Kaleidoscope, Vol. 44, Summer 2013

Volume 44 Summer 2013

page 2

A Sustainable Future page 8

The Great Transformation page 12

Gila Wilderness Leadership Expedition

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Table of Contents Editor’s Note

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FEAT URE

A Sustainable Future

2

FEAT URE

The Write Stuff

6

FEAT URE

The Great Transformation

8

Connected Modern Use for a Historic Building

11

Back Country Gila Wilderness Leadership Expedition

12

Viewpoint The IB: Making it Our Own

14

One of Us Reasons to Smile—Dr. Ruben Ayala ’92 15 Peer Review 17 Looking Back Remembering UWC-USA’s First 10-Year Reunion

20

Inspiration 21

Cover photo by Tara Trudell/Jose Crespin Inside cover and back cover photos

by Emilio Rodriguez Caceres ‘13

editor’s

note We asked for your opinion, and you weren’t shy about giving it.

A few years ago, the Advancement Office conducted an online survey to gauge readership and attitudes toward Kaleidoscope. Of course, you gave us reasons to celebrate: “I think you’re doing a great job the way it is,” wrote one respondent.

That wasn’t a universal sentiment, however. UWCers are generous in offering their views and many of you gave us very constructive criticism. One respondent told us, “It does little to make me connected to the school.” Ouch. The goal of connecting with you—alumni, families, and friends of the school—has helped guide the development of the magazine you now hold in your hands.

Kaleidoscope has been reorganized to include a mix of feature stories and sections that highlight different aspects of the UWC-USA experience. We’re especially pleased to introduce the departments.

“Connected” focuses on ways in which we interact with the community beyond the Castle, whether that is Las Vegas, New Mexico and beyond. “Back Country” takes readers to the wilds of New Mexico with our Wilderness Program, one of UWC-USA’s defining features. “Looking Back” highlights some of the events and people who’ve influenced this institution over the past 31 years.

“Viewpoint” is our opinion section; we welcome contributors. “One of Us” spotlights an alumnus or alumna who is fulfilling the UWC mission in a unique way. And when you see “Inspiration,” I think it will be self-evident!

Finally, we are reintroducing alumni news via “Peer Review”—a cousin of the cherished “Montezuma Post” that used to run in the back pages of Kaleidoscope many years ago. We encourage graduates to send updates about milestones in their lives (marriages, births, career news, university graduations—you get the idea!). Send your news and photos via email: publications@uwc-usa.org.

And send your feedback! If there’s an article that made you smile, made you think, or reminded you of your own experience, we want to know. If you have suggestions for how we might continue to improve this publication, we want to hear them.

Social media and email are great for quick communications, but we hope Kaleidoscope will give you a reason to sit back, relax, and take pleasure in a good read. Enjoy!

jennifer rowland Editor

The magazine of UWC-USA, The Armand Hammer United World College of the American West Volume 44, Summer 2013 Vice President for Advancement: Christie Baskett Editor: Jennifer Rowland Associate Editor: Emily Withnall MC ‘01 Designer: Liz Burrill Copy Editors: Jeannine Santiago and Elizabeth Morse Contributing Writers: Jennifer Foerster ’98, Tarra Hassin ’91, Sebastian Ocampo ’97, Acting President and Vice President for Academic Affairs Tom Oden, Arianne Zwartjes ’97 Contributing Photographers: Marc Ascher, Emilio Rodriguez Caceres ’13, Gita EgliteWilson ’05, Ben Gillock, Titus Kabega ’13, Operation Smile, Milton Reiss, Eugenio Ruggiero ’84, John Sheedy, Tara Trudell/ Jose Crespin, Mark Zelinski Contact: UWC-USA P.O. Box 248 Montezuma, NM 87731 publications@uwc-usa.org

Kaleidoscope is published biannually by the UWC-USA Advancement Office to sustain connection with alumni and the school’s extended community.

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By Emily Withnall MC ’01, communications coordinator

U W C ’ s i n flue n ce o n sustai n abilit y ru n s deep :

From clean energy, economic development, urban planning, and more, UWC-USA alumni are leading conversations and actions around the world.

“Sustainable” is a weighty word in UWC’s succinct mission statement. A global buzzword for decades, it has been appropriated and misappropriated by a dizzying array of organizations and industries. To some, sustainability is equated with clean, renewable energy like wind or sun. To others, sustainability is a The United Nation’s Our Common business model that establishes a trajectory for growth.

United Nation’s Our Common Future report Future report (1987) defines (1987)The defines sustainability as “meeting the needs sustainability as “meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of of the present without compromising future generations to meet their needs.” Still, while the definition has been adopted by many governments and the ability of future generations organizations, sustainability continues to provide a source to meet their needs.” for vigorous conversation.

Former President Lisa Darling, who left UWC-USA in June, believes the UWC movement is a model for sustainable practices. To Lisa, the necessary elements of sustainability are threefold: “They involve the environment, the human spirit, and a personal capacity to grow,” she says. While Lisa acknowledges UWC always has room for improvement, she credits the movement with “building in cultures of renewal—and diversity of approach is very important to that process.”

S ustai n able E n viro n m e n t “Sustainability” is most typically associated with the environment and conservation. And while we can all work individually to tread more lightly, conserving the earth’s resources happens most dramatically through collective action. “Sustainability means taking care of our nest,” Ken Neal ’85 says. “The energy and power we use every day is a shared commons. We need to be producing and using power that takes care of the earth and ourselves.”

Ken manages a wind farm operations center in California that harnesses the wind by plugging it into the energy grid. Because it is so dynamic, Ken says it can be a challenge to bring credibility to wind as an energy source compared with the relatively static 2

nature of coal and oil. But Ken knows the benefits and considers the painstaking process of building credibility to be both rewarding in the long term and a cause for concern: “If you are a climate scientist, [you know] there are problems with moving slowly—we do have to go fast to reduce CO2.”

Victoria Alleyne ’06 is familiar with gradual change. As an executive director of a nonprofit, she has successfully incorporated eco-conscious practices into a variety of fields. But it was her work with Imperial Oil that gave Victoria the most insight about the challenges in pursuing alternatives to fossil fuels. “I wanted to see if change was possible from within,” she says.

But she found existing allegiances difficult to overcome: “People are defensive because their families have often worked in the industry for a long time.”

Trillia Fidei-Bagwell ’07 says a dual approach—change from within and external pressure—is critical to her work with Greenpeace in Argentina.

“Many [Greenpeace] members are about pushing and attacking political targets and big corporations,” she says. But these tactics only appeal to their activist base. As a content creator for global campaigns to save the Arctic, Trillia is a part of a team reaching for a wider audience through long-term political initiatives. “Both strategies are essential to the organization,” she says. “We wouldn’t be where we are if we didn’t have both.”

