Miami Lakes resident and Pace High School (Pace) senior Vanessa Perez-Robles, has returned from a collegiate experience at Yale University’s Yale Young Global Scholars Program. The aspiring engineer was selected among 6,000 applicants to attend the two-week intensive summer program held June 17 through 30 on Yale’s historic campus in New Haven.
“I was able to work alongside exceptionally bright students from over 130 countries around the world and 50 U.S. states,” expressed Perez-Robles. “I attended incredible seminars and lectures led by renowned Yale faculty.”
Similar to the experience of a Yale University student, she resided in one of their historic residential colleges during the two weeks and enjoyed meals at the university dining halls.
Of the nearly 1,800 total attendees, Perez-Robles was one of only 250 attendees specifically selected to attend the Applied Science and Engineering session. During the session, intended for students who have an interest in exploring and applying physical sciences, computer sciences and engineering, she had the unique opportunity to use the university facilities to conduct research. Her small research group worked on studying sustainable energy and infrastructure. The focus of the group’s project was on the innovations and improvements of harnessing and storing solar energy.
Perez-Robles says she is extremely grateful for the experience which allowed her to “explore the different facilities that Yale had to offer and build global academic bridges with the others of incredible academic calibers.”
The Spartan honor student believes the program helped give focus to her future path in engineering, and she looks forward to working on her college applications during the upcoming school year.