portrait — Prosper
Prosper Tornyi
Ghana · Global Alliance President
The first fellow — and now the president of the Global Alliance the fellows built together.
Global • The world in the room
They taught here. They brought the world to Evanston.
Since 2022, the U.S. State Department's exchange programs — administered by IREX — have brought accomplished young leaders from across the globe to YTC's Chicago classrooms. They didn't come to observe. Each fellow taught while here, studied the model, then carried it home and built a country program of their own. And ETHS students taught right back — across an ocean.
logo — U.S. Department of State
logo — IREX
VIDEO — from Mozambique
embed when ready
The fellows
Studied the model here. Built it at home.
portrait — Eslien
Eslien Tsuses
Namibia · architect of the Namibia programs
Dreamt of taking YTC home. Today there are three Namibian programs — and a role across the country's school system in view.
portrait — Luzette
Luzette Kuwung
Cameroon · YEARN — women in STEM
Carried the model into a youth empowerment network with a focus on women in STEM.
portrait — Manuel
Manuel Zacarias Tauzene
Mozambique
Built the Mozambique program — which has since sent equipment onward to Nigeria.
portrait — Hossam
Hossam Basha
Cairo, Egypt
A 2023 fellow who carried the model back to Cairo.
portrait — Olumide
Olumide Kolawole
Nigeria
Building the Nigeria program — taught by Ethiopia's mentor hub, equipped by Mozambique. The network teaching itself.
portrait — Jacky
Jacky Salazar
Guatemala
Brought the curriculum into a school system and taught it independently.
VIDEO — Eslien in her own words, from her fellowship in Chicago
Eslien, in her own words
Video · embed when ready
Filmed during her fellowship — before she carried the program home.
And Evanston taught back. Since 2009, ETHS has been the engine of YTC's African Initiative.
Evanston → the world
From a classroom at ETHS to three countries.
- Teaching robotics and computer refurbishing to peers in Ethiopia, Namibia, and Mozambique — first over video conferencing
- Building on the groundwork of fellow Eslien Tsuses, who established YTC robotics in a Namibian school and NGO
- July 2025: a first-ever student mission — a team of eight ETHS students flew to Namibia to teach in person and meet the students they'd taught only over a screen
- Meetings with the U.S. Embassy in Namibia and Namibian education officials to expand the work
- Mentoring alongside Haile-Manas Academy in Ethiopia — now a mentor hub that teaches Namibia and Nigeria in turn
PHOTO — Namibia mission, July 2025: ETHS students with Open Doors Education Center students and staff
Teachers and learners, finally in one place — students standing with the peers they had taught only over a screen.Namibia, July 2025
The world came to Evanston. Evanston went to the world.
That exchange is what students here get to be part of — a teaching network across the United States, Mexico, and Africa.
See what students do here