E co n o m ic S ustai n abilit y Inherent to the principle of economic sustainability is a financial model in which the most efficient use of capital, combined with responsible use of resources, yields the greatest long-term benefits. When it comes to balancing investment with equity and availability of resources, “Sustainability means taking care however, this can often become a tricky equation. of our nest,” Ken Neal ’85 says.

An economics professor at the University of Rhode Island, Hiro Uchida ’91 is researching resource “The energy and power we use every management. He attributes economic failure to the day is a shared commons. We kind of resource depletion outlined in a theory called need to be producing and using the tragedy of the commons, which posits that people will always put their individual needs first—resulting power that takes care of the earth in collective collapse. Hiro is exploring collective management as a possible alternative to the privatization and ourselves.” that occurs in developed countries. His investigation of successful fishing collectives in New Zealand and Iceland may uncover sound financial models that can be applied in developing nations. “I’m looking for a clever economic incentive structure common to any culture,” he says.

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Empowering individuals to bring diverse perspectives to the table is a vital part of sustaining community and supporting collective action.

Will Mendoza ’95 sees economic sustainability as part of a triad with social and environmental issues and says it can be challenging, if not impossible, to achieve balance in all three areas. Currently the marketing manager for a manufacturing company in Boston, Will has worked in economic development in many small U.S. communities. In one North Carolina town, he found workers were leaving for other opportunities. “If you need more jobs to keep people there, do you bring in hog farming that will erode the land or a green energy company that will hire only three people?” he asks. Will admits it’s a complex issue: “Everything is so connected; it’s hard to look at isolated factors.”

S ustai n able I n frastructure Infrastructure for housing, work, and transportation—to name a few—is what creates community and what constitutes much of the resources humans use. But problemsolving around how to best use these resources without impinging on the needs of future generations calls for creativity in some cases and returning to basics in others.

When it comes to transportation, you can’t get more basic than walking and cycling. Heather Deutsch ’92 works on non-motorized trail systems with the District Department of Transportation in Washington, D.C. Without adequate trail systems for pedestrians and cyclists, she says, driving a car often becomes a necessity. However, she’s found that her biggest hurdle lies in challenging the status quo.

While there are many reasons cycling is more sustainable in the long term— bicycling infrastructure is much less expensive than highway systems, bicycles produce zero CO2 emissions, bicycles are cheaper to buy and maintain, and cycling has health benefits—the community benefits in ways that are harder to measure. “When you are a pedestrian or cyclist, the person you come across is not another car, so there is more civility in the interaction,” Heather says. “You become more reliant on society, more in tune with nature, and you experience things at a slower rate.” Choosing not to drive is more equitable, too. “People who can’t afford to own a car are still paying for the cost of the infrastructure for those who do,” Heather says.

Low-carbon and low-energy buildings are key to sustainability for Luke Pustejovsky ’96.

Luke’s work in green building technologies helps to transform commercial buildings into healthier workplaces. One of his client’s products distributes sunlight in poorly designed office buildings and warehouses. “Most buildings are built in a utilitarian and cost-effective way,” he says. “But we know that people are happier in environments with natural light.”

Luke’s clients are also involved in finding solutions to excess CO2 emissions in cement manufacturing. “Six to eight percent of global CO2 emissions come from cement production,” Luke says. “From a biosphere standpoint, environmental sustainability is about tackling the problems associated with infrastructure and fossil fuels.”

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S ustai n able C ulture How is sustainability defined in a world where Western development serves as the aspirational model for developing countries? In Ahtziri Molina Roldan’s ’91 research into gestión cultural (roughly translated as cultural management) in Latin America, she traces the conflict of culture and development back to the 1950s. “[U.S. President Harry] Truman was the first to talk about social and economic development as desirable for improving our lives,” Ahtziri says. “And culture was seen as a negative in achieving development.

There was only one way to go: the American way of life. But not every society wanted that.”

“Culture is understood as the common glue that society needs in order to function on a daily basis, to create meaning, and to generate cooperation and organization within a community,” Ahtziri says. She doesn’t see development and sustainability as being at odds. “They can be complimentary in the cultural context,” she says. “If we want to construct something truly sustainable, it has to be conscious. We need to be painters and dancers, not passive spectators at Carnegie Hall. Because it is through action that we are able to produce connections with ourselves and others to better understand where and how we are standing.”

The art of storytelling embodies personal agency and the roots of culture. Recognizing this, Brian Asingia ’08 is building a multimedia storytelling platform that will collect and deliver African folk tales and stories to a network of teachers, artists, and parents. “I am from Uganda, and growing up, I read only Western stories,” he says. “The platform will sustain African culture and empower others to share their stories, too.”

Culture is often deeply rooted in a community’s relationship to its environment. As a citizen of the Navajo Nation and a doctoral candidate in engineering and public policy at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Len Necefer ’07 is applying his research toward problem solving in his home community. Because coal fuels 50 percent of the Navajo Nation’s economy and contributes to widespread health issues, the question of energy sourcing has been at the center of intense and sometimes violent conflict.

“We will interview people about where they get their energy, how they interact with the land, and where they are getting their information from,” Len explains. He plans to use the data to develop a coal-based energy model that will demonstrate the impact on communities and the environment in order to facilitate dialogue around conflicting ideas and needs within the Navajo Nation.

T he L o n g V iew Empowering individuals to bring diverse perspectives to the table is a vital part of sustaining community and supporting collective action. The UWC mission gives us a shared vision with plenty of room for an array of perspectives, expertise, and problem solving.

What does our sustainable future look like and how do we get there? While it can be daunting to implement new economic models, introduce renewable energy into the grid, or revitalize essential cultural practices, it is often helpful to step back and take the long view.

Having interned for the Alternative Nobel Prize-winning organization Sekem, economics major Helen Naser ‘08 knows the goal of connecting disparate elements of sustainability is not out of reach. “Sustainability is about being patient. Human lives are very short, but the world is very old,” Helen says. “As much as we want to see change immediately, we need to give it time.”

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Write

Stuff The

Three graduates published books this year. Read excerpts from their literary works.

Coincidence or literary magic? Jennifer Elise Foerster ’98, Arianne Zwartjes ’97, and Sebastian Ocampo ’97 were first- and second-years together. They graduated from UWC-USA, followed wildly different paths, and now have converged as published writers. Jennifer’s first book of poems, Leaving Tulsa, was published in April. Arianne’s third book, Detailing Trauma: A Poetic Anatomy, has been featured in Poets &Writers.

And Sebastian’s collection of short stories, ¿queres que juguemos?, won third prize in a national contest in Argentina.

“Going West,”

excerpted from Leaving Tulsa

by Jennifer Elise Foerster ’98

In the last museum of the American West I am a still life with skull and writing quill.

