By Uğur Gonul, YES 2012-2013, Turkey, hosted by CIEE in Burkburnett, Texas

My name is Uğur, which means ‘’luck’’ in Turkish, and I feel so lucky to be a part of the YES family. I am a 2013 YES alumnus and I was hosted in Burkburnett, Texas (or should I say the great state of Texas!). The YES program has had a life-long impact on me because I learned to understand and appreciate new perspectives. I also learned how to positively influence my community through community service. After attending the YES Alumni Transformational Leadership Training in Tirana, Albania, I came back to my home community ready to make a change.

When I came home, I gathered my friends together to discuss some ideas I had for a community service project. After some discussion, we decided to create a project to address the lack of sports opportunities in Turkey. Although watching soccer games is a popular activity, unfortunately participating in sports is less popular. Many schools, including the high school I attended, do not have gyms and it is also difficult to find sports equipment like balls and nets. As we all know from health advice, participating in sports helps youth focus and become healthier, so my friends and I decided to implement a project at our former high school, Karşıyaka Cihat Kora Anadolu Lisesi.

Our project had a few goals. Our primary goal was to provide sporting materials to our high school and its 600 students. Our second goal was to create an Olympic torch to be passed on from graduating students to new students each year. Our third goal was to provide students the opportunity to participate in interscholastic tournaments at the school.

Before beginning our project, we had a meeting with the principal of the high school to obtain permission to implement the project. After providing information about the YES program and our project's goals, the principal gave us his permission. In fact, since the school cannot afford to buy the necessary sports equipment, he was very supportive of our project. After obtaining his permission, my team conducted a field study to help us create our project plan. We talked to the physical education teachers and students to determine what kinds of equipment were most needed. Then, we set a budget and got price quotes for the sports equipment from several stores.

When we presented the equipment to the school, we took a moment to encourage the students to get involved in sports. Then, we led a ceremony to light the Olympic torch. This was definitely the most enjoyable part of the project! My friends, Zeynep Ataç and Simge Karşıyaka, and I put a lot of work into this project, and we were happy to make the students happy. We also took the opportunity to speak about the YES program. Both the teachers and the students were excited and thanked us repeatedly. My thanks to the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs at the U.S. Department of State, which sponsors the YES program, and to American Councils for this great opportunity!