Where are they now: an occasional series of updates on LearnServe alumni.
Featuring Jessica Yang, LearnServe Fellows ’10 (now a sophomore at MIT):
“I wanted to email you and let you know I found out this past week that KAST had received 501c3 status. The entire KAST team was overjoyed, and excitedly look towards all the possibilities that the future will bring. Right now, KAST has about 20 science clubs running each week, and dozens of well-tested session plans, with more in the making. Our clubs are in 4 states, and currently starting in 3 more. Hundreds of students have been involved with KAST, and we have worked with many times more elementary school students. KAST has held many science fairs, fundraisers, and several directors and myself are writing a book for the purpose of spreading the session materials, our message, and getting more high school and college students to teach science too!
“Looking towards the future, we’re searching for greater ways to make an impact. Having 501c3 status will allow us to expand even more rapidly, have much more fiscal flexibility and fundraising abilities, and of course increased responsibilities too. The KAST college and high school students are eagerly embracing this challenge. I’ve worked with several other KAST students in implementing the impact assessment strategies I learned from the Deloitte consulting sessions this summer.
“It’s been so many years since I was a junior in high school, in the Fellows program. Often I think about how you, everyone at LearnServe, and KAST have changed my life. I am so profoundly different than I would have been had I never had the chance to learn from LearnServe. My worldview and perspective are so much broader, and I think LearnServe gave me the tools and the spark to appreciate and learn more about the important things in life. Thank you so much.
“I hope you have a really great day, and that everything continues to be extremely well.
Sincerely,
Jessica