see how we could improve our projects and what our intended goals are. By presenting our projects to different groups we were able to get feedback which allowed us to improve our projects even more." Lucie and Eléonore (Health)
"Today we explored what a “change maker” means, how to identify a need, then make a plan. Exercises, such as the selective attention video and connect the dots activities, emphasized the importance of thinking outside of the box and the mindset of an innovator. For health specifically, looking at the physical and psychological perspectives of an issue impacts the method of attacking the problem. Often, health issues are due to lack of awareness or mindfulness. In this, we want to not only directly serve as a support but educate the public." - Feyi and Katja (Health)
"In my opinion today was the most interesting day of the YSE 2018, so far; it was really interesting to build up from the beginning, an entire project, and trying to make it realistic and realizable looking at lots of different aspects that a social entrepreneur should keep in mind while developing an idea. I must also say that listening to Lorena Silvestri’s ideas has been really helpful; she described the difficulties but especially the positive and happiest parts of creating a social entrepreneurship, in order to do something good for someone else. Something that really impressed me (and made me emotional), was a mention of Giulio Regeni’s and Amaya Coppen’ story; people should remember the fact that there are some students who have been hurt only because of their own, rightful, beliefs." - Fabrizio (Peace)
"What a ride the last few days have been! YSE has been so dramatically different from normal schoolwork and has given me the ability to build confidence and realise some of my entrepreneurial dreams by giving me the skills to set up projects which will sustain themselves. The most valuable lesson that I’ve learnt is that the process of coming to ideas is just as important as the final product itself, however, this is only applicable if we use a funnel method and choose ideas that truly speak to us. YSE has left me with a product which is truly inspiring for me personally and gives me energy, when I work on it-I’m really excited to start creating more green spaces across campus! (I would also like to thank David Evans and Moeka for being such great facilitators!)" - Tobias (Environmental sustainability)
"My view of YSE at the beginning was seen as somewhat an extra thing in my week that I had to do because of school, but not something that I wanted to do. However throughout the short period of time I have come to a conclusion that when it comes to activities that you must take park in at school, you have to find a way to relate it to yourself. As I want to be a marine biologist, I want to find the root cause of global warming, climate change and other environmental issues and find a way to solve it through science. My YSE topic was Environmental and Sustainability, which correlates with my future career plans, thus I used a mandatory school topic to fuel knowledge on my interests.
By doing this and having a different outlook and perspective on YSE, I allow myself to take full advantage of it and therefore enjoying it. Which is what I did. It was a very engaging and interestingly fun first three days!
I would also like to thank our supervisors for the YSE David and Moeka for being so attentive and helpful with any questions or guiding that was needed throughout the three days." - Rochelle (Environmental sustainability)
Lia Da Giau.mp4A short video message from our Environmental Sustainability team! How do you say sustainability in your language?
"The last three days have been a great challenge. It's been amazing to sit down and really think about urban development issues in the Maastricht and also in our home towns and cities. I had never really appreciated the urban development in Lisbon or challenged the poorly managed developments. I have also reflected on the impact of urban development in people's life and how it can really affect the communities it is made to serve. At the end of this project I wish to have tackled some of the issues in the Maastricht community and he able to transfer this knowledge to future social entrepreneurial projects." - Lucas
Day 1-3 in pictures:
Day 1-3 in pictures:
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