I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I’m personally very grateful to Leaf and other opportunities.
I’d say the most useful aspects for me came from:
A low barrier to entry e.g. online courses funnelling into residential, easily accessible resources for first impressions, no cost
A culture of disagreement, the ability to critically evaluate how we perceived a source or data and what WE thought of it, despite being very young and inexperienced compared to facilitators
Ongoing mentorship which specifically helped me find work experience, volunteering opportunities related to biorisk and biosafety such as lab projects, positions in teams, research ideas
Network of peers and faciliators and guests who can star on podcasts, proofread articles or essays or papers on biorisk or recommend competitions, olympiad etc
And less of a priority but useful:
University degree interview and subject specific personal statement help (especially since i had a large pivot that needed rewriting my application)
Fun community e.g. ethical and philosophical debates, just people my age who enjoy learning and are curious as to how to help others
Events that led to positive feelings e.g. at the residential we did BSL sessions, had student groups, mental health sessions, book clubs, debates, escape rooms etc, which is not EA specific or academic but allowed us to break the barriers to later have more open and honest conversations, and rather than a one off, I made some very strong connections who I’m in contact with over 12 months later either through daily messages with peers I met or weekly/monthly calls/emails for mentorship or help… so it’s a 2 way street that was strengthened by being in one place at the same time and encouraged to mingle...
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! I’m personally very grateful to Leaf and other opportunities. I’d say the most useful aspects for me came from: A low barrier to entry e.g. online courses funnelling into residential, easily accessible resources for first impressions, no cost
A culture of disagreement, the ability to critically evaluate how we perceived a source or data and what WE thought of it, despite being very young and inexperienced compared to facilitators
Ongoing mentorship which specifically helped me find work experience, volunteering opportunities related to biorisk and biosafety such as lab projects, positions in teams, research ideas
Network of peers and faciliators and guests who can star on podcasts, proofread articles or essays or papers on biorisk or recommend competitions, olympiad etc
And less of a priority but useful:
University degree interview and subject specific personal statement help (especially since i had a large pivot that needed rewriting my application)
Fun community e.g. ethical and philosophical debates, just people my age who enjoy learning and are curious as to how to help others
Events that led to positive feelings e.g. at the residential we did BSL sessions, had student groups, mental health sessions, book clubs, debates, escape rooms etc, which is not EA specific or academic but allowed us to break the barriers to later have more open and honest conversations, and rather than a one off, I made some very strong connections who I’m in contact with over 12 months later either through daily messages with peers I met or weekly/monthly calls/emails for mentorship or help… so it’s a 2 way street that was strengthened by being in one place at the same time and encouraged to mingle...