Young Leaders Academy of South Sudan

Scholar and Yale University rising sophomore Ghai Tit Buny returned home this summer to establish the Karl Popper Debate Society, a pioneering initiative aimed at enhancing students' skills in debate, public speaking, poetry, and career planning. A former student of Juba Academy Secondary School and a graduate of the Young Leaders Academy, Ghai is leveraging his education and experiences to provide high school students across South Sudan, particularly Jonglei and Juba, with a platform to develop critical thinking and communication skills.

Using his Yale education, Ghai is already encouraging a culture of dialogue and understanding among South Sudanese youth. His community service is particularly imperative in a country where access to opportunities for intellectual development and critical thinking are limited.

Ghai is an Economics, Ethics, and Politics student at Yale.

After evaluating over 1,000 applications, we are delighted to announce the selection of 15 YLASS Scholars. These students have demonstrated exceptional academic achievements and leadership in their communities, and we are confident they will succeed in the program and continue to contribute to those around them.

This month, the scholars will begin taking intensive writing and reading classes to improve their critical thinking, writing and rhetoric, which are essential to managing the rigorous college academics. Then, in June they will begin in-person classes in Juba to prepare for the standardized exams and complete their college applications.

Didi was driven by her passion for empowering girls through education. Didi’s journey was one of resilience, courage, and commitment to her community. She overcame immense obstacles to become one of the few girls from South Sudan to attend college on a full scholarship in the United States. And she did not stop there. She founded LetAllGirls, an organization dedicated to supporting girl child education in South Sudan. Didi’s dream was to create a world where every girl could pursue her education and dreams without hindrance. She aimed to dismantle barriers to education by mentoring hundreds of girls and instilling in them the skills and confidence to pursue their dreams.

Didi’s spirit and passion were contagious, and she left behind a community united in their determination to honor her memory by advancing her cause.

LetAllGirls is not just an initiative—it is a movement fueled by Didi’s love for her community and her belief in the power of education to transform lives.

Join us in celebrating Didi’s remarkable life and supporting her organization, LetAllGirls. Your contribution will help carry forward Didi’s vision and make a lasting difference in the lives of girls in South Sudan.

To contribute and learn more about LetAllGirls, please visit the GoFundMe page that friends of Didi at Babson organized: https://gofund.me/32a0746f

Congratulations to our amazing scholars, Yor Daniel Chol and Wol Bol Wol, on their acceptance to Haverford College and Whitman College, respectively. These are the first positive results from our Regular Decision applications. Stay tuned for more exciting news from now until March 28th, the Ivy League Decision Day as more scholars get their decisions.

The application for the 2024 Young Leaders Academy of South Sudan is opened. The last date to apply is 1st April 2024. The Young Leaders Academy of South Sudan is a college preparation program that guides exceptionally talented high school graduates to apply and gain admissions and scholarships at US most prestigious colleges and Universities. We guide students who are not only academically gifted but who have also shown leadership and dedication to community service.

Application Minimum Requirements:

1. Those who completed Secondary National Examinations in March 2023 with at least 80% score

2. Those who sat in December 2023 will need to first wait for their National Exams results before applying to meet the 80% minimum requirement.

3. At least 75% score in English Language.

4. Must have been among the top 15 in class throughout high school.

5. Those who sat Kenyan and Ugandan Secondary Exams with A- and above will be considered.

6. Must be able to meet the fees required to complete the application process.

How to Apply:

To apply to Young Leaders Academy, send a screenshot of your Certificate of Secondary Education or result slip to +18107308881 or +21191156792 on WhatsApp. In addition, send a two hundred words explanation of why you should be selected among hundreds of students who applied. Also, send an acknowledgment that you were indeed among the top 15 students through your high school. Your essay must be written without the support of AI tools such as Chatgpt.

For those who meet the requirements, the next steps will be communicated after sending the screenshot of your results, an essay of two hundred words, and an acknowledgment that you were indeed among the top 15 throughout high school.

Note:

1. This year, the Young Leaders Academy of South Sudan will help only 10 students regardless of gender, race, tribe, state, or region. As long as you meet the requirements, pass the interview, pay the application process fees, and write a convincing essay about why you are the right candidate, you will be considered.

2. Students have no choice of which university or college they should apply to. The decision is with the counselor who will know the right school where each has the best possible chance of getting admitted.

3. Students must work hard during the application process. STUDENTS WHO FAIL TO SECURE ADMISSION, IN THE END, DUE TO UNSERIOUSNESS OR OTHER REASONS WILL BE REFUNDED. However, standardized test fees and application fees are nonrefundable as per their guidelines.

4. The students must pay all costs, including standardized test fees and university application fees, before joining the program.