You are a book open to the sketch of a tree: coins, trumpet, ivory horn.

I am a painting of a woman peeling an apple— blunt knife, white flesh, curl of red skin on dress.

You are a photograph of Christ resting on a plastic sun bed in a motel pool in western Nevada.

The greasy air from a fast food joint wafts across the pavement— a lone Towhee swaggers sun-drunk on tar.

In the exit hall: a highway, pigeons drowned in propane puddles.

How fertile the earth because of our death.

Rows of headless sunflowers.

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Excerpt from

¿queres que juguemos?

by Sebastian Ocampo ’97

The following scene involves a conversation between a man and woman who are driving in a car with their children in the back seat. They are discussing economic uncertainties and the fact that the woman left the family for a year.

El cielo es una noche plena, lleno de estrellas y una luna redonda y blanca. La estela de humo del rastrojero se confunde con la oscuridad y apenas si se percibe el olor.

Los chicos van en la parte de atrás. El viento los despeina y les hace fruncir la cara, como si estuvieran haciendo fuerza. La chica sostiene su pollera para que no se levante y mira la luna. En realidad todos miran la luna. Están contentos. Hacia tiempo que no estaban felices. Miran cada tanto hacia la cabina, allí están sus papás. Sienten una excitación grande que los recorre pero están callados.

Apenas si hablan, apenas si cada tanto el mayor, el que es casi negro, señala algo como una vaca o un cerdo y todos miran.

La mujer parece haber perdido la alegría que la inundó en la casa de los padres. Otra vez ha puesto las manos entre las piernas. Está en silencio. El hombre lleva una caja de vino, maneja con una mano en el volante y con la otra bebe. Cada tanto se le chorrea un poco por la comisura y entonces se limpia con la manga de la camisa.

La mujer enciende la radio. Canta Cacho Castaña. Mira al hombre, entonces le dice: –Raúl, ¿Con qué vamos a vivir?

El refunfuña, toma un trago.

–Ya hablé con unos tipos, me van a dar laburo en una panadería.

These accomplished authors lead fascinating lives beyond the pen. Sebastian practices medicine and is studying psychiatry. Arianne serves as UWC-USA’s wilderness director, teaches English, and is the resident EMT (emergency medical technician). Jennifer is a creative writing teacher and grant writer who works with Native American organizations, among others.

–¿Nos va a alcanzar?

El hombre se da vuelta y la mira con sorpresa socarrona.

–Si no alcanza trabajarás vos también.

–Yo tengo que cuidar a los chicos – dice ella.

–Ahhh, ahora los tenés que cuidar – dice el hombre – los dejaste un año de tus viejos y ahora los tenés que cuidar.

A ella le tiemblan los labios.

–¡No es lo mismo! – dice elevando la voz.

–Claro, no es lo mismo.

–Además tendría que darte vergüenza, chupando cuando manejás.

Un auto pasa en sentido contrario con las luces altas, el hombre se siente encandilado y cierra los ojos y toca bocina con furia. Los chicos se exaltan con los bocinazos y miran hacia la cabina. La madre los mira y finge una sonrisa y los saluda. Los chicos saludan.

“Arteries,” excerpted from

Detailing Trauma: A Poetic Anatomy

by Arianne Zwartjes ’97

When my grandmother’s own mother passed away, the blood in her arteries was so thick with cholesterol they couldn’t embalm her. She was always such a lady, my grandmother used to say. Longing (soggy) dripping out of her voice.

Medically speaking, the lumen is the inside space of a tubular structure, like an artery. But look at its Latin meanings, its origins. An opening or a light: the luminousness of a space, the way light in the distance beckons, as when you have been exploring a cave for very many hours and approach the light of the exit. The air grows fresher.

The lumen of an artery expands and contracts easily as long as it is soft and unplaqued. All aflush, we haunt ourselves, seeking the distance between knowing and unknowing. Blood moves warmly through our vessels.

Thin, sparse sliver of light.

Jennifer Elise Foerster ’98

Sebastian Ocampo ’97

Arianne Zwartjes ‘97

As in our lives, the lumen of the artery sometimes becomes clogged with deposits, plaque, obstructed, obscured. We want to keep moving forward but sometimes it is difficult, almost impossible, to see the way.

*

(The city is nothing but a restless scaffolding) we forget where we are going. Lose where we are going. Cirrus smears the sky and blinds us. (How) do we ever know where we are going? You think and think and suddenly you are lost. On the radio today, a woman interviewing her husband who has Alzheimers. Sudden heartbreaking lapses in casual conversation. Oh, I told that one already? Today?

Huh.

The attempt at faith. I know my children, my grandchildren will still be able to see the good person I am. He was so positive I could have wept. I’ve seen where he is going.

*

(Where to) is it only visible from the outside? Forever opening is one way of saying: hold open for/ alight.

Keep walking forward sometimes is the only answer. My mother spends several hours each day with her mother whose mind has gone. No. My mother spends hours each day with her mother who is only fractionally present. Still smiles. Still loves? Impossible to judge. But my mother loves her achingly maybe I need her more than she needs me. The world is leaking at the edges. She loves me more than anyone ever can, or will. Is this what mothers are for?

Tender. To watch her wash her own mother’s face is to slowly split open.

How do we see where we are going? At the end of a long time we too become motherless. Is this the most alone in the world? How do we say we understood and the morningstar keeps passing the horizon. And yet every single lifetime people bear this one bracing solitude.

Thin, sparse sliver of light.

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By jennifer rowland, Director of Marketing and Engagement

Students, alumni, and educators often refer to UWC-USA as “transformative.”

What really changes and why?

The Great

Transformation

At UWC-USA, it’s not uncommon for a student who never played an instrument to transform into a skilled saxophonist or for a student who hated math her first year to “convert” and become a math tutor in her second. And how many students who had never camped before discover a passion for the wilderness?

In his most recent book Manuscript Found in Accra, Brazilian author Paulo Coelho writes, “The act of discovering who we are will force us to accept that we can go further than we think.” Kurt Hahn, one of UWC’s founders, would likely agree.

Hahn and UWC founders chose the apex of a teen’s journey toward self-identity as the platform for the two-year UWC experience. This development phase was documented in 1956 by German psychiatrist Erik Erikson in his Eight Stages of Development; the fifth stage—learning identity—occurs from about 13 or 14 to 20 years old. It’s at this time, Erikson hypothesizes, that adolescents learn how to “satisfactorily and happily” answer the question, “Who am I?”

When 16- and 17-year-olds arrive at UWC-USA, they bring a sense of self that gets challenged, re-evaluated, and sometimes completely redefined. As a result, they graduate with stronger self-awareness and a deeper understanding of and empathy for others.

