OneºNorth, VOL 15, December 2017

Vol 15 December 2017

The Alumni Magazine of UWC South East Asia

Christina Chung, illustrator and entrepreneur Lizanne and Robert Milton changing lives Graduation 2017 More updates and profiles

Our alumni community …

is located in the folllowing countries: Albania, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cayman Islands, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Curaçao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dutch Caribbean, Egypt, El Salvador, England, Estonia, Ethiopia, Falkland Islands (Malvinas), Faroe Islands, Fiji, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guam, Guatemala, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Samoa, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Somaliland, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor-Leste, Trinidad And Tobago, Turkey, Turks And Caicos Islands, Uganda, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe

Alumni services Every student who leaves UWCSEA, regardless of how long they were enrolled, automatically becomes a member of our alumni community.

Some of the services we offer include:

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One°North The alumni magazine is published annually. Please send contributions and/ or suggestions to: alumnimagazine@ uwcsea.edu.sg.

by both UWCSEA and our alumni. Watch the alumni website for updates and details, and let us advertise your events!

Alumni and Parents of Alumni eBriefs These are emailed to alumni and parents of alumni throughout the year, containing news and information to keep you updated and informed.

Alumni website Our password-protected alumni website allows you to maintain your own profile, search for and contact other registered members, stay informed about news and events and more.

Mentor opportunities Volunteer to be listed in the mentor section of the alumni site and/or sign up on the UWC Hub if you are willing to be contacted by current students or other alumni for information or advice regarding your university or career, or visit the pages if you have questions of your own.

Reunions and get-togethers A reunion of the 40, 30, 20 and 10 year anniversary classes is held each August in Singapore. Additional class reunions and alumni gatherings are held in various locations throughout the year, planned

Career services Check this section of the site for career opportunities or candidates, or post your own job opening or resumé. You can also set up alerts to be notified of new postings.

The UWC Hub Join the UWC Hub, a web platform and mobile app that brings together the UWC community around the world.

Old Interscols Let us know if you would like a soft copy of your Interscol(s).

Visits, tours and other requests We are happy to help in any way we can.

If you are in Singapore and would like to drop in for a visit or a tour, we would be more than happy to show you around, any time. Send your requests to us at alumni@uwcsea.edu.sg.

Alumni website: http://alumni.uwcsea.edu.sg Alumni email: alumni@uwcsea.edu.sg

Please stay connected!

Contents Our alumni community ............................................1 Alumni services ...........................................................1 Message from the Head ........................................... 3 Note from the Alumni Office ................................. 4 UWC movement – 17 schools and colleges ......... 4 The Miltons —Changing lives and creating future leaders The benefactors to date of alumni Lizanne and Robert A Milton’s endowed scholarships .......................... 5 Cover story Illustrator and entrepreneur, Christina Chung ’11 A successful and creative career in illustration ...............................................7 Graduation 2017 576 graduates, 2 alumni guest speakers, 1 parent of alumni guest speaker and 2 graduate speakers—Sumi Dhanarajan ’90, Kimheang Chham ’16, Kishore Mahbubani, Kavya Deshpande ’17 and Arjun Krishnan ’17 .................. 9 An interview with Pandit Mami ’10 “You never knew from one moment to the next if you would be alive or dead.” ..................................................... 11 Measuring the impact of a UWC education Is UWC accomplishing its mission?

A study by the Harvard Graduate School of Education will try to answer this question .........................................13 Year in review A sample of the huge variety of events and activities that take place at the College ...............15

From Biomedicine to F&B Ralph Monthienvichienchai ’06 changes career direction ....................17 UWCSEA Alumni directing and producing Hollywood films Giri Sripathy ’06 Producer. Daniel Grove ’03 Director .............................. 18 Recent alumni events Worldwide alumni get-togethers and Reunion 2017 .........................................19 Alumni giving How alumni are enhancing the experience for present and future students at UWCSEA ..........................21 The difference giving makes Gifts to the UWCSEA Foundation impact the continued growth and development of the College ............. 23 My UWCSEA journey: Re-imagining the possible Ng’ang’a Muchiri ’04, Assistant Professor of English in the US, pursuing research in East Africa ....... 24 Outdoor education at UWCSEA Outdoor Education continues to grow across all grades at UWCSEA ........... 25 Alumni Reef Defenders Adrian Chan ’14 and Phil Woodhead ’06 working to prevent blast fishing and the damage it causes ...................................... 27 Eight former Banda Aceh scholars visit UWCSEA Eight former scholars from Banda Aceh reunite in Singapore ................. 29 Upcoming reunions Don’t miss out! .........................................................30

Cover photo and credit: Christina Chung’s illustration, ‘The Celestial River’, created for a gallery exhibition entitled ‘Parallel’.

Editor

Brenda Whately

Design Nandita Gupta

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One°North is published by UWC South East Asia anually for alumni, staff and friends of UWCSEA. Reproduction in any manner is prohibited without written consent. Send your address change to alumnimagazine@uwcsea.edu.sg and/or update your profile on the UWCSEA alumni website or through the alumni app. We welcome your feedback; please send comments to alumnimagazine@uwcsea.edu.sg.

Please send your articles and/or suggestions for articles, for the next issue, to alumnimagazine@uwcsea.edu.sg.

Message from the Head One of the most pat and ubiquitous phrases in everyday social interactions must surely be: “It has been a pleasure.”

“What, honestly?” I feel compelled to ask. Thanking that woefully tedious speaker, enduring the phony networker at a party or giving the same address for the fifth time has been “a pleasure?” Exactly what kind of a life must one have for this stuff to be so inordinately joyous? But, of course, it is merely a convention: often the phrase really means: “I’m glad that’s over.”

Well I begin my fourth year in a state of humble delight and can say with sincerity that it is, one hundred percent, a pleasure to introduce this important publication. I know far more about the alumni body than I did last year, and while that knowledge is but a tiny fraction of the whole, I have met enough wonderful people to feel proud and excited about the UWCSEA community in and beyond the College. From reunions to significant project work to casual interactions, I have experienced a buzz and energy that crackles away still. And great things are afoot …

Last year I began this introduction by recounting our experience looking to see if Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education might continue to work with us on an ambitious movement wide project. We were seeking to move from anecdotal to research based evidence concerning the mission-aligned impact of our alumni, and we were in the process of trying to persuade Professor Howard Gardner and his team to engage. A one year exploratory study instigated by and based at UWCSEA had proved a success, and so we were pitching for a more extensive and detailed analysis.

Well, I am thrilled to say that we did it. A four year study not just of UWCSEA but the UWC movement begins this year using both longitudinal and sectional methodology. UWCSEA is effectively handing its baby over to the movement, but we can be very proud of our part in the genesis of this exciting work.

I’ve always thought that one can be brimming with UWC values and the attendant ethical dispositions in a thousand different walks of life: looking at the jobs people do is only a small piece of the puzzle. We await Harvard’s input with interest. Exciting times ahead.

Climbing down from academia’s tower, may I extend the warmest of invitations to you all to engage with us and one another. It’s uplifting to see UWC alumni coming together around the world, and I must confess that after the UWC Congress in Trieste last year I was especially moved on discovering just what the collective power of UWC alumni can do. All that Platonic rhetoric about “peace” was suddenly made earthy and real and possible.

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So, please do enjoy what follows and be assured of the warmest of welcomes at UWCSEA. May you all enjoy a happy and successful year.

Chris Edwards Head of College

UWC movement schools and colleges

There are now 17 UWCs around the world, the most recent being Phuket, Thailand, Changshu, China and Karuizawa, Japan.

Note from the Alumni Office This year I had the immense pleasure to attend for the tenth year in a row, the annual alumni milestone reunion celebrations that have taken place since I began working for UWCSEA Alumni Relations. Reunion 2017 was organised by a wonderful group of staff that many of you will know—Siti who has worked in the alumni office for seven years thus far, Rae who joined the alumni team as Communications Assistant Manager last November and Lu who joined the wider Advancement team as Events Executive in September. They are already starting on the organisation of Reunion 2018.

We have seen many new and exciting initiatives at the College over the past year or so, including, just to name a few, a new centre for entrepreneurship at Dover Campus called the IDEAS Hub, a new networking platform for alumni of all UWCs called the UWC Hub, and a refugee scholarship initiative which has already provided the opportunity for Nancy and Mahmoud, two students of refugee status, to start their UWC education this academic year, funded by alumni and parents of UWCSEA. We expect this coming year to be no different.

