Author: admin

It all started when Helen was an elementary school student…

Helen has always been interested in mathematics and competition math as well, but when she was a student she did not have many resources to help her prepare for these math competitions. She wants to make the challenges she faced in elementary school disappear for future generations.

Now, Helen is 16 years old and started a company named Mathlings to help elementary school students prepare for math competitions. What’s even more impressive is that Helen is a high school student who is able to balance her company and her school work at the same time. Even though high school can be stressful at times, she works at her company every day and is constantly coming up with new ideas for the program.

Helen’s favorite part about her company is that she can interact with students and help them as much as she can.

A typical day at Mathlings would be a one-hour class, and this l happens once every week. The students and teachers meet and start learning together. The teachers interact with each other and make sure that everyone is engaged and willing to learn. Then afterward, there is a manageable homework load assigned after the class is finished.

The student-to-teacher ratio is about 3-4 teachers to a wide range of 20-40 students.

After about a year since founding her company, Helen believes that Mathlings has grown a lot. Helen says that “the teachers have all grown closer to each other and have gotten to know each other better.” She also believes that the “community has gotten larger since the start” and the “students have all gotten more interested in the math competition subject and are enjoying it.”

Her company offers many different opportunities and courses for elementary school students of all ages and skill levels to participate. She says that “Competition math is different from regular school math” which is why she decided to start Mathlings to help those elementary school students to teach them about competition math. She states that “Mathlings offers many different courses based on age and skill level. There are two levels, Level 1 and Level 2, and students are separated into those levels based on skill.”

Helen’s company also offers different courses in competition math. For example, she says that “Level 2 has different sections that it is split into. Some of those sections include geometry and algebra.” Her company provides a lot of flexibility in what courses students want to learn about and can improve in specific areas they are not very strong in. She later stated that “over the summer, we plan on expanding our program, adding new curriculums and preparing students for the Kangaroo Math Competition.”

Not only is Mathlings only for students in elementary school, but it also provides an opportunity for middle school students and older to show off their leadership skills and teach to younger students as well. “Middle school students are able to participate and help teach the elementary school students to practice their leadership skills and will gain experience by teaching younger students.”

When asked where her goals for her company were, Helen said that she “wants to help as many students as possible.” Helen knows that a lot of elementary school students don’t like math or find that it is annoying or difficult to do, but she wants to show them that it is actually very enjoyable and fun.

Helen started Mathlings with a dream to make the lives of elementary school students easier by providing them with a free, math tutoring program for the competition math subject. Helen was not able to find such a great opportunity like Mathlings when she was in elementary school, which is why she decided to help and impact the community by creating this company. Mathlings has been doing a great job of helping students and bringing the community together for about a year now, and it is will only grow stronger from here on out

Report by Steven Miall

Steven is a 9 grader in Boston Latin School and a member of GYP Outreach Team

Sharon is a junior in high school who lives and mentors students in China as one of our foreign correspondents. While academically skilled at English, History, and Geometry, Sharon also enjoys writing and being involved in middle and high school plays. Some of her interests include reading, sword fighting, and playing Chinese chess. She encountered GYP through its program with her mother’s school, joining the online tutoring program at the beginning of 2021, when she was studying in a private school in Boston. After returning to China last summer, she continued to work with GYP and has since demonstrated excellence in tutoring and responsibility for student volunteering.

When asked about her students, Sharon tells me that she has tutored a pair of middle school twins in math, as preparation for a final exam. Living in Zunyi, Guizhou, Jiaqi Song, and Jiaying Song is part of a special GYP global program to support students with special needs. Diagnosed with thalassemia major as infants, the brave twins have undergone 10 years of blood transfusions, iron removal, and stem cell transplants. With both parents working tirelessly to support their medical needs, a full private education for their children wasn’t affordable. For this particular program, Sharon’s main role was to be a companion for the girls and remain informed regarding what was going on at school.

Sharon has also tutored a small group of five students in another program. First, she taught them basic English speaking comprehension with the help of a textbook. Then, they moved onto a particular discussion of her favorite series: The Chronicles of Narnia. In class, she would orally translate the English content into Chinese for the students, and then hand out vocabulary lists for them to study after class. Sharon tells me a little more about their discussions about the world of Narnia; “When we began Narnia, we talked for a long time about the Lion, Aslan. One student said he watched the Narnia movie and sent a classic scene to me. I was happy to teach them about English literature, which was not available in their school”.  

We at Global Youth Philanthropy are glad to have Sharon as a correspondent. A big part of our mission is to create more gateways into higher education by curating close mentorships within all global communities. As someone who has had to become accustomed to life in a different land, Sharon has been excellent at utilizing similar literary writings to connect with individual students and encourages them to keep on learning even while living in the midst of a global pandemic.

We hope that you or someone you know will take interest in working with us to uplift any child who could benefit from supplemental assistance and mentorship to boost educational growth.

By Romy Li in Boston

Eager to share and educate young learners everywhere, AnAn, a junior from Winsor School, shares her knowledge of the British Classics(beginning with the renowned William Shakespeare works) in a series of classes. Having tutored for around two years previously, she’s garnered plenty of experience in this field and has expressed interest in continuously fostering these essential English skills.