As Amy McConnell Franklin, an educator and UWC parent who works with UWC-USA’s Bartos Institute for Constructive Engagement of Conflict (CEC), points out, “You can’t have empathy without self-awareness.”

In a world where technology can blur geographic and political borders and migration creates multi-hyphenated “global citizens,” knowing oneself and relating to others is more critical than ever before. “The world is becoming a Diaspora, filled with new kinds of beings,” writes Pico Iyer, author of The Global Soul. The question “Where do you come from,” he says, is becoming antiquated.

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Within the UWC schools and colleges, 18 percent of the students hold a second passport. There are students whose families resemble modern-day nomads, moving from country to country to follow professional assignments. And there are students who Amin Maalouf, author of In the Name of Identity: Violence and the Need to Belong, calls “frontier dwellers”: “people who live on the frontier between opposed communities and whose very being might be said to be traversed by ethnic or religious or other fault lines.”

Every August, a batch of first-year students—frontier dwellers, multinationals, nomads, small-town kids, and urban sophisticates—exit the bus in Montezuma excited, bewildered, and slightly overwhelmed. Everything and everyone is unfamiliar—all the touch points they’ve grown to rely on are gone. And so a new chapter of discovery begins.

National Identity The easiest way for newcomers to identify themselves is via their home country. “At UWC-USA, where you come

from is almost as important as your name,” says Nicolas Montaño ’13, who holds dual passports for the U.S. and Colombia.

For an international school, UWC-USA culture reinforces nationalism. “We have a lot of flags and emphasis on national dress,” says English teacher Josh Holland, who is writing a doctoral thesis on UWC impact.

“Some kids come here never having worn their national dress until they arrive on campus.” Social and cultural anthropology teacher Todd French adds, “Cultural days are pretty nationalistic. Kids tend to confirm stereotypes while they wink at them at the same time.”

Some students arrive with a well-developed sense of nationalism. For others, a national identity is forged as they seek to explain their cultures to new friends and

and has spent a lot of time thinking about her “political identity.” Instead, Noya says she found herself thrust into a role of defending a government she doesn’t agree with.

“I feel I need to protect my country all the time . . . because if I won’t protect Israel, no one else will,” she says. “Stereotypes are something that exist everywhere, no matter where or who you are. [But] when people associated me with the country I’m from, or in my case, the image they have of my country, they don’t see me as a person anymore. They see me as a symbol.”

Identity Refinement

“Students are often in a position of educating others and representing an entire population, which requires a high level of awareness that’s not common among most 16-year-olds,” says Naomi Swinton ’87, Bartos Institute director.

That can be tough for students who hold multiple passports or have lived in several countries. “During my first year, I struggled because I had to figure out which side of my [national] identity to emphasize,” Nicolas says. “I felt that if I identified as Latin, I might upset the Americans, and vice versa. I am somewhere in between, which I enjoy now. But in my first year, it was difficult to find the balance and accept the fluidity.”

An identity based on country of origin has other challenges, especially if you are a student from a place that holds values counter to your own. Noya Erez ’14, Israel, came to UWC-USA eager to engage with Arab students about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. She hoped

Identity is as much about claiming who you are as it is about declaring who you are not—and it is a slow process. Dr. Anjali Arondekar ’87, a professor of feminist studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, studies sexuality, geopolitics, and historiography. Identity is a theme in her work, and she knows all too well the struggles many students go through when they come to UWC-USA.

“Most of the students come in with a wide range of identifications—note, I use the term identifications rather than identity to suggest a more fluid sense of how one sees oneself in the world,” Anjali says. “Those identifications vary from a heightened understanding of one’s class (if, like me, you were the only lower middle-class kid selected), nationality (suddenly you are catapulted into a heightened loyalty to the idea of the nation) and, of course, gender (in my case, again, leaving home as a 16-year-old girl, which was much more complicated because of the limited access working-class girls had to education and travel at the time).”

Through deliberate and casual means, those identifications begin to shift, strengthen, or transform.

Students may begin their UWC-USA experience with a tight group of friends from the same region, thus confirming a national identity. Gradually, interactions with new peers allow them to examine new ideas and try on new roles. Anjali calls these “intersectional identities,” adding that the process of experimentation can be uncomfortable. “Intersectional identities are not always places of refuge and can often be in conflict with each other,” she says.

Identity development happens during day-room conversations, under a tarp on a wilderness trip, or more intentionally through CEC workshops. “Many students come here with a clear idea of who they were, and when they get here, they reassess and re-imagine who they want to be in the context of culture, gender, and religion,” Naomi says. Indeed, she’s seen deep transformations take place through CEC-sponsored discussions on power and privilege, interfaith dialogues, and storytelling exercises.

for constructive dialogue—she wants peace in the region

Some students arrive with a well-developed sense of nationalism.

For others, a national identity is forged as they seek to explain their cultures to new friends and peers.

peers. Rightly or not, one’s national identity becomes a sort of shorthand for who that person is.

Chase Doremus ’12 credits Naomi and CEC for

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helping him crystallize his identity. Chase initially enrolled in UWC-USA as Cassandra, a female student. He realized he was transgender the summer after graduation. “[UWCUSA] laid the groundwork for me to be comfortable with who I am,” he says. But it’s not being transgender that Chase most identifies with; it’s activism.

“When I arrived at UWC-USA, I was terrified of people, of new students, of everything, really,” he says.

Coming from a small, conservative town in Nebraska, UWC-USA offered an escape to a safe place where he could explore his growing passion for activism. “Today, the most important part of my identity is that I’m an activist and an organizer,” Chase says. “I came to UWCUSA with seeds of that in my heart, and the school

That process of broadening loyalties is at the core of the UWC-USA experience.

As a result, students graduate with a nuanced sense of nationalism that better reflects who they are as individuals. helped me grow into that identity. I wouldn’t have been able to identify as the strong, motivated, compassionate person I’ve become otherwise.”

Ryan Erickson ’02 is another alumnus who uncovered a key facet of his identity as a student. Like Chase, Ryan came from a small Midwestern American town he describes as “very rural, very poor, xenophobic, and antiintellectual.” At UWC-USA, he focused on his favorite subjects, math and science. But his interest in theology led him to take Lawrence Tharp’s world religions class. “I was in the process of trying to explain my religion [during class], and I realized I didn’t believe in enough of it to call myself a Christian,” he says.

Ryan says he spent the rest of the year “religiously unattached.” “I believed in God and a higher divine power but not in the church,” he says. He began reading about Islam and talking with the Muslim faculty and students.

It resonated deeply, and shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, he converted.

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“I was aware of the controversy, but at the same

time, I was a student of world religions,” Ryan says. “I knew members of all religions have done awful things on a fairly regular basis. And I wasn’t terribly interested in having other people determine what I should think or do.”

A New Definition Culture, gender, and religion are critical factors in establishing a sense of identity, but people can rarely dismiss their place of origin as a piece of the puzzle.

Often, students start their UWC-USA experience with a strong sense of nationalism that is refined over the two years as they look at their home countries through critical eyes. “At this stage in their development, students can break away from what has been told to them and be critical of everything, particularly identity issues,” Todd says. “The more we talk about nationalism, the more they become critical nationalists.”

And that’s a good thing, Todd says. Some scholars argue that nationalism simply doesn’t work in today’s globalized world. “Nationalism says we are different in very fundamental ways,” he explains. “It sets boundaries between us and them.”

An “us and them” society hardly fosters empathy, let alone tolerance. “The idea of enforcing intentional national identities while focused on building empathy for others is antithetical to real empathy,” Todd says.

“Our real goal should be to get beyond nation-states and recognize broader loyalties.”

That process of broadening loyalties is at the core of the UWC-USA experience. As a result, students graduate with a nuanced sense of nationalism that better reflects who they are as individuals.

Nana-Yaa Adu ’13 proudly identifies as Ghanaian.

When she was 8 years old, she and her grandmother were stopped in an airport and asked if they were African.

Nana-Yaa was offended. “I got out of my seat and said loudly, ‘We’re from Ghana, not Africa!’”

Today, her national identity is more complex.

For Nana-Yaa, identifying as Ghanaian is one thing; identifying as a Ghanaian woman is something else entirely. “In Ghana, women’s roles are more traditional.

Women are subordinate. They don’t speak up and express themselves,” she says.

Nana-Yaa will be attending Westminster College in the U.S. next fall. She plans to return to Ghana, but she knows it won’t be easy. “In Ghana, I know I can’t be as free as I am here,” she says. “The challenge is to be who you are where you are.”

Connected

It may have been the oldest standing Presbyterian church in the Southwest, but in 1998, what is now known as the Old Town Mission was little more than a crumbling shell that was, as Susan Swan recalls, “at a crisis point.”

At the time, Susan, an anthropologist and archaeologist, owned Northern Research Group Inc., with Gabino Rendon, a sociologist. The pair consulted on archaeological and historic preservation projects around New Mexico. Beyond the business, they shared a strong connection to the Old Town Mission: Susan was on the Presbyterian Church’s governing body, and Gabino’s father, a minister, led a congregation there in the late 1800s.

The building—which contains 15,000 adobe bricks—wasn’t always a church. At various times, it housed a school, a homeless shelter, a thrift shop, and alcohol rehabilitation and job training programs.

By 1998, however, it was no longer serviceable.

Plaster had cracked, windows were broken, and the interior was just plain shabby. Despite the mess, Susan says she and Gabino saw potential. An architect confirmed that the foundation was solid. “We knew there was a real need for a community center, and it was a perfectly good building,” Susan recalls.

Enter UWC-USA. Students needed community projects. Susan and Gabino needed labor. It was an ideal match.

Over the years, countless UWC-USA students discovered new talents as plasterers, painters, and construction experts. Stephan Grabner ’04 found his niche in demolition. “My favorite memories involved tearing down the thin dividing walls, pulling up

floorboards, and especially pulling nails from boards and beams,” he says. “They were my favorite Saturday mornings, right up there with wilderness trips.”

The student workers were joined by dozens of community members. The intensity of work created a unique environment for strangers to become friends, especially over lunch breaks.

“I loved to hear the stories about the building and the area that were told around the table,” Stephan recalls.

In addition to hard labor, the project benefited from supporters who provided funding for everything from roof shingles to rebuilding the kitchen. “There were a couple of years where we sort of ran out of steam, but then new people would come along and we’d get rejuvenated,” Susan says.

All those efforts came to a triumphant conclusion in February, when a huge celebration took place to mark the completion of the renovation. Susan and Gabino spoke to a crowd of nearly 100; they were joined by Mayor Alfonso Ortiz, former UWC-USA President Lisa Darling, and Rev. James Campbell, among others.

Today, a new crop of UWC-USA students are involved with the Old Town Mission. They no longer have to pull nails from

boards but instead work to pull together local teens to create a lively space where young people can come together for workshops, art activities, and social events.

“We really want to foster a connection with people in town,” says Lara Norgaard ’13, who co-led planning efforts with her co-year Marisol Fernandez Y Mora and students from the two local high schools. So far, they’ve held leadership workshops, a talent show, an open mic night, and a teen dance.

“We’re giving Las Vegas students a place to share their talent and hear positive feedback from each other,” Marisol says.

Teens aren’t the only ones using the facility.

Senior citizens hold classes there. Rio Gallinas School uses it for programs. The Clearly Confused drama group meets there. And there has even been a baby shower.

When Susan looks at the building now—its walls painted a soft yellow, light filtering through dramatic church windows, children’s laughter echoing against the high ceilings—she shakes her head. “I never realized it was so beautiful, because when we started, it looked so bad,” she says.

—Jennifer Rowland LEFT: Scaling the scaffolding:

Students and community members paint the exterior.

CENTER: When the class of

2013 arrived, there was still a lot of work to be done at the mission. Here, Chisom Ibekwe and Melissa Rivera scrape and smooth the walls inside.

RIGHT: Former faculty members Robin Norris and Aleyda McKiernan clean the windows.

11

BACK COUNTRY

Gila Wilderness

Leadership Expedition

“In all honesty, at the risk of sounding cliché, the friendships made were most rewarding. When you’re stuck under a tarp for three days while there’s a blizzard, you have to find a way to get along with everyone or else things start to fall apart.”

—Stefan Harrigan ’14, USA-OH

12

In March, 17 first-year students, accompanied by four instructors, lit out for a 10-day wilderness trip to Gila National Forest in southern New Mexico. It was the first 10-day excursion the school had offered in many years, and the team expected a certain level of challenge. A blizzard was not on that challenge list, however. They persevered and came back with tales of teamwork, photos of inspiring scenery, and great suntans (despite the snow!).

“Being in the wilderness is about immediacy. You have to live step by step, moment by moment. It’s totally unpredictable. In the wilderness, everything is brought to the forefront of your attention— not only your strengths and who you are as a person but also your weaknesses. This gives you a sense of who you are under pressure or when given authority. Being leader of the day was really valuable because I was able to see how I lead in a high-stress situation.

It’s great to take workshops, but it’s not until you are leading people through the middle of nowhere that you learn.”

—Michelle Fonda ’14, USA-PA

“You begin to realize that there’s so much more to life than written assignments or assessments. The wilderness is so breathtaking. It’s unfortunate how we tend to forget to take in all the beauty and appreciate it.”

—Dana Aghabi ’14, Jordan

“What was most challenging? It was 10 days—that’s the first thing. I’ve never been in the wild for that long. Second, you have to let go of your personal needs and fit in with the group’s needs. If there is almost no clean water left, you have to save it for cooking for the whole group. If you drink the clean water, then the team doesn’t have what it needs. In the end, we debriefed as a group and concluded that life is about uncertainty and we get through it, we survive.”

—Calvin Pratama ’14, Indonesia 13

VIEWPOINT

By Tom Oden Acting President AND Vice President for Academic Affairs

In February 2012, UWC-USA opened its strategic planning process to UWCUSA students, faculty, alumni, International Office staff, and national committees. Throughout the conversations, grumblings about the International Baccalaureate (IB) could be heard. The battle cry, “Take back the IB” began to surface. Many participants thought that the footprint of the IB was too wide and that responding to it was possibly shifting the balance of the UWC experience from experiential to purely academic.

This was an interesting moment for me because I have been connected to the IB Diploma Program (IBDP) for more than 25 years. My first experience was as an IB English teacher at Escola Graduada de Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1989, and later I served as high school principal at international schools in South Africa and Lebanon that integrated the IB into their curricula.

Today, the IB is central to my work at UWC-USA. UWC’s association with the IBDP goes back even further than mine. Kurt Hahn and the architects of the UWC movement helped develop the IB diploma, 14

legitimize its pedagogical framework, and provide a field for implementation that matched the IB’s spirit of internationalism. Today, there are 2,400 IB diploma schools in 140 countries.

UWC-USA is IB school No. 207.

As the IB has grown and changed, so too have views on test scores and learning.

The result is that we have a more complex relationship

with the IB than ever before—and one that is not always comfortable.

One significant change I have seen is a growing emphasis placed on IBDP scores. Universities focus on individual scores and subjects, conditional college offers are dependent on achieving certain scores, and many students are tempted to de-emphasize the Extended Essay and Theory of Knowledge because their point value contribution is marginal compared to the six groups of subjects.

More worrisome is a whole industry that is devoted to beating, if not gaming, the system—everything from buying your essay online to marks-sharing schemes.

Last, and more germane to the UWC experience, is the nagging thought that these external demands take away from other missiondriven activities.

But I realize it makes no sense to get binary about IBDP, nor is it productive to “take back” something so large and undergoing such rapid growth. Instead, I think about the pivotal relationship UWC had with the IB in the early days of our movement and how we can update that synergy for a globalizing, rapidly changing world.

The unique perspective that UWCs can bring to the IBDP is to explore the curriculum through our

own particular lens and with our historic aspirations.

There is no doubt that our teachers, and our school, are recognized for the quality of our program. Beyond that, I think there are three areas where we surpass the IB norm:

1

The Primacy of Language

Given our diversity—211 students from 74 countries—we are in a unique position to use IBDP’s vast language menu. In 2012-13, students studied 20 languages at UWC-USA. On campus, we offer instruction in English, Spanish, French, and German and will add Mandarin for 2013-14.

Additionally, 32 students pursued 16 different school-directed, self-taught languages. Under the direction of Anne Farrell, the Self-Taught Language A coordinator, we are becoming recognized for having one of the most sophisticated programs for language diversity in the IB system.

2

The Arts

In the professional world, creativity, design sense, and the ability to take artistic risks are increasingly viewed as vital parts of the tool kit of 21st-century learners.

As the IB has grown and changed, so too have views on test scores and learning.

At UWC-USA, we very much embrace this thinking.

I believe that we are the only UWC that offers music, visual arts, theatre, and dance. We do this despite very real budgetary constraints. Combined with UWC traditions such as cafes and cultural days, the arts program enables us to create a “culture of performance.”

One of us

REASONS

to SMILE

By Tarra Hassin ’91

3

Open Source UWC

We plan to launch “Open Source UWC,” an online forum that will allow us to share, at no cost, the UWC-USA approach to IBDP. Our mission talks about education for impact, and we believe by sharing examples, we can connect with a global audience of students, parents, educators, and leaders who share our ideals. The first Open Source program will highlight one of our English A Language and Literature courses. A link will be posted on our website, and I invite you to review it and share it with educators.

From the inception of the Atlantic College in Wales, UWC and IBDP have been linked.

While some mourn the lost personalization and intimacy, I take a different path. The UWC environment is a vital space for exploring not only the logistics but also the underlying values and spirit of the IBDP. We have the opportunity and, I would argue, the calling to share what is possible far beyond the bounds of our 12 campuses.

Dr. Ruben Ayala ’92 has made a career of service through his work with Operation Smile, a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping children with facial deformities.

W he n D r . Ruben Ayala return ed home to Pan ama the su mmer

after graduating from UWC-USA in 1992, he didn’t expect to find a passion and organization that he would still be involved with more than 20 years later.

Ruben heard about an Operation Smile event at the local hospital. He didn’t know precisely what would be happening, but he wanted to help. When he was told there were already plenty of volunteer translators, Ruben says he went anyway. “I didn’t hesitate,” he remembers.

Operation Smile is a nonprofit organization that provides surgical corrections of cleft lip, cleft palate, and other facial deformities for children in more than 60 15

One of us

countries. Volunteers travel and provide medical care, but the larger goal is to create sustainable programs run by local doctors and health-care providers.

Attending the event in Panama, Ruben says he was immediately struck by the hundreds of families waiting for care and the compassion of the volunteers who assisted them. At that moment, his calling became clear: He would study medicine.

“It became apparent to me that health is a powerful way to serve,” Ruben says.

He went on to study biology and chemistry at Linfield College in Oregon. He then worked for Operation Smile in Mexico for three years before going to the Universidad Autónoma de Guadalajara School of Medicine.

Throughout his studies, Ruben continued to work with Operation Smile. Today, he serves as the senior vice president of international programs and medical affairs, managing everything from quality assurance to training and education. “My job is to make sure that what we do, we do really well,” he says.

Panama is one of Operation Smile’s many success stories, and Ruben is proud of his work as one of its first volunteers. Within five years of its launch, the Panama program was being run by the local medical staff, fulfilling Operation Smile’s mission to “train more doctors, help build more robust health-care systems, and broaden access to surgical and medical care locally and globally.”

“When you take care of a child, it doesn’t matter if the child is Latino or African or Asian or North American or that the child’s family speaks English or Spanish or Portuguese or Chinese or Vietnamese or Swahili—it does not matter a bit.”

“When you take care of a child, it doesn’t matter if the child is Latino or African or Asian or North American or that the child’s family speaks English or Spanish or Portuguese or Chinese or Vietnamese or Swahili—it does not matter a bit,” Ruben says. “It matters that people are coming together to take care of a kid. So that beautiful child becomes the unifier, the gift that brings us all together.”

Today, Ruben lives in Virginia with his wife Karina, who is also a doctor. His job takes him around the world, and Ruben says he is reminded daily of his UWC-USA lessons in cross-cultural communication.

“Every day you face the challenge of how to communicate with someone,” he says, even if they share the same goals. Of course, it must help that Ruben’s smile is contagious and his humility and joy in his work is evident. He also exudes admiration for the people with whom he works: “I am a smaller part of the entire team.”

Ruben credits UWC-USA for giving him an appreciation for serving others.

“UWC taught us so much about service,” he says. “It isn’t only that you’re helping someone, it is that you are becoming closer to those who have similar values and principles, and the beauty of it is that these individuals are individuals who come from different cultures, different countries, totally different ideologies, and still we shared the same human values and ideals. … So, in a sense, you can say that the best friendships are the ones you are able to forge in the service of others.”

16

peer review Class of 1988

Yvonne (Akpalu) Kielhorn was named Minority Businessperson of the Year by Connecticut Business News Journal.

Yvonne is the founder and CEO of Why Science, an entrepreneurial venture that aims to help educators better teach students science, technology, engineering, and mathematics skills. The award was hardly her first; Yvonne was a finalist for the Women of Innovation Entrepreneurship and Leadership Award and was named “one to watch” by the Connecticut Technology Council in 2011. In 2009, she received a Connecticut Small Business Development Center 2009 Achiever Award. Yvonne, who holds a doctorate in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts, told the Connecticut Business News Journal, “I want to

create tools so the teachers can do a much better job in the classroom.”

Class of 1986

Tony Spearman-Leach received the AfricanAmerican Diversity Scholarship, which provided registration and support for his attendance at the 2013 AFP International Conference on Fundraising in San Diego, California.

Tony used the opportunity to blog about his conference experience. Tony is communications and development director for Montgomery Community Media in Rockville, Maryland, and he says he plans to use the training he received to help inspire other fundraising professionals. “We have to remind ourselves that we make audacious goals happen,” he says. “We are the implementers of someone else’s aspirations and dreams.”

Class of 1990

Adam Kirk was recently promoted to senior advisor for energy for the Hon. Gary Gray AO MP, minister for resources and energy in Australia.

Class of 1991

Eran Bar-Am and wife Daniela Beran celebrated a milestone: They have been a UWC-USA couple for more than half their lives! The dynamic duo live in Karlsruhe, Germany, with their three children: Jonathan, 11, Noam, 8, and Maya, 4—plus two pet rabbits. “Friends are welcome to stop by!”

Eran says.

Class of 1993

Jason Dinger, CEO of MissionPoint Health Partners, has been identified as one of the top 300 most influential people in U.S. health care, according to a recent survey by ModernHealthcare.com.

MissionPoint was created in response to the need to improve quality and lower health-care costs. Jason is responsible for the strategic, operational, and cultural stewardship of the organization.

Eran Bar-Am ’91, wife Daniela Beran, and daughter Maya

Mathis Winkler is the acting head of the Asia division at DW Akademie, Deutsche Welle. The firm provides media development, media training, and journalism education programs.

According to its website, the Asia division recently became active in Myanmar, where working with journalists was once almost impossible.

Class of 1994

Santiago Garcia Verdu is an adjunct professor of econometrics at Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México. Econometrics is the application of mathematics, statistical methods, and computer science to economic data. It is described as the branch of economics that aims to give empirical content to economic relations.

Class of 1996

Brian Abernathy has been appointed the executive director of the Philadelphia Redevelopment Authority.

The Redevelopment Authority is a key agency in Mayor Michael Nutter’s efforts to reduce blight, increase affordable housing, and drive economic development. Each year, the agency manages millions of dollars in loans and housing subsidies and coordinates the sale of hundreds of properties for redevelopment.

17

peer REVIEW

“By understanding and treating cancer, I hope to change the world and make it a better place in true UWC style.” –Karuna Ganesh ‘01 Class of 1997

Class of 1999

Class of 2000

Tracy Andrews received her master’s of science degree in June from the National College of Natural Medicine in Portland, Oregon. She earned highest honors for her work in Oriental medicine.

Mary Ellen (Mitchell) Eilerman is working with a group of volunteers in the Cincinnati, Ohio, area to found Lydia’s House, a residence for homeless women and children. The group has purchased property and hopes to open the facility early next year. Mary Ellen says several UWC-USA alumni have supported the project through generous donations. Learn more about it at stlydiashouse.org.

Yoomie Huynh is working as a congressional court reporter for the House of Representatives at Morningside Partners LLC.

Fernando Sztrajtman’s ‘99 son Theo, born on Jan. 11, 2013

Melkizedeck Okudo is the managing director at Bonwick Capital Partners, which has its headquarters in New York.

Fernando Sztrajtman is a proud new dad. Theo Sztrajtman was born on Jan. 11, 2013, and Fernando reports, “He is very healthy and happy!”

18

Class of 2001

Karuna Ganesh shared some big news: In January, she married Hugh Skottowe, a particle physicist at Harvard University and at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. “We were married in a fairy-tale Indian wedding (but modernized, with female priests!) at Samode Palace in India, and Hugh arrived at the wedding on an elephant!” Karuna reports.

Among the guests were Jura Pintar ’01, Susanne Mueller ’01, and Bobby Redwood ’01.

Karuna met Hugh at Cambridge University in

Karuna Ganesh ‘01 married Hugh Skottowe

the United Kingdom, where she spent 10 years as an undergraduate M.D./Ph.D. student and postdoctoral scientist. She is currently finishing her residency in internal medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, and will start a subspecialty fellowship in hematology-oncology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York this summer. “As a physician-scientist, I will be continuing my research in trying to understand the molecular biology of cancer and discover new drugs to cure cancer, as well as treating patients with cancer on a daily basis,” Karuna says. “By understanding

Aksel, born Feb. 1, 2013, to Anne Marie (Jensen) Wildt-Andersen ’07 and her husband

and treating cancer, I hope to change the world and make it a better place in true UWC style.”

Class of 2002

Dafna Herzberg married Ido Izrael, and the affair was practically a mini UWC reunion! See caption below.

CLASS of 2003

Sivan Eldar is spending the 2012-13 academic year as a Fulbright fellow at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague. Sivan completed her undergraduate degree at New England Conservatory, where she studied with composer Pozzi Escot. She is currently a fellow at University of California, Berkeley, where she is working toward her doctorate in composition and new media.

Class of 2004

Kerri-Lynne Dietz has lots to sing about: She was just named a mezzo-soprano soloist at the Opera’r Ddraig in London. In March, she performed in the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama’s production of The Rape of Lucretia. A reviewer

wrote, “Kerry-Lynne Dietz’s Bianca was an excellent piece of vocal characterization.”