This 15th issue of the alumni magazine features a few of our very interesting and talented alumni. Please read on for their stories and enjoy.

All the best.

Warm regards, Brenda Whately Director of Alumni Relations

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Our very first milestone reunion was held in 2008 so we are looking forward to seeing many of the groups who celebrated five and ten years ago, reuniting for another celebration in Singapore next August 2018. We also look forward to seeing alumni at one of the many alumni events planned for the upcoming year.

Lu, Brenda, Siti and Rae

CHANGING LIVES AND CREATING FUTURE LEADERS

By Brenda Whately

Lizanne Milton ’83 Robert Milton ’78 UWCSEA alumni Robert Milton ’78 and Lizanne Milton ’83 are changing the lives of young people and helping to create future leaders through their incredible generosity and passion for providing transformational education opportunities to deserving students.

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In 2011 the Miltons put in place an endowed scholarship at UWCSEA, two endowed scholarships at Robert’s alma mater Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) in the US, and a fourth endowed scholarship to fund a UWCSEA student to attend Georgia Tech. Since then, they have established a further endowed scholarship at the University of Virginia.

There have been four students to date who have earned the Lizanne ’83 and Robert A Milton ’78 Endowed Scholarship to attend UWCSEA and two UWCSEA graduates who have earned the Miltons’ Georgia Tech scholarship.

The first to earn both scholarships, to attend both UWCSEA and Georgia Tech, was Chi, from Vietnam. Chi attended UWCSEA from 2011 to 2013 and Georgia Tech from 2013 to 2017.

As a university student, Chi continued to involve herself in myriad activities just as she had done at UWCSEA. She was a member of the Women’s Chorus and the GT Dance Company for three of the four years of her undergraduate programme, and worked as a teaching assistant for the School of Maths. In the summer of 2015 she participated in a study abroad trip to France with a focus on French culture and language and in the summer of 2016 she engaged in a summer research programme for undergraduates in Mathematics at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts.

In May 2017 Chi graduated with a degree in Applied Mathematics from Georgia Tech with highest honours and in September 2017 she entered the first year of her PhD in Math at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

When asked what her time at UWCSEA has meant to her, Chi says, “Looking back on my time there, I think I was very well prepared for college. I was very quick to adjust to changes in my surroundings thanks to my time living among friends from all over the world, and the IB prepared me well

for the workload and need for time management. I still remember my time at UWCSEA with a lot of fondness and I am grateful for the scholarships that the Miltons provided me for my education at both UWCSEA and Georgia Tech. The investment they made in my education was the foundation for all the achievements that I have made, and gave me the access to opportunities that I would not have gotten otherwise.”

We wish Chi all the best in her PhD programme.

The second student to earn the Miltons’ scholarship to UWCSEA was Anh, another young woman from Vietnam. Anh started her UWCSEA education in 2013 and graduated in 2015, subsequently earning a Davis scholarship to attend Wellesley College in the US where she is currently pursuing a double major in Economics and Mathematics.

Remaining as busy and involved at Wellesley as she was at UWCSEA, Anh has been learning her third language, Korean, and participated in a sixweek study-abroad program at Yonsei University in Seoul. She says, “Through my involvement with language classes

“Education is critical and I’ve found there to be few experiences in life as fulfilling as enabling a child who is really capable, who would not otherwise get the chance at a world class education, to benefit from one.”

Robert Milton ’78

Photo: Robert Milton ’78, currently serves as the Chairman of United Airlines, and as a Director and Trustee of many other corporate and philanthropic boards. Robert won the ‘Top 40 under 40’ award recognition for those who have achieved significant levels of success in leadership and innovation before age 40, founding his own airline company in his twenties and becoming President and CEO of Air Canada by age 39.

and the Korean culture, I am progressing toward my goal of understanding East Asia, comparing and contrasting development in East Asian countries with that in Vietnam.” Anh is also carrying out economic research with a faculty member on Gender Differences in Entrepreneurial Outcomes which she hopes will benefit female entrepreneurs.

As she graduated from UWCSEA, Anh said, “The most powerful takeaway from UWCSEA for me, is that our race, our skin colour and our nationality don’t speak wholly for who we are.” She says of the Miltons and their scholarship, “UWCSEA has enabled many things I have today, including my constant intellectual growth and progress, and for that no words can express my gratitude to Robert and Lizanne for making my two years there possible.”

The third student to receive the Miltons’ scholarship to attend UWCSEA was Sivhuo, a young woman from Cambodia who entered in 2015 and graduated in May 2017, subsequently earning a Davis scholarship to Macalester College in the US where she hopes to pursue studies leading to a medical degree. As she left UWCSEA she said, “The education system in this school has taught me to be a student who loves challenging myself, seeks out opportunities and is always well prepared for them. Moreover, we are taught to put our values into action through service and that is something that is meaningful to me and will always stay with me.”

The fourth and current UWCSEA scholar to benefit from the Miltons’ generosity and commitment to educating deserving

young people is Aquib, a young man from Guyana South America who arrived this August. He says, “When I heard that I had been offered a scholarship to UWCSEA, it was probably one of the most ecstatic days of my life so far … the one thought that struck was that this is the path to my future.”

Aquib will graduate from UWCSEA in 2019 and head off to university, Davit will graduate from Georgia Tech in 2021 and both will be followed on a regular basis by more outstanding students benefiting from the Miltons’ life changing endowed scholarships.

Given these opportunities, some of these students will no doubt go on to become future leaders in their field of study, career or community, bring positive change to their home countries or perhaps even become world leaders. As Aquib says, “[The Miltons] are giving the gift of education, which as Nelson Mandela said, ‘is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world’.”

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The second UWCSEA student to enter Georgia Tech on a Milton scholarship is Davit, a young man from Armenia who has just begun his

university studies in September 2017, majoring in Computer Science. We wish Davit a wonderful and rewarding journey ahead.

Illustrator and entrepreneur Christina Chung ’11 Christina’s website describes her thus: “Christina Chung is an illustrator based in Brooklyn, New York. Through a line and pattern-based style, she creates illustrations that are sensitive, delicate and infused with symbolism.

She spent her childhood blackberry-picking and pirouetting in the Pacific Northwest of the United States, her summers in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and her angst-filled adolescent years in the hot and sweaty melting-pot known as Singapore.

Photo credit: Micah Pegues

By Brenda Whately I spoke with Christina through email to find out a little more about her, her ‘pirouetting’ and her work.

After coming to Singapore from Seattle Washington with her family, Christina attended UWCSEA for seven years, graduating in 2011. Among the numerous other subjects, service and activities she was involved in, Christina studied Art throughout her years at UWCSEA. When asked if the College has had an influence on her eventual

She likes cats, coffee, Earl Grey tea, making to-do lists, devouring books and the smell of lavender.” choice of career, she says, “Needless to say Art was my favourite subject and IB Art absolutely set me on the path that I’m walking today. It was in IB Art that I first came across illustration both as a concept and as a viable career option.

My favourite art teacher from Grade 7 to 11, John Widder was fundamental in my eventual decision to continue my artistic studies through university. I also think the unique and varied education I received at UWCSEA helped me to continue to think out of the box beyond my years spent there.”

After graduation, Christina returned to the US, this time to Brooklyn New York where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Communications Design with a concentration in Illustration, from the Pratt Institute. She has remained in New York City since, working as a freelance illustrator. Starting out in editorial illustration, creating work for newspapers and magazines, both in print and online, Christina has since branched out into creating work for gallery shows as well as illustrating book covers and designing silk scarves featuring some of

Cover photo: Christina Chung’s illustration, ‘The Celestial River’, created for a gallery exhibition entitled ‘Parallel’. Christina’s interpretation of the theme of parallel worlds was to create this piece examining the question, ‘What if what we know as our reality was turned upside down and in a parallel universe we turn our heads upward to see fish swim through a river in the sky?’

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‘Adam and Eve’ an illustration Christina created for TED, about the relationship between Adam and Eve, examining their love for each other beyond the traditional story.

style and approach to her art-making, elements of which can still be seen in her current professional work. An accomplished thinker and writer in addition to being a top visual artist, it comes as no surprise but with great pride, to see Christina as a successful illustrator within the highly competitive New York City market.”

her designs, in addition to her editorial work. She has an impressive set of clients for that work including The New York Times, TED, Scientific American and Amazon Publishing.

When asked why she has chosen to remain in New York City, she says, “New York is a wonderful and rewarding place for an illustrator. Brooklyn specifically is home to a huge number of young creatives like myself, but of course the entirety of New York City is historically an epicenter of art. I love living in a city surrounded by creatives from all walks of life that I can identify with, learn from and be inspired by. I also love the fast-paced lifestyle of New York City; the constant buzz of energy keeps me productive and inspired.”

John Widder, Head of Art at UWCSEA met up with Christina and a few other former UWCSEA art students in New York City last year. He has this to say about Christina, “While some students seek notoriety by grand works of art on a massive scale, Christina earned

‘Nuwa’ a portrait of the Chinese mythological figure, Nuwa, created as a personal piece by Christina. Nuwa’s tale describes the origin of humankind and how she saves her children from certain death.

Christina with teacher John Widder and four other UWCSEA alumni.

accolades for putting in exceptionally strong research in “the book”; the IB Sketchbook that contains all of the research and practice that serious practitioners will perform to be sure their work is both conceptually and technically grounded. The Studio Work that resulted is still clear in my mind, now many years later. In her major work dealing with her place with Asia, she dealt with journeys and the effects of Chairman Mao. Through her nearflawless research and development process, she discovered a personal

When referring to UWC values, Christina mentioned that, “From time to time I like to donate my work to non-profit organisations or publications that write about or work on issues that I care about.” It appears that the UWC values are alive and well in her. And I am very glad that this is one of the ways in which she expresses those values since she has donated to us the use of her illustrations for this publication. Thanks Christina!

Oh, and her pirouetting? A childhood of ballet.

For more information and to view more of Christina’s amazing work, please visit: http://www.christina-chung.com/

‘Pulsenet’ an illustration for Eater, about technology that the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States uses in order to prevent the spread of food borne illnesses.

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GRADUATION 2017 Arjun Krishnan ’17 Dover graduation speaker

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“The important thing is that we never let ourselves as a community and movement become indifferent or apathetic. We cannot become accepting of nor apologists for structures, or institutions or systems when they are clearly broken. You may—from time to time—wonder whether your efforts are making any difference.

The problems are big and they are complex. At those moments, it may be helpful to you to reflect upon the thoughts of one freedom fighter, Vaclav Havel—a playwright—who became the first president of the Czech Republic. He wrote: ‘Anyone who claims that I am a dreamer who expects to transform hell into heaven is wrong. I have few illusions, but I feel a responsibility to work towards the things I consider good and right. I don’t know whether I’ll be able to change certain things for the better, or not at all.

Both outcomes are possible. But there is only one thing I will not concede: that is, that it’s meaningless to strive in a good cause.’”

Sumi Dhanarajan ’90, Dover Graduation guest speaker. An alumna of UWCSEA, international development practitioner and lawyer, Sumi has dedicated her career to social justice causes.

576

Graduates

42

Scholars

64

Nationalities

Kavya Deshpande ’17 East graduation speaker

Kishore Mahbubani, East Graduation guest speaker Dean of Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, Former Chair of the UWCSEA Board of Governors, Parent of two UWCSEA alumni

Class of 2017, I have learned two important lessons that I hope resonate with you: First, you’re never too young to start making a difference that your heart desires … Do it while the fuel is burning in your heart to make that change! Because if you don’t, it will fade.

And second, we often glamorise global service, but you can make a difference in your home communities as well … It won’t be easy, but all obstacles can be overcome if you keep working hard, keep being hopeful and remember why it is so important to make that local impact.”

Kimheang Chham ’16, East Graduation alumna speaker

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“… We have so many global crises, from climate change to global financial crisis, from pandemics to global terrorism, all these are happening … And this is why it’s very important for graduates of the United World College to try, to strive to achieve global leadership positions. Because while you are in college, as you look around this room, you accept the different nationalities, you accept the different costumes—effortlessly—and you know that at the end of the day we live on one small planet, planet Earth. And if we screw up planet Earth, we don’t have planet ‘B’ to go to. So I hope that after you leave the school and as you progress in your life, you will always remember the values of the United World College. Take them with you and when you achieve positions of power, please take care of planet Earth. And with that, let me offer you my warmest congratulations.”

“ … [Through my time at UWCSEA] I learned that there is so much that every individual can do to help make the world a better place and every single person has the power to do that and I am one of them. I got to learn so much about myself and the world … through IfP [Initiative for Peace], Round Square and even just taking care of each other as a family in the boarding house … And this is why I took a gap year. I returned back to Cambodia to initiate an IfP conference to empower youth in Cambodia to bring about change to our country through service. I want every single one of you to know that you can make a change. But don’t do it because you’re told to, do it because an issue is concerning you or because your heart just wants to help those in need …

An interview with Pandit Mami ’10

By Linda de Flavis UWCSEA University Advisor

“You never knew from one moment to the next if you would be alive or dead. Any second you could be the one shot. I still wonder why I was the lucky one when so many of my friends were killed.”

These were the first words I heard Pandit Mami say, back in 2009. He was addressing a group of UWCSEA students and teachers at a forum on Sierra Leone, and it was not only his story, told so matter-of-factly, that kept the room spellbound, but also his energy and spirit. Like other Sierra Leonean scholars back in the early 2000s, Pandit had been trapped in the middle of a long and brutal civil war fought over control of the diamond industry. It affected his childhood, changed his future, and seemed at various points to rob him of all his hopes. But his innate capacity for joy remained strong.

Years later Pandit is still one of the most exuberant and compassionate individuals I know. He has a special way of dealing with a difficult past and transforming it into a positive source of activism. Here is his story.

Tell us about your life before you came to UWCSEA.

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Before UWC, I was mired in a world of uncertainty. My dad had suffered a stroke and lost his speech in 1998.

From that time on, I became his walking stick and his mouth piece. Our family depleted all our savings to nurse him back to health, but that never happened and he eventually died in 2004.

I can still recall seeing my older siblings dropping out of school as the financial constraint began to kick in. We were forced to move to the slums and lived under deplorable conditions—no electricity or indoor plumbing, and our roof leaked when it rained. I studied under candlelight and kerosene lamps.

I became accustomed to walking miles to school on an empty stomach. I remained in school solely through the goodwill of some of my dad’s friends.

Then you came to UWCSEA. What was that transition like?

I couldn’t possible have fathomed what to expect. And quite frankly, I don’t

think I could have prepared adequately, either. The problem was never about academics. I was ill-equipped for the technological savviness required for IB. I didn’t know how to use a computer and I had no clue how the internet worked. I can still remember my first Theory of Knowledge assignment: we were asked to write a six-page essay and I remember staying up all night typing one letter at a time.

With sheer determination I was able to face the challenges that I met through my UWC journey with the right attitude.

They gifted me with the burning passion to invest in my nation’s human capital through the vehicle of education and technological awareness.

UWC dovetailed critical thinking and technological savviness in an international and multicultural environment and gave me the tools to connect with all people regardless of gender, culture, religion, socio-economic status, sexual orientation, or political affiliation.

After UWCSEA, you went on to study on a scholarship at a US college.

Which were the pivotal experiences there that led you to where you are now?

At Colby College, I studied Political Science, minoring in Religious and Jewish Studies. I’ve encouraged other Sierra Leonean National Committee scholars to explore new areas of studies, not just the natural sciences. UWCers won’t make a significant impact in their native countries if they’re not calling the shots in every major field of study.

We can only be change makers if we’re at the vanguard of policy reforms in our home countries. If not, we’ll spend our days as spectators, criticising everything from the sidelines—something I would never opt for and no one should.

Tell us more about the scholarship program, Ngoyeaa Back to School Foundation.

I started the Ngoyeaa scholarship initiative in November 2016. The word “Ngoyeaa” is from the Mende language,

Left to right: Pandit speaking at UWCSEA Graduation 2010; Pandit with, and giving a motivational speech to a group of High School students in Sierra Leone.

a Sierra Leonean dialect, and means the same as “Ubuntu”. It captures the essence of our humanity and compassion to others. It’s evocative of what we want to accomplish in Sierra Leone: bringing hope through education.

It’s a pilot program focused on students within the Aberdeen community in Freetown. Over time we hope to expand it into a nationwide initiative.

The program began after my trip to Sierra Leone in October of 2016 when I saw first-hand how shaken and tattered my nation had been by the Ebola virus.

I knew something had to be done to mitigate the suffering of Ebola orphans and underprivileged children. These kids were becoming susceptible to gang recruitment, drug addiction, sexual harassment, assault, and petty crime.

At Ngoyeaa, we believe that education should be a right for every child regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and religion. In the past six months, we’ve sponsored 24 beneficiaries, selected based on their potential and the severity of their circumstances. We use funds raised to pay school fees and buy uniforms and books for the students. We also assign mentors to motivate them to work hard in school. The mentors help the students with their homework, pay regular visits to their schools and attend PTAs and other school functions. We want our beneficiaries to succeed.

We also have non-Sierra Leonean mentors abroad who contact these

children once or twice a month to facilitate cross-cultural learning and multiculturalism. Inspired by the UWC model, we believe that cultural interaction and internationalism should be at the epicentre of any educational model in the 21st century.

What was the impact of your UWCSEA education on the life you lead now?

UWCSEA has forever changed the way I see the world and make sense of contemporary events. It made me realise that we’re participants in history, not bystanders—and we should never believe that it’s the responsibility of others to right the wrongs of society. All of us should make it our point of duty to mitigate the suffering of others and heal our world.

For more information about Pandit’s Ngoyeaa Foundation, please visit: https://www.crowdrise.com/back-toschool-foundation

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Their plight resonated with me because during my dad’s illness I owed my own education to the largesse of certain individuals who invested in me to ensure that I became a constructive member of society. They inspired me to become

an advocate of investing in the lives of others. So, before returning to the US, I met up with some of these kids, listened to their plight, and made a pact with them that if they were willing and ready to go back to school and work hard, I would raise the funds to see them through school and college.

Measuring the impact of a In 2015, UWCSEA formed a partnership with researchers from the Harvard Graduate School of Education to investigate the impact of the UWC educational experience on students and society. The study was exploratory, intended to build a general understanding of impact and lead to the design of a more in-depth longitudinal study.

questions were concerned with, is only part of the purpose of the UWC mission, which depends on the community transforming these values into action.

However, though not sufficient, it is necessary, and can be seen as the first step in the process of developing ethical individuals with a bias for action who can fulfil the UWC mission.

The initial research questions were defined in terms of ethical values, with particular focus on: commitment to care (for self, others and the environment); moral principles, ethical judgement and decision-making; and perceptions, representations and concern for (social) justice. After surveying nearly 1,000 alumni and just under 2,000 students, interviewing more than 50 students and working with UWC-USA, UWC Red Cross Nordic and UWC Waterford Kamhlaba, the researchers have published an exploratory study report.

Here are some of the key insights.

The majority of respondents do believe that their values play out in their daily lives (though this finding particularly suffers from the issue of self-reporting).

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Respondents overwhelmingly believe that their experience at UWC had a significant impact on their ethical values and that they incorporate these values into their daily lives.

The vast majority (more than 80%) of UWCSEA respondents feel that they are developing—or have developed— important ethical values, both as defined by respondents themselves in their open-ended responses and as defined through the questions on the survey. In addition, approximately 75% of respondents indicated that UWCSEA either ‘quite a bit’ or ‘very much’ helped to develop their ethical values.

The development of ethical values, even the specific ones that the research

There is remarkable consistency between students and alumni across all schools in terms of their belief that their ethical values were developed at UWC, which kind of values were developed and their definitions of what constitutes a ‘better world.’

The correlation between the guided questions (where respondents were selecting from a limited list) and the open-ended questions (where respondents, either in survey or in interview, were inputting their own ideas) showed consistency both within and between responses. In other words, UWC students and alumni have similar views on how UWC impacts on them and similar definitions of that impact.

Perhaps most tellingly, the open-ended question “what would a better world look like to you?” stimulated consistent responses across all schools, regardless of other factors. While there are some methodological flaws that may have resulted in ‘priming’ of respondents, the level of consistency of response points to a very real, unified point of view, which can be directly related to the UWC mission and values.

UWC education The commonality of shared ethical values appears to override differences in gender, selection process, scholarship status, educational model or country of origin.

This finding is potentially hugely significant and needs further analysis through a more long-term study to be proven.

It appears that length of time at the school might be a factor influencing impact on students and alumni, with those spending a longer time at the school reporting a more significant impact. It also appears that the number of countries respondents lived in prior to joining a UWC is a factor influencing impact, with students who have lived in more countries reporting a smaller impact of the UWC experience than those who are living in another country for the first time. These two findings make intuitive sense: that both degree of immersion in a programme and experience prior to a programme would make a difference is sensible.

Key experiences contributing to the impact include service experiences, specific conversations that emerge during the academic programme and the experience of being in a multi-

When asked which specific experiences contributed to the impact, respondents repeatedly referred to the service programme, conversations that particular topics stimulate in class (as opposed to academic content per se) and the diversity of the student body.

Those who experience boarding talk about the impact of learning to live with people with different backgrounds and expectations from their own. While a causal relationship is far from proven, these areas are worth exploring further to see if it is possible to connect specific experiences with specific impacts.

It is also interesting to consider the UWC-specific nature of some of these experiences: are they being replicated in other educational environments?

Impact on society is as yet unclear.

While it appears that UWC students and alumni do have a positive impact on society (the service activities of students alone would suggest a not insignificant contribution), the problems of self-reporting and a lack of control group make it difficult to draw any real conclusions in this area. For example, when asked whether or not they volunteer, 50% of respondents said they do and 50% said they do not; there is no pattern between respondents who volunteer and those who do not and it is therefore impossible to understand whether or not the UWC experience contributes to this urge to ‘give back’ (and indeed, volunteering is not necessarily the best way to measure ‘giving back’). Equally, the patterns in

the sector respondents work in can be more easily traced to their individual background than to their UWC experience. And, of course, there is no necessary relationship between the type of work an individual is engaged in and their impact on society.

The problem of measuring impact on society will need to be carefully considered during the next phase of the study.

What happens next?

The exploratory study provided some key learnings that will feed into study design for a more long-term assessment. UWC now has an ongoing partnership with the Harvard Graduate School of Education and the Good Project to develop the next stage, a four-year study with two strands: • Follow a single cohort, before entry into Grade 11 and again on exit from Grade 12 to assess changes in, or development of, particular ethical attitudes and behaviours.

• A limited sectional study focused on students 5, 15 and 25 years after their UWC experience to assess how behaviours and choices they have made in their working and personal lives relate to our understanding of how society can be impacted by the behaviour of individuals or groups.

This project, as well as measuring the impact of a UWC education on students and society, will also contribute to knowledge in this key area of education and ethics.

December 2017 OneºNorth 14

What was more surprising is that gender, how a student is selected, whether or not they receive financial support, which educational model (K–12 or 11–12) they experience or where they are from, all appear to be negligible in terms of their influence on the impact. There is further exploration to be done here, but at this initial stage, it appears that the power of the UWC experience transcends other factors in terms of lasting impact on the ethical values of students and alumni.

cultural and multi-lingual environment with people from diverse backgrounds and experiences.

Year in review A sample of life on our campuses during the 2016/2017 academic year.

Changing the Game John O’Sullivan spoke at UWCSEA to share his inspiring messages on children and sports through a series of presentations and workshops. The qualities of resilience and self-awareness, as well as the skills of collaboration and self-management are at the forefront of UWCSEA’s sports programme.

A few interesting stats 5,525 students across both campuses | 3,725 families | 99 nationalities | 69 languages spoken | 341 boarders | 102 scholars | 769,000+ student hours spent overseas in outdoor education expeditions | 1,872 activities | 111 local Service partners | 100 College Services | 166 Global Concerns | Average IB score May 2017 is 37 compared to worldwide average of 30.

IDEAS Hub

Pulau Ubin, conserve or develop?

The IDEAS Hub, funded by gifts from the UWCSEA community opened in late 2016. It is a unique space at Dover Campus that inspires and supports creators from the College and the community. The Hub provides a variety of facilities and specialist areas including collaboration and fabrication zones, a coding and robotics area, two green screen film studios and a presentation space.

Grade 10 students from Dover Campus investigated this question as part of their Geography course. Collecting both qualitative and quantitative data, they agreed that this was a valuable natural ecosystem which should be conserved.

The Community of Theatre

Building bridges with boarders

15 OneºNorth December 2017

More than 40 UWC National Committee (NC) students in East Campus have been ‘adopted’ by a Primary School class, strengthening community bonds between students of different ages and celebrating the diversity of the College. The K1 group has been learning about the life of a boarder and what life is like in that student’s home country.

Community Fair

The East High School Drama and Music departments staged two impressive theatre productions in December and February—Macbeth and Jesus Christ Superstar. The common theme that emerged from the students involved was ‘community’. The experience of coming together as cast, crew and musicians, sometimes with little else in common, can forge a unique bond and community among those involved.

The Parents’ Association Dover placed sustainability centre stage in planning its biggest event of the year. The focus of the Fair revolved around the 5Ps of the UN Sustainable Development Goals—partnership, planet, people, peace and prosperity.

New Grade 7 unit of study, ‘Sustainability and Systems Thinking’ This Humanities unit establishes strong links between the subject and the UWC mission and values. It builds on the wealth of experience, understanding, and opinions already held by our students by this age as well as the beliefs and values already being put into action. It is just one of the stepping stones in the K1 to Grade 12 curriculum standard.

OPUS Once again, the choral and instrumental performances at the annual OPUS concert showcased the amazing talent of our students and staff.

Family Festival

UN Night UN Night continues to be an annual spectacle of food and dance from around the world.

UWCSEA East has been working with Daraja as a Global Concern (GC) for four years. Daraja Academy is a secondary school in Kenya that provides education, opportunity and independence to girls who may otherwise not be able to attend school.

During the Lunar New Year 2017 service trip to Daraja, UWCSEA students further strengthened their bond with the students there and gained insights into their joy, determination and belief that education is a gift.

To read more community news, see UWCSEA Perspectives at https:// perspectives.uwcsea.edu.sg

December 2017 OneºNorth 16

The Parents’ Association East hosted 3,000 attendees at their anniual Festival in March. Global Concerns and Focus groups showcased their work and that of their partner organisations and several sustainability-focused College Service groups were on hand to share the work they do in composting and gardening as well as to support the event’s minimal waste objectives.

Service visit to Daraja School

From biomedicine to F&B

By Brenda Whately

Ralph Monthienvichienchai ’06 How must it feel to join a new school at the age of 11 without being able to understand or speak a word of the language? Ralph Monthienvichienchai knows the answer to this. He arrived at UWCSEA from Bangkok Thailand in 1999 at the age of 11, speaking only Thai, without a word of English. He says, “I was told to reply “I don’t know” to everything, and that was my response when I was first asked ‘What is your name?’ Something I can never take back!”

Ralph soon learned to speak and understand English and remained at UWCSEA until 2006 when he graduated with his IB diploma. He began his further education at University College London where he earned a BA (Hons) in Biomedical Science in 2009, followed by a MSc with Distinction in International Health Management from Imperial College London.

I got in touch with Ralph when I heard that he was working in the food and beverage (F&B) industry, to find out a bit more about his switch from Biomedical Science to F&B. Do you feel that UWCSEA influenced your choice of study at university?

My biology teacher, Cathy Elliott sparked an interest in the sciences, particularly biochemistry. Coupled with my work for Underprivileged Children of Vietnam (UCoV), a Global Concern (GC) that I co-founded, Biomedicine was something that really spoke to me. Visiting the children that our GC supported, post-donation and operation and experiencing the gratefulness and tears from their parents/guardians, is a memory that has imprinted on me immensely. The school and its philosophy definitely came together to play a major part in the decision to pursue this area of study.

17 OneºNorth December 2017

How did you get into the F&B industry?

My mother started a small café as a passion project after quitting a dreaded banking job during my time at UWCSEA and steadily grew it from there. This inspired me to pitch a health food-related enterprise for a business plan competition during my MSc programme at Imperial College London. After having won the competition, I decided to look into this area seriously.

The win was very unexpected as our competitors were proposing cutting edge science innovation. But as they say, food speaks to everybody and is something that everyone can relate to.

and paying an extortionate amount of rising rent (currently it is triple what it was when I started), I relocated the café into a boutique theatre, The Arts Theatre, in Leicester Square. With the experience I gained from this, I felt that I had enough confidence and knowledge in the industry to open the food business that I have always dreamed of.

Do you believe that your studies helped you on this path?

I believe that the BSc actually provided me the skill set required for running a business. The degree was extensive in its content, hence time management and multitasking became routine, as well as thinking on my feet to resolve issues and find new solutions to the problem at hand. Experimenting with our chefs in the kitchen is comparable to working in a lab, plus the results more often than not, are delectably rewarding.

Can you describe what you do and where, in terms of your current work?

Currently, the latest venture in London’s Victoria district is On Canteen, an eatery serving healthy modern Asian/Chinese food and French patisserie. The philosophy behind the brand is to focus on sourcing local seasonal ingredients, using no artificial flavouring or additives. All our products are made in small batches to ensure the freshness and quality of every dish.

In addition, I travel back and forth to Singapore to help grow my mother’s restaurants, Folks Collective. It now has four outlets, all based in the CBD. Folks Collective is a modern Thai food concept where each restaurant is inspired by a period in time. We are aiming to pioneer a contemporary image of Thai cuisine and to challenge the limited scope of what a Thai restaurant has to be.

What are your future plans?

On Canteen is looking to grow in London and I am keen to bring the business concept back to Singapore.

Folks Collective is in the process of securing further outlets to bring our food outside the financial district. It has now become a full-time family business with my brother Akira, UWCSEA Class of ’08, and father joining in to help grow the brand.

Have you done any service work and/or interesting travel since UWCSEA? Honestly, heading back to the UWCSEA campus has been the most interesting travel I have done in years! I wish I had been born later so I could attend the College now!

What has your path been?

Folks Collective is currently working to set up ties with a charity assisting children in need in northern Thailand. Watch this space!

Straight out of university, I set up a healthy desert café MADD in the heart of London’s Soho district. After three years in Soho

More information about Ralph’s and his family’s restaurants can be found at www.oncanteen.com and www.folkscollective.com

Hollywood producers and directors Giritharan Sripathy ’06, Producer After graduating from UWCSEA in 2006, Giri completed his Singapore National Service commitment before entering New York University’s (NYU) Tisch School of Arts in 2009, taking minors in business and politics and focusing mainly on the pursuit of his dream of acting. There, Giri found success in several performances, and forged many lasting relationships that would pivot his career when he moved to Los Angeles after graduating in 2013.

During the production of a pilot television program in which he was not only a supporting actor but also served as an executive producer, he found that he had a talent for producing films. From there, he began his own production company Ball and Chain Productions. He first produced The Good Neighbor, starring James Caan (The Godfather, Misery), which had its world premier at the South by Southwest Film festival in 2015 and was subsequently released theatrically in the US later in the year, and has gone on to produce Permission starring Rebecca Hall (Vicky, Christina Barcelona, The Town) and Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey, Beauty and The Beast), and Tilt starring Joseph Cross (Lincoln, Milk), both of which premiered at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival and are slated for release in early 2018. He recently wrapped his latest project, JT Leroy, starring Kristen Stewart (Twilight, Cafe Society), Laura Dern (Big Little Lies, Jurassic Park), Diane Kruger (Troy, Inglourious Basterds, In the Fade) and Jim Sturgess (Across The Universe, Cloud Atlas).

We were delighted to welcome Giri back to UWCSEA in 2017 to speak to a Grade 11 IB Film class as part of our alumni mentor programme.

Daniel Grove ’03, Director Daniel says he has always been a theatre kid, participating in Art, Music and Drama at UWCSEA. “My first real cameo was singing the Ken part to I’m a Barbie Girl in a UWCSEA production of The Bridge to Terabitha.”

He did not choose to study performing arts at Sydney University, instead reading Philosophy and Media, but his interest remained and eventually led him to LA and to film directing. He quips, “Directing felt like a good way to combine my otherwise useless skills!”

Daniel has recently moved to Berlin after more than eight years in LA, to work in the German TV industry. He says, “Germany has an incredibly rich culture and a society willing to learn from the past and there’s an opportunity for American trained foreign voices like myself to have a say, particularly in these daunting times.”

December 2017 OneºNorth 18

In July 2017, Daniel released his feature directorial debut, The Persian Connection in US theatres. He made the film in Los Angeles because “The film was very much inspired by the geo-politics of LA. I was influenced by the great neo-noirs like Taxi Driver and Chinatown and I wanted to make an LA noir influenced also by my own experience of LA.”

London (November ’16)

Singapore (December ’16)

Seoul (February ’17)

University Alumni Week (January ’17)

Dover Alumni Careers Week (February–March ’17)

Tokyo (February ’17)

Kuala Lumpur (April ’17)

East Alumni Careers Week (February–March ’17)

RECENT ALUMNI EVENTS around the globe

Jakarta (May ’17)

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Alumni Awareness Week (March–April ’17)

Melbourne (September ’17)

Bangkok (June ’17)

University Alumni Week (June ’17)

London (March ’17)

REUNION 2017 celebrated the Classes of 1977, 1982, 1987, 1992, 1997 and 2007 in August

December 2017 OneยบNorth 20

ALUMNI GIVING Below are just a few stories which highlight how support from our alumni community is helping to enrich diversity at the College through the Scholarship Programme, expand the reach of our environmental initiatives and enhance the learning experience for all.

S$590,361 Gifts from alumni in 2016/2017

21%

Of 2016/2017 donors are alumni

53% 21 OneºNorth December 2017

Of Reunion 2017* attendees participated in Reunion Class Giving

* Reunion 2017 celebrated the Classes of ’72, ’77, ’82, ’87, ’92, ’97 and ’07.

To support others to experience a UWC education …

To support the health of our planet …

Sisters, Nang Lang Kham ’07, Nang Kham Noung (Marlene) ’09 and Nang Mo Hom ’14, created a two-year scholarship for a student from their home country of Myanmar.

Solar for Dover is a student-led initiative, which aims to reduce the carbon emissions of the College.

What began as one student’s Grade 5 Exhibition of Learning project has grown into a College-wide movement to increase our use of solar energy.

“A United World College education is a unique way of learning that prepares every student for the wider world. As students, we were not only taught a varied curriculum but also the core values of mutual respect, integrity and investing back into our community. For our family, the decision to sponsor a scholarship was an obvious choice. As it has provided us with an opportunity to pay it forward and provide a student with an invaluable education that will set them up for life.”

Leon Le Mercier ’94, made a gift to the Scholarship Programme to enable more students to experience a UWC education.

“Exposure at such a formative time in your life to so many cultures, beliefs and attitudes give you a different outlook on life. I believe that if you can help kids from less-privileged backgrounds to attend the College, and they then take the UWC values back to positively impact their communities, it can be a game changer.

It could solve a lot of problems in the world.”

Since 2014, over 500 panels have been installed on Dover Campus through the student-led Solar for Dover programme.

Having just passed the half-way point of this ambitious plan, the students are already seeing fantastic results with the panels providing enough energy to light 70 classrooms.

The alumni community has been incredibly supportive of this initiative by adopting a total of 83 panels and contributing S$60,000 in donations towards Solar for Dover.

Jorge Vizcaino, ’87, chose to adopt a panel.

“As a former student of UWCSEA, I firmly believe in the mission and goals of UWCSEA and their support for renewable energies. The Solar for Dover project exemplifies this mission and is a valuable step in empowering our young citizens of the world. By creating a world consciousness of these renewable sources of energy, it will ultimately make a difference in the health of our planet”.

To support promising students of refugee and/or stateless status to build a future with a UWC education …

Earlier this year, UWCSEA joined forces with the global UWC movement to launch the UWC Refugee Initiative.

The UWCSEA Kay Everett Refugee Scholarship, named in memory of a member of the Class of 1991, a humanitarian lawyer who passed away in 2016, has created two UWC IB Diploma Scholarships. One, for a young girl, Nancy, from South Sudan, has been funded by an anonymous UWCSEA family. The second, for a young man Mahmoud from Palestine, has been funded by gifts from the College community.

Nancy, scholar from South Sudan

Mahmoud, scholar from Palestine

The Iain Ewing Memorial Endowment was established in the name of the father of a former UWCSEA student, to enable more scholars at UWCSEA to take part in the wide range of extracurricular activities on offer at the College. Kovenda, a Grade 11 scholar from Namibia was the first student to benefit from this fund and was able to develop his love of music through a songwriting workshop with Songwork International, a songwriting and music production company in Singapore.

“I believe in the UWC mission and values and although I can never thank you nor the school enough for the wonderful opportunities that you have brought into my life, I hope that one day I will be able to pay forward with gratitude what I cannot repay.”

To allow others to make the most of opportunities …

Fredrik Fosse ’03, Scholar from Norway, set up a scholarship enrichment endowment to ensure scholars following in his footsteps were able to make the most of all the UWC opportunities on offer to them.

“The UWC mission is as relevant as ever. I strongly believe that diversity of nations, cultures and socioeconomic background is key to giving the full UWC experience, and the scholarship programme is an integral part of this. The scholarship I received fifteen years ago gave me opportunities that now allow me to afford others the same.”

To leave a legacy …

Each year, the graduating classes on both campuses come together to leave a gift to those following in their UWC footsteps.

This year, the Class of 2017 on Dover chose to fund a mini rainforest nursery while their peers on East supported a new social area for High School students.

“The class gift has given our grade the opportunity to express our gratitude for the experiences and values UWCSEA has given us. We hope that the gift is something both sustainable and accessible to all.” Annabelle ’17 and Surabhi ’17, East.

“It feels great to give something back to the community that we’ve been a part of for years.” Reka ’17, Dover

For more information, visit www.uwcsea.edu.sg/supportus

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The support for this initiative, particularly from our alumni community has been humbling. The Class Gifts from Reunion 2017 in Singapore also raised considerable support for future refugee scholarship opportunities with 53% of reunion attendees making a gift.

To enable scholars to pursue passions outside the classroom …

THE DIFFERENCE GIVING MAKES There is transformational power in collective giving. Established in 2008, the UWCSEA Foundation manages philanthropic support for the College. All gifts advance the vital UWC mission and enrich the unique UWCSEA experience. Since its inception, the UWCSEA Foundation has coordinated over S$23 million in gifts. 100% of donations support the continued growth and development of the College.

Gifts support four priorities: Scholarships

Teaching and learning

Gifts enhance the diversity of UWCSEA through the Scholarship Programme, support refugee scholarship opportunities, and enable these experiences to be as rewarding as they can be.

Gifts support pioneering learning programmes, innovative staff professional development, and experiential learning initiatives that will equip students for life.

• The pioneering IDEAS Hub at Dover

Number of scholars

Number of countries scholars come from

130 110

102

95

92

108

110

• Professional development in Cognitive Coaching and Restorative practices

70

30

• Study into impact of the UWC experience by Harvard Graduate School of Education • Inspiring student speaker series

90

50

• Investment in Theatre programme

50

45

41

58

61

• Counselling programme on mental health • Chinese Culture and History programme • Experiential artist-in-residence programmes • Gifted and Talented project support

2013/2014

2014/2015

2015/2016

2016/2017

2017/2018

• Enterprise and Development Fund (EDF)

“Philanthropy has acted as a catalyst for so many extraordinary adventures, challenges and innovations at the College; from scholarships to sustainability to teaching and learning.”

Chris Edwards, Head of College

Sustainable Development

Endowment Fund

Gifts allow the College to develop exciting opportunities for our students to build the skills and understanding needed for shaping a sustainable future.

Gifts provide the freedom to seize opportunities as they emerge and support the long-term financial plan of the College so that future generations can benefit from a UWC education.

• Solar for Dover programme • Dover Green Heart infrastructure

23 OneºNorth December 2017

• Campus wide composting project • Marine Conservation programme • Biomimicry and biodiversity conservation • Rooftop garden • Adopt a Tree programme

Endowment fund value

$9m

$7.9m

$8m

$6.9m

$7m

$6.0m $6m $5m $4m

$5.4m $4.9m

2012/2013

2013/2014

2014/2015

2015/2016

2016/2017

MY UWCSEA JOURNEY: RE-IMAGINING THE POSSIBLE Ng’ang’a Muchiri ’04 “My two years at UWCSEA gave me an incredible experience in looking reality right in the face, and then creating big, fancy dreams that are whimsical yet true to my passions. I believe this is the spirit behind such activities as UWCSEA’s Initiative for Peace. In the real sense, what do a group of 16–18 year olds know about the Middle East peace process or the Kashmir crisis? And yet again, what if we re-organised the way we think about conflict resolution to include marginalised groups? How could we as a global community “do” world peace better if there was a seat at the negotiating table for people living with disabilities, for families devastated by the HIV/AIDS epidemic, for victims of mass incarceration? If these questions seem out of place, that is only because we have failed to re-imagine what’s possible. And that’s one thing the UWC movement is great at, helping us move beyond the present towards futures that are more aligned with our intrinsic values of justice, sustainability, equality, and kindness.”

