GOODBYE & THANK YOU
GOODBYE & THANK YOU In the last annual review, I said that the circumstances were unprecedented and challenging for us all. In many ways, this was the same in 2020/21. However, for me, it was also a great chance to give our students the trust, agency and authentic responsibility they deserve in navigating these challenges. After four years as principal, I was heartened to see the reforms we introduced were taking hold, resulting in student councils with independent budgets, a student disciplinary board, a co-curricular committee, and new initiatives such as a campus-based Project Week and a three week UWC mission and values focused period in lieu of the cancelled IB examinations. I hope that this approach continues to embed itself at UWC Atlantic long after I have left. When I arrived here, UWC Atlantic seemed to have drifted, somewhat disconnected from its roots, and far from the flagship College for the UWC movement. But as I left the college in the summer I was touched by the transformation, albeit challenging at times, that had taken place during my four-and-a-half-year tenure. These include a re-imagined timetable and calendar, the student conferences, the Changemaker Curriculum, the Head of Tutors and Student Affairs position, the Head of Wellbeing and Safeguarding position, increased staff diversity, a new approach to external relations, The Learning Centre (TLC), the vision of world-class philanthropy, and all the many high performing teams that were leading across the college. Over the last year, we have continued to invest in fostering innovation among our students through initiatives such as the Changemaker Curriculum and the Lighthouse Innovation Hub, towards which you, as alumni and friends, have generously given your time and talent. I am really excited about the promise for both initiatives and am convinced of the impact they will have in equipping our students for life after UWC Atlantic. This year, the Changemaker Curricula took big steps forward, with more than 100 students involved in various prototypes for future courses, including communication and mediation, and ocean systems and coastal management.
The Lighthouse has also continued to develop and find its home within the college, with increasing numbers of entrepreneurial projects undertaken by the students. In October 2020 we had just three projects in development and when I left there were close to 20. Your support has helped to underpin this success, and I know many of you have given your time to mentor the students and their projects. We hope to see more of you work with the Lighthouse Innovation Hub over the coming year. One thing we must not take for granted is the way that students have continued to embrace their responsibilities through various UWC Atlantic commitments. As a globally connected society, we face some major challenges over the coming years (to put it mildly), whether that’s supporting communities to thrive postpandemic, addressing racial injustices - and all injustices - around the world, or doing all that we can to ensure a habitable planet for future generations to come. The role of education and bringing people together from deliberately diverse backgrounds and viewpoints must not be underestimated. This is where I feel that the UWC movement can make an immeasurable difference. I have seen a strong foundation laid over the last four and a half years and we have to keep pushing to realise the potential that we all see in UWC Atlantic. Thankfully, we have a talented new addition to the college in Naheed Bardai to help steer this course, and I am excited to have him succeed me as principal of UWC Atlantic. I want to wish Naheed and the rest of my former colleagues all the best for the coming years. I would like to end by thanking you from the bottom of my heart for your support during my time as principal. As Andrea says in her introduction, it is amazing how much you care about this exceptional place we call The United World College of the Atlantic. We need to make sure that we don’t take this level of passion and commitment for granted, especially now when we need to count on your support more than ever before.
“I have seen a strong foundation laid over the last four and a half years and we have to keep pushing to realise the potential that we all see in UWC Atlantic.”
Warmest wishes, Peter T. Howe
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