Experts in Their Fields The Inaugural Year of the Alumni Visiting Scholar Program

By Ben Walker, Associate Director of Advancement

LAS aims to create a lasting impact on the students who are part of our community, and we hope that when those students grow into adults, they will remain connected and engaged with us. We have several thousand alumni in the LAS Global Family who are out in the world as experts in their fields and we are eager to bring them back to campus to share their knowledge with our current students.

To that end, this year we launched the LAS Alumni Visiting Scholar program to great success! We have already hosted two accomplished alumni, Kymani Montgomery ’12 and Sarah Wilson ’09, who came back to the Magic Mountain to share their expertise in the areas of 2SLGBTQ+ issues and STEM, respectively, and plans are already in the works to bring more alumni back to campus in the coming year.

Kymani Montgomery ’12

Kymani Montgomery ’12 (he/him) works as Programs Manager of the Ten Oaks Project, a charitable organization that works to help children, youth, and families from 2SLGBTQ+ communities. Kymani attributes his time studying at LAS with empowering him to make a change in his community. Aside from waking up next to beautiful mountain ranges, learning about different cultures, and experiencing skiing as part of the curriculum, he believes that the boarding aspect of LAS inspires students to think about community in a more comprehensive way and encourages alumni to continue a life of taking care of others.

During his visit to the Magic Mountain, Kymani spoke candidly about his happy memories from his time at LAS and his desire to give back to the community that has made him who he is. He reflected on the students and faculty who “become your family for that period of your life.” We aim to cultivate a stable, caring, and supportive environment, and it is always a joy to hear that students forged those bonds during their time at LAS.

The leadership opportunities available at LAS are also an integral part of encouraging student agency. Kymani reflected that he always finds “so much joy in seeing students take on leadership roles and advocate for themselves and others.” After visiting LAS as an alumni, Kymani said he felt fulfilled and was thrilled to return to a place that contributed to who he is as a person today.

Sarah Wilson ’09

During his visit as an Alumni Visiting Scholar, Kymani engaged with every student and member of faculty through workshops where he informed people about issues impacting the 2SLGBTQ+ community and what steps LAS can continue to take to be a supportive environment for all students. It was clear that our current LAS students very much appreciated Kymani’s perspective as a member of the LAS Global Family and we are so grateful that he returned to campus to share his expertise.

When I decided to attend LAS, I knew was setting off on an adventure that would change my life. But when I arrived in Leysin at sixteen, and even when I left full of memories and academic learning two years later, I couldn’t possibly appreciate the ways LAS would continue to change me.

I’m not sure how I found the gumption to ship myself off to boarding school, but for me to commit to a school on a different continent, in a town I’d never visited, where I knew nobody was a massive risk. But when I leapt, LAS caught me. I learned that I really could just go do cool things with my life. I didn’t have to wait for anyone to show me the way. Following a path others had blazed meant that I’d only end up where others had gone. That willingness to cut my own trail, to pursue the wild and unconventional, has been the single greatest driver of success in my career and personal life. Now, when I get a crazy whim in my head and my gut says it’s a good idea, I just leap—because if 16 year-old Sarah could do THAT, then certainly I can do this.

As bold and adventurous and driven as I was in high school, I had a surprisingly narrow view of what college and my career would look like. All my role models had picked one specialty and had stayed on that path their whole lives. However, I began my career in an era of unprecedented technical innovation; the job title I hold now isn’t one that existed when I was in college, so it wasn’t a job I planned to have! Instead, I’ve changed roles and have evolved with the tech boom—a flexibility I’m certain I learned from travel, cultural exposure, and the big life curveballs I experienced while a student at LAS.

If I could go back and give my high school self one piece of advice on choosing a college major and a career path, it’d be to keep an eye on the exponential explosion of computer power and all the technology, computing, and engineering disciplines that are opening up because of it. I came back to LAS to share that mindset with students: that technology is being built now to tackle the world’s most pressing problems, and you don’t need anyone’s permission to be a part of it. If you want to go change the world, just go do it. You won’t need a road map because the roads don’t exist yet.

Want to sponsor an LAS Alumni Visiting Scholar? Learn more here.