An email he received in March confirming his place on the Yale Young Global Scholars (YYGS) programme still seemed "surreal," for him to believe, he said.
The Central Southland College student was not holding out for a positive response when he applied for the Ivy League university’s academic enrichment programme in January.
The "shock" of getting on to the course only subsided when he set foot on the Yale University grounds in Connecticut last month.
Mr Gill said it was still "sinking in" for him that he had done the course after being selected from a record number of 13,000 applicants.
"It is a Yale [University] programme . . . where the best international high school students [went], so I expected an incredibly low acceptance rate."
The YYGS course is an academic excellence programme for outstanding high school students from around the world.
Each summer, students from more than 150 countries take part in one interdisciplinary, twoweek session at Yale’s historic campus.
Having worked alongside other students on their university capstone project left a lasting impression on the Winton lad.
"When I went in [to Yale University], I expected that the most impressive thing would be the campus, the education," he said.
"In fact, I would have to say, undoubtedly, it was the people that I met."
His group’s presentation on "chaos theory and its implications on financial markets" received a positive response from Yale staff and other students.
Getting to learn content and topics that he could have only dreamt of was an "amazing" opportunity that he would never forget.
Now the 18-year-old has had a taste of being part of a global learning community, his vision for future tertiary studies has expanded to studying offshore.
Meeting the other students from all walks of life and being in an international learning environment had inspired him to pursue university studies at other Ivy League institutions.
He hoped other young Southland rangatahi would give it a shot and apply for the next intake for the course.
"You have to work hard but it is definitely worth it at the end of the day.
"Coming from a rural Southern farming background, it was such a privilege to go to such a prestigious institution."
