Fifteen Americans and 25 Middle Eastern YES alumni met in Cairo, Egypt to participate in the Global Leadership for the 21st Century Program. At the start, participants met with local YES alumni chapters around Egypt to discuss recently-completed community service projects. The participants then completed a community service project in Cairo, focused on cultural heritage preservation. They painted several classrooms in schools located in a historic district. Seeing how much we could actually accomplish in just three days with paint and brushes was a real eye-opener, said Mohamed Al-Mawed from Syria. After the program, American participant, Karen Varga, commented that Arab students are no longer students from predominantly Muslim countries, but simply people and friends. YES alumni will now develop and carry out similar cultural heritage projects in their home countries.