A success story.
A mentoring initiative or scholarships and improved educational justice.

ApplicAid

I am Kim Klebolte from ApplicAid (to the website). ApplicAid is an award-winning, non-profit organization which informs young educational climbers about scholarships, motivates them to reach their full potential, and supports them in the application process. We have over 500 mentors and mentees from over 15 countries with a total of more than 600 scholarships. Our goal is to support talented people from educationally disadvantaged backgrounds on their way to a scholarship and thereby foster their success in the long term. We achieve this through guidebooks, workshops, and our digital 1-to-1 mentoring program. We provide targeted information about scholarships, refute prejudices, motivate young people to apply and support them during the application process through our digital mentoring program. We also work with scholarship providers to make their selection process sustainably fairer.

For me personally, young leaders was the starting point of many projects and initiatives because I found energy and inspiration as well as many different young people with whom to realize visions together here. young leaders offers great programs in Germany and around the world – it is an organizational team with heart, soul, and dedication.

young leaders is the right place for you if you want to challenge yourself, grow together with others, and actively debate about society, the economy, and politics instead of just thinking about it – and if you are ready for long-term friendships.

#wirsindyoungleaders – The success story:
Young people create a network for young politicians

Dachverband der bayerischen Jugendvertretungen e.V.

I am Aron Gabriel, founder and current chairman of the Dachverband der bayerischen Jugendvertretungen e.V. We are the official association of Bavarian youth parliaments and youth councils. We connect the youth councils in Bavaria among each other and are their voice towards state politics and civil society institutions.

We want to give the youth councils in Bavaria their own youth lobby, since youth parliaments had no representation of interests at the state level until then. In Ingolstadt, I founded a working group for networking with two youth parliamentarians, from which the umbrella organization then emerged. We want to fight for the rights of children’s and youth parliaments in Bavaria and demand more youth participation.

Networking is one of the cornerstones of young leaders and that was also the inspiration for our project. By joining forces, we can find and promote talent in the same way. The inspiration for networking also came from young leaders events, because we are a large network of Bavarian young people who want to educate themselves, network and be stronger together – in line with our motto: Think Bavaria young!

A success story.
Young people redesign education – from inception to project implementation

Fortschritt-Vision-Diskurs e.V.

I am Sven Richter from Fortschritt-Vision-Diskurs e.V., Zwickau, Germany (to the website). We are committed to a debating culture that excludes no one and to impartial political education to overcome societal polarization and strengthen our democracy.

Our largest project, the “24h Discussion”, gathers young people, experts, and politicians from across Germany to spend an entire weekend discussing the pressing issues of our time. To also strengthen open discourse at the local level, we regularly invite politicians from all relevant parties to a “candidate grilling” in the run-up to important elections. This makes civil dialogue fun. Smaller, more issue-specific panel discussions can be found in our Future series.

When we think of young leaders, we think of expertise, helpfulness, networking, and creativity – to name just the most important keywords. young leaders offer a unique platform for the continued development of young people’s participation in society and politics. Through young leaders, we have been able to establish many connections with interesting organizations and people who, among other things, also help shape our projects.

#wirsindyoungleaders – The success story:
Young people establish commission and strengthen young democrats

Jugend-Enquete-Kommission e.V.

I am Jonas Hohenforst from the Jugend-Enquete-Kommission e.V..

The Jugend-Enquete-Kommission e.V. brings together young people and experts from politics, science and society. Together, they develop solutions for current social challenges and record them in recommendations for action, so-called “policy papers”. We offer young people a platform on which they can present their perspectives in a well-founded manner and come into contact with politicians at statal and federal level. In this way, we built a bridge between educating the democrats of tomorrow and increasing equal opportunities in our society.

With this idea we create a novelty, because until now politics and society acknowledged the lack of youth participation, but did not follow the path of participation through. We show that young people can make valuable contributions to our democracy.

One of the greatest strengths of young leaders is to provide exactly this demand and promotion. The combination of excellent education and a unique community is incomparable and always the starting point for extraordinary ideas and projects. My first event over 4 years ago also brought me – in a roundabout way – to my current team and our project. To any person with enthusiasm for the issues of our time, hunger for deeper thoughts and new perspectives, I can highly recommend young leaders. It is unforgettable.

A success story.
University students found a start-up:
Junior Management Science

JUMS

My name is Dr. Sebastian Waic. At university, I founded the first scientific journal to publish the best theses in economics and business studies in cooperation with two professors.

Junior Management Science (JUMS) aims to identify the most scientifically valuable theses and publish them in its own journal (to the website). University students can submit their theses to JUMS free of charge and have them reviewed. The theses which are rated best by the reviewers in the double-blind review process are published quarterly in cooperation with the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich Library in the so-called “open access” procedure. This means that the papers can be cited and are accessible free of charge around the world.

young leaders is the best opportunity to get to know other young people who are already taking on leadership responsibility in voluntary activities while still at school and to forge deep friendships. This is something JUMS draws a benefit from as well, as a significant part of the team consists of alumni of young leaders.

#wirsindyoungleaders – The success story:
Young people create a career network for young women

Queen Bee Career e.V.

I am Paulina Gastl, teamer at young leaders and founder of Queen Bee Career, which was founded at the beginning of 2021 together with Christina Armbruster. Queen Bee Career is a career network for young ambitious women. We are 14 motivated women from all over Germany and together we form the association Queen Bee Career.

Queen Bee was born out of the belief that Female Empowerment is most effective the earlier you start. Most career and networking groups are for women who are already in the workforce. We want to change that by networking, inspiring and motivating female students. It is important for us to exchange with female role models, self-confident women who do not conform to the stereotype. Regardless of educational standards, origin, religion, and sexuality, we work non-partisan for the promotion of young women by offering regular events. These include speaker events with a keynote speech by an inspiring woman followed by Q&A, but also networking events to strengthen one’s own network.

I am convinced that Queen Bee Career would not exist without young leaders. As a participant, I met so many ambitious girls for the first time. That motivated me to expand the network with them even more intensively.

Together for a better future –
Young people found a start-up in Armenia

Re-Apaga

Hey, my name is Cedric Solms, I’m 22 years old and I’m from Leipzig, Germany.

After my International Baccalaureate at UWC Dilijan College, Armenia, I founded a clean tech start-up with a friend to advocate for sustainability and education in Armenia. Four years later, I sold my start-up at the start of 2020 and returned to Germany. Back home, I work mainly in social media and have reached over 2 million followers on my channels (@cedisolms) and founded a social media agency.

young leaders helped me to trust my abilities and gave me the courage to go my own way. Particularly the exchange with other participants and the young leaders staff was and is always a great inspiration. If you want to make more of yourself, are looking for inspiration, and want to go new ways, then apply to young leaders now!

#wirsindyoungleaders – The success story:
Young people found association to strengthen local youth participation

Youth Lead the Change Germany e.V.

My name is Martin Auer, I am 22 years old and I study International Business Administration and Entrepreneurship at Leuphana University Lüneburg and I co-founded the association Youth Lead the Change Germany e.V..

Youth Lead the Change Germany e.V. is a multi-award winning, non-profit association that wants to inspire young people for democracy! The young people of a city realize their ideas for urban design with a part of the municipal budget. They submit their ideas on a digital voting platform and vote democratically which of the proposed projects will be implemented. In this way, young people actively help shape their city according to their needs and wishes and experience democracy at first hand. The patron of the association in 2022 was Germany’s First Lady, Elke Büdenbender.

For me, young leaders is about networking with young, committed people who passionately want to shape society. Many inspiring debates on important topics and motivated young adults make the young leaders experience special for me.