Ng’ang’a Muchiri is an assistant professor, writer and photographer. He attended UWCSEA as a National Committee scholar from Kenya and then went on to achieve a BA in Engineering Studies and English at Lafayette College, a MA in English Language and Literature at the University of Miami and in 2015, a PhD in English Language and Literature from the University of Miami. He currently works as Assistant Professor of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, teaching courses in African Literature and pursuing research in East Africa’s land rights, African digital humanities and African visual and cultural studies.

Asked to describe his current activities and focus of work he says, “I have been photographing East Africa for the last two decades, starting before I left Kenya for Singapore, and all the

way through my gap year experience in Kigama. I love what photographs can do. They force strangers to hold conversations that enrich community; a picture can help heal political rifts just as easily as it can inflame civil strife. An image is a powerful metaphor for understanding the world around us.

And I truly believe that magic happens in galleries, museums, and photo exhibitions. For a short span of time, you see the public transformed into a vibrant collective. Because of how much museums can achieve, I have started an initiative called the Rift Valley Museum of Photography. Its raison d’etre is the production and dissemination of African-centered visual stories. I think there is a deep hunger for content that is responsive to the creative energy across the African continent.

In fact, I believe it’s quite possible for Rift Valley Museum of photography to grow into a network of 100 gallery spaces across 100 African cities by the year 2040! And that’s my goal.

My travel and my research have both had a lot to do with listening recently. I just did an amazing journey from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania to Lusaka, Zambia by rail. The TAZARA railway line is a relic of an older kind of global cooperation— between China, Tanzania, and Zambia. But travelling on it in 2017 you experience this wonderful tension of a region that is rapidly urbanising, while struggling to figure out what to keep and what to discard. And that conversation is happening in all sorts of interesting ways: the cuisine, the kinds of clothes people wear, how travelers deploy social media, etc. From a research perspective, I had an amazing time recording all sorts of interesting sounds/voices. The next step for me is to collate them into an online archive that incorporates some of the new work happening in the field of African Digital Humanities.”

To view some of Ng’ang’a Muchiri’s photography, visit www.nmuchiri.com

December 2017 OneºNorth 24

Mt Kenya Lenana Summit; Photo credit: Ng’ang’a Muchiri.

Outdoor Education at UWCSEA

By Patrick Read, Head of Expeditions How lucky we have been to be part of a school that regards outdoor education as one of its five core elements. Generations of UWCSEA students have enjoyed numerous expeditions and benefitted from the development they provide.

Across our two campuses the subject continues to grow and develop. The department includes ten full time instructors who work with teachers, students and parents. The College offers almost 400 overseas trips and expeditions each academic year. This equates to 700,000 student hours

overseas! Quantity is obvious, however quality of experience is always at the forefront of everyone’s mind. The College is very aware that the best trips require everyone’s input if they are to succeed.

Instructors, teachers, students, parents and third party providers all work together. Our commitment has founded the first outdoor forum for South East Asian Schools (OFFSEAS), and in 2016 we received global recognition in the ISOS Duty of Care Awards. Our systems of planning prior to trips, procedures during trips and reporting after them have been copied by many other schools and organisations.

The College has committed to a seven-year study of the impact of outdoor education which Oregon State University is undertaking on our behalf, and the results that are starting to emerge are proving extremely interesting. The papers that follow will be available for all alumni to read.

From Grade 1 to Grade 11, all students have an outdoor education experience as part of their curriculum. This starts with a sleepover at school and culminates in Project Week. The latter sees students travel on their own to over 120 different locations around

25 OneºNorth December 2017

Full-time instructor Nathan Frye’s insight regarding the Grade 7 Sea Kayaking expedition: I started working with the UWCSEA Grade 7 Sea Kayaking program in 2007 on Tioman Island, Malaysia. I had taught Sea Kayaking in Alaska, California, and Belize before coming to Tioman, but I was instantly impressed with the beauty and uniqueness of the place. I was equally impressed, if not more so, with UWCSEA and its community.

Over the last 10 years we’ve seen an already amazing program move forward year after year with the help of passionate leaders and educators.

In those 10 years we’ve moved the program to Sibu Island, we’ve improved the quality of equipment to make it more age and skill appropriate, we’ve improved our approaches to teaching and learning in kayaking to make it more

level appropriate, we’ve incorporated countless other activities into the program to alleviate activity fatigue, we’ve improved the level of training for students coming into the program to set them up for success, and we’ve curated a really stellar team of kayaking Instructors from all over the world to help our students get the most out of this experience.

Southeast Asia. Parents often report back to Outdoor Ed, describing a more resilient, determined, self-assured, calmer and positive child!

So how does this happen in such a relatively short period of time?

What’s happening? Why does outdoor education have such an impact on young persons? I would suggest there are numerous reasons but I’d like to highlight some we truly believe in. The following frame the outdoor curriculum: • Through exposure to nature, individuals can develop empathy and become environmental stewards

• By recognising and regulating the self, individuals can make decisions that support health and well-being • Healthy relationships develop a sense of belonging and contribute to individual and community well-being • Individuals and groups can engage in outdoor activities by developing and applying a set of practical skills—travel, navigation, camp craft, personal and group safety, and leadership, to name a few • All the above work toward a sustainable future for us all

There is no doubt that for most schools in the world the last two decades have seen an increasing emphasis on improving academic achievement and raising standardised test and examination scores. I would suggest that this has often given rise to a narrowed curriculum where active, experiential, in-context learning has been de-emphasised or even worse, eliminated. I think we can all be proud of UWCSEA for being ‘resilient’ and holding to its belief in the value of Outdoor Education. I would like to think that Kurt Hahn would be proud of all of us. However, I am sure he would be the first to tell us not to ‘rest on our laurels’!

Grade 7 Head of Grade Jabiz Raisdana had this to add:

December 2017 OneºNorth 26

to Right: Coal fires in a local basti; Coal cycle wallahs carry their load of scavenged coal; Savannah feeling the heat of the ground in Jharia “Throughout the From weekLeft kids learned so a group, jump off a jetty, bait a hook, a huge thank you to all the leaders many things—how to use a broom, start evacuate a campsite, clean a beach, and organizers of the Grade 7 trip to a fire, keep track of their things, do a motivate a group, motivate themselves Sibu. [My daughter] couldn’t have had full kayak roll, get up at sunrise and do … and so many things that I didn’t a more enriching experience. She left yoga, snorkel, make their own meals, notice.” excited but cautious, and she came back resolve small conflicts, put up a tent, invigorated, full of stories and more than The parent of one of the Grade 7 keep themselves clean, hydrated, and anything, happy and proud of what the students on the expedition last year safe from the elements. They learned group accomplished. She is still sharing wrote the following note to the Outdoor how to roll a sleeping mat, do things the more thoughts and observations now, Education team: “I just wanted to say right way, roast a marshmallow, sing as two weeks later. Thank you!”

Alumni ‘Reef Defenders’

By Brenda Whately

Adrian Chan ’14 Philip Woodhead ’06 While completing his SCUBA Dive Master qualifications in Hong Kong after graduating from UWCSEA in 2014, Adrian Chan was surprised and appalled to learn that blast fishing was still being practiced in many locations around the Asia Pacific region. In Hong Kong, he was told, it had started up again after being completely stopped in 2011.

A few months later as he headed off to Sydney Australia to attend the University of New South Wales (UNSW), he had this on his mind. He says, “UWCSEA was a significant part of my development but I feel it gave me a distorted view of the world.

I saw the world for how it should be, rather than how it actually is.” At the end of his first year at UNSW, he decided to head back to Hong Kong to instead work for the marine conservation and consultancy company Oceanway, where he had taken his diving lessons and interned, to learn more about blast fishing. He says, “It’s a very destructive method of fishing which kills not only the species being targeted but also the surrounding marine life and habitat. I wanted to find a sustainable way to put an end to it.”

Adrian set up his own NGO, Reef Defenders which now operates in Malaysia, Philippines, Hong Kong and Indonesia. Philip Woodhead, another UWCSEA alumnus and scuba diver who also works for Oceanway, soon joined him. Phil graduated from UWCSEA in 2006 and then studied International Relations at Leeds University, UK. He says, “I guess UWCSEA’s mission and values have been instilled into me as I am working in marine conservation and consultancy and with Reef Defenders, trying to eradicate blast fishing for a more sustainable future.”

