On May 25, Hamlin alumna board member Candace Yu ’96 spoke with current 7th graders about her work with YouTube for Good. 7th graders are embarking on their Rising to the Challenge projects next week, so the timing was perfect for learning about the power of video to communicate important ideas.

“What you do as a single individual matters,” Ms. Yu stated. She learned this from her Grade 4 Women in History project, where she represented Eleanor Roosevelt. Ms. Yu went on to share other facets of her life, playing basketball at Hamlin, an internship with the office of Dianne Feinstein, jobs focused on election policy and international security in Washington, D.C., spending time working both in the Obama White House, and at the Pentagon. Throughout her journey she has never lost sight of her mission to “always help others.“

Ms. Yu then showed a couple of short videos explaining how YouTube brings nonprofits to their platform to tell stories about both local (finding homes for lost dogs in California) and global (spreading awareness about the war in Syria) issues. With more than 1 billion users and more than 1 billion hours of video watched each day, it is clear that the YouTube platform is enormous and impactful.

Ms. Yu went on to speak briefly about her role at YouTube for Good where she is part of the breaking news and crisis response teams, while also working with documentaries that address social/environmental topics like global warming. After her presentation, Ms. Yu fielded many thoughtful student questions.

For more information about YouTube for Good, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/user/nonprofits

Below is a video of Candace Yu taken earlier this school year: