OneºNorth, Vol 8, July 2011

O One North Vol 8 July 2011

The Alumni Magazine of the United World College of South East Asia

Alumni Profiles Graduation 2011 Reunions Class Notes

Tim Jarvis

Polar Explorer and Environmental Scientist

OUR ONLINE COMMUNITY

Contents 2 Alumni services

Entrepreneur

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30 UWCSEA to me

Aashna Aggarwal (Class of 2012)

Prapti says good bye

31 Two UWCSEA Alumni Give Back

6 Life is an Adventure ...

Tim Jarvis (Class of 1984)

10 Awards Day 2011 Photos 12 Graduation 2011 Photos 14 Entrepreneur and Volunteer Other countries represented Albania, Argentina, Bahrain, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bolivia, Botswana, Brazil, Bulgaria, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Côte d’Ivoire, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Ghana, Guatemala, Guyana, Hungary, Iceland, Isle of Man, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Myanmar, Nepal, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, Oman, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Saint Helena, Saint Martin, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Slovenia, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Timor-Leste, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uruguay, Zambia, Zimbabwe

Alumni services Every student who leaves UWCSEA, regardless of how long they were here, is automatically a member of the UWCSEA alumni community. Some of the services that we offer alumni include: OneºNorth The Alumni Magazine of the United World College of South East Asia, first published in December 2007, is published twice per year. Please send your contributions and/or suggestions to: alumnimagazine@uwcsea. edu.sg.

UWCSEA alumni online community Our password-protected alumni website located at http://alumni.uwcsea.edu.sg allows you to maintain your own profile, search for and contact other registered members, post photos and blogs, stay informed about news and events, etc.

Friends of UWCSEA online community The ‘Friends of UWCSEA’ passwordprotected website located at http:// friends.uwcsea.edu.sg allows parents of former students to stay in touch with each other and with the College.

Jorge Vizcaino (Class of 1987)

Alumni eBrief The Alumni eBrief is a newsletter emailed to alumni throughout the year, containing brief news and information to keep you updated and informed.

Dunia The College magazine is published four times during the academic year, containing College news and reports of events and activities, as well as a brief alumni section.

Mentor opportunities Volunteer to be listed in the mentor section of the alumni site 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.

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

Anita Kapoor (Class of 1989) Paul Foster (Class of 1999)

32 A Model United Nations Experience

Shipra Khanna (Class of 2012)

34 In Pursuit of Health and Wellness Mubina Jiwa (Class of 1996)

36 Nine Days to Knowing

by Iain Ewing (Parent of alumnus)

16 Cheering up children with books 38 Junior Round Square

Kimiko Fujioka Matsui (Class of 1985)

by Julia Matheson (Teacher) 18 Paddleboarding for the Mentawais 39 UWCSEA Foundation Update

by Greg Town (Class of 1990) 40 A Post in the Tropics 21 Serendipity

by Ivan Moore (Class of 1981)

Reunions and get-togethers A reunion of the 40, 30, 20 and 10 year anniversary classes will be held each August in Singapore. Other alumni are also welcome. Additional class reunions and alumni gatherings take place in various locations throughout the year, planned by both UWCSEA and its alumni. Watch the alumni website for updates and details, and let us advertise your events!

Luke Janssen (Class of 1994)

Letter from the Head Read about UWCSEA today.

5 Note from the Alumni office

Number of registered members on the UWCSEA Alumni website (by country of residence)

2 8 Accountant to Mobile Apps

Helping you to stay connected to UWCSEA and to each other.

Mike Gibby (Biology Teacher)

22 A Kaleidoscope of College Events 41 Class Notes 42 Teacher Leavers 24 Past Mini Reunions 43 Upcoming Reunions 26 UWCSEA, UBC, Rhodes Scholar Aneil Jaswal (Class of 2007)

Gap Year-type opportunities for alumni Check the Volunteer page of the website for short to long term volunteer work opportunities in South East Asia working with organisations supported by UWCSEA. Old Interscols Order your old interscol in soft copy format via the store on the website.

Visits, tours and other requests We are always happy to help in any way we can. Send your requests to us at alumni@ uwcsea.edu.sg. If you are in Singapore and would like to drop in for a visit or a tour of the campus, we would be more than happy to show you around anytime.

Please keep in touch!

OneºNorth is published by United World College of South East Asia twice per year 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. We welcome your feedback. Send your comments to alumnimagazine@uwcsea.edu.sg.

Editor Brenda Whately

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

Layout Lenca Yew, Gregory Parker

Cover photo: Tim Jarvis, Class of 1984, walking unsupported across the Antarctic.

Printed by Interprint Communications Pte Ltd

Photo supplied by: Tim Jarvis. Photo credit: Malcolm McDonald.

Assistant Editor Prapti Sherchan

MICA (P) 051/11/2010

Note

from the Alumni Office

Letter

It has been a busy and eventful few months since the last issue.

from the Head of College

First, some alumni team news. Although I am extremely sorry to see a very valued member of the team leave the alumni department this month, it is for an exciting reason. Prapti Sherchan will be heading off soon to begin her Master’s Degree studies in the US. She will be greatly missed. I am sure that those of you who have gotten to know her over the past four years will join me in wishing her all the very best in everything she goes on to do.

“I regard it as the foremost task of education to insure the survival of these qualities: an enterprising curiosity, an undefeatable spirit, tenacity in pursuit, readiness for sensible self denial, and above all, compassion.”

Kurt Hahn

Life at the College moves on apace as we continue to develop the educational experience for the students. However much the physical environment of the Dover Campus has changed over the years, the deep underlying philosophy of the College is still firmly based in the Hahnian philosophy.

Prapti Sherchan, Siti Aminah and Brenda Whately.

As part of the process for seeking accreditation with the Council of International Schools, we reviewed our guiding statements, in itself an interesting exercise, but made more meaningful by the fact that we are in the process of writing the next College strategic plan. In rewriting the guiding statements we believe we have encapsulated the spirit of Hahn’s intent when he established Salem School back in the 1920s.

Another academic year has ended and we have another cohort of more than three hundred new alumni. In this issue we have included a few pages of awards day and graduation day photos.

As a College we aim to develop high achieving, socially confident and morally responsible individuals who will embrace challenge and make a positive impact upon the world.

In order to achieve this we are revisiting the UWCSEA Learning Programme which contains five key elements: academics, service, pastoral care, outdoor education and activities. As I write, we are about to commence an ambitious project that will clearly articulate our curriculum from K1 through to G12. The purpose of this is to specify the knowledge and understanding we wish the students to learn, not only within their academic programme but also through the other four elements. In addition, we will be identifying how we can develop the skills and dispositions the students will need in order to be meaningful contributors to life in the 21st Century: these will be developed in a progressive way across all five elements. Yes, service and expeditions have always been part of the College curriculum but we have never made it explicit what it is we are trying to achieve: the work we have done so far has made us realise how much more the students could gain from these elements of their education. The nature of the project is such that it will further differentiate us from other schools and Colleges.

As the students progress through the College we are providing them with greater autonomy, giving them increased opportunity for negotiation and self-determination.

In so doing, we aim to create an environment in which the students develop a positive attitude to learning which enables them to indulge their curiosity and develop their creativity. Hahn was using the phrase ‘life-long learners’ back in the 1970s long before it became a cliché in the world of education.

As I presented the Class of 2011 with their Diplomas at the Graduation Ceremony in May, there was much to celebrate, not the least of which was the knowledge that another group of UWCSEA graduates would continue to make a positive difference in the world.

Working on the alumni magazine continues to be a highlight for me and I look forward to it with each issue. Again I have thoroughly enjoyed the chance to read and hear so many interesting stories by and about our alumni in this eighth issue.

I hope you will enjoy them as much as I have.

Take care. Keep in touch.

Regards,

Congratulations to the Class of 2011!

Brenda

For the first time, we held reunion events in five cities across the United States in

Brenda Whately Director of Alumni Relations

Good bye ...

It feels like it was just yesterday that I was excited about joining UWCSEA as a staff and immersing once again in the UWC culture, fondly remembered from my student days in Swaziland. And now it’s time for me to leave UWCSEA and Singapore to embark on yet another adventure in the United States.

I have thoroughly enjoyed the last four years of my time at UWCSEA. I immensely enjoyed organising alumni events and having been part of the alumni team. But most of all, I enjoyed meeting, mingling and getting to know many alumni and it has been my privilege to have been able to work with many of you. The UWC movement has always been my source of inspiration, and to be able to see so many alumni go on to make a difference after their UWC years has strengthened my belief and inspired me even further.

As I move on to the next phase of my life, I would like to thank you for being my inspiration. Please do keep in touch. I can be contacted via the UWCSEA Alumni website or via email (psherchan@ hotmail.com).

Thank you for the great memories.

Best Regards, Prapti Sherchan Alumni Relations Manager (2007 - 2011)

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We continue to actively encourage students to use their initiative, embrace challenge by extending the boundaries of their experience, embark upon journeys of self-discovery without fear of failure and develop the ability to cope with the spectre of ambiguity.

A good school will ensure that all students experience success in order to develop their self-confidence: exceptional schools allow students to experience failure in a supportive and caring environment so that they learn to persevere and turn such events into opportunities.

In addition to the new Alumni Relations Manager who will be joining the team in the near future, I would like to introduce Siti Aminah who has joined the team in an administrative role. We welcome Siti to the alumni team.

addition to the annual reunions in London, Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta between January and June this year. It was great to see so many alumni at these events. We are looking forward to seeing many of those celebrating their 10, 20, 25, 30 and 35 year anniversaries at the big annual reunion in Singapore again this August. Subsequent to that there will be reunions in Australia at the beginning of October and of course the annual December event in Singapore in late December. Please remember to visit the alumni site’s event calendar if you wish to see photos of any of these events.

ALUMNI PROFILE

Tim Jarvis

UWCSEA 1978 - 1982 Class of 1984

Life is an adventure.

[Mother Teresa]

Tim Jarvis, environmental scientist and explorer

“… completing his full journey after three months, with records for fastest unsupported journey to the South Pole and longest unsupported journey across Antarctica.”

By Brenda Whately

T

im Jarvis is a remarkable person; “a true renaissance man whose interest in the world and its environment is combined with a powerful inner need to discover his personal limits. He has walked solo to the South Pole, and did it more quickly than any man in history. Equally, he can be found trekking in steaming jungles, on mountain ascents and working on development projects in remote areas. He is an expert on Australia’s current drought. Tim now increasingly is confronting what I think is an even more challenging frontier: the boardrooms of big business, where he educates influential leaders about climate change.”

Tim is an environmental scientist, polar explorer, author and public speaker who pursues expeditions to the polar regions and other out-of-the-way places of this world to

Tim was born in the United Kingdom but moved to Kuala Lumpur (KL), Malaysia with his family as a young child. Five years later his family moved to Singapore and he began to attend UWCSEA. In those days, the school had a learning and adventure facility located on the East coast of Malaysia, called Beluntu.

Tim remembers a particularly life defining event there which he says taught him to trust his instincts. A group of students were given roles to play and sent into the jungle to collect specimens. One of the roles was that of spy, a person whose job it was to try to influence the other members of the team away from their goal. Tim recalls that the spy played the game too well and they became very lost, wander-

ing into deeper areas of jungle. When most of the students had become quite frightened, Tim decided to take control of the situation and told them that he knew, because of the direction of the setting sun, where the beach was that they could walk along to get back to camp. He later admitted that he wasn’t at all sure that he had chosen the direction correctly, but eventually, to his great relief, they emerged on the beach and reached camp, albeit hours late. Perhaps this was where the first seeds of his future exploration adventures and survival skills development were planted.

Tim has a Bachelor’s degree in Geography and Masters degrees in both Environmental Science and Environmental Law. Between degrees he spent a year in the mountains of North Guatemala, helping with the reconstruction of the lives and communities of the indigent people there after the army had destroyed their homes. He worked on gravity-fed water systems and gave crop advice in the minimal amount of local language he managed to pick up. He also managed to pick up a parasite, which he discovered, to his great dismay (not to mention fear), living under the skin of his stomach and chest on the flight back to the UK, which took months

of intense and unpleasant medical treatments to be rid of.

After taking up rowing in his local gym as part of a rehabilitation programme for a knee injury, Tim was invited to compete in the UK Nationals. Winning, with a time good enough to beat some of the members of the Men’s Olympic Squad, Tim started thinking about ways to test himself and his abilities further.

His first polar expedition was an attempt to cross the Arctic island of Spitsbergen. He says, “Climbing friends of mine had said it would be an ‘interesting’ place to cut our polar teeth.” After one month in the vast, icy North, they completed the journey.

In 1999 he decided to attempt crossing the Antarctic unsupported. That meant no dogs, airdrops, food caches or skis. He found another explorer to accompany him, raised the funds and set off from the tip of South America. He thought his size, six foot five and over 100 kg, would carry him through, but he soon learned it was as much a mental exercise as it was a physical one. When their 220 kg sleds were dropped onto the ice and

they strapped them on, Tim couldn’t budge his. Eventually he told himself that he only had to pull it one kilometer at a time, and through sheer determination, he moved the sled. Although he ended up with a permanent loss of most of the feeling in his right thumb from frostbite, he reached the Pole after just 47 days, completing his full journey after three months, with records for fastest unsupported journey to the South Pole and longest unsupported journey across Antarctica.

In 2001, while preparing for an attempt on the North Pole, Tim completed the first unsupported crossing of Australia’s largest desert, the Great Victoria Desert, a trip of 1,100 km in 29 days throughout which, once again he pulled his own food and supplies behind him.

These expeditions were followed by another journey to the Arctic to attempt to reach the North Pole across a vast expanse of frozen ocean, which Tim warns is melting at a rapid rate. Alexandra Shackleton, the granddaughter of the explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton, whose epic journey Tim is yet to re-create, became a joint patron of the North Pole expedition along with Australia’s then Prime

Minster John Howard who had again agreed to be Tim’s patron, having been the patron for his previous record breaking expedition to the South Pole. After 400 km, due to frostbite resulting in permanent nerve damage to Tim’s expedition partner’s toes however, the attempt on the North Pole came to a disappointing end for Tim. With his experience and success in prior unsupported journeys across deserts, snow and ice in hand however, the idea of undertaking the re-creation of Mawson’s journey had gelled in Tim’s mind. The reasons for wanting to take on this dangerous 500 km journey across Antarctica, which had claimed the lives of both of Mawson’s expedition partners, included among other things, a desire to test that more resourceful part of himself, the alter-ego that he says comes out in difficult situations. He found someone to accompany him up to the same point that Mawson’s companion had died. He sought a film team, which included Malcolm McDonald who had been second unit director on Master and Commander and Wade Fairley, the cameraman responsible for the emperor penguin images in the BBC’s Planet Earth series. Tim

Please send your profile suggestions for the next edition of OneºNorth, to alumnimagazine@uwcsea.edu.sg.