A pivotal aspect to understanding English– and hence being able to write, stems from the ability to dissect and apply its various rules. During her time spent with her students, AnAn observed “writing is really hard to understand when [students] don’t know grammar structures for instance or the reason behind such and why people write the way they do.” Thus, birthed the focus of her lessons: British literature, where the history and background of numerous authors come into play and provide insight into those key points.

Although initially, the students may struggle to unravel the enigma that Shakespeare’s writing is rather infamous to be, AnAn mentioned“his work is seen everywhere– many times you don’t even notice it.” The universal application of Shakespeare’s work is what makes his writing so prominent, and why so many high schools highlight them as a part of their agenda. Through reading such texts and digesting them, AnAn explained “helps them become better writers.”

Writing itself is globally utilized, a vital tool seen through a diverse array of occupational arsenals. In regards to the importance of writing, she emphasized “everyone needs to know how to write, even if you goto a seemingly completely unrelated career. For instance business, you may not associate math with writing but say you need to create a business proposal… youneed to write it.” AnAn further commented that a lot of younger learners aren’t aware of its direct impact, and she seeks to demonstrate and help them grow to become curious and questioning individuals in tandem with developing their writing.

Over the years, AnAn reflected upon her personal relationship-evolution in regards to writing. She recalled that before writing was one of the most difficult classes, most of which is attributed to the subjectiveness of the topic. “You don’t know what’sgood writing vs. bad writing, whereas something like math is morestraightforward… What I’ve come to learn is that writing doesn’t just apply to school, which was the biggest change in me. I hadonce thought that writing was purely a school-thing, but it’s truly a lifelesson.” The little tasks in life, be it an email, or the larger, be it an application, writing resides throughout all facets of life and AnAn treats her classes as a place to cultivate these monumental skills.

Reported by Theresa Fu, 10 grader from Lake Forest Academy, IL

We are looking for co-organizers and event sponsors,  please contact us for more details! 

The goal of GYP Art Show 2022:  to encourage and support young artists to contribute to their communities and to make better social impacts via art philanthropic projects.

Themes:  Healthy-Community- Family

The visual Art categories: 

painting（include oil, watercolor, acrylic),  ceramics, sculpture, origami,  photography, crafts, and others.

Young Artiest age:  5-18

Art Show Format: 

the combination of online and on-site shows in selected community libraries and senior living homes in the Boston area.

Event organizer:  Global Youth Philanthropy (USA)

Initial Application deadline:  April 30, 2022

Application Process: 

Step 1: Submit the application and

Step 2: submit artworks, photos of artworks, and a 1-minute video of the  artist talking (artwork ideas, artiest experiences, and inspirations)

Scheduled Art Showing dates:  from June 16 to August 15,  2022

All qualified participants will receive a certificate of GYP Art Show participation.   A certain number of students will receive GYP Young Artist Awards. 

Interested in this art show?  please scan QR code below, fill in the application form.   Contact email: <gyp20202021@admin

A separate post about volunteering advice?

            How does one make the world a better place?

            To all those young students who want to give back to their community (or to simply get their volunteer hours in), it can be hard to know where to start. Kevin Wang from Silicon Valley, founder of Bridge to Harmony, offers some advice.

“Get your feet wet. Some people might want to volunteer, but not know what’s the perfect fit,” he says. “Go to a local library, or a local nursing home, or even just go out and do basic things, like picking up trash on a beach.”

After all, there’s always something each of us can do to make this world a little brighter. For Kevin and Bridge to Harmony, that includes writing a book or making a podcast.

“It’s great to just go out and to familiarize yourself with working with a group of people to serve the community. Based on that, opportunities will branch off.”

Getting started may just be the hardest part, but Kevin assures you that it will pay off. Many organizations would be delighted for another pair of helping hands, especially right after the pandemic. And plus, everyone has to start from somewhere.

“Just go for it!” Kevin urges students. “One of the most valuable things you can do is to put yourself out there, even if you aren’t sure how things will turn out, just trust that the dots will connect in the future. Even if things don’t go well, you can always grow from the experience, and learn and pursue the next thing.”

Finally, “One thing branches to the next.”

“In our first club meeting, everyone unanimously liked the food,” recounted Kevin Wang, a 12th grader from Silicon Valley, California.

Sure, everyone has their differences. But everyone eats food. In 2020, we saw the growth of the Black Lives Matter movement, followed by Stop Asian hate; people from around the world took to the streets in protests, crying out defiantly against injustice.

“In my free time, I like to follow politics,” Kevin said, “And I like to follow politics from a broad range of viewpoints. What’s immediately evident is the tribalism, polarization, and cultural misunderstandings, ignorance, and hate.”

So, in this backdrop of social and political turmoil, Kevin and some of his friends began to create a club: Bridge to Harmony. As the Golden Gate Bridge connects San Francisco to Marin County, Bridge to Harmony aims to, as the name implies, act as the bridge between different cultures.