5. Admission to universities and colleges to which our students apply after getting into our program is extremely competitive. Because of this, the Young Leaders Academy is very selective and cautious in choosing the students who join the program. Only students YLASS feels have the best chance of gaining university admission will be admitted into the program.

6. YLASS reserves the right to withdraw its support, even in the middle of the application if unseriousness is noticed.

7. YLASS is strictly for fresh high school graduates. We do not offer support for Masters/Ph.D programs.
Young Leaders Academy of South Sudan does not award university scholarships. Instead, once YLASS students are admitted to American universities, it is the universities themselves that offer the scholarships, which are based on the admitted student’s family financial circumstances.

For more information contact us on WhatsApp: +18107308881

Young Leaders Academy of South Sudan YLASS is a college prep program that assists academically talented high school graduates from South Sudan in competing for and gaining admissions and scholarships at U.S. top colleges and universities.

Safe journey to YLASS Scholar Kuot Kiir. Kuot is beginning his fresh year at Stanford this fall semester.

YLASS scholar, Santino Makuei is on his way to Harvard. We wish him a safe flight and best of luck as he begins his fall semester.

We wish YLASS scholar Ding Mayen a safe journey and best of luck as she begins her orientation and fall semester at Babson College United States.

Safe journey to Majok Anyieth to Duke University, North Carolina, United States.

The Y-LASS Second Group of Students, a highly determined cohort, is currently engrossed in applying to their preferred Early Decision Universities. After submitting their applications, they will eagerly await the results of their efforts.

A big shoutout goes to Kuol Fidel for providing us with such a conducive center. The support and encouragement are truly uplifting and a motivation to do more! South Sudan will have hundreds of graduates from world class universities, who will be making impacts in all corners of South Sudan in a few years from now.

As we navigate this daunting process, we ask those who are inspired by what education can do, to support the program in providing laptops, css profile fees, TOEFL, Duolingo, SAT fees, Initialview fees, transportation to SAT centers, and many others.

Safe journey to USA YLASS scholar, Ghai Tit Buny.

Go shine at Yale.

Congratulations to all our first cohort for securing their F-1 visas. Thanks to their respective universities and US Embassies for making this process possible. We wish our students the best of luck as they begin their studies in the fall 2023 semester.

We are happy to announce that we have considered Peter Reng, the best student in the recent released national exams. We interviewed him and have considered him as part of our second cohort.

Congratulations Reng!

Congratulations to our first cohort scholars who are starting their first year of college this Fall! Good luck on your respective campuses.

Dear applicants,

Our team is working hard reading the applications. We will soon be shortlisting candidates for the interview stage. If you are selected to proceed to the next round, you can expect to receive an email from us with further details regarding the interview process towards the end of this month.

Dear applicants,

Our application will officially today at 11: 59 PM Eastern Time ( 6:00 Am South Sudan Time). Do submit your application if you haven’t already before the application closes.

Attention applicants,

We would like to inform you that the YLASS application window will be ending soon. The deadline for submissions is Wednesday 10th May at 11:59 PM Eastern Time. If you have not yet submitted your application, we kindly request that you do so at your earliest convenience.

Congratulations to our YLASS Scholar, Didi Ding Mayen Kuai for her acceptance to the prestigious Babson College in Massachusetts, United States. Ding has also received the most competitive and generous scholarship at Babson, the Global Scholarship! We can’t wait to see what the future has in store for her.

Dear prospective applicants,

As we approach the end of the application period, we kindly remind you that you have two weeks left to submit your applications. Your timely submission will ensure that we have ample time to review your applications. We look forward to receiving your applications. Here is the link to the application: https://forms.gle/iyUJjcGaH8R2F49Z7

22 days remaining until deadline. Apply here: https://forms.gle/iyUJjcGaH8R2F49Z7. If you have questions, please refer to the Q&A post.

Questions you may have about the YLASS Program and the Application Form

Questions from students have been coming in, however, due to limited capacity, we are unable to respond to them individually. Hence, we have compiled frequently asked questions with answers.

1. What is the best way to complete my application?
The best way to complete your application is by copying all the essay questions that are on the form into a Word document or Google Doc. Then start writing the essays, edit, and polish them well. When you are done, open the application form and paste each essay you have written to the corresponding question in the application. Instead of typing your essays on the application form, it is better to use the above method.

2. The form doesn’t allow me to go to the next page until I answer the questions on the first page. How will I see the essay questions on the next page?
You can type any things you want as answers to questions in the first part. This is just so that you are able to go to the next page and copy the essay questions.

3. What is the word limit of the essays?
The essays on the part of personal and high school information have no limits. You can write whatever number of words you want. The essays in the third section titled “Essay Questions” required a minimum of 480 words each. There is no maximum. You can stop at 480 words or you can write as many words as you want to express yourself.

