During high school, many students tend to take their education for granted, and some may even view it as a burden. However, there are children all over the world who yearn for the education and opportunities that are easily available for students such as us.
The acronym YIELD stands for Youth Initiative Embracing Lasting Development and they aim to improve resource access through educational outreach. The club’s main goals are to raise awareness, bring positive change, and create a lasting development through the numerous volunteering events and activities offered.
President and founder Charlene Cheng (11) had a bit of a different idea in mind whilst planning the chapter at Ayala.
“The Ayala Branch is called Yield Pair, which is more of a tutoring, one-on-one type of system,” Cheng said. “I wanted to give more emphasis on the education part and make it more local as opposed to international to make it more accessible to students our age.”
Yield Pair is a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) based club and is divided into different departments that specialize in certain categories of STEM. Cheng plans to initiate numerous volunteer and outreach opportunities to improve the access of STEM to the more underprivileged children in the world.
One of the more prominent projects that the Yield Outreach organization has initiated was their Survival Supplies Project aimed specifically for students in Korea. The project was able to raise $9,571 out of a $10,000 goal.
“We made so much impact with how much money we raised, how much clothing we donated, how many packets for children we made, how many books we were able to get for the kids,” Cheng said. “I think this is something that really makes us stand out from all of the other organizations and it makes me excited for what Ayala’s chapter will do.”
This club holds a special meaning for the officers who all worked behind the scenes.
“To me, Yield’s purpose means leaving the world a better place than I found it. It’s definitely one of the more special projects I’ve contributed to,” Co-President Katelyn Chang (11) said. “Being a co-president of a club that has such an empowering message makes me proud because I know that this club will leave a lasting impact on the world.”
Yield, like many other clubs this year at Ayala, is a brand new club that was launched just this school year.
“If I’m being completely honest, I was skeptical at first, because running and starting a club is a lot of work.” Chang said. “But when Charlene explained what YIELD was, I was really into the idea since helping the underserved is something I really do value.”
What makes this club particularly special is that they prioritize each and every part of STEM and thus have different officers that specialize in their respective parts. Within YIELD, there are numerous branches of education, and each will have specific activities targeted towards their respective branches.
“I wanted to make sure each branch of STEM would be able to shine,” Cheng said. “And since everyone has their own interests and areas of expertise, this would help the officers and volunteers find what they like most.”
YIELD is a club that offers meaningful service hours and has a diverse set of activities that will most definitely fit with at least one of your interests.
“I would recommend all of my friends and peers to join this club,” member Jaxon Sekine (11) said. “Being a part of Yield Pair means educating the kids of now to create the leaders of tomorrow.”
