OneºNorth, VOL 13, October 2015

Vol 13 October 2015

The Alumni Magazine of UWC South East Asia

Investigating the illicit trade in fake medicines Alumni stories Graduation 2015 Reunions

Our alumni community

Albania, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Benin, Bermuda, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Cayman Island, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Curaçao, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dutch Caribbean, Egypt, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guam, Guatemala, Guyana, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Laos, Lebanon, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Monaco, Mongolia, Morocco, Myanmar, Namibia, Nepal, Netherlands, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Russia, Rwanda, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, South Sudan, Spain, Sri Lanka, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Tanzania, Thailand, Timor Leste, Trinidad And Tobago, Turkey, Turks And Caicos Islands, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zambia, Zimbabwe

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

Some of the services we offer include:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Volunteering opportunities for alumni Check the Volunteer page of the website for short to long term or virtual volunteer work opportunities in Southeast Asia working with organisations supported

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

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

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

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

Please stay connected!

Contents Notes from the Head of College and Alumni Office.............................................................. 4 Dover Campus redevelopment comes to completion Read about some recent physical updates at Dover ....................................................................... 5

Giving back at home in Indonesia Lailul Ikram ’08 is interviewed

by Dr Linda de Flavis ..........................20 Davis UWC Scholars Program ................................21

Cover story

Recent Alumni events Worldwide alumni get-togethers and Reunion 2015! ............................... 22

Investigating the illicit trade in fake medicines Marie Lamy ’05 investigates the threat of fake medicines ........... 6

Growing food the sustainable and healthy way Jeremy Beckman ’04, permaculture and cooperative farming.................... 24

Sustainability at UWCSEA – Students, staff and alumni heed the call to action Nathan Hunt, Director of Sustainability collaborates with alumni around sustainability issues. ...................... 8 The reality of sustainable change Sophia Palmstedt ’12 takes UWC values to university.............................. 11 Graduation 2015 503 students across both campuses graduated in May with an impressive average IB score!........12 From UWC student to UWC teacher Katarina Beckman ’06 teaches at UWC Robert Bosch..........................14

Protecting the rights of women with psychosocial disabilities in Mexico Priscila Rodriguez Benavides ’06 fights for change.................................. 26 Paying it forward Subodh Chanrai ’82 mentors nephew Suvir ’08................................. 28 Growing his company and its social responsibility Luke Janssen ’94....................................................... 29 Publishing goes DIY Sue Grossey ’84 self-publishes her first two novels.............................30 Alumni giving Thanks for the support!........................................... 32

Re-enacting The Great Train Race Michael Heaton ’81 races for charity, his sister and his dad..............15

Weddings Three weddings – six alumni!............34

Sail away Barnaby Birkbeck ’16 and his recent sailing exploits..........................16

Upcoming reunions Don’t miss out! ......................................................... 35

UWCSEA year in review A sample of the huge variety of events and activities that take place at the College....... 18

Editor Brenda Whately Design Nandita Gupta

MCI (P) 135/03/2015

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

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

From the Head of College Dear Alumni, You’ll hear it a thousand times from me: it’s what you’ve done by the time you are eighty that counts, not what’s written on the piece of paper you clutch when you leave this College at eighteen. Wonderful public examination results—and they were wonderful this year—need to translate into action, and when I meet UWCSEA alumni, I am humbled by the amount of sheer doing.

It’s been a pleasure to get to know so many of you over the course of the last twelve months .

After years of vital building—from a brand new campus at East to the mighty High School block at Dover—peace will soon settle on the College to the extent that our strategic thinking can focus on people, ideas and culture.

Indeed, Creative Hubs will appear

Note from the Alumni Office Welcome to the 13th issue of the alumni magazine.

It’s been a year since the last issue and a lot has happened in that time.

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We gained another cohort of young alumni when more than 500 students graduated in May from the Dover and East campuses. Welcome to our newest alumni!