“We don’t claim to be able to solve tribalism. But, we want to promote an atmosphere of fostering education, do cultural sharing, and unite on things that everyone loves, like food, to be able to give people a better sense of cultures that they may not be familiar with themselves.”

“We also want to mix in a lot of fun,” he added. That’s what led him and the other Bridge to Harmony members to start their first book: Taste of the World. The book covers traditional foods of different countries across the world, from Japan to Ethiopia to India, just to name a few.

“Through the lens of food and cuisine, we can glimpse the values, traditions, and cultures of different countries across the world.”

Just like the food we eat, we all have the differences that make us and our respective cultures unique.

In addition, he spoke about the collaboration that made this project possible.

“We worked together to do something that we all enjoyed. We have some great artists in the book; I’m really proud of the art we do. Also, we have researchers. Then, we have a writer that creates the narration. Being able to pull together with a diverse group of people, with a diverse set of talents and backgrounds, to create something, was a very fun and enriching experience.”

“The number one thing is that we are very warmhearted, even though we are different, we are very welcoming. Our club meetings have a very vibrant atmosphere,” he noted.

Although they faced difficulties with organizing schedules during covid, they ended up publishing a beautiful book, as vibrant as the club itself.

Kevin commented on their sense of achievement, saying that “the most rewarding part was revealing and being proud of the final product. Just having that physical product, and having it turn out so well, with all the amazing art and cultural content, is something that was very rewarding, since it showed that our hard work paid off.”

In the future, he plans to start a second book, along with a podcast, The Week in a World. “Every week we talk about an event in history, like an anniversary or a cultural event,” he explained. “It’s sharing cultural nuggets. Our projects are centered around bringing diverse people together to have a conversation.”

The issues in our society that set BLM and Stop Asian Hate in motion are likely to continue, even as students return to their schools and the world tries to find a new normal after the lockdown. Of course, it’s easy to lose hope in the face of daunting issues like social injustice and polarization. It’s even easier to feel like you’re alone, especially after the isolation that many people faced during the COVID-19 pandemic. But as Kevin Wang and the rest of Bridge to Harmony reminds us: everyone likes food.

Perhaps this testament to our humanity can bridge us together.

more GYP member update at our Facebook page:

–GYP Outreach news release Jan 31, 2022

As a member of GYP since 2020, Alan Zhang is a senior from New Jersey. Alan was GYP_PVSA award winner 2021. He is skilled at chess, having played for 12 years and holding the two titles of National Master and Chess Master. Alan tutors a student from China, Tiancheng, and reflects that he is proud of the progress Tiancheng has made since their first lesson. Tiancheng is 16 years old and lives in Shanxi, China. He can’t go to school regularly due to needing to go to the hospital for dialysis every week.

Originally, Alan had intended to help Tiancheng with English, however, he later discovered that working with chess would be a better endeavor for the pair. In the beginning, Tiancheng was unaware of the names and purposes of each chess piece, but now, with Alan’s help, he is able to form strategies and make logical decisions between moves. Alan recalls a lesson in which the way of their lesson was blocked by something all too familiar for most: technical complications. Tiancheng didn’t lose hope, though; he persistently looked for different methods, and eventually found a way for it to work again. Through Alan’s careful instruction, Tiancheng has grown extremely dedicated to chess, and Alan admires how he won’t let anything get in the way of his learning. Here at Global Youth Philanthropy, we provide scheduling flexibility and community service hours for tutors, who can be middle and high school students from anywhere in the world. Alan tells me, “One of my favorite aspects about Global Youth Philanthropy is actually its simplicity. As a senior in high school, I don’t always have a lot of free time, so I appreciate that I don’t have to jump through hoops to arrange my lessons with Tiancheng”.

A big part of GYP’s mission is to create more opportunities for our members across the world to help students with special needs. We hope that you or someone you know will take interest in working with us to uplift any child who could benefit from extra assistance in their educational growth.

Students Board of GYP Students Association has been formally formed and it includes seven members from 6 different cities or towns in the USA.  These seven students board members are high school students from grades 9 to 12.  The initial term is one year in 2022.

Many of them have intensive leadership experiences and many have launched students’ interests clubs in his or her school, or local community.  All of them have involved volunteering activities and local charity programs.    All of them have been participating GYP students’ philanthropic activities in recent years.

The students’ Board will be the key body to decide the direction and yearly priorities of the association.

GYP-Boston Students’ Board Members

As a co-host, Global Youth Philanthropy is promoting the third year “Hanling USA Young Cooking Competition”. It is an online competition and a great opportunity to practice cooking skills and share the cultural understanding of culinary arts. For more information and how to participate, please check our partner’s website at https://hanlininstitute.org/

Global Youth Philanthropy became a formal member of The Massachusetts Nonprofit Network (MNN). This membership offers GYP a better opportunity to cooperate with other non-profits in our area to learn from others.

MNN has more than 600 nonprofit members from every region of the Commonwealth. Among these 600 plus members, more than one hundred are in Youth & Education field. GYP is planning to participate in the activities in MNN actively to give a bigger voice to our own volunteers and students.