Today was the first day of YAN class at Lycee Molyko! Although we had a late start due to a change in rooms and overlapping scheduling for the Media Center, it ended up being a wonderful first class. Due to the delays, our time was limited to 45min so I decided it was best to postpone the original Week 1 curriculum to next week when we had more time. This week we did introductions of students and YAN expectations.
A common topic I have seen in previous YAN projects and even in the responses I read in the applications of this year is "malaria". No doubt this is a very serious and common disease but I am really trying to encourage students to think outside the box. I used that phrase today and gave an explanation of its meaning. Each of the 23 students in the class took turns discussing what problem/issue the see in their community that they want to research and advocate for. I was really impressed with some of the ideas the students were coming up with. It's safe to say that I am already thrilled to see their final projects at the end of the year. They are a really smart group of students and the majority of them participated a great deal during the first class.
I also met with YAN graduates from last year and Lycee and we will be meeting again next Tuesday for the first ever "Advanced YAN" class.