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ABC filmmaker Alex West wrote these words as the introduction to Tim Jarvis in Tim’s second book, Mawson Life and Death in Antarctica which, along with the awardwinning documentary of the same name, depicted Tim’s successful 2007 re-creation of Sir Douglas Mawson’s epic 1912 expedition to the Antarctic.

promote sustainability messages and to test his own strengths. Tim was in Singapore recently for meetings with the Singapore office of Arup, where he works as environmental consultant. He very nicely agreed to an interview and a presentation to a group of Grade 8 students. Tim mentioned that the most frequently asked question during his public speaking engagements is, “How do you go to the toilet at the South Pole?” Sure enough, that was the first question asked by one of the UWCSEA students. His answer: “Quickly!”

and his expedition partner arranged to use the same clothes, technology, equipment and starvation rations as Mawson - sleeping bags and boots made of reindeer skin, beaver-pelt mitts, a tent with no floor, a wooden sled and food consisting of congealed lard, small amounts of sugar and a few dozen ‘sledge’ biscuits. Tim says in his book, “We were here to deprive ourselves - deliberately - of sufficient food, adequate shelter and modern equipment in a bid to scrutinise events that befell Mawson on the same trip.” Tim finished the journey alone, within the same time frame as Mawson, with a small amount of food left over and a weight loss of about 20kg! It was another journey of success as well as environmental and personal discovery for Tim. Tim insists that, “The environmental sustainability message is key and is always behind

the journeys.” He includes the message in his books and in his public speaking engagements ‘by stealth’ as he describes it, along with his personal messages about testing oneself and pursuing one’s dreams - by weaving them into the stories about his adventures.

What’s next on Tim’s adventure schedule?

He plans to travel to Greenland to view the snow-and ice-melt, a direct impact of climate change, and perhaps to undertake an environmental trip to Papua New Guinea. He is considering a journey by dog sled through the Canadian Arctic in search of the Lost Patrol, a group of Canadian Mounties who went missing on a routine patrol in 1910. Deep in the planning stages is a 2012 recreation of Shackleton’s amazing journey of survival in the Antarctic after the crushing of his ship Endurance, by the ice in 1914.

Not only is Tim a remarkable person, he is also one of the most interesting and likeable people I have met. He has great stories to tell and tells them very well. He was made a Fellow of the Yale World Fellows Program 2009 for environmental and expedition leadership and was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2010 for services to environment, community and exploration. Tim volunteers as advisor for the Royal Institution Australia, whose goals are to popularise science and promote scientific learning in the general public. He is a Member of Friends of PLAN Committee and Ambassador for the PLAN Corporate Challenge program, an international child welfare group with a presence in 50 developing countries. Tim is the National Ambassador for the Leukaemia Foundation, Australia, where he participates in raising awareness and funds, including

“The environmental sustainability message is key and is always behind the journeys.” personally donating some of the proceeds from his Mawson expedition book sales.

son, Will, and a very recently-arrived addition to the family, Jack.

Like most of the rest of Tim’s life, even meeting his wife was an interesting adventure.

About six years ago, while in South America on a climbing expedition, Tim followed a suggestion from his mother, and looked up a friend from his childhood days in KL, Malaysia who was now living in Santiago, Chile. The two old friends arranged to meet for dinner and whilst talking about friends and family, ended up on the subject of Patrick’s sister Elizabeth. Tim’s childhood impression of her as the sometimes annoying little sister was soon changed, and he and Elizabeth are now married with a two and a half year old

We hope that Tim will come back and speak at the school again and we look forward to hearing about the further adventures and environmental protection that he continues to be involved in.

For more information about Tim, his amazing expeditions and his environmental work, please see his books, including bestseller The Unforgiving Minute (Bantam) and Mawson Life and Death in Antarctica (ABC Books), the film Mawson Life and Death in Antarctica (Film Australia) and his URL www.timjarvis. org. Tim can be reached at tim@timjarvis.org

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These pages and previous two pages: Tim Jarvis and photos from his expedition to recreate Sir Douglas Mawson’s journey across the Antarctic. Photos supplied by Tim Jarvis.

AWARDS DAY

Alumni Stephen Khalek Outstanding volunteer work in the Gap Year Programme Wallace Cuthbertson Outstanding volunteer work in the Gap Year Programme Grade 12

Mansi Gupta English Award Chihiro Isozaki Outstanding Service Award Frances Mayo English Award Georgia Gray Outstanding Service Award James Spencer Chinese Award Andrea Tan Outstanding Service Award Atasi Bhattacharjee Hindi Award Gabriella Santosa Staff and Student Nominated UWCSEA Award Maria Martins Da Silva Indonesian Award Lodewijk Vriens Staff and Student Nominated UWCSEA Award Chihiro Isozaki Japanese Award Raquel Otarola Flores Staff and Student Nominated UWCSEA Award Jung Wook Jae (Richard) Korean Award Maithreyi Raman Staff and Student Nominated UWCSEA Award Dalma Foldesi French Award Allen Navasero Staff and Student Nominated UWCSEA Award Rufus Raghunath German Award Nikhil Sambamurthy Staff and Student Nominated UWCSEA Award Manavi Sachdeva Spanish Award Alf Shen Lim Staff and Student Nominated UWCSEA Award Tim Seeger Dutch Award Frances Mayo Staff and Student Nominated UWCSEA Award Alf Shen Lim Bilingual A1/A2 Award Dalma Foldesi Staff and Student Nominated UWCSEA Award Papa Moda Loum Bilingual A1/B Award Constanza Vidal Bustamante Staff and Student Nominated UWCSEA Award Maithreyi Raman Biology Award Anna Sofia Guerra Rodriguez Staff and Student Nominated UWCSEA Award Da Ah Gloria Jung The Shaun Hanley Award for Chemistry Ana Sofia Guerra Rodriguez The Shaun Hanley Award for Chemistry Vivek Jain Physics Award Vaishali Iyer Design and Technology Award Bhargavi Thakker Environmental Systems and Societies Award Sanaya Khaneja Science, Technology and Society Award Charlotte Thomas Sports Exercise and Health Science Award Chung Dong Wook Mathematics Award Nicholas Hanley-Steemers Computer Science Award Rafael EliasManyari Velazco Geography Award Chetan Singhal History Award Tanay Jalan Economics Award Maymay Liu Business and Management Award Giovanna Bettoli Psychology Award Anna Bradshaw Philosophy Award David Bowyer IT Global Society Award Lodewijk Vriens Theory of Knowledge Award Ross Robertson David Watson Prize for Performing Arts Award Nishad More Diana Greenwood Prize for Senior Drama Award Nicolas Carter Outstanding Technical Support for the Performing Arts Award Jonathan Rose Outstanding Realisation of a Character in a Drama Production Oliver Mangham Film Studies Award Frances Mayo Photographer of the Year Award Michelle Yaw Lance Huet Prize for Art Award Dalma Foldesi Gavin Waddell Prize for Art Award Maymay Liu Windplayer of the Year Award Tim Seeger Strings Player of the Year Award Justin Lutian Vocalist of the Year Award Suh Seung Hyun Senior Pianist of the Year Award Rufus Raghunath Robert Lutton Creative Writing Award Choe Sue Jung (Claire) Public Speaking Award Shrey Shetye Publications Award Srikripa Krishnan Publications Award Raquel Otarola Flores Contribution to Senior School Boarding Life Award Benjamin Howitt Contribution to NYAA Award Anna Bradshaw Student Initiative Award Sanaya Khaneja Student Initiative Award Kalen White Student Initiative Award Chihiro Isozaki Student Initiative Award Dipro Bhowmik Environmental Award Wesley Jyh-Wei Fuh Environmental Award Zoe Petard Outstanding Contribution to the Expedition Programme Award Nicolette Meyer Outstanding Contribution to the Expedition Programme Award Chung Dong Wook Overall Academic Attainment Award Wu Yu Jie Overall Academic Attainment Award Yuri Hirayama Overall Academic Attainment Award Anna Bradshaw Outstanding Service Award Joaquin Gonzalez Milburn Outstanding Service Award

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Awards Day 2011

GRADUATION

Graduation 2011!

308 graduates, 53 nationalities

O

n Thursday, 26 May, we recognised and celebrated the achievements of the class of 2011. Three hundred and eight students graduated from UWCSEA this year, with 53 different nationalities represented - testimony to the wonderful diversity within our student body. With well over 1,000 guests at the ceremony and a further 600 alumni and friends of UWCSEA watching from 37 different countries worldwide, there was a wonderful feeling of community celebration. Many parents and guests had travelled thousands of miles to attend the ceremony and it was good to see siblings and grandparents there to help mark the occasion.

We were delighted to welcome Ng’ang’a Muchiri as our Guest Speaker. Ng’ang’a, our Kenyan scholar in 2002, graduated from UWCSEA in 2004. After graduating, Ng’ang’a took a Gap Year, representing UWCSEA along with five fellow scholars from Mexico, Albania, Canada, Colombia and Sierra Leone, to help set up an education centre in Kigama, a small village in Kenya. In 2005, he began his studies at Lafayette College and was awarded a Development Project Management Certificate from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Ng’ang’a returned to Kenya to become involved in the Kathryn Davis Peace Project, during which time he organised youth leadership workshops for Ikutha secondary schools. After graduating from Lafayette with a B.A. in Engineering Studies & English he began his PhD Doctoral program in English Literature at the University of Miami. In July 2010 he delivered a presentation to the African Theatre Association in Kampala, Uganda, on contemporary African poetry and political activism and in April 2011 he delivered a paper to the International Society for African Philosophy and Studies on trauma, recovery and Congolese literature. On completion of his doctorate, Ng’ang’a hopes to have more time to spend on his writing.

Ng’ang’a was followed by our student speaker, Allen Navasero, outgoing Chair of the Student Council. Allen, who will be studying Environmental Sciences at Cornell University next year, described what he had gained from his four years at the College and wished his peers every success in the years ahead.

We hope our Graduates and their families thoroughly enjoyed the ceremony and the evening celebration that followed and will have fond memories of it in years to come.

Di Smart

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High School Principal

Photos by Henry Chang and Dav Rue Media Pte Ltd

ALUMNI PROFILE

Jorge Vizcaino

Entrepreneur and Volunteer Diver

UWCSEA 1985-1987 Class of 1987

By Brenda Whately

A

bout once a week for the past 14 years, Jorge, a biologist, environmental conservationist and entrepreneur, has donned a wetsuit and dived into the waters of the Kelp Forest and Monterey Bay Habitat Exhibits at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California.

There, he swims with rockfish, garibaldi, leopard sharks, and seven-gill sharks; all animals indigenous to Monterey Bay. Although none are considered dangerous, Jorge says, “It helps that all the fish are kept very well fed!” Jorge’s volunteer work at the Aquarium involves providing information and education about exhibits to the visiting public along with maintenance, husbandry and feeding activities. One of his favourite duties is to conduct once a month, interactive, narrated feeding shows for which he uses special dive gear that allows him to communicate with the narrator, the dive tender and the public.

Jorge’s three higher IB subjects at UWCSEA were Biology, Chemistry and Maths, the subjects which would shape his university studies and career thereafter.

Jorge had arrived at UWCSEA in 1985 from Mexico on a National Committee scholarship. In the true spirit of multiculturalism at the College, he says, “The highlight of my UWCSEA experience was being probably the only Mexican ever in the history of Morris Dancing and then to perform it in the annual Chinese New Year parade!” He also recalls a Theory of Knowledge final paper in which he had to describe the arguments for the existence or non-existence of God, as well as a month-long graduation trip to the Himalayas with John Page and Ann Mayer, as

After completing the IB programme, Jorge went on to study Biology and Chemistry at the University of Texas at El Paso. The hard work may not have come as a surprise but he says, “The shock of going directly from a tropical environment to a desert environment, not to mention the massive cultural differences, came as somewhat of a challenge.” In 1993 Jorge pursued and achieved a Master’s degree in Fisheries Science from Texas A&M University and began a career in the field of fisheries and aquaculture as a hatchery manager for two abalone culture facilities in California. After a few years he decided to ‘switch gears’ as he says, and he took a job in the wine industry where he eventually worked his way up to the position of assistant winemaker.

In the year 2000, a biologist friend presented him with the opportunity of moving in a new direction once again and he entered the field of environmental consulting, working for the following couple of years in a large corporation in Monterey as an environmental scientist.

The idea of starting his own company began to take shape at that point, and in 2002, with the support of his wife Leah, he launched his own environmental consulting business, Aero-Environmental Consulting.

Through a lot of hard work, professional development and sound business development, Jorge’s company has grown considerably since then. He has successfully pursued a number of certifications and in October 2010 he achieved his Industrial Hygienist certification. This involved a long and arduous process requiring five years of qualifying experience, a Bachelor of Science degree which he fortunately already had, and an extensive exam covering everything from ventilation to radiation, noise, ergonomics, toxicology and bio-hazards, to name but a few. He says, “I felt as if I was either re-taking the IB exams or getting a PhD, both of which are pretty tough.” Jorge maintains that, “Without the discipline that I acquired at UWCSEA I would not have been able to accomplish all of the goals that I set myself in building my business.”

Clockwise from top left: Jorge performing his volunteer duties at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. Jorge and alumni friends, Jorge and his sons Emilio and Andres. Jorge, Leah and their sons. Jorge with other volunteer divers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

His consulting business performs environmental assessments and investigations on commercial, residential and industrial properties. These include checking for hazardous materials such as asbestos and lead, biohazards like mold and bacteria, indoor air quality, and environmental assessments of possible petroleum hydrocarbon releases into the environment by commercial properties. He says, “Our work and actions have a direct impact in protecting workers and community health, in developing appropriate risk management strategies for residential and commercial properties and in evaluating the impact of certain chemicals in the environment.”

Aside from building his successful business, Jorge still spends time scuba diving, volunteering at the Aquarium,

playing tennis, hiking, reading travel adventure books and spending time with his wife Leah and his two five year old twin sons, Emilio and Andres.

Jorge has managed to keep in touch with several of his old classmates including Alex F, Erik T, Ravi R, Naramsiha R, Daniel H, Haerul B, Sean G, Mark H, Francesca T, Aki H, and Patrick J, to name a few, and he attended his 20 year reunion in Singapore in 2007 as well as the minireunion held in San Francisco last year.

To contact Jorge, please visit the UWCSEA Alumni site for his personal email address. For more information about his company, Aero-Environmental Consulting, or to contact Jorge through his company, please visit his website at www.aero-enviro.com

Please send your profile suggestions for the next edition of OneºNorth, to alumnimagazine@uwcsea.edu.sg.

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His other diving activities are conducted with normal SCUBA equipment. Jorge says that his interest in diving and in volunteer work actually started at UWCSEA where he gained his open-water PADI certification and also became involved in the school’s social service programme. He has continued to dive over the years since that first introduction to the sport and currently holds certification as a PADI Dive Master. He has also never stopped donating his time and expertise in volunteer work. Jorge says, “Not only do I love the work at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, it’s a fun way to connect with the marine environment and make a personal contribution to the conservation of the oceans, while at the same time, achieve great satisfaction from educating and inspiring conservation in others.”

being particularly memorable. Jorge involved himself in tennis, soccer, rugby and the scuba diving that he went on to use in his future volunteer work, while pursuing his IB studies at UWCSEA.

ALUMNI PROFILE

Cheering up children with books

Kimiko helps out in quake-hit North Japan

A

fter 15 years in publishing, Kimiko established her own publishing comp a ny “ M i g h t y book” in 2004. At the time she had just had her first child and she was noticing that many Japanese children were preferring television and the internet to reading books.

She felt the need to get children more interested in reading.

She began to look into the Books of the World for Children by Bookbird. She joined the activities of IBBY (International Board on Books for Young People), talked to the editors and attended their World Congress in Denmark in 2008.

In 2010 she started to publish their Journal of International Children’s Literature, Bookbird in a Japanese version called Bookbird Japan. She says that many librarians and the Japanese Board on Books for

Young People (JBBY) are now promoting Bookbird Japan.

On March 7th of this year, Kimiko held a celebration to mark the first anniversary of the Japanese version of the children’s literature journal. Just four days later, on March 11th at 2.46 pm she was in her Tokyo office preparing for a book fair launch when she felt the first tremors of one of the largest earthquakes to hit Japan in recorded history.

She says, “Suddenly I felt a shaking. The shaking made an awful shuddering noise and books were falling down from the bookshelf. It came in two or three continuous waves. I felt it was dangerous to stay in the building. I could see the tall buildings bending like rubber sticks from the outside.

All the public transportation in Tokyo was stopped. After things quieted down, I walked to my home, which took about four hours, a distance that normally takes 40 minutes by train. I got there at 9.30 pm.

Some of my employees said I should not leave my office and should stay in a safe place. I had to go because my son, a sixth grade student, had been at school when

the earthquake struck. Telephone lines were down after the quake, so we really did not know the real damage in each area.

Luckily my son was safe and waiting for me alone at home. Broken glass and dishes were spread all over the floor and my son was wiping them up. I couldn’t stop my tears. He said that he was at school after the quake for a while, and then went to his friend’s house to eat dinner but he thought that I would not be able to find him, so he returned to the house by himself. He was also scared of losing mobile contact with me. My husband walked home from his office the next morning. I have never had such an experience in my life in Japan; it was too awful to think that I could have lost my son or husband. But after that, I had more shocks from the TV reports.

The tsunami had swept over the land in the North and swamped cars and houses - it was a nightmare. A lot of families lost children or parents.”

Kimiko says she lost confidence in her work at that point, wondering what books could do for people in situations of tragedy.

One day one of the internet distributors, Fujisan magazine services, and its direc-

KIMIKO FUJIOKA MATSUI

By Brenda Whately

UWCSEA 1979-1984 Class of 1985

tor Mr Nishino urged her to send books to Northern Japan, indicating that they had had a request from people in refugee camps that they needed a sense of hope and future that they could get through reading. He had teamed up with a partner publication house and another internet distributor specialising in children’s book sales and created a delivery network. This magazine and picture book delivery project become a large network and brought more than 30,000 magazines and 15,000 children’s books to about 1,000 refugees in April. Encouraged by Mr Nishino, Kimiko contributed Bookbird Japan and other Mightybook art magazines worth a total value of ¥2,600,000. After receiving the first positive comments from a reader, Kimiko says, “Through this project, I was able to believe in the power of books again.”

According to Kimiko, reports from the National Police Agency and Ministry of Land in July indicate that there are about 23,000 dead and missing people, more than 5,000 injured, more than 220,000 houses destroyed, and about 68,000 refugees still in camps after four months.

She says, “Japan is still struggling to fix

the damage. We don’t know the exact number of children who lost their family or school friends; we just see many are in deep sadness. What can books do for them? When I open a story book, I feel a positive power. Children’s books are not only effective for children; the gentle words that a child understands also ease the feelings of adults. I hope these books become a door for re-opening the dreams of those in the northern part of Japan and go some way to fostering world understanding.”

Kimiko says in addition, “Through this experience, I also realised the power of my friends all over the world; in Australia, Malaysia, India, England, the USA, Spain, France, Italy, Korea and elsewhere.

I received many messages including those from old UWCSEA friends. When I was feeling sad, the short words “Kimiko! Are you OK?” encouraged me a lot and filled me with gratitude.”

About Bookbird Japan “Bookbird Japan” is a comprehensive children’s books information magazine which has a license from “Bookbird,” the journal of International Board on Books for Young People (IBBY).

“Bookbird Japan” provides complete Japanese translations from “Bookbird” and original Japanese editorial reports and articles. It describes what children’s books are being read in Japan now and reports on groups involved in children’s literature. For more details, please e-mail bookbird@mightybook.net in English or Japanese.

To contact Kimiko, please visit the UWCSEA Alumni website.

“Through this experience, I also realised the power of my friends all over the world...”

Above: Kimiko (photo courtesy of IBBY Spain.)

Below left: Refugees in Miyagi prefecture with donated books, April 2011.

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16 OneºNorth July 2011

Opposite page, bottom: Ishinomaki, April 2011. It was a pretty town in Miyagi prefecture in North Japan.

(Photo courtesy of Mr.Atsushi Ishihara, Mightybook partner photographer.)

ALUMNI ARTICLE

By Greg Town

UWCSEA 1983-1986 Class of 1990

Jackson English

Paddleboarding for the Mentawais I recently arranged to meet with one of UWCSEA’s Grade 2 teachers, Jackson English, while working on a report for my day job – a story about the innovative aid work underway in the West Sumatra region.

Training involves dawn paddles on a 10-foot plus paddleboard back and forth along the southern beaches of Sentosa. Each session takes about one to two hours and he does at least three or four of those a week.

“Come down to Sentosa on Saturday morning,” said Jackson.

“I’ll be paddling off Tanjong Beach. Go out to the rocks on the right and you’ll see me come past. I’ll be done by about seven.” Usually I schedule my meetings for more convenient times, in the comfort of a preferred cafe somewhere in town.

However, I was very keen to see Jackson in action, on the water, so as soon as the weekend rolled along, I headed down.

To balance his busy schedule, which includes school work and spending time with his wife and three children, Jackson has to get out on the water early to train, especially on week days.

Jackson originates from the Central Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It was on this coast, renowned for its beautiful beaches and big waves, that he developed a passion for surfing, a sport which he says helped him to become one of Australia’s top competitive surf lifesavers.

This will be Jackson’s seventh time back to do this race and once again he is looking to raise money for SurfAid, the only international non-government organisation (NGO) dedicated to providing health and community support, disaster relief and emergency preparedness to the remote Mentawai Islands, which are about 150 kilometres off the coast of West Sumatra.

“Life’s pretty full on,” he added. “I train in the mornings when the kids are asleep. It’s just something that I’m used to. I wake up at 4.30am every day. I’ve just got into the habit ... I love being fit and active.”

Jackson, who first entered the Molokai 2 Oahu race in 1999, describes the event as a huge personal challenge. “It’s not like a marathon where you slug it out on the road … you’re fighting against currents and the heat, being dehydrated.”

About halfway through that first race, Jackson vowed never to do it again. “I got so sunburnt and was in an incredible amount of pain. I had no idea how to train for an event like that.”

However, he did go back. In fact, he has now done it six times, finishing in the top three in his category on four occasions, including two second placings.

Previous page: Jackson English. This page from left: Jackson English paddling off of Sentosa Island; SurfAid engineer working with Mentawai villagers (Photo by Matt King, SurfAid); Family in Masokut rebuilding with the support of SurfAid’s Shelter Project.

“More than anything, I just love being there,’ he said. “You go out and race and you are in the middle of the ocean, and there are sharks and whales, dolphins and turtles. Beautiful blue water and … sometimes you can paddle for 50 metres but then ride an ocean swell for a hundred. That’s pretty amazing.”

What is equally amazing is that through his paddleboarding and other UWCSEA-related events, Jackson has become the largest individual fundraiser for SurfAid. The organisation’s activities are aimed at raising awareness and funds to help people on these islands who have suffered from a combination of a poor quality of life and the devastating effects of recent earthquakes and tsunamis, said Jackson. “We are just trying to get the awareness out. We live so close geographically to the Mentawais, yet Singapore and the Mentawais are just worlds apart in terms of quality of life. So anything we can do is a bonus. In the last six years, we’ve raised over US$300,000 for [SurfAid] through events at school and through things like the Molokai,” he added “That’s one of the good things about our school. It is so active in raising awareness and money for people less fortunate.”

My interview with Jackson happened to be a week prior to the massive earthquake and tsunami which wiped out large parts of northern coastal Japan. A couple of weeks after that event, I spoke by skype with Dr Dave Jenkins, founder and medical director of SurfAid. Dave explained that, like Japan, West Sumatra, including the Mentawai Islands, Nias Island, Padang, and Aceh, are especially prone to earthquakes and tsunamis.

Here, the islands are located directly above a major fault line – the Sunda Trench – where the Indo-Australian tectonic plate slides beneath the Eurasian tectonic plate. Indeed, this mega fault has created a string of major quakes since the December 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami – in 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2010.

A big earthquake is due in the area, said Dave. “The one that occurred last year was a small one. We know there is a 200year cycle and statistically, it’s many years overdue.”

The last big earthquake caused a tsunami that killed more than 500 people and destroyed homes and villages throughout low lying coastal areas of the Mentawais. Since then, about 14,000 people from the islands have been forced into makeshift camps in the hills; this out of a total population of about 74,000. The damage that was inflicted further confounded existing health problems in the islands, where malnutrition and child mortality was already high.

I asked Dave how SurfAid spends its money. He replied, “Our community-based health program, which is based around getting the highest return per dollar investment, [is] a business model rather than a traditional aid model. When you teach a woman to breast-feed correctly, she teaches her daughter, and her grand-daughter, and that echoes on for generations. When you crunch the returns per initial dollar investment, it’s much higher than if you were running a clinic there.”

He went on to say that SurfAid has approximately 90 field staff involved in several key programs over a wide area. Its major programs are those involving malaria prevention, communitybased health, water and sanitation, emergency preparedness and disaster response.

It is credited with distributing over 60,000 insecticide-treated nets and provided malaria education in over 300 villages in the Mentawais, Nias and Aceh. It also helps to provide clean water to those internally displaced by the recent tsunami, and it is planning to help communities build their own toilets and better manage their sanitation and hygiene.

Please send your profile suggestions for the next edition of OneºNorth, to alumnimagazine@uwcsea.edu.sg.

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18 OneºNorth July 2011

Several years ago, Jackson relocated to Singapore to pursue a career as a teacher at UWCSEA. Despite being far away from the open ocean he had been accustomed to, however, he has somehow managed to maintain a strong attachment for his sport and this year, at the end of July, he plans to once again compete in the Molokai 2 Oahu Paddleboard World Championships in Hawaii, a gruelling 32-mile race from island to island.

“There’s nothing better than coming out here and paddling early, as the sun’s coming out,” he said. “[Amid] the craziness of Singapore, it’s a nice quiet kind of thing to do. I also love doing the Molokai race. Every training session I do drives me to that. It’s such a hard race. There are never ever guarantees that I’m going to finish it, let alone do well. It’s incredibly rewarding to get across that finish line and to know that I’ve done the best that I can.”

“… through his paddleboarding and other UWSEArelated events, Jackson has become the largest individual fundraiser for SurfAid.”

ALUMNI ARTICLE Given the impact of recent natural disasters, SurfAid has had to evolve. Crisis management, both in terms of preparing and responding to emergencies, has become a crucial component of its operational structure.

One of the more innovative programs SurfAid is implementing involves the provision of psychosocial support for those with post-traumatic stress disorder. This program is designed to help local people and communities cope with the aftermath of a disaster and to give them the necessary support to help them become self-sufficient and motivated again. “The top priority for SurfAid however, is to stop children dying,” said Dave, adding that the most important advances in reducing child mortality are coming from well-designed community development processes. “This approach creates self-reliance and behaviour change across whole communities. These things are washing hands, building their own toilets, breastfeeding, not delivering babies on a dirt floor – high impact, low-cost behaviours.”

Jackson has travelled to the Mentawais regularly over the past decade, to surf but also to observe and get involved in the work that SurfAid is doing and he says, “They have made a pretty significant difference. It’s nice to see that not only do they have anecdotal evidence of improving quality of life, but they’re also backing it up with lots of data now as well.”

T

he UWCSEA reunion held in Singapore last August was a great opportunity to catch up with old friends and reminisce about the good old days. One thing that we all seemed to share was a sense of appreciation of our time, however long, at the school. We recall with fondness, our friends and teachers, as well as the unique UWCSEA events, many of which were tied up with raising money for charity.

These days, UWCSEA continues to be a leader in philanthropy.

Dr Dave Jenkins and SurfAid staff with a mother and child at Betumonga Village.

(Photo by Bob Barker, SurfAid).

For more information Molokai 2 Oahu race: http://www.molokai2oahu.com SurfAid International: www.surfaidinternational.org SurfAid Schools Program: www.surfaidschools.org

Ivan Moore attended Years 1 and 2 (now called Grade 6 and 7) at UWCSEA from 1974 to 1976. He caught Mr Singh's bus to school every morning and has vague memories of slowdancing to "I am Sailing" at the school dance - with whom, he doesn't remember. He is a public opinion pollster in Anchorage, Alaska, where he has lived since 1988. He says his career goal is to arrange a very hard debate between Sarah Palin and Tin Pae Ling. He is married to Shelley and has two children, Savannah, 20 and John, 18.

Greg Town

Greg attended UWCSEA from 1983 to 1986, after which he returned to his home town, Auckland, New Zealand, where he completed his schooling and university.

Since then, he has worked as a writer specialising in health for various publishing companies and communications agencies.

He enjoys traveling, particularly around Asia and says that he was especially struck by the awe and mystique of Sumatra on the two occasions he visited - the first being an unforgettable UWCSEA white-water rafting trip and the second, a subsequent trip to Nias Island, just north of the Mentawais.

A few years ago, Greg and his partner Brooke relocated from New Zealand back to Singapore, both having managed to line up work here. In 2009, they got married in Bali. Greg is the brother of Paul (Class of 1992) and David (Class of 1996).

Have you registered with the UWCSEA alumni website?

http://alumni.uwcsea.edu.sg Simply visit the above URL and click ‘Register’ to become a member. Registering with the alumni site allows you to maintain your own profile page, search for and contact other alumni, post photos and notes, stay updated regarding UWCSEA alumni and College events, etc. So go ahead and register today!

If you are registered, remember to keep your contact details updated so other former students can get in touch. To reset your password and be automatically reminded of your user name, simply visit the ‘Sign in’ screen, click on the password reset button near the bottom and enter your email address. It’s quick and easy!

Ivan writes a weekly column for his local paper, the Anchorage Press. He writes primarily about politics, but is given license to stray off the beaten path every now and again. This piece was published in the Press on June 1, 2011. The girl on the bus is Caroline Grimont.

Serendipity Reproduced from the Anchorage Press, Wednesday, June 1, 2011

by Ivan Moore

I've told you before, I was born in Singapore.

An island nation, the Garden City, it has a land area of about 250 square miles. You could pick up Singapore, turn it sideways and it would fit, with a bit of a squeeze, onto the Anchorage Bowl. Except, instead of having a population of 300,000 like we do here, six million people live there.

We left Singapore quite suddenly in 1976, when I was 12 years old. I didn't return for any significant amount of time until 22 years later. And I went to see the house again. I didn't want to be rude and just walk up and knock on the door, so I left a note in the mailbox with my phone number at the hotel. The owner called, we set up a time and over I went.

The sun comes up at 7 a.m. every morning and sets at 7 p.m., year round, and goes straight overhead. It is a hot and humid place, with no seasons to speak of except the monsoon, a time when it rains impossibly hard, a time when you don't just see the rain, you hear it too, on tin roofs, a deafening sound. I remember the food, the hawker stalls at night, the chatter and the sounds and the lights. It was an electric place to grow up.

I spent an hour there, walking from room to room in the house. It was essentially unchanged, all of it intimately familiar, yet 30 years removed from when I knew it.

The people who lived there understood and just let me wander through their home, connecting with my long-ago memories.

We sat and had a drink after. They were wonderful people who knew they were doing a good thing for me.

When I became old enough to remember, we lived in a big house, a black and white house, an iconic, architectural remnant of the colonial days. With whitewashed walls, timbers and drainpipes painted black, and black and white striped bamboo blinds.

Open verandahs, high ceilings and polished wooden floors, with whirling fans moving the air and forestalling the heat. I was there ages four to seven, a time when all of a sudden your brain learns how to make memories. Even now, I could draw a map of that place, with minute detail.

So I'm on Facebook the other day and I find an alumni page for a school I was at in Singapore. I get friended by a girl (used to be a girl anyway) I used to take the school bus with when we were 10, and we chat. Forgotten friends who were now remembering again. And she checks out my photos and sees a picture of her house.

My house. She says, "I can't believe you lived there too!" She told me her mother always said that once someone came by who said they used to live there. That was me, I said.

Of course, as we sat on the bus riding to school, she had no idea about the house.

She wouldn't get to know it until five years later. We were just kids, in that present moment, bumping along to school on the bus. And as I wandered the house 25 years later, I had no idea I was with her parents.

Serendipitous moments like this only come along once in a while. Sometimes, a sequence of them happens all at once.

Life is composed of long stretches of not a lot of much interesting going on, and then sometimes the air just crackles with stuff that it's just not possible to explain. Connections. Coincidences.

Relationships made and lost. Forgotten and remembered. Favours done, passed forward, only to reemerge when we thought they were gone.

Tell your mother thank you, my friend.

Those were good times on the bus. And it was a great house, wasn't it?

Ivan Moore is a public opinion pollster based in Anchorage who works with both Democratic and Republican candidates.

The views expressed here are his own.

Ivan can be reached at ivan@ ivanmooreresearch.com.

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20 OneºNorth July 2011

Ivan Moore

UWCSEA 1974 - 1976 Class of 1981

A Kaleidoscope of College Events

COLLEGE EVENTS

On 24 November, UWCSEA, and in particular the grade 10 and 12 Dutch mother tongue classes were graced with a visit from the Dutch Ambassador to Singapore, H.E. Mr. Johannes W. Gunivortus Jansing.

The Dover K1 Morning of Sport proved to be a great success with children demonstrating their skills through fun activities including an obstacle course, jumping and throwing stations and even an egg and spoon race.

In the weeks before the end of Term 1 break, UWCSEA Dover held a Local Service Appeal in the Junior School. Grades 2-5 were asked to contribute items, each for a designated organisation.

In recognition of the 10th AIDS Benefit to be held at the college, the event was elevated to a ball. Our 70 senior students did us proud as usual in their various roles as waiters, sellers, entertainers and presenters.

In February, Peer Support launched its annual Drug Awareness Week. This week included lunchtime awareness activities and adopting a new healthy habit.

This year’s Kalahari Cocktail’s clink of glasses hummed along with the melodies of the Jazz Band. Once again the National Muesum provided a glam setting and Diagio mixers kept a fine supply of pretty cocktails to fuel thirsty patrons.

During October break, 15 students, 15 parents and three staff from grades 5 and 6 at UWCSEA East travelled on the first annual ‘Colours of Cambodia’ service trip.

SEASAC touch took us to The Alice Smith School in Kuala Lumpur this year. We did regain the trophy we lost last year to Patana by beating Mont Kiara in the final 4 - 2.

Opus 2011 was a fabulous evening of music making at the Esplanade Concert Hall that featured over 400 Dover Campus students, several members of staff and some of our musical parents.

Called ‘Skate to Dream’ G11 student Anja gave 67 intellectually disabled participants a goal and a dream that they could be the first special athletes from Singapore to participate in figure or short track speed skating at the Special Olympics World Winter Games.”

This year’s rock show took place on two nights.

The first had a more acoustic theme and an alternative sound while the second night had a more hard rock feel. The performances brought the audience to their feet.

Four G8 students traveled to Montreal, Canada for the Junior Round Square Conference ‘Come In, It’s Cold Outside.’ The participants reported that it was fantastic and something they will remember forever.

The beginning of 2011 saw all of the Dover Grade 5-8 and East Grade 5-6 students visit the high ropes course for a day of challenges and fun.

Five UWCSEA students had the wonderful opportunity to attend a one week astronaut training camp run by the Singapore Space and Technology Association.

In this year’s theatre festival, students got to improvise with other students from UWCSEA, Dunman High, the Australian International School and Teatteri Satama of Finland.

Photos from Dunia

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The East Campus Infant students celebrated their UN Day on 1 December.

The students and staff had obviously put in a great deal of effort to produce three performances in the new hall on the Tampines Campus.

and member of the Alumni Council)

UWCSEA held a workshop entitled “Youth Volunteering - Just a Part of Growing Up” at The International Association of Volunteer Efforts (IAVE) conference held at Resorts World Sentosa in January. The theme of the conference was ‘Volunteering to Change the World.’

There is something about musicals (Oliver!) that brings the cast and crew together to showcase something spectacular. The near effortless ease some actors display in the shoes of their characters is a result of a packed rehearsal schedule.

Thanks to the creative talents of Michael Wheeler and a group of energetic staff the Primary students were treated to a pantomime. The UWCSEA version of “Rindercella” had children working out which teacher was playing each character.

Every class produced a performance that told a tale and reflected their culture. This show was based on street theatre.

In the grand finale of the APSM U19 girls’ tournament, UWCSEA met with Tanglin Trust School again. UWC continued to play their style of fast paced basketball and triumphed against the taller Tanglin team.

by Aashna Aggarwal Class of 2012 (Current student

MINI REUNIONS

Fourth Annual Singapore December reunion On 21 December 2010 a get-together was once again held at the Singapore American Club for alumni returning to Singapore from university for the holidays as well as alumni living in Singapore. More than 225 alumni and guests attended the evening. Watch the site for news of the 2011 gathering.

US reunions The reunions held in the US this year included San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago and New York; the main US cities with the most alumni (according to the alumni site).

Brenda enjoyed hosting the events and having the chance to meet and mingle with alumni at each of the various locations. We look forward to more next year. Watch the alumni site for information and location announcements.

Kuala Lumpur reunion The alumni team hosted the second annual Kuala Lumpur alumni get-together on 24 March 2011 at the Luna Chill Out Bar in KL. More than 60 alumni and guests of all class years attended the event, taking advantage of the opportunity to mingle and network with each other.

Fifth Annual London reunion

Jakarta reunion The Second Alumni get-together in Jakarta, 12 May 2011 took place once again at Social House and was attended by more than 50 alumni and guests. We thank Time International, Jakarta for fully sponsoring the event.

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24 OneยบNorth July 2011

The Fifth Annual London alumni get-together took place on 21 January 2011 at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, London, UK. The get-together saw more than 310 alumni and former teachers at the event. This year, in addition to the Head of College, Julian Whiteley, and teacher Geraint Jones, Brenda Whately and Prapti Sherchan of the Alumni department and Dave Shepherd of the UWCSEA Foundation were pleased to have the opportunity to meet and mingle with so many alumni.

ALUMNI PROFILE

UWCSEA, UBC and Rhodes Scholar

By Mallika Ramdas UWCSEA University Counsellor

Aneil Jaswal UWCSEA 2005-2007 Class of 2007

Aneil Jaswal

is perhaps best remembered by his UWCSEA friends and teachers as their amazing ‘No.7’ who played a 53 ½ hour recordbreaking marathon basketball game in November 2005 to raise funds for the Tsunami Relief effort.

High School Principal Di Smart recalls Aneil “remaining upbeat and determined throughout the marathon event, despite bleeding feet and exhausted muscles” and describes him as “a wonderful scholar” and “an inspiring leader.”

Her sentiments are echoed by many others who knew Aneil when he was at UWCSEA from August 2005 to May 2007 as a Canadian National Committee scholar and boarder.

Aneil himself was characteristically modest and thoughtful when I asked him some questions for this profile.

Here is his story in his own words.

How did your two years at UWCSEA impact your life and what were the highlights, challenges and your best memories?

My two years at UWCSEA were certainly some of the most transformative years of my life. Leaving home as a go-getting 17 year old, I indulged in the dynamic UWCSEA atmosphere. I was challenged academically and learned to push myself further. I made great friendships with my boarding house friends, my basketball teammates, my classmates, my teachers at school and mentors in the boarding house. When I look back, I still think of the sense of a shared experience, an intense two-year adventure that many of us faced together. The feeling of camaraderie, whether it was during late night studying in the boarding house, traveling with friends or breaking basketball records for charity, is one I will never forget.

What activities and involvements did you enjoy the most while you were at UWCSEA? One of the best aspects of UWCSEA was that because of the intense community experience, I was able to enjoy a huge variety of activities. Participating in international dance routines every few weeks in the boarding house, sitting in on board meetings as the student

representative, playing basketball for 53 ½ hours, traveling to Banda Aceh for project week, raising funds for my Global Concerns Group, Kolkata Concerns, or volunteering at the orthopedic ward at a hospital are just some of the wonderful experiences that UWCSEA allowed me to enjoy.

Why did you decide to attend UBC and what have you been studying while there?

There were several reasons I was attracted to UBC. It is a large school, which allows it to offer a variety of courses and extracurricular opportunities. I found an interdisciplinary degree there, Global Resource Systems that has allowed me to combine my interests in public health, economics and political science. It is a small programme within a large school, which has given me the best of both worlds.

UBC is also a beautiful university. It is situated right on the coast of British Columbia, my home province, and allows students to be part of both a campus community as well as the extremely vibrant Vancouver community.

How has being a Loran Award recipient impacted your studies and life while at UBC? The Loran Award is a fantastic scholarship.

Not only does it give financial reward, like most scholarships, but it also introduced me to another community of outstanding Canadian students, connected me with a mentor, and has given me support to pursue great summer experiences between my academic semesters. Specifically, there is an inspiring annual summer retreat with other scholars; I have been able to intern with outstanding organisations such as the World Health Organization; and Dr. Jerry Spiegel, the Director of Global Health at UBC has been my mentor, giving me valuable feedback and ideas over the years.

Having the Loran Award support behind you provides the courage to take risks and know that someone has invested in you and believes in your abilities.

What have you been involved with in addition to academics while at UBC? While I have enjoyed participating in lots of smaller events, there are three areas outside of academics where I have been most active. The first has been conducting advocacy and awareness campaigns about the conflict in Darfur, Sudan. After being exposed to conflict situations through the Initiative for Peace project at UWCSEA, I wanted to help end such violent situations.

I got involved with an organisation called Stand, which raises awareness and targets the Canadian government to push for international responses to genocides and mass atrocities. I have been involved at the campus level, engaging and empowering students, and at the national level, helping lead campaigns.

I have also continued to play basketball.

Our senior boys’ team at UWCSEA was the two-time SEASAC champion and thankfully the victory streak continued at UBC, where my intramural team won four seasons in a row. I hope to keep playing at Oxford.

My third passion was running a studentdirected seminar course on trade, aid and international health. After a very positive experience with that class, I have been developing an online certificate course on trade and health, designed to be offered for free, to help fill an educational gap, especially in low-income countries, around the emerging field of understanding how trade agreements affect, and can be utilized to improve the health of populations.

Have your academic interests and career goals changed since graduating from UWCSEA? While at UWCSEA, I was focused on a micro-level approach to solving social problems. Specifically, I was interested in medicine and basic research to help deal with disease. My time at UWCSEA encouraged me to look at global issues through a political and social lens, although my academics remained very science focused with higher Maths, Chemistry, and Biology. This change in perspective became grounded at UBC and I have been

following a path where health science and social sciences intersect. I find this area to be challenging and interesting, and I think it holds great potential. With this approach, I hope to be able to contribute to understanding and solving broader social and structural challenges that impede good health and well-being.

How did the Rhodes Scholarship to study at Oxford come about and what will you be studying there?

I applied to the Rhodes Scholarship, having an interest in several academic programs at Oxford, but the MSc in Global Health Science in particular. It is an interesting application process requiring academic and extracurricular details, six letters of reference and an interview process that included attendance at a formal dinner party in addition to the challenging formal interview. I am definitely very lucky to have been selected, as there were numerous qualified individuals who applied.

I will be a member of Magdalen College, taking the MSc in Global Health Science, with intentions to read for a DPhil in Public Health the following year.

At this stage, what do you see as your longterm career path?

I see many potential career options, though my direction is towards health governance and policy. I hope to understand how health can be promoted given current and new global institutions and foreign relations, and how countries can work together to ensure that all individuals, regardless of income, nationality, gender, age, race or beliefs, have equitable access to health and health care. There are several ways to be involved with this effort, and I am open to many of them at this point, whether it be academia, policy-making or implementation, or on-the-ground project work.

We wish Aneil well as he embarks on the next step in his journey that has so seamlessly combined self-discovery and personal growth, with making a difference in the lives of others. May he continue to stand tall and jump high!

Previous page: Aneil Jaswal speaking at UBC. This page from top left left: Aneil with research team in Kenya; Aneil and team mates after SEASAC win in Bangkok; Aneil with Dr Don Markwell (Warden of Rhodes House) and Professor Andrew Hamilton (Vice Chancellor of Oxford University); Aneil with his family at his UWCSEA graduation; Aneil with fellow boarder, Gregor Schubert, at Safar Show at UWCSEA. OneºNorth July 2011 27

26 OneºNorth July 2011

After graduating from UWCSEA, Aneil returned home to study for a Bachelor of Science degree in Global Resource Systems at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Vancouver, Canada on a prestigious W. Garfield Weston Loran Award. Four years later, he has graduated from UBC and heads to Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar to pursue a master’s degree in global health science.

How did you get interested in the UWC movement and why did you decide to apply to attend a UWC? A friend first told me about the UWC movement when I was in grade 10. My interest in global issues was just beginning to grow, and I was immediately drawn to the UWC vision. Studying and living with passionate students from all over the world was an adventure I so wanted to experience. I was excited to have the chance to learn more about the world outside of Canada, through first hand experience and from my international peers. UWCSEA in Singapore was one of my top choices because it had such a variety of opportunities. It had strong academic and service opportunities, was ideally positioned in South East Asia to allow for travel and regional engagement, and I was interested in the culture and history of Singapore itself.

ALUMNI PROFILE

From Accountant to Mobile Apps Entrepreneur Luke Janssen

By Brenda Whately “I was never really meant to be an accountant. KPMG was a good company and I had great training and met great people, but my heart wasn't in it.”

With this thought in mind and a desire to create something and prove that he could make it work, Luke Janssen seized an opportunity that presented itself in 2003 in the form of a friend and an idea, and he has not looked back since.

While at UWCSEA, Luke was a member of a band called Mojo along with former classmates Oliver Chang and Matt Knight. After leaving UWCSEA and graduating from King’s College, University of London where he had pursued Computer Science with Management, he began a full time job in Australia. At that point he reformed the band with Oliver and Matt for a while. After their gig one night, they were approached and recruited to make mobile ringtones for a company called BlueSkyFrog. In time, Luke became friends with Oliver Palmer, the husband of the woman for whom he was creating the ringtones, and it was with Oliver that Luke began to think about the opportunities in the mobile industry aside from ringtones. After hiring a creative developer to help them, their company TigerSpike was launched in September 2003. Some time thereafter, Luke gave up his accounting career.

When asked about his company name, Luke says, “We wanted to convey innovation, creativity and cutting edge technology - the Tiger - while also pushing a message of professionalism and trust - the Spike. Also, I grew up in Hong Kong and Singapore and so I am sure the tiger imagery had seeped into my brain somehow.”

His entrepreneurial tendencies had first been awakened while still a high school student. He says, “At UWCSEA, I produced and sold shirts for our leaving class, for Fire Magazine, for Senior House and the Dragonboat team, and I produced and sold CDs from our band Mojo to our fans from UWCSEA and other schools in Singapore. We actually made a few thousand dollars, which is quite a lot when your only source of income is pocket money and holiday jobs. In university I made a little money buying fake Ralph Lauren shirts in Bangkok, along with another UWCSEA alumnus, and selling them to other students. I made a little more with that enterprise than I did at UWC because margins are higher when you are doing something not strictly legal.

That taste for entrepreneurship was what was niggling at the back of my mind while I was watching the dot com boom happen around me. So when the opportunity arose, I took it.”

Describing what it is his company does, Luke says, “TigerSpike is a personal media company. It is the leading provider of cross-platform technology solutions that enable organisations to form closer relationships with their content users through personal media.

The key 'personal media' devices I am referring to are mobile phones (iPhone, Android and Blackberry are the three biggest platforms) and tablet devices (again, iPad and Android tablets are the main ones). Our mobile applications include mobile websites, mobile messaging, mobile commerce and everything else mobile including strategy and design. 'Content users' can be customers, staff, or anyone who would find value accessing a company's content wherever they are and whenever they want to, through

their personal media devices. This is very hard for companies to do because all the different devices deal with content differently, screens are different sizes, the systems that their content is housed in are usually complex - a 'spaghetti mess' I sometimes call it - and there are many other things that add to a headache that is complicated and expensive for companies to solve themselves. We have a service delivery platform, Phoenix, and a lot of knowledge and experience that will hopefully mean that clients keep asking us to help them get successfully into personal media.

One recent example of our work is The Economist's iPad application.”

The company has grown by almost 100% in revenue terms, every year since it was started eight years ago. To support the growth, the company currently has 82 employees in five locations.

Luke says, “We were out-growing our offices every year. That is one lesson we are learning - get way bigger office space than you think you will need!”

Tigerspike’s customers tend to be Fortune 1000 companies and it has offices in Sydney, Melbourne, London and New York, with plans for Dubai, San Francisco and Singapore later this year.

Luke is looking forward to the Singapore location, “so that I can send my new little daughter Lucia to UWCSEA!” Luke feels that it’s the balance between innovation and professionalism that his company seems to be getting right. He says, “After I graduated from Kings, I worked for KPMG for eight years. They taught me a lot about professionalism and solid trusted delivery, which I dripfed into the innovative company that TigerSpike is, from the time we first started it. [My courses in] Computer

“When we started TigerSpike, I sold my parachute and put the $4,000 I got for it towards opening the first office.”

Science with Management taught me more than just technology - the management side has come in equally or more valuable.

When asked how his company approaches the development of an app, Luke says, “It is approached as an art and a science. Steve Jobs, when asked 'what is your secret sauce', said that he 'has the mind of an engineer and the heart of an artist'. When we approach the development of apps we need to think about both aspects. From a technical point of view everything has to work - that goes without saying - but we need to go beyond that; to make a good app you need insight into why and how people will use it, and you need good user-centric design. It sounds simple, but very few people are getting it right. Usability and a good user interface design, combined with good insight into the people using the app is what is critical. We have invested in these areas over the past few years and getting those things right is certainly an art.”

Luke’s leisure time is spent skydiving, flying, cave diving and extreme skiing.

He says, “These activities were all outlets for me [in the past] as I was fundamentally not happy at my job - I wasn't creating anything. Since starting

Above: Luke performing his extreme sports; Luke’s wife Lydia and daughter Lucia; one of TigerSpike’s regional offices.

the company, meeting an amazing abstract artist, Lydia Mullin, convincing her to marry me and having our first baby, I have calmed down a lot. In fact when we started TigerSpike, I sold my parachute and put the $4,000 I got for it towards opening the first office. I still haven't bought another one! And these days I de-stress playing with my baby girl, Lucia.

He continues, “If you want the reward you have to take the risks. The reward for the risk of skydiving is how fun it is. The reward for when I took a risk and resigned from KPMG and started the company despite almost everyone advising me not to, is seeing it grow and the feeling that you get from knowing that you created a company that is now employing 82 people and our work is used by millions of people around the world. That’s pretty amazing when I think about it.”

Luke’s future personal plans include his old band. He says, “I would love to re-form the band again. Oliver Chang lives a few blocks away from me but his band, the High Highs, is doing really well and Matt Knight is on another continent, so it may not happen just at the moment, but I refuse to play with anyone else!”

As the World Whistling Champion, 2009, Luke’s further musical goal is, “To be recognised as the best whistler of all time, and whistle with my favorite band Muse, to a packed Wembly Stadium.”

We wish him luck.

To see Luke’s company website, visit www.tigerspike.com To see Luke’s wife Lydia Mullin’s art, please visit www.lydiamullin.com To contact Luke, please visit the UWCSEA alumni website

Please send your profile suggestions for the next edition of OneºNorth, to alumnimagazine@uwcsea.edu.sg.

OneºNorth July 2011 29

28 OneºNorth July 2011

“… when the opportunity arose, I took it..”

UWCSEA 1990-1994 Class of 1994

raising funds to support their respective organisation with complete determination. And finally in March came the much awaited Project Week. The entire 11th Grade was free to form their own group (three to five people) and choose a location to go to, within a budget. Students generally traveled to South East Asia. Though we had to fulfill four days of creative, active or service activities, there was no adult supervision. Students had to arrange every little detail on their own and it was a major

STUDENT ARTICLE

UWCSEA to me

By Aashna Aggarwal

N

The way school worked was different from what I had experienced. Tutor group had been more of a time to quickly finish that piece of homework you forgot about than have deep meaningful discussions with your tutor. Classes were an hour and fifteen minutes long but seemed to end before you even knew what was happening. The range of activities confused me, I wanted

When I return home for holidays, I’m inevitably asked - “So, how is UWCSEA?” I always find it impossible to encompass my answer in a few words. My school is more than just competitive, pushing you to work hard whether it’s the IB or GCSE’s

Aashna Aggarwal, current Grade 11 boarding student and member of the UWCSEA Alumni Council, is currently considering a journalism, psychology or law programme with a minor in theatre arts at university when she leaves UWCSEA in 2012.

Anita Kapoor, TV presenter and Paul Foster, TV actor Africa to Philippines to hip hop from the USA. UN night was an explosion of culture and ethnicity, a more serious affair than you can ever imagine - with lights, colourful costumes, resplendent makeup and rehearsed moves. It was amazing to see how different cultures gelled together to produce an array of performances that brought out the essence of what UWCSEA is - a school with kids from every nationality and country you can imagine that come together to form one big unit.

Next came the boarding house international week which was much like UN night but on a smaller scale. The Aids Benefit Dinner was a grand affair where students of Grade 11 had the chance to serve their teachers and subsequently watch them ‘bust a move’. Oliver was the biggest mu-

“… a school with kids from every nationality and country you can imagine that come together to form one big unit.” transport services. I was a stronger person, more confident and more independent.

I spoke up more in class, I sang for the first time in front of an audience, I took charge more often and so much more. By December, the change in me was noticeable and not just in my new hairstyle or slightly more healthy physique but in my personality. UWCSEA changes you for the better; it gives you a broader perspective on life. It helps you break out of your shell and shine.

sical ever performed by the school, and a successful one at that. Helping backstage, I saw all the hard work put into the play and the frustration suffered by everyone but what the audience saw was a dazzling performance; props and lights were shades of gray, costumes deliberately torn and raw emotion. Opus was resplendent as usual with musicians of all kinds evolving and exceeding their own limits. The sheer talent they displayed, coupled with grace was mesmerizing to watch.

The first major event that took place while I was at school was UN Night. Weeks before the night it would be staged, auditions began. Practices lasted hours on end with perfection being the ultimate goal. I took part in the first ever Norwegian dance but you could choose between dances from

All this while Global Concerns (GC) arranged their own small events - the first ever UWCSEA Quidditch match, movie nights, sausage sizzles and cocktail nights.

The GC programme was another thing that amazed me about this school. It had students forming their own small groups and

In March 2011, in response to a request by the alumni team of UWCSEA, Anita Kapoor graciously agreed to give her time and considerable talent to the role of Moderator of one of the main plenary sessions at the annual CASE (Council for Advancement and Support of Education) conference held in Singapore. There she moderated a panel comprising Chew Kwee San of the Tan Chin Tuan Foundation and Jose Isidro N. Camacho, Managing Director and Vice Chairman, Asia Pacific, Credit Suisse. With humour and thoughtful, insightful questions, Anita succeeded in moderating a very lively and interesting discussion on the topic of philanthropy.

Then in May 2011, Anita again gave back to the College and its Global Concerns programme by volunteering to emcee the inaugural gala fundraising dinner held in support of a newly established GC, Magic Bus. Volunteering with her at the Magic bus event was another former student of UWCSEA - TV actor Paul Foster, who took on the role of auctioneer.

Magic Bus is an NGO founded in Mumbai in 1999 by Matthew Spacie. In the words of the Magic Bus website, “We are a Sport for Development organisation which works with children and youth from marginalised communities. We use the medium of sports and outdoors to help them discover and develop their true potential and create opportunities for a better future.”

Above: Anita with Matthew Spacie of Magic Bus.

Anita Kapoor, Class of 1989

Mumbai-born and Singapore bred, Anita Kapoor has developed a diverse portfolio of exciting lifestyle presenter roles for TLC, Mediacorp’s Channel News Asia, OKTO & Channel 5, Sony Pictures AXN, and the Starwood Group of Hotels and Resorts.

Most recently, Anita hosted Season Two of hit realitylifestyle series Can You Serve for Mediacorp’s Channel 5. She will also host a fun online series for popular men’s magazine August Man between June and August 2011. In late 2010, Anita co-hosted adventure series Lonely Planet Stressbuster. She also voiced the premiere season of CNA/Third Floor Pictures 2010 documentary series, Asia Exposed, and produced and presented her own radio talk show FACE OFF with Anita Kapoor through two seasons in 2010 on Mediacorp talk radio station 938LIVE, giving a shout-out to UWCSEA during one of the shows.

Paul Foster, Class of 1999

Born in Singapore to a British father and a Chinese mother, Paul first gained fame when he won the title of “Food Bachelor” on Mediacorp Channel 12’s reality television show. He most recently appeared as one of the leads on MediaCorp Channel 5’s long running drama serial, ‘Red Thread’ and following that, he played a leading role in the television series ‘Polo Boys.’

In addition to his television roles, Paul also hosts live events which include those for causes he supports, including Habitat for Humanity and those bringing anti-smoking messages to Singapore’s youth.

Paul recently filmed a Father’s Day special mini TV series “Papa Rock” for Suria and simultaneously filmed the Singtel Grid Girls 2011 competition for Mio TV, for which he is the host, both airing in June 2011. Earlier this year Paul filmed his first feature film in Jakarta - Catatan Harian Si Bo.

OneºNorth July 2011 31

30 OneºNorth July 2011

I moved to UWCSEA in August 2010 as a grade 11 boarder. My first reaction similar to many of the new kids was that of admiration - the school is colossal, filled with amenities that can cater to whatever your need be. It can be a bit bewildering in the beginning but all you need is some determination to learn and you’ll get there. Orientation was not just a learning experience but a welcoming to the family of our school. I immediately felt like I was accepted whole-heartedly into the community. The boarding house was overwhelming; the good kind of overwhelming.

Every person you talked to had a story to tell. There was the politician’s son from Africa, the Dutch girl living in Luxembourg and the shy Guatemalan. The day students too were friendly, offering survival tips with good-heartedness. I missed Mumbai – the place I’d spent my entire life - but I was ready to start afresh here.

to be a part of everything but like every IB student knows, time is limited. You had to choose exactly what you were interested in or it could be too late. Sport is an essential element of the school. The effort and commitment put into every practice, every game by students is amazing. It’s not only about how well you play, it’s about keeping the name of our school high up in ranks. Teachers were not scary monsters waiting to bring you down; you could even go as far as to say they were like friends.

Conversations with them never had to be strictly academic. The boarding house was separate from the school yet integrated in.

We had dinner together, we went on trips together, we studied together and most of all, we lived together. Being a boarder taught me a lot - and I don’t just mean doing my own laundry or using the public

or whatever else. My school is more than just multicultural. My school is more than just an all rounder from sports to music to theatre to academics. My school is my home.

Two UWCSEA Alumni Give Back:

UWCSEA 2010 - Present Class of 2012

ine months into UWCSEA, and I love it. Not just the vibrant atmosphere of the school, or the security it offers but also every little atom that forms a part of my school. MY school - I feel a strange sort of pride referring to it as that. I feel lucky and I feel privileged to be in an institution as amazing as UWCSEA. If ever asked about my decision to move to Singapore - I can say with complete confidence that I don’t regret it one bit.

growth opportunity. My group worked at a bear sanctuary in Cambodia but there were groups going to orphanages in Mongolia, kick boxing in Bali and even cooking in Thailand.

STUDENT ARTICLE

A Model United Nations Experience

From left Delegates of our Represented country, Bangladesh

By Shipra Khanna

Rachel Thomas, Akshay Chauhan and Shipra Khanna at the Opening Ceremony or flag raising of THIMUN conference.

UWCSEA 2001-Present Class of 2012

W

hen I reflect upon the time that I spent in The Hague, the experience goes beyond solely a week. It is not just our preparation, which began three months prior to the actual conference, but the time, memories and friends that we made within those few days that will remain with us forever.

The Hague International Model United Nations (THIMUN) is a simulation of the UN organisation hosted annually in January at the World Forum Convention Center of the Hague, Netherlands. There, a select group of 3,500 high school students from all over the world come together to discuss global issues and try to find solutions to real world problems ranging from human rights violations to environmental destruction. The UWCSEA delegation was assigned to represent Bangladesh and divided into different committees including the General Assembly, the main deliberative policy making organ of the UN, the Human Rights Commission and the Special Conference on Crime and Punishment (SCCP) which was the theme of this year’s conference: crime and punishment.

The preparation on paper began with thorough research into our assigned country, followed by further examination of their foreign policies. This resulted in the drafting of a resolution, somewhat representative of an “action plan” as my co- delegate called it, along the lines of an original UN resolution with all its glorified indenting and spacing.

After months of preparation, research and shopping for the perfect suits, it was time for all of us to embark on our journey to The Hague. Upon arrival, as all 16 of us walked out of the Schipol Airport, our high spirits were slightly dampened by the blazing cold. Our Singapore-adapted bodies were soon draped in layers and we savoured the taste of hot chocolate. On our first day, besides being embraced by the extreme cold, what made this experience truly interesting was that unlike other delegates, we weren’t staying in hotels.

Instead, we were residing with local host families who welcomed us with open arms. We all came away with the feeling of having a ‘home away from home’ and a real insight into the Dutch lifestyle.

The 24th of January 2011 finally arrived and we, the transformed delegates of Bangladesh, separated into our respective committees.

We took to the conference like white takes to a hue. And those hues only brightened with each passing day as we became more and more comfortable in our professional attire and everyone’s initial doubt and hesitancy fell away as the interesting debates began. The reckless abandon with which other delegates threw themselves at the task made us aware of how well researched and informed they were about their respective countries. This was truly the highlight of the experience, with fast paced debate and well crafted questions. It was remarkable how passionately debated the resolutions were, as people truly believed in their cause. We engaged in lobbying, finding other like-minded nations and merging our resolutions together. After the first day of preparation and networking with others, the following three days were engulfed by the student delegates defending the views of their represented countries and the points offered in their resolution. The initial uncertainty and the questions and comments, which we faced from the opposing countries when we presented our resolution and ideas, were inevitable yet daunting. This debate however, encouraged us to think on our feet, keep calm in tense situations and voice our opinions strongly. The formalities of the parliamentary procedure, which were followed at the conference such as speaking in the third person, provided some much

“There, a select group of 3,500 high school students from all over the world come together to discuss global issues and try to find solutions to real world problems.”

Please send your article suggestions for the next edition of OneºNorth, to alumnimagazine@uwcsea.edu.sg.

“Each of us originating from different parts of the world, we brought forth the true flavour of being from a UWC.” needed comic relief and alleviated most of our nervousness.

There were several enjoyable aspects to the conference. Whether it was sitting in the Opening Ceremony, seeing the flags being raised, or getting my resolution on how to resolve International Terrorism passed by the General Assembly, are moments that will remain with me forever.

The conference transcended all boundaries as it bonded us toward greater causes, challenging individuals to make a deep impactful change. The feeling that one has participated in something which may improve someone else’s life is a feeling very difficult to elucidate in words on paper.

It really made me recognise that perhaps this is truly a testament to diplomacy in real life and to understand how through collaboration, countries can bond together to resolve issues, regardless of their political alignment.

More importantly though, the conference was a tryst with the ideals of the UN, drawing importance to aspects which are essential for us and that future generations need to be aware of. It not only made us question the issues which we are faced with, but attempt to think about possible solutions which could be feasible for the UN to implement. It allowed us to represent a country that we were not from, and whose views didn’t necessarily correspond to ours at all. This immediately pushed us

into the deep end and forced us to think about why and how their views were formulated. We were not there to give a platform to our own perspective but to voice the opinion of the country we were representing even if that perspective contradicted what we believed and have been brought up with.

The conference in itself was great and really connected with our school’s ideals of internationalism and promoting cultural understanding in young people. We even met the delegation from another UWC the UWC of Maastricht and joined together with them on several occasions. We discovered that irrespective of the UWC that we come from, the inculcated values are what connect and join us together. This is even what our Alumni magazine and the Alumni Council strive to achieve. The discussions and debates which ensued outside the Hall were filled with laughter and a sense of similarity. All of us were the same age and doing similar things -taking the IB, facing the stress and pressure of CAS - there was always something that everyone could relate to. To attempt to describe this further, I’ll borrow a few lines from the director of THIMUN, Mrs. De Brooke. She closed the conference with the words, “This is the time for you to grow, to encourage understanding between you all - the future generation in whose hands the world lies. If you don’t interact and meet, get to know each other, our world

may continue moving the way it is or maybe even worsen.” It wasn’t just about debating and getting resolutions passed, it was learning about different perspectives and the barriers we face now and in our future. When the world is passed on to us and lies in our hands, there is no denying that the world’s plea to alleviate itself from issues which have plagued it for years will certainly not fall on deaf ears. Prior generations can be reassured that the new generation have not only been taught and educated about the problems but have been given the greatest tool – the tool of thinking - thinking about ways to resolve the problems and diminish the concerns.

This trip provided a group of young people a platform from which we saw how world leaders tackle the issues at hand and it nurtured an interest in International Relations with a new-found awareness of what is occurring around us and in the world.

Shipra, a current Grade 11 student and member of the UWCSEA Alumni Council, originates from New Delhi, India. She was first exposed to traveling around the world with her parents at the age of two, on board an American oil company ship commanded by her father, a Mariner-Captain.

After a year at sea, her family settled in Singapore where they have remained for the past 15 years. Shipra entered UWCSEA in Grade 2 in 2001 and will graduate next year, 2012, after which she plans to pursue International Law and Fashion Merchandising with Economics at university.

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32 OneºNorth July 2011

The work leading up to the actual conference entailed a selection process during which 16 students from Grade 11 were chosen to attend and represent our school, one of only three schools from Singapore to have a presence at the conference.

What really distinguished us from other delegations however, was our inherent multiculturalism. Nine of us were National Committee scholars whose trip was

entirely sponsored by THIMUN. Each of us originating from different parts of the world, we brought forth the true flavour of being from a UWC. I particularly recall an incident when a member of one of the other delegations came by and struck up a conversation with us, shocked that we were all one delegation from the same school as we had such a culturally diverse and mixed team.

ALUMNI PROFILE

In Pursuit of Health and Wellness M

ubina’s father, a flight engineer, changed jobs and countries fairly often. She was born in Vancouver but moved to Nairobi as a child, followed by seven years in Jeddah, and seven more in Singapore. Her family moved back to Vancouver when she was 16, and she lived there for seven years, followed by a move to Toronto where she lives today.

Mubina is a doctor of naturopathic medicine with her own practice, Essence of Health where she provides natural therapies such as herbal medicine and acupuncture, as well as nutritional and lifestyle counselling. She is also a naturopathic consultant for several corporations and an Assistant Professor at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine.

Having moved to Vancouver with her family after Year 4 (now called Grade 9) she entered the Canadian education system in Grade 10, which she says she thinks of as “skipping the second year of the GCSE’s”. She remarks, “Having been in British schools all my life, the North American lingo was new to me and came with a slight culture shock. I skipped a grade in French - thanks Mr. Jones - and started learning about the sights of Quebec instead of the Eiffel Tower and the Tour de France. I had to wear a winter coat instead of my grey shorts, and for the first time ever, I got to wear whatever I pleased! Mind you, I did miss my uniform dearly at times.”

“Looking back, I realise how rich my experience at UWCSEA was and what an amazing time I had.”

Remembering when she watched the 35 year anniversary DVD of UWCSEA’s history a couple of years ago she says, “I was amazed to see so many changes, but so many things have stayed the same. In our younger years we looked at the security gates with a reverence as the upper year groups were allowed to go out for lunch while we had to stay in. As we got older, we were able to indulge in new privileges including the delicious delicacies that were available outside – most memorably, roti prata & chicken rice. The new gym and music building were built during our time at UWCSEA and

Mubina Jiwa, BSc, ND UWCSEA 1989-1993 Class of 1996

“… you quickly realise how much healing power there is in compassion.”

After High School Mubina entered the University of British Columbia (UBC) where she obtained a BSc. in Nutritional Sciences. Being Canadian, Mubina had wanted to attend university in Canada. She loved UBC because, she says, “It was a world of its own, similar to UWCSEA. Everyone you saw on campus was somehow connected to the school and had a vested interest in it.” Following UBC she moved to Toronto to pursue Naturopathic Medicine at the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine (CCNM), the only naturopathic medical college in Canada at that time. She was influenced by her passion for helping people to help themselves. She says, “I have been fortunate in my life to have had many external influences that high-lighted the importance of caring for other people, including my parents, my Ismaili Muslim background and my involvement in the UWC movement. I identify with the eastern philosophies that naturopathic medicine embraces, perhaps because of growing up in the eastern world. I appreciate the value of tradition and traditional medicines - medicines that grandmothers give their grandchildren and grandchildren give their grandchildren.”

and she designs and implements corporate wellness initiatives. She teaches and volunteers at the Sherbourne Health Centre, a clinic for people with HIV/AIDS. There she helps people who can’t afford healthcare. She describes this as an ‘eye-opening experience’ saying, “Each individual has a story to tell and you quickly realise how much healing power there is in compassion. It is a great feeling to help these people live their life to the fullest. A patient recently said to me just before he passed away, ‘The clinic has given me the best two years of my life and for that I am grinning ear to ear.’”

Mubina says she found Toronto to be a very vibrant city with a multitude of festivals and events and a multicultural environment similar to that of Singapore. She studied at CCNM for four years followed by a two-year residency.

During her residency she established a private practice and decided to stay in Toronto for a while. She says now, “I am overdue on my historical seven year move schedule!”

In May 2011, Mubina was married in Vancouver, Canada.

Celebrating her wedding with her were some of her UWCSEA friends.

Mubina describes her practice thus: “As a naturopathic doctor, I am able to educate my patients on bettering their health. I am able to assist them in improving their health and their lifestyle so that they can be happy and healthy. I enjoy spending time with patients, determining the root cause of their problems and giving them the tools to solve them.”

Mubina also participates in public speaking and media engagements which she finds are a great venue for public education. She has been asked to contribute to several magazine articles, is an “expert” advisor on many websites,

Mubina has reconnected with a number of her classmates through the web. She says, “The alumni website has been a great way to connect. It has given me a glimpse of what my classmates are doing and it is fun to see new people joining all the time. It is amazing that we are now located all over the world but the fact that we all went to UWCSEA has given us a closeness. We were a community then and we still are now. I feel that I could go to any part of the world and look up a classmate - I made friends for life.”

By Brenda Whately

From top Mubina at Turtle Beach in Hawaii where her parents now live. She says, “It’s great to go home, and amazing to see the turtles. You think they are a bunch of rocks until you move closer and so do they!”

Mubina at work.

Newly weds Mubina in Nairobi at an animal orphanage. “In the past, people were allowed to pet the cheetahs. Although they had stopped that practice by the time I was there, we sweet-talked one of the guards into letting us into the cage. It seemed like a great idea until that cage door shut. When one of the cheetahs came up to investigate, the guard encouraged me to pet her. As I did, the cellphone in my pocket started to vibrate. I was a bit unnerved, but lucky for me the cheetah had no interest in technology and it turned out to be the experience of a lifetime.”