We’ve had some changes in the College Advancement Department as people come and go. Our former Alumni Relations Manager, Soňa Lippmann recently moved back to Europe and two new staff have joined the department.

Sarah Walston has joined the Alumni team and alumna Sasha Mukerjea ’06 has joined the Foundation team.

In October, we hosted the Round Square International Conference 2015 with over 1,000 delegates on both campuses and some amazing alumni speakers including

environmental scientist and explorer Tim Jarvis, documentary filmmaker Patrick Rouxel and humanitarian aid worker Nidhi Kapur.

The IDEAS Hub, a centre for entrepreneurism, innovation and social enterprise, is coming closer to development. If you would like to subscribe to updates about the Hub, or offer your advice and expertise, please let us know.

Reunion 2015, the annual reunion celebrating the 10, 20, 25, 30, 35 and 40 year anniversary classes took place again in August, with more than 380 attendees. Thanks to those who helped to make it a memorable weekend!

Drop in and visit us if you are in Singapore—you are always more than welcome.

Brenda Whately Director of Alumni Relations

on both campuses so that social entrepreneurship can be nurtured, and Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education will prepare a roadmap so we can subsequently set course for measuring our true impact on the world.

Bluntly: do we do what we claim we do?

The College is crackling and fizzing with creative energy, but we are all standing on the shoulders of those who came before. Thank you for all you have accomplished, and for your support.

We are proud to have so many of you achieving so much around the world.

The UWC fire burns bright.

Chris Edwards Head of College

Dover Campus redevelopment comes to completion

By Simon Thomas Director of Operations and Facilities The Dover Campus Redevelopment Plan was approved by the Board of Governors in 2008 in order to ensure UWCSEA Dover had facilities that would enable the College to continue to deliver a quality educational programme to its students.

The second phase included rejuvenation of the Art Department and the

The third phase involved refurbishment of the original Maths Block and an extension of the Pavilion canteen. The Ayer Rajah field was converted to highgrade astroturf at this time as well.

The construction of the main High School Block is the fourth and final phase and will be completed prior to the end of 2015. It will house High School classrooms, High School Centre offices, the University Advising and Examinations offices, an extensive library and study centre, an examinations hall, drama studios, a black box theatre and a large conference centre. The Head’s office, Finance and HR will also be located in this block. As the new official front entrance of Dover Campus, the Admissions, Foundation and Alumni departments will be located

on the ground floor, as well as a twostory Heritage Café—a great place for alumni and other visitors to drop in for a coffee and chat.

Being conscious of our impact on the environment and our commitment to sustainability, and awareness-raising of environmental issues being one of the cornerstones of a UWCSEA education, the new buildings on Dover Campus have been constructed to be as ‘green’ as possible and now the campus complies to BCA Greenmark Platinum the highest rating in the Singapore green building standards.

Although the campus has been renovated and upgraded and some of the buildings replaced, the Main Hall remains very recognisable from the inside with its original wooden floor to the peaks on its roof outside. In fact those peaks have been replicated and now sit on the new High School Block as well.

Drop in for a tour!

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It began that year with the construction of the two-level bus bay with an astroturf playing field on top, next to the boarding houses. The bus bay provides organised and efficient undercover drop off for students and overflow parking. A permanent guardhouse with traffic barriers, a covered walkway out to Dover Road, a playground next to the Ayer Rajah sports field, the refurbishment of the ground floor of the Science Block to support the Design and Technology programme and the conversion of the carpark under the Primary Block into additional classrooms, was also completed in this first phase.

construction of the Middle School Block with 64 classrooms, Middle School and Communications offices, a student-run College Shop, multi-purpose Hall and state-of-the-art gymnastics facility.

This was built on the site of the original gym, drama and music studios and the ‘temporary’ Middle School office.

Investigating the illicit trade in fake

By Marie Lamy

Marie Lamy Class of 2005 UWCSEA 2001–2005

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When we talk about the health sector we often think of medical doctors, nurses or pharmacists. The health industry is much more intricate than we might initially think; it encompasses the expertise of hospital managers, health policy makers, health sector consultants or philanthropic organisations to name a few. Customs officials and police officials also have a role to play by screening passengers in times of a global epidemic, as we have witnessed for Ebola. As a political scientist it was refreshing, despite my non-medical background, to be able to delve into this industry, which merges both my interests in human rights (e.g., access to quality healthcare) and in international development (health is an inherent part of the sustainable economic development of a nation).

In both of my previous jobs where I focused on issues of regional health governance and the global supply chain of quality essential medicines, the problem of fake medicines came up regularly. I realised that organised criminal groups unfortunately also

had their spot on the health market.

While we know that the problem of fake medicines exists, we have limited information to date about the nature or the scale of this global health problem.

My professional and academic mentors agreed that the illicit trade in fake medicines would make a relevant topic for a doctorate at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where I can pick the brains of bright medical doctors, pharmacists, chemists and health policy experts to further advance in my project.

When talking about fake medicines, we are not talking about generic drugs, which are legitimate, quality replicas of innovator drugs. Instead, we are concerned with the fake drugs that are produced illegally by organised criminal groups, who either replicate the content of the original drug and its packaging in precarious backyard facilities or produce non-identical forms of that drug. The challenge of fake medicines, therefore, goes far beyond matters of intellectual property; fake medicines can be extremely harmful to one’s health as they can contain inadequate quantities or none of the active ingredient or sometimes even toxic ingredients such as poisons and metal components. The

World Health Organisation estimates that 10% of all medicines worldwide are fake. This figure shoots up to 30% when considering developing countries only. The global trade in falsified drugs is estimated between US$35–75 billion per year, which is more significant than the trade in narcotics! What is more, this criminal activity does not only concern lifestyle drugs such as Viagra or diet pills, but also targets life-saving medicines like ones that treat cancer or malaria.

Counterfeit drugs represent a looming threat that is hard to quantify due to the fact that it stems from underground criminal activity. This threat is also difficult to eliminate due to its transborder nature and the general lack of adequate regulation and enforcement measures. A great deal of research has been done and is still underway to find new methods to test the quality of medicines efficiently. However, more research is needed to understand the structural reasons of why fake medicines enter the market in the first place, as well as to find effective collaborative solutions to curb this trend!

Fake antimalarial medicines are of particular concern in the Mekong region where there is a high demand for this

medicines drug due to high prevalence of malaria.

Criminal groups soon understood that they could make large profits from infiltrating Southeast Asian markets with fake antimalarial pills. What is more, these fake pills pose a direct challenge to the eradication of malaria as a deadly infectious disease, in part due to the risk of antimicrobial resistance to artemisinin (one of the main components of some antimalarial treatments). In fact, the Mekong region has been identified as the basin of resistance to antimalarial drugs. Despite past efforts from local governments of the Mekong region to tackle this issue, the problem of fake medicines persists. This regional setting offers an interesting case study for this project and so this year, I have travelled across Thailand, Cambodia, and Lao PDR interviewing a series of stakeholders on this issue to find out how the problem is perceived, how the pharmaceutical supply chain operates, and why fake drugs might be able to infiltrate the market.

As a final word of caution: be vigilant, refrain from buying medicine from local street markets or uncertified pharmacy booths, which is where most fake drugs are found. Do not order medicine from internet pharmacies, even if they are considerably cheaper, as up to 97% of these online pharmacies are not registered. I’ve been guilty of doing so myself, out of practicality, but I am now certain that the risk is not worth taking.

I hope that sometime in the future, the patients living in remote areas of low-income countries are no longer confronted with the tragic choice of fake medicines or no medicine at all, and are given the opportunity to access quality medicines easily, at the best price possible.

Marie Lamy After graduating from UWCSEA in 2005, Marie embarked on a doubledegree programme studying politics and international relations at the University of Kent in England and at Sciences Po Lille in France. After receiving her Master of Laws at the Brussels School of International Studies, Marie started working as a Research Associate at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore. In this role, she discovered the field of global health and development. Subsequently, she moved to Amsterdam and worked as a Project Officer for a not-for-profit foundation called i+solutions, specialised in the supply of quality essential medicines for HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis patients. Five years into her professional career, Marie is now a PhD candidate in the department of Global Health and Development at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Her specialisation is on global health policy and the illicit trade of fake medicines in Southeast Asia.

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I hope that the results of this research will serve to inform the development of more effective regional mechanisms to improve access to quality medicines. I also wish to make practical application of my findings and expertise post-

PhD; not just through further research initiatives but ideally by working as a consultant on these issues for governments or international organisations.

Nathan Hunt at the Rainforest Restoration Project, Dover Campus.

Sustainability at UWCSEA

Students, staff and alumni heed the call to action

By Nathan Hunt Director of Sustainability The United Nations called for 2015 to be a ‘Time for Global Action.’ With the adoption by member states of its Sustainable Development Goals in September and the hope for a new Climate Change deal in Paris at the COP 21 summit in December, they are hoping for a big leap forward in agreement and action for a more peaceful, equal and sustainable world.

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At UWCSEA the call has been heeded by both campuses and their alumni, often in partnership. In early October we hosted the Round Square International

Tim Jarvis ’84

Conference 2015, with sustainability as its core theme. World Wildlife Fund Global ambassador and explorer Tim Jarvis ’84 was the opening speaker, filmmaker Patrick Rouxel ’84 showcased Life is One, another of his remarkable documentaries on the impact of rainforest destruction and Nidhi Kapur ’01 spoke about her humanitarian aid work in the Democratic Republic of Congo. All three kindly offered to work with our classes during their stays as well as inspire the conference delegates.

Despite their very different career paths after graduating, they share the same quality of absolute dedication to their cause as well as the vital skill of

Patrick Rouxel ’84

story-telling. It’s very inspiring for our students to know that these superheroes emerged from the very same environment as themselves.

For this reason, I have actively sought the advice of alumni, who are either studying or actively involved in sustainable development issues. Tejas Ewing ’98 has worked for the UK Forum for the Future and has given his expert guidance on the technical and social issues regarding carbon offsetting. As UWCSEA’s travel emissions grow with our expanding educational programmes for students and teachers (many of them with a sustainable development focus!), we have to face the tough

Nidhi Kapur ’01

Tejas Ewing ’98

Environmental projects like Campus Gardening are increasingly popular at both campuses.

questions of how to mitigate the effect of these. Clearly offsetting is not enough (and dangerously may even encourage more travel), but given the potential it has to offer funding to make a real impact in our partner projects such as Lamdon School and other Global Concerns, it is highly likely that we will expand the College’s offsetting programme in the coming years if we can rigorously account for the benefits it brings.

I have been collaborating in researching this and other complex sustainability issues with recent alumni too. Felix van Oost ’12, studying at UBC (University of British Columbia) in Canada, has helped in exploring their travel policies and strong sustainability initiatives. Evelyn Mayo ’13 has helped likewise, analysing a number of universities’ policies in the US, including Barnard in New York where she studies. Evelyn was a dynamic leader of LEAF Global Concern in High School and is proving to be just as

Evelyn zip-tied to the White House gates.

Evelyn Mayo ’13

justice groups, so a harmless act of civil disobedience was certainly justified and indeed something to be proud of.

Clearly President Obama has forgiven her for the minor inconvenience too!

Evelyn is now providing insights from the front line of the growing Fossil Fuel Divestment movement that is sweeping university campuses in North America and Australia. Despite opposition from the administrators of institutional foundations, this student-led campaign is getting stronger and louder and may even spread to Southeast Asia. With NUS-Yale a neighbour of Dover Campus, we should as an institution (that is now as large as many universities) start to consider our position on the sustainability of our investments.

Another ex-LEAF GC leader, Nicole Yaw ’14 dropped in while on vacation from Vassar University in New York.

It was encouraging to see Nicole still active in environmental campaigns there and likewise she was very pleased to

Nicole Yaw ’14

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Felix van Oost ’12

effective a campaigner now. The reason President Obama vetoed the proposed Keystone Pipeline Development in February 2015 that would carry fuel from Canadian oil sands deposits across the US, was in no small part due to the skillful opposition campaign that saw protesters including Evelyn, choosing to be formally arrested for zip-tying themselves to the White House gates to raise awareness. Evelyn says the practice she had zip-tying all sorts of things, and people, during Leavers’ Week served her well! Stopping the Keystone Pipeline has been a key battle for many environmental and social

Left: Tim Jarvis speaking about environmental sustainability at Round Square Conference 2015; Right: House building with Tabitha Cambodia.

“The importance of the work of the College’s Global Concerns and Service programmes, and the alumni that continue this work, cannot be overstated.”

of entrepreneurs, artists, academics and NGOs will hopefully stimulate the new creative solutions that the complex problems of sustainability so badly need.

hear that the GC’s four-year No Plastics campaign to reduce the food packaging trash in the Dover canteens looks like it may finally achieve its goal.

Sustainable development is of course not just an environmental challenge—it is foremost a humanitarian one—raising the living standards of most of humanity is as necessary as ensuring we stay within planetary ecological boundaries if we want to ensure peace and social justice. Thus the importance of the work of the College’s Global Concerns and Service programmes, and the alumni that continue this work, cannot be overstated in providing the skills and qualities that we need to ensure we achieve our mission. So my thanks goes to not only those alumni who have helped the College develop its thinking and programmes in the past year, but also to those who are striving for the same goals around the world.

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Campaigning is of course not the only way in which we will address our sustainability issues. Creative approaches to understanding and taking action will be necessary. Leia Jones ’13 who currently studies at McGill University in Canada, returned to Dover to lecture to an IB Environmental Systems & Society class on the religious and philosophical underpinnings of ecological consciousness. The absence of formal religion as academic study at UWCSEA means we very likely have a large hole in our understanding of the values that drive behaviour for much of the rest of the world and maybe even ourselves. Leia’s thoughtful and measured approach was perfectly tailored to the IB class that studies environmental value systems but has few real-life touch points. As many top thinkers about climate change and biodiversity loss are starting to claim,

only through a profound examination of our own values will we start to be able to make the changes to our societies and economies that will address these threats.

This examination of the relationship between our internal and external worlds has been beautifully realised by artist and alum Lucy Davis ’88. Lucy is Assistant Professor of Art at NTU Singapore and her recent exhibition at the NUS Museum, Stories of Wood was a stunningly original exploration of how people in Southeast Asia value and connect with the natural world.

Lucy was a guest lecturer at the Dover Theory of Knowledge Miniweek in January and demonstrated to the Grade 11s how art, science and critical investigation into culture and society are all necessary to fully understand the causes of biodiversity loss in our region and why we could forge new coalitions to halt it. Exposing students to the work

Nathan Hunt is Director of Sustainability for the College and Coordinator of Environmental Stewardship for Dover Campus, a post funded by a kind donation from the UWCSEA Foundation.

“I have actively sought the advice of alumni, who are either studying or actively involved in sustainable development issues.”

Leia Jones ’13

Lucy Davis ’88

The reality of sustainable change

By Sophia Palmstedt

Sophia Palmstedt Class of 2012 UWCSEA 2006–2012 Having attended UWCSEA from the age of 12 to 18, I should be competent enough to start this article with assertiveness, energy and captivating vocabulary. But the fact is, one simply can’t summarise the impact of UWCSEA on an individual in one sentence. At the end of my third and final year as a Management with HR student at Royal Holloway University of London, I found myself thinking about my academic years, the experiences I’ve had and who I’ve become as a result of them.

I think we can all agree that it is only when you leave UWCSEA that you realise how good your life actually was. Going through the IB seemed at the time unbearable. Only now do I understand that having to take part in a Global Concern and commit time to social service once a week as a curriculum requirement from a very early age only sounded unfair at the time. At some point I stopped to question why we had to do it and found that I wanted to do it. This is why we UWCSEA students aren’t like the rest and it is the reason I joined the Enactus community on the third day after arriving at university.

Enactus is like a Global Concern taken to the next level. It is a global, non-profit organisation operating in 37 countries, run by a force of 1,600 students all over the world with a common goal— to empower communities through entrepreneurial projects. During my second year of university I took over as the president of the Enactus Royal Holloway team. With the help of local partners such as NGOs and community centres, we worked with groups of individuals to identify their specific needs and the needs of their community and to tailor a project aimed at tackling those needs. Through the transfer of business and economic concepts, we were able to teach individuals ways to improve their quality of life and standard of living.

Along with the Vice President of our Enactus team, I traveled to Seenigama, Sri Lanka in January 2014. There we set up a jackfruit chutney enterprise that empowered 12 women to gain an income and raise their selfconfidence. At the same time, we ran a project called ENTYRE in the UK that empowered four people with mental health conditions to run a tire-recycling project. The year before that, I witnessed the growth of a project in India called SEW, Sustainable Empowerment for Women, empowering 40 women through an incense stick

business that managed to raise the women’s income by 70%.

Aside from making it to the semi-final round of every Enactus UK National competition, where projects are presented in front of a panel of judges from Enactus sponsor companies, just being part of the Enactus world was an incredible experience. I got the chance to help people, teaching women about break-even point or the basic principles of marketing; concepts that I have learnt in my university lectures.

Along with that, leading a team of 30 members, managing weekly committee meetings, overseeing four social projects, running guest speaker events, coordinating yearly fresher’s week, liaising with our business advisory board and communications with university officials have taught me invaluable skills in leadership, public speaking, project management, team work, risk assessment, networking, and maybe most important of all, experiencing failure and learning from it.

What UWCSEA and Enactus have in common is that making a sustainable impact in this world isn’t done over night; it takes time and commitment.

Despite the uncertainty of my future plans, I am certain of my values, beliefs and personal strengths because of the lessons learnt at UWCSEA and Enactus.

Sophia at a women’s workshop in Sri Lanka and with the Enactus Royal Holloway team.

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CONGRATULATIONS TO The guest speaker at Dover’s graduation ceremony this year was former student Sophie Syed ’09. During her address, Sophie had this advice to offer to the graduates, “One – use the values and etiquette that being part of the UWC community has instilled in you to make a difference; two – don’t underestimate yourself, keep working on what you’re good at, but never give up on things you are bad at; and three – don’t be afraid of making tough decisions, ask the hard questions and find the path that you are most proud of taking. It is not easy to ignore expectations set by others, but something I’ve learned, and I am still learning every day, is that you need to know when to set your own expectations, and fulfil your own dreams. I challenge you to become the person you want to be.”

Sophie Syed ’09

Outstanding IB Diploma results of Class of 2015

36.2 12 OneºNorth October 2015

UWCSEA

Average points

30.1 Worldwide (2014)

98.4% UWCSEA

Pass rate

For further details, please see the UWCSEA website, www.uwcsea.edu.sg

79.3% Worldwide (2014)

TO THE CLASS OF 2015 Parth Chhabra ’15, East graduation speaker

Ricarda Filsinger ’15, Dover graduation speaker

25.9% UWCSEA

6.8% Worldwide (2014)

UWCSEA

28.6% Worldwide (2014)

Percentage receiving bilingual diploma

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Percentage receiving 40+ points out of 45

26.1%

From UWC student to UWC teacher