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“What attracted me to Reef Defenders was Adrian’s unique way of resolving the blast fishing issue and the clear vision and plan he set out to achieve his goals. Reef Defenders is a group of young divers who have witnessed the destructive effects that blast fishing has on the coral reefs and the marine ecosystem. It is an illegal, non-sustainable and destructive fishing method. Our mission is to eradicate blast fishing in Southeast Asia. Instead of using the traditional method of enforcement however, where the local authorities try to catch and arrest the perpetrators, Adrian observed that most of these fishermen are doing it simply to survive, and whatever is left over, they sell. Many of the blast fishermen are teenagers. The idea of throwing teens in prison is not a satisfactory solution to anything.”

Their approach to learning more about the issue included interviewing some of the fishermen. Adrian says, “We used a non-confrontational approach, letting them know that we were not interested in catching them; that we were just interested in learning. Our data collection showed that most of the perpetrators are people who have had few opportunities. Instead

of trying to catch them, we need to come up with alternative ways for them to make a living.”

Reef Defenders monitors various sites by performing underwater surveys of the health of the coral and fish populations and installing equipment that measures pressure waves to detect the presence of blast fishing. They collect and record the data and prepare reports to submit to the local authorities. Adrian says, “We were amazed to find that in a 400-square kilometer area in a marine reserve in Malaysia, the detection equipment was recording thousands of blasts every month!”

Two UWCSEA alumni are working to implement sustainable options in place of destructive blast fishing.

They are already experiencing results. Phil says, “We have been successful in places like the Tunku Abdul Rahman Park and the island of Mabul in Malaysia where we have completely eradicated the problem of blast fishing.”

During the first quarter of 2017, Reef Defenders partnered with a Singaporean company, Oceanus Group Limited to integrate their vision of eradicating destructive fishing into Oceanus’ corporate social responsibility program. Oceanus has since integrated sea farmers into their supply chain and have committed to sustainable farming of abalones. Together Reef Defenders and Oceanus are working towards installing sustainable alternative livelihood programs integrating aquaculture, enabling food security and protecting natural resources.

Other successes of Reef Defenders include being featured as part of Discovery Channel’s Frontier Borneo series earlier this year and Adrian’s Excellence Award-winning poster presentation and paper presented in February 2017 at the IEEE/ OES 2017 International Symposium on Underwater Technology held in Busan, Korea, which was subsequently published in April 2017.

Their commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals has been realised through a voluntary commitment to the United Nations Ocean Conference which was accepted in June 2017 and published as part of the proceedings of the Conference.

For more information about Reef Defenders, please visit their website https://thereefdefenders.org and/or their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/ ReefDefenders.

Photos courtesy of Adrian Chan and Philip Woodhead

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Most recently, in September 2017, Adrian along with Oceanway Corporation’s director, presented at the Maritime Enforcement Security Workshop hosted by the US Pacific Command in Kota Kinabalu. From this interaction, Adrian says, “Three mother ships identified as carrying out destructive fishing practises have since been detained by the relevant authorities without any cost to life or child imprisonment.”

Banda Aceh scholars

Eight former Banda Aceh scholars visit UWCSEA

By Jon Parr In July 2016, eight alumni from Banda Aceh, Indonesia who attended UWCSEA on two or three year scholarships, came back to visit the College for a reunion thanks to Trafigura Asia Pacific who helped to organise the trip and Trafigura Foundation who generously supported their flights and accommodation. The eight former scholars had attended UWCSEA one after the other between 2005 and 2016, seven of the scholarships having been supported by the Trafigura Foundation.

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We were thrilled to give the eight former students a tour of the changes at the UWCSEA Dover campus and have them sign the alumni guest book. They were also given a tour of the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, a Learning through Reflection event where they shared their stories, and a cocktail and networking opportunity where they had the opportunity to meet with various VIPs, including the Ambassador of the Republic of Indonesia, the Minister Counsellor Economic Affairs of the Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia, the CEO of Trafigura Asia Pacific, the CEO of IE Singapore, and the Executive Director of Trafigura Foundation, as well as two members of the UWCSEA Board of Governors.

The first scholar who attended UWCSEA from Banda Aceh was Ikram who graduated in 2008. Ikram’s scholarship was supported by the Sampoerna Foundation. After UWCSEA he went on to graduate in 2012 from Earlham College with an undergraduate degree and to earn a Master’s degree from Columbia University in 2017.

The second Banda Aceh scholar was Rossa who graduated from UWCSEA in 2009. Rossa was the first of seven Trafigura Foundation supported scholars at UWCSEA. In 2013, Rossa graduated from Earlham College and went on to also earn a Master’s degree at Columbia University in 2017.

Lidya graduated with her IB from UWCSEA in 2010, her undergraduate degree from Earlham College in 2014 and her Master’s degree from the University of Indonesia in 2016. She is currently living in Aceh and planning to pursue her PhD. Rudhi graduated from UWCSEA in 2011 and from Earlham College in 2015. He is currently working in the field of Public Policy.

Irham was a 2012 graduate of UWCSEA who went on to graduate from St Olaf College in 2016 and is now living back in Aceh, working in the field of Forestry.

Amirah graduated in 2013 from UWCSEA and has just recently graduated from Earlham College in 2017.

Said graduated in 2015 from UWCSEA and is currently studying at NYU Abu Dhabi, planning to graduate from there in 2019.

The last UWCSEA Trafigura Foundation scholar from Banda Aceh was Rahmat who started at UWCSEA in 2013, graduated in 2016 and is currently studying at the University of Oklahoma with a projected graduation date of 2020.

The scholarship programme continues to grow at UWCSEA due to the generous support of our UWCSEA community and other charitable benefactors. This year, 110 scholars are receiving a UWC education thanks to support from the UWCSEA Community. Here at UWCSEA we have 102 scholars from 57 different countries, with an additional eight scholars at UWC Dilijan, UWC Mostar, UWC Costa Rica, Waterford Kamhlaba UWC and UWC Mahindra.

It is thanks to the commitment and generosity of our community that we are able to provide an even more enriching learning experience for our scholars and expand the scholarship programme each year. This investment in an education that empowers students is an investment in future leaders.

Hong Kong December 2017

Shanghai December 2017

Singapore December 2017

Yangon January 2018

Upcoming reunions

Seoul February 2018

Reunion 2018!

Eleventh annual milestone anniversary reunion. Celebrating the 45, 40, 35, 30, 25, 20 and 10 year anniversary classes.

New York February 2018

August 2018 The classes of 1973, 1978, 1983, 1988, 1993, 1998 and 2008 are invited to celebrate in Singapore in August 2018.

All seven classes will be welcomed at a Friday evening cocktail reception and buffet dinner party to kick off the weekend. On Saturday afternoon a barbecue lunch will be held at the Dover Campus of UWCSEA. Revisit your memories and a take a tour guided by current student members of our Student Alumni Council. Saturday night and Sunday are left open for the class group committees to plan your individual class year group activities.

Join us for a weekend of fun, fond memories and reconnection with old friends and new.

London March 2018

Amsterdam March 2018

Registration will open in Spring 2018.

Registration for all events is via the UWCSEA alumni website: http://alumni.uwcsea.edu.sg/events Check the website for more details, to view the regularly updated attendee lists and/or to register for an event. You may also contact the alumni office at reunion@uwcsea.edu.sg for information and registration. We hope to see you at an upcoming event soon!

Jakarta May 2018

Bangkok June 2018

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If you are not registered on the UWCSEA alumni website with an up-to-date email address and location, please send us that information by email to reunion@uwcsea.edu.sg so that we can keep you informed about alumni get-togethers in your location.

Don’t miss out!

Kuala Lumpur May 2018

Stay connected Websites and email www.uwcsea.edu.sg http://alumni.uwcsea.edu.sg alumni@uwcsea.edu.sg

Social media and app ‘official’ UWCSEA alumni page: UWCSEA Alumni various locationspecific groups: UWCSEA [location] Regional Alumni Group LinkedIn group: UWCSEA Alumni Community Twitter: @UWCSEA_Alumni UWC Hub: UWC.vineup.com

UWCSEA Dover 1207 Dover Road Singapore 139654

UWCSEA East 1 Tampines Street 73 Singapore 528704 Printed on recycled paper | MCI (P) 154/07/2017 | 005ALUMNI-1718