Please send your profile suggestions for the next edition of OneºNorth, to alumnimagazine@uwcsea.edu.sg.

OneºNorth July 2011 35

34 OneºNorth July 2011

When Mubina moved to Singapore she had worn a school uniform for the first time. As it was in the years before UWCSEA had a primary school, she wore the green dress of Dover Court which was swapped for the grey shorts, skirt and striped blouse of UWCSEA when she entered Year 1 (now called Grade 6). She says, “I remember the excitement of moving to the ‘big kids’ school - walking up the long driveway, past the security gate and into the world that was UWCSEA. Looking back, I realise how rich my experience at UWCSEA was and what an amazing time I had.”

it was nice to have the new rooms and facilities. I remember the years sitting at the tables by the aircon pool and sliding down the hill behind the science building, playing rugby in the rain and netball in the sunshine. I also remember our “private” lunch area behind the Design Technology building where three of my good friends, Fiona Clements, Zuzanna Olszewska and Myriam Bartu would meet me for lunch. The three of us had met at Dover Court and then moved on to UWCSEA. After I left Singapore, we wrote letters to keep in touch until thankfully, email came about. Those were the days.”

BOOK REVIEW

Nine Days to Knowing Iain Ewing

Managing Director & Principal Trainer Ewing Communications Pte Ltd

tests done on his mummy, it is estimated that Rameses II was about 90 when he died in 1213 BCE. But people like Rameses, statistically, are known as outliers. They don’t represent the mass of normal people, most of whom died even before they reached the age of 30. It’s probably impossible to say exactly when but at some point this second paradigm, which we see in Rembrandt’s paintings, emerged: CHILDHOOD ADULTHOOD OLD AGE

Next, and it’s also impossible to say exactly when, in very wealthy and technologically-advanced societies like Britain in 1880, a third paradigm began to appear:

Left: Tejas and Iain Ewing

W

hat, you might ask, is the connection between UWC and the theme of my new book, Nine Days to Knowing? The connection, of course, is my son Tejas, who graduated from UWCSEA in 1998. And the inspiration behind this connection is a comment that came out of Tejas’s mouth a few years after he graduated from UWC. One day, in reference to a conversation he and I were having about the counter-intuitive fact that the people of some less-developed countries are happier than the people of some more-developed countries, he said to me: “We need to become simplifiers, and not accumulators.”

The sub-title of my new book is: “How Learning the Law of the Tundra Will Help You Be Successful in Your Career - and in Your Life”. Why the tundra, and what is the connection to UWC? Tejas and I are both fascinated by what we observe when we are able to visit very severe habitats - severe because of extreme heat or cold and lack of rain. This means habitats in places like the high-altitude mountains and valleys of Ladakh, which are hot in the summer and cold in the winter and dry all year round. I have never been to Ladakh, but I did grow up in Canada, and I have seen the arctic tundra with my own eyes.

Tejas and I have also visited together places like the Sahara Desert in Egypt, the red centre of Uluru in Australia, the Arctic in Spitsbergen and the Antarctic in Commonwealth Bay. In these very severe habitats, it is easier to see how ecosystems work because the habitats are forced by the severity of nature to become very simple. Instead of the canopy of the forest

Another concept that I write about in my new book is also learned from Tejas. He calls it The New Paradigm. But in order to understand the way it works, we first have to understand the old paradigm that existed from the origin of our species right up until about the time of Queen Elizabeth the First, who died in 1603. Here is the original paradigm:

Because people were living longer and, more importantly, because they could expect to live longer, they could take more time to become adults. They could study, they could travel, they could gain experience before they actually had to enter the world of full-time work. And now, so Tejas tells me, we have recently entered The New Paradigm: CHILDHOOD ADOLESCENCE ODYSSEY ADULTHOOD ACTIVE RETIREMENT OLD AGE

In addition, this new paradigm indicates that when you retire from your career, you don’t retire from life. Since you may retire at 60 and, because of the advances in nutritional and medical knowledge, you may live to be 90 and still be active right up to the time you die, you don’t have to go straight into old age. You can have many years in active retirement, allowing you to have a second, third or even a fourth career - and be successful at all of them. Indeed, you may be more successful at your fourth career than you were in the first three!

What does this mean for people like yourselves who are either about to graduate, or have recently graduated from UWC? It means that you have a unique opportunity to make the world a better place and one of the main principles I offer you to make this contribution is contained in Tejas’s words: “We need to become simplifiers, and not accumulators. “

Iain Ewing is the father of former student Tejas Ewing and a strong supporter of UWCSEA and the UWC movement.

CHILDHOOD ADULTHOOD

If you take the life spans of all the English kings and queens, starting from Canute to Elizabeth I, you discover something interesting. Canute died in 1035 at about the age of 40. In those days, even kings did not always have the date and year of their birth registered, so we don’t know exactly how old he was. Queen Elizabeth I died in 1603. If you include Jane, the ‘Nine Days Queen’, then you get an average life span of 45.78. Let’s round that up to 46 years of age. It’s not very old, is it? And keep in mind that these people were kings and queens. Presumably they had the best food to eat and the cleanest water to drink, yet they were dying, on average, at a much younger age than we do. Of course, you could point out that many of them died in battle and I would say, “Exactly correct,” because in those days, you really had to fight if you wanted to be King or Queen. You had to be prepared to lead your army into battle and be prepared to die.

Now, if we look at the paintings of people like Rembrandt, we see something remarkable happening. Rembrandt is painting not just a lot of young and middle-aged people, but also many very old people. Of course, by the time that humans invented agriculture 10,000 or 12,000 years before our current era, some people began living much longer than 30. From

Dover Campus Developments Development and refurbishment continues at the Dover Campus. A new Middle School classroom block is being built in the place of the old Middle School offices and the old, original gym, beside the Main Hall. It is on schedule for completion by January 2012. The Art Department refurbishment is now complete as is the new Craft, Design and Technology Centre on the ground floor of the Science Block.

A covered walkway linking the guardhouse to Dover Road is being planned and will be erected once the project is approved. Another major project that will commence in the very near future is the creation of an additional dining area near the Pavilion Canteen, providing an additional 300 seats for students.

If you are visiting the campus and don’t recognise the entrance any more, since the boarding residences and the cricket pitch along the drive have been removed, don’t despair. The centre of campus including the teaching blocks and the Main Hall looks very much as it always has other than the air con fountain pool which was drained in the mid-’90s and is now called the Tent Plaza, although the area still remains the central gathering point of the campus.

Do drop in and see what’s new and what has remained the same, when you are next in Singapore and/or have the time to come by and see us.

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36 OneºNorth July 2011

As soon as I heard that thought, I knew I had heard something special. It so perfectly summed up what we all must do in the face of the rampant consumerism of the world around us, especially in the more-developed countries of the world.

And I knew that this wonderful idea came, at least partly, from Tejas’s experience at UWCSEA. I knew, for example, that way back in 1995 when he was fifteen, he had come back from a UWCSEA trip to Lamdon School in Ladakh impressed by the way that, in spite of their very simple life, the people he had met during this trip had been so happy and welcoming toward him and all the other visitors from UWCSEA. From that point on, he started thinking more about what turned out to be his fascination with sustainable development.

towering hundreds of metres over your head, the “canopy” is an active layer of vegetation only a few centimetres high, and the number of species of animals that can survive in these places usually number no more than a hundred, rather than the thousands and thousands of species that we find in tropical places like Singapore. Going to school at UWCSEA, even though it is right here in very tropical Singapore gave Tejas the opportunity to visit - and think about - places like Ladakh.

CHILDHOOD ADOLESCENCE ADULTHOOD OLD AGE

For the first time in human history, young people like you, the graduates of UWCSEA, are so confident that you will live long and productive lives that you can delay entering the full-time workforce until you are in your late 20s or early 30s. You can delay getting married and having children until you are in your late 30s and also delay pursuing your careers with the purpose of becoming a leader in society until you are in your early 40s.

You can take a gap year after you graduate from UWC, complete university at the age of 23 or 24 then spend ten years trying different types of work, traveling, taking a Master’s degree, studying a completely different subject and then settling into a career and marriage in your mid to late 30s. You will not have lost any competitive advantage and your varied experience will have given you an edge.

UWCSEA FOUNDATION

ROUND SQUARE

Junior Round Square Conference Montreal, Canada

UWCSEA Foundation Update Lizanne and Robert A. Milton Scholarship Endowment

From left Estelle Morin (Class of 2010), Sayo Koike, Fionnuala MacFadden, Harsh Baksi, Kana Nomoto (four Grade 8 students), Pandit Adhilaga-Dres (Class of 2010)

In February 2011, Julia Matheson, a UWCSEA teacher from Canada, took a group of four Grade 8 students to Montreal, Quebec, Canada to attend a Junior Round Square Conference. While they were there they met up with former UWCSEA alumni, Estelle Morin and Pandit Adhilaga-Dres, both of the Class of 2010, currently studying at McGill University in Montreal.

“It was nice to see people from UWCSEA visiting McGill. We had a fun time showing them around campus, we told them what life was like for university students and in the end we ended up playing in the snow. We felt at ease connecting with the students and gave them tips and advice on how to succeed in High School, especially with the IB curriculum being so tough.

They asked us questions about what to expect in the future years of school.

I felt a bit like a mentor advising the younger students to do well for their future. It’s always a nice feeling when you can give advice to students so that they can do their best.”

Pandit Adhilaga-Dres UWCSEA Class of 2010

38 OneºNorth July 2011

“It was a lot of fun, especially considering that some of the students hadn’t ever seen snow before.

Between all the studying and getting used to life in Montreal, playing in the snow with the UWCSEA students was a welcome change.”

Estelle Morin UWCSEA Class of 2010

“UWCSEA is a Round Square School, a member of an international organisation of over 70 schools world-wide sharing Kurt Hahn IDEALS. IDEALS stands for Internationalism, Democracy, Environment, Adventure, Leadership and Service. Each year schools volunteer to host regional and international conferences focused on the IDEALS, where delegates can gather to learn from each other and from guest speakers. In order to enrich the experience, there are opportunities for students to participate in pre or post conference tours. This year we were invited to send four delegates to the Junior Regional Conference, which was being hosted by Lower Canada College in Montreal. UWCSEA students in Grade 7 and 8 were invited to fill out an application and four grade 8 students were chosen to represent our school internationally. The pre-conference tour included trips around Quebec City and Montreal, to experience and learn more about Canadian culture, environment and adventures. Highlights included the Winter Carnival, dog-sledding and other outdoor pursuits, visiting the Biodome, Musee des Beaux Art and McGill University. The theme of the conference was “Come in, it’s cold outside! Entrez, il fait froid dehors!”

During the conference our students had the opportunity to mix with peers from across North America, as well as other international students, notably those from Peru. They were able to experience the challenge and opportunity of the cold through outdoor adventure. Also, they were exposed to the realities of poverty and homelessness in this climate through their service encounters. The students have all said that they wished the conference could have been longer as they really enjoyed and learned from the first hand experiences, engaging

speakers and discussions. Our UWCSEA student delegates have all declared that this was a trip of a lifetime, filled with new experiences and ideas and where they have made friends that they will remember and cherish forever.

Julia Matheson

Middle School/High School Science IB Chemistry

“As I arrived in Canada, I knew it wasn’t going to be my average school trip.

I had never been to Canada before, let alone ever been in snow!! Ever since I was little, I would dream about snow. And I finally got the chance to experience this weather, in the most perfect and beautiful country ever, Canada. We went around old Montreal, and Quebec City, and how beautiful it is. I was even fortunate enough to explore the wonderful land of McGill University. It was so much bigger than I had expected it to be. The architecture was amazing too; it was very strong and bold. When we were there, two exUWCSEA students, who now go to McGill, volunteered to show us around, which was very helpful. They told us what their classes and lectures were like, and what they personally thought about this amazing University. I wasn’t surprised to hear that they found it amazing and exciting. Once you visit the campus, you’ll see why. I even might want to go there in a few years!

This trip has been the best experience I have ever had, and probably will ever have, and I’ve learnt so much and matured in so many different ways from this trip. I worked hard to get accepted into this conference, and it sure did pay off extremely well. I will definitely never forget it.”

Fionnuala MacFadden

Grade 8 student and participant at the Junior Round Square conference

The first Lizanne and Robert A. Milton Scholarship has been awarded to a 17-year-old Vietnamese student.

She has this to say about her upcoming UWC experience, “By living and studying together, one stands a great chance of knowing and respecting the differences between cultures around the world…it is a great chance to both study and develop one’s personality.”

Her scholarship is made possible due to the generosity of Lizanne and Robert A. Milton, both alumni of UWCSEA. Their gift of S$1.6 million is the first fully-endowed donation to the UWCSEA Foundation, allowing students of promise and potential to join the Dover Campus on a two-year IB Diploma scholarship every two years in perpetuity.

The principal from the Milton’s endowment gift to the Foundation will not be spent, but a portion of the interest will be disbursed on an annual basis to benefit the scholarship programme.

Second Class of 1978 Scholarship goes to Haitian student Christine Odegi, recipient of the first fully-funded alumni scholarship, graduated in May 2011 and is looking forward to heading to the U.S. to begin her university studies. Members from the Class of 1978 made this dream come true for her through their generous support.

When asked what impact UWCSEA has had on her life, Christine had this to say, “UWCSEA has changed what I want to do in the future. I appreciate things about my country a lot more. I have experienced a totally different culture. I now have a much greater awareness of the world.”

Leaving a Gift of Nature for Future Generations In addition to the trees that are being sponsored by donors on the Dover Campus, the East Campus is embarking on a three-year tree planting programme. The goal is to plant 200 trees, many of which are scarce, indigenous varieties, helping to educate our community on the environmental and human benefits gained from nature.

The Tradition Continues …

Since 2008, UWCSEA’s Grade 12 students have led an initiative to celebrate their commencement by leaving a graduation gift to the College, which has been matched 100% by the Head, Julian Whiteley each year. This year the Class of 2011 continued the tradition with the highest participation rate so far. They have chosen to support the the waterfall project at the new Middle School block on the Dover Campus.

Two of the students had this to say about their gift “I’ve given because I want “I’ve given because UWCto share my gratitude toward SEA has given me so many UWCSEA from where I have amazing opportunities and gained so much and to con- experiences - now it’s my tribute to the development of turn to give back.” this wonderful place!”

Maithreyi Raman Huu Phuc Hoang

A Facebook page has been established to provide regular updates on the impact of the gift to the UWCSEA community.

Personalised tiles will be prominently displayed at the Middle School Block waterfall. At future visits, the grads will be able to see their tiles at the waterfall and be reminded of the difference that their gift has made to the school.

The class has committed to continue their support and have selected a student from Haiti as the recipient of their second scholarship, beginning August 2011.

For more information about the UWCSEA Foundation and the programmes it supports, please visit www.uwcsea.edu.sg and

click on ‘Support Us’ or write to foundation@uwcsea.edu.sg

By Rachel Phoon

J I A post in the Tropics H G

By Brenda Whately

1973

Mike Gibby

Biology Teacher 1982 - 2011

B

eing able to work in the tropics is, for a biology teacher, “as good as a promotion.” That’s what Mike told then Head of College, John Hutchinson, while being interviewed for the post which brought him from the UK to UWCSEA. Mike was drawn by the rich biological diversity of South East Asia and by the desire to really experience, and not merely travel through, a part of the world that would be completely new to him. Mike has been in Singapore teaching at UWCSEA since January 1982 and has published two books inspired by the region.

Mike says there was a palpable sense of community, a unity of purpose and direction to be felt in the College. “They were exciting times.

The school was a relatively recent member of the UWC movement, with a great closeness amongst the whole school community. The divide between student and teacher, parent and governor seemed small to almost invisible.” One of his most vivid memories of those early years is of ‘hiding out’ at the end of each academic year to avoid becoming one of the teachers tossed into the air-con fountain pool by the students! They were simpler times. The ethos of the school in those days he says was similar to what it is now but

Along with biology field courses and participating in the traditional mangrove mud fights at Beluntu at the conclusion of a day of field work, his former students may remember accompanying Mike on the annual trip in 1982 to climb Mt Kinabalu for field work.

This expedition encouraged him to start planning and running annual adventure trips with students, starting with Outward Bound Sabah for Grade 8 in the mid-eighties, and Ladakh for Grade 9 in 1991. The current Grade 8 and 9 adventure programmes would later develop naturally from these early trips.

Mike and his wife Julia have two daughters, both of whom went through UWCSEA; Jess graduating in 1990 and Laura in 2004. Mike plans to retire in the near future and feels he will have plenty to keep him busy, including more writing. He quips that “the best thing about being a teacher is that you get to practise being retired every holiday.” After UWCSEA, he will move from Singapore to Penang, Malaysia and is currently waiting to be inspired with a subject for a third book.

Mike has been contacted through the UWCSEA alumni website by former students and staff since he joined the site, and is always happy to hear from anyone who would like to get in touch.

Around 2000, Mike says that then Head of College Andrew Bennett decided that the opt-in Outward Bound expedition for Grade 8 students would be replaced with a trip based in Chiang Mai for every Grade 8 student. Steve Willis oversaw the launch of the academic part of this programme, while Mike developed the adventure part. A year later he was asked to introduce the Grade 9 Adventure programme. Expeditions for all year groups have continued to develop and grow since. Mike currently runs a Canoe Club which makes weekend sea kayaking trips in Malaysia and moonlit expeditions around Singapore.

In 1994 Mike published his first book, a travel guide, titled Islands of Malaysia, now unfortunately out of print. His second book, published in 2005, is Crowned with the Stars, a biography of the visionary, Rajah Brooketype character, Don Carlos Cuarteron, who came to Borneo in 1856. Mike became interested in Cuarteron’s history when reading the apparently contradictory information describing him on the one hand as a Roman Catholic priest and on the other, as a pirate, slave trader and opium smuggler! Five years of research into the fascinating history of Don Carlos led to the publication of his second book.

Marguerite Carter I completed A-levels in 1973 and graduated from London University in 1977. I started my own company 19 years ago specializing in Sales & Marketing of hotels and destinations. Our hotel accounts are worldwide.

I now live in Toronto and the UK.

1980

Sue Gourlay (Ayres) Sue recently had Tony Paredes, Class of 1978 and his lovely wife as visitors in Hawaii and they had a lovely time together.

Sue then jumped on a plane to the UK and then on to Stockholm to meet her best friend from UWCSEA - Heddy Motzfeldt, Class of 1980, and gave Heddy’s daughter (Sue’s god-daughter) a surprise visit to attend her confirmation ceremony.

1985

Mark Lynch I will always remember my time in Singapore and at UWCSEA. A great school with superb academic and sports facilities, teachers who care and great friends. My fellow students there were a real melting pot of personalities, cultures and ideas.

After my GCSE’s I left UWCSEA to go back to Scotland to do my Scottish Highers and then joined the army. I served in the army for 12 years in various locations around the world with the Royal Signals and for periods with the British Special Forces. In the late ‘90s, I left the army and worked for Orange PLC in UK before working as a private contractor for Nokia in Italy then the USA. Finally in 2004 I decided to go to Leicester University as a mature student to study for a BSc in Biological Sciences. I topped this off with a PGCE in Secondary Science education there too and I am now a secondary school teacher at an all boys’ school. Family-wise I am married to Karen, and have some great kids with a new addition on the way arriving this November!

2000 From top of page: Mike and students on expedition; Mike today; Interscol photo 1982 and 1992; Mike’s second book.

Please send your profile suggestions for the next edition of OneºNorth, to alumnimagazine@uwcsea.edu.sg.

Adam Ebell I’ve been living in beautiful Perth, Western Australia since I left UWCSEA in 2000. I studied at the University of Western Australia and graduated with a law

degree in 2006. I worked in private practice until 2008 and since then have worked as a criminal prosecutor in both the federal and now State jurisdictions. For anyone interested in contacting me my email is adam.ebell@dpp.wa.gov.au

2002

Ben Buchanan On May 29th, Jacqueline Fisher and I were married in a beautiful ceremony at her parents home in Pasadena, CA. We met five years ago at a Bagel Cafe in Santa Barbara.

We will now be living in Berkeley while I pursue an MBA at UC Berkeley.

2005

Anna Hazlett Diverse interests led me to co-found “ALON” – a boutique multi-disciplinary advisory service active in various industries, including lifestyle, travel and hospitality, private island development, media, academia, design and rural and urban planning based in Singapore. Our first major project, Arts & Culture with a Cause (ACC) pioneers how businesses and the arts can prosper from working in partnership, acting as a catalyst to spark convergence and impact in philanthropy, education and the environment. Alon and Partners successfully launched ACC in New York, May 2011 in partnership with Hamburg-Kennedy Photographs and we particularly look to the Middle East, Latin America & South East Asia to continue this movement. [www. alon.com.sg]

Singapore arm of Prospero World - a Philanthropic advisory organisation. A notfor-profit company, Prospero researches charities from around the world to identify the most innovative and effective to help match donors with reputable charities from around the world. They also hold regular awareness raising events to showcase the work of excellent NGOs, typically through film or speaker events.

Recently, Aparna and her team invited Anuradha Koirala, CNN Hero of the Year 2010, to Singapore for a week-long awareness raising trip. A special screening and forum was also organised at UWCSEA during the visit.

2006

Elysia Glover will be making a cross-country cycling trip from June to August 2011 in support of young adult-led affordable housing projects across the US. She will be riding 3,842 miles from Portland, Maine to Santa Barbara, California with the organisation Bike and Build.

2007

Roku Fukui and Daire MacFadden have been awarded the Davis Projects for Peace Fellowship and will be using the funds to work with migrant workers in Singapore this summer. The project aims to create safe, clean environments to bring together migrant workers, activists and civil society actors. They hope to create a space where foreign workers can come together and feel empowered to gain some form of agency in their lives.

In December this year, Roku will be participating as a facilitator in the first UWC Short Course taking place at the United World College of Southern Africa in Mbabane, Swaziland. The course will last two weeks and will discuss issues of global and community development.

2011 Aparna Thadani Aparna completed her undergraduate degree in anthropology and international relations from Oxford Brookes University in the UK in 2010. She recently moved back to Singapore to set up the

Chihiro Isozaki recently won the first prize for an essay competition conducted

by Peace Boat, Japan. The theme of the essay competition was “Travel and Peace’.

She has won a three-month around-theworld boat trip worth over $15,000. In the summer of 2012, she will be travelling around more than 20 countries and engaging in various volunteer and cultural activities at the different sites. Congrats to Chihiro!

Please send us your news for the next edition of OneºNorth, to alumnimagazine@uwcsea.edu.sg.

OneºNorth July 2011 41

40 OneºNorth July 2011

One of his earliest memorable experiences was travelling to Beluntu, the College outdoor centre in Malaysia. “The trip involved a bum boat to Johor then a rusty old bus with no suspension, driven by a wrinkly old man along a dirt road through coconut palms.

After seemingly becoming lost in the Ulu, we emerged at Beluntu, our Centre overlooking a pristine tropical beach.” And that was the point he says when he first felt that he had truly arrived in a new and exciting place. Later the same weekend he recalls standing in bright sunshine on a footbridge over the Sungai Punggai with Bill Edwards, another recently arrived biology teacher, and knowing what the weather was like back in the UK at that time - early February - they “simultaneously burst out laughing at how extraordinary and surreal it all was.” On a personal note, other memorable experiences soon after he arrived included first meeting, and then marrying his wife Julia who was the College Receptionist at that time.

simpler. It has steadily grown over the years, reflecting changes in society. He notes that “there seem to be many more tragic events in the world which inspire a corresponding growth in desire among our students to find ways to help.”

CLASS NOTES

Former Staff

UPCOMING REUNIONS

Charles (Chuck) Engmann

Charles currently lives in Ghana and would be happy to hear from his students at gwaaso@hotmail.com. Please send him emails instead of Facebook messages as he prefers to communicate with former students on a private and personal level instead of via Facebook.

Staff Leavers Sarah England

2008 – 2011 Grade 8 and High School English language and literature IB Tutor

I came to UWCSEA after just getting married and moving to Singapore from Phuket, Thailand. Therefore it was the herald of many new changes in my life, the latest of which was our baby, Lily, born in July last year. UWCSEA is a very special school and feel I have forged many precious relationships with both staff and students in a relatively short period of time. I know I will never get to teach in such an environment again as the place and its people are unique – I’m just glad (and flattered) that I had the opportunity. Thank you.

Janette Caton Kindergarten 2005 – 2011

I arrived in December 2005. I was a Supply Teacher in the Primary School for two years from 2007. In 2009 I started teaching full-time in K2 and loved it! I am leaving Singapore to take up a position at the Qatar Academy in Doha. I will be teaching Kindergarten there too.

Perth alumni reunion 1 October 2011

Reunion 2011!

Fourth Annual Reunion of the 35, 30, 25, 20 and 10 year classes 26 - 28 August 2011

Jim Fensom

1991 – 2011 Mathematics Grades 6-12 (previously called Year 1 to 7)

What makes UWCSEA is not a group of buildings, teachers or its students. There is a culture at the college that has been passed on from one generation to the next. We all take on a little of this and it becomes a part of us, but we also enrich that culture by being here. I have learned a lot from all of you in my time and I hope that some of you have learned something from me. To all of you I wish the very best for your future in whatever path you have chosen in your lives.

Best wishes, Jim Fensom

Stefan Merchant

2003 – 2011 Physics, Science, STS and TOK Head of Physics

I am leaving UWCSEA after eight years of teaching Physics, Science, STS and TOK. I started in 2003 as a regular Physics teacher and spent a couple of years as the IGCSE exams coordinator before moving on to my

final role as the Head of Physics. I am going on to BIS Jakarta with my wife and son and while I am looking forward to the move, I will miss the staff and students of UWCSEA and Singapore in general.

Jackie Shaw

2006-2011 Outdoor Education

I’ve been here five years, taking most of the school’s Outdoor Education trips. I’ve seen so many students and staff grow through challenging outdoor experiences.

I am grateful to have learnt on every trip from each one of them. Remember, “If you do what you’ve always done, you’ll have what you’ve always had and to succeed, one must first attempt.”

The classes of 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991 and 2001 are invited to celebrate in Singapore in August 2011. Any other alumni who wish to join the reunion weekend are welcome as well.

Melbourne alumni reunion 7 October 2011

As in previous years, all four classes are invited to a Friday evening cocktail reception and Asian-themed dinner at the Grand Hyatt Hotel to kick off the weekend, Saturday events organised and celebrated with your own year group and a Sunday barbecue on the campus grounds, to revisit your memories and make your plans to keep in touch with your old and new connections.

Registration is via the alumni website.

Reunion 2012!

Fifth Annual Reunion of the 40, 30, 20 and 10 year classes.

Sydney alumni reunion 8 October 2011

24 - 26 August 2012 The classes of 1972, 1982, 1992 and 2002 are invited to celebrate in Singapore in August 2012. If you wish to celebrate your 35th or 25th year, (1977 or 1987) please let us know. Any other alumni who wish to join the reunion weekend are welcome as well.

Fifth annual Singapore alumni reunion December 2011

I am heading off for my next challenge in life. I am heading home to Australia and will tr y my hand at mar r iage, starting a family, having a real jo b, and keeping a garden! Thanks to everyone for my opportunity at UWCSEA.

Sixth annual London alumni reunion January 2012

Alison Sharp

UWCSEA is truly an inspirational place to work - full of very committed students and staff. For me the boarding house was very special and I felt privileged to have been involved in the education and opportunities for the National Committee students. I have also enjoyed teaching pilates and yoga to the students and staff. I will take a lot of the UWC ethos with me!

Details for the above events and updated attendee lists are available on the alumni website at http//alumni.uwcsea.edu.sg/ events.

For enquiries, please write to reunion@uwcsea.edu.sg (Please indicate event in subject line) Check the alumni website at http://alumni.uwcsea.edu.sg for more details, to view the updated attendee list and/or to register. You may also contact the alumni office at reunion@uwcsea.edu.sg for more information. We hope to see you here!

We are happy to help support other reunions and get-togethers anywhere, any time. Let us know if you are planning one!

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42 OneºNorth July 2011

2006 - 2011 Senior Houseparent, Senior House IB Biology and GCSE Co-Science Head of grade

United World College of South East Asia 1207 Dover Road Singapore 139654 www.uwcsea.edu.sg alumni@uwcsea.edu.sg http://alumni.uwcsea.edu.sg

Printed on 100% recycled paper.