Hadar Meltzer is now an adjutant at the Israel Defense Forces.

Class of 2005

Jerome Axle Brown has taken the position of analyst at the U.S. Department of Energy.

Class of 2006

Jose Pablo Salas Rojas is the executive assistant to the chief advancement officer at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Jose is juggling work with studies, and he has one more year to complete his master’s degree.

Class of 2007

Lubomir Malo announced his engagement to Sylvia Chen, whom he met during his first week of college.

Lubo is teaching in China and plans to go back to school to pursue a doctorate and ultimately become a professor. He and Sylvia are planning a summer wedding in 2014 in Slovakia.

Back row: Noam Ginossar ’01, Kirils Jegorovs ’01, Yonatan Sela ’01, Ugo Gragnolati ’02, an unidentified guest, Ingrid Stige ’02, Nono Harhoff, ’02, Lucas Josten ’01, Iftach Leibovic MUWCI ’03, Hadar Meltzer ’04, Aleksa Jorga ’02, Gadi Maayan ’02, Giovanni Sorda ’02, Moritz Waldstein-Wartenberg ’01, and Ayal Kantz ’00 Middle row: Elad Rachevsky ’99, Emma Tilquin ’02, Ida Norheim Hagtun ’01, Yfat Barak RCNUWC ’02, Justine MacWilliam ’02, Linda Majaj ’02, Maayan Sandrovitz LPCUWC ’06, and Elian Maritz ’02 Front row: Bar Philosof UWCAD ’08, Tom Canning LPCUWC ’06, Idan Ben-Horin ’97, groom Ido Izrael, and bride Dafna Herzberg ’02. Not shown: Maytav Dagan ’99, Samir Mastaki ’01, and Yiftach Dayan ’06

Ciara McCartney sent a gracious note with her Annual Fund gift: “Every day I am thankful for the opportunities my UWC experience has graciously granted me: My hunger for lifelong learning, my appreciation for global diversity, and my desire to spread cultural awareness. I will never forget where my life truly began seven years ago at the Castle on a hill.”

Anne Marie (Jensen) Wildt-Andersen and her husband Jacob welcomed their son Aksel on Feb. 1.

“He is healthy and sleeps well at night, and he has red hair like his father and both grandfathers,” Anne Marie says. “He is a great little boy, and our little home is filled with happiness and sleep deprivation, just like the days at UWC.” Class of 2008

Mbumbijazo Katjivena is the Junior Achievement programs manager for Namibia, his home country. Mbumbii received his bachelor’s degree in engineering from Dartmouth College in New Hampshire last year.

Tara Kane Prendergast is the executive director for ARYSE, the Alliance for Refugee Youth Support and Education. Based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the organization helps refugee students graduate from high school. “These young people have the potential to do more than succeed in school; they have the potential to be the next generation of globally minded leaders,” Tara recently wrote.

Class of 2009

Sal Lavallo, who was profiled on UWC-USA’s new website for his role as one of the founders of the nonprofit Seeds of Peace, has been promoted to business analyst at McKinsey & Company.

Class of 2010

Marc Figueras is a country risk analyst and accountant with Babyloan, a microfinance company based in France whose goal is “to solve a social problem and in which employees work to improve the lives of the poorest.”

Class of 2011

Kevin Alejandro Castillo Montanye is the staff assistant for the residential complex at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. He’s also a music critic and writes for Non Magazine, a publication in Guatemala.

19

looking Back

In the lexicon of school reunions, the 10-year is a big one. By that point, many alumni have completed college or university and are on their professional paths. Some have married and started families. Adulthood is no longer new, but the relative innocence of age 17 or 18 isn’t so far behind.

In 1994, UWC-USA held its first 10-year reunion— a momentous occasion not only for the attendees but also for the school as it celebrated its first firstyears and first second-years.

Graduates from seven other class years came out, as well, making the three-day event among the most memorable in UWC-USA history.

Kim Vickers ’84 was the reunion organizer. In the summer 1994 issue of Kaleidoscope, she wrote, “It was a thrill for everyone to not only see old classmates, but to meet spouses, significant others, and children who attended with them.”

Activities included a hike to Hermit’s Peak and a presentation by then-faculty

member Neil Hunter on “Anecdotal, Revisionist History of Rock ‘n’ Roll and the United World College Movement.” And of course, there were parties.

Eugenio Ruggiero ’84 remembers the party at the Kluge Auditorium: “[The auditorium] was new for all of us, since it was not there during our class. There was a moment when all (and I mean it, all) were dancing some sort of Macarena together, following the moves and steps led by Paul Moore ’85.” (Paul had flown in all the way from Australia to attend the event!)

Jaana Remes ’84 was there, too. She’s been back since for the 25-year

reunion (with kids and husband in tow) and plans to come in 2014 for her 30-year. “A 10-year reunion is a milestone for anyone celebrating it,” she says. “It was the time when we first met the partners and babies of our dear friends—how things had changed! Yet at the same time, our friends had not changed much in 10 years: Despite a few additional kilos around the waistline, the people inside seemed so unchanged—so what I loved about each of my classmates was still there.

And nothing compares to the feeling of being back to the views and smells of a place we all loved.”

—Jennifer Rowland

TOP: Into the woods: Teodoro Sucre ’84, Pankaj Vaish ’85, and Ricardo Zemella scout the scene.

20

Bottom: Dorm party! Front row, left to right: Mark Zieg ’84, Andrès Resendez ’85 (partially covered by Mark’s arm), Greta Hanson ’85, José Pablo Pineda Garza ’84, Lilian Nunez ’84, Alejandro Otero ’84, Andrea Tisi ’84, Sandra Thomas ’84, Bonnie Horie Bennet ’85 Back row, left to right: Leng Leroy Lim ’84, Teodoro Sucre ’84, Brett Boddington ’84, Susanne Holste ’84, Tony Ray ’84, Irfan Hasan ’85, Ed Burns ’84

inspiration

If you take the long view, you’ll see how startlingly, how unexpectedly but regularly things change. Not by magic but by the incremental effect of countless acts of courage, love, and commitment, the small drops that wear away stones and carve new landscapes, and sometimes by torrents of popular will that change the world suddenly. To say that is not to say that it will all come out fine in the end regardless. I’m just telling you that everything is in motion, and sometimes we are ourselves that movement. —Rebecca Solnit American writer Rebecca Solnit is the author of 13 books about art, landscape, public and collective life, ecology, and politics. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim, the National Book Critics Circle Award, and a Lannan Literary Award.

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NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION US POSTAGE The Magazine of uwc-usa, The Armand Hammer United World College of the American West

P.O. Box 248 Montezuma, NM 87731-0248 USA www.uwc-usa.org

UWC makes education a force to unite people, nations, and cultures for peace and a sustainable future.