4. Should I finish my application quickly?
There is no need to rush. Take your time to create a strong application. Even if you submit it now, it won't be reviewed until after the deadline.

5. All the terms for one class are on one full-year report card. For example, all the Senior 1 terms are on one report card. Is that a problem? What about if I have each term on its own report card?
Any of those formats is good, as long as we are able to see the report cards for all the terms.

6. I just sat this year and my national exams results are not yet out; hence, I don’t have my secondary national exams certificate. Will I be considered?
Yes, you will be considered. In fact, we highly encourage those who just sat for their national exams to apply. National Exams certificate is optional now. You will need it around November if you are accepted to YLASS. If you still do not have it by November, it's still possible to get admitted to a college in the US or Canada as long as you promise to submit the certificate later. The most important ones now are your report cards.

7. After getting into a US school, for example, who provides scholarships? In other words, who will pay my school fees? Is it YLASS?
It is not YLASS. It is the school that will accept you. Most schools in the US give financial aid( scholarships) to students from low-income families. That means if you are accepted into the University, the University will give you a full scholarship. So YLASS will ensure you apply to those schools that give full scholarships. The most important consideration for those universities is not whether you will pay your school fees if they admit you—the most important thing to them is whether you are really a strong student that can succeed in their university. Once they know that, they will give you a full scholarship.

8. Does this means I will have to work hard for admission into a University?
You will compete with everyone worldwide for admission, including American kids. For those universities that give full financial aid, they won’t care if your parents have the capacity to pay for your university or not when they are deciding whether or not to accept you. If the university thinks you are a strong candidate, they will accept you and give you a full scholarship. So, yes your aim should be to have a strong application so that you are accepted into a university. All of us at YLASS will support you in making sure your application is strong enough and in deciding which University is right for you.

9. How many students will YLASS admit this year?
We will admit around seven students this year. Since we have limited time, we need to ensure that we can adequately support each student to get into school.

The application for Y-LASS second batch is now open. Find the link to the application here: https://forms.gle/iyUJjcGaH8R2F49Z7

To be eligible, students must meet the following criteria:

-Must be a South Sudanese national
-Must be a fresh high school graduate (those who sat in 2022 and 2023)
-Must not be more than 21 years of age
-Must have been in the top 10% of their classes throughout high school
-Must have all high school report cards for all terms
-Must be willing to return back to South Sudan after studies abroad

A few things to note about the application:

1. Please take the time to carefully answer each question to the best of your ability. What is most important is that you complete it well, not fast. You have at least a month to complete
(closes on: May 10th, 2023).

2. We recommend that you first answer the prompts, especially the long answer questions, in
a Google doc or MS Word document and then paste it to the application form. This is to ensure that you are answering questions rigorously and at pace.

3. We also require that you submit all 12 of your high school transcripts (that is 3 report cards per class representing your performance each term).

We are delighted to inform you that the Young Leaders Academy of South Sudan will open its 2023 applications on Monday, April 10th, 2023. Our program aims to equip exceptional recent secondary school graduates with the necessary tools to compete with students from around the globe and secure scholarships at top colleges and Universities in North America and Europe.

About the program:

The Young Leaders Academy of South Sudan is nonprofit a college preparatory organization designed to assist exceptionally talented high school graduates from South Sudan to secure scholarships in North America and Europe. The program selects high school graduates who are not only academically exceptional but have also shown leadership potential and love for positively impacting their communities and country. The academy was founded with the aim of eliminating the barriers that prevented South Sudanese high school students from being competitive enough to earn scholarships at top-tier schools. After encountering the challenges of the college application process themselves, the founders recognized that applying to college can be overwhelming and daunting without adequate support, guidance, and resources.

Education is crucial for South Sudan, given the country's significant challenges arising from a high illiteracy rate of 70% among its population. The Young Leaders Academy recognizes education as the answer to resolving these challenges by equipping a group of dedicated leaders who are passionate about positive impact.

Congratulations to Y-Lass Scholars who got into schools. We are extremely proud of all your hardwork and determination.

Majok Anyieth, Santino Makuei, . Ghai Tit Buny, . Kuot Kiir, , and Majok Thiong, .

As our first cohort, you will be an inspiration to many more that will come after you! , ,

Breaking News Ever:

Kuot Kiir Aluetmiir, a YLASS Scholar, has finally gotten into Stanford University, California!

We are thrilled to announce that one of our YLASS students, Majok, has been accepted to Duke University! This is a huge accomplishment and we would like to extend our heartfelt congratulations to Majok and all those who helped make this possible. Keep shining at Duke, Majok!

The Application for the program is open until 20th May 2022. Link is in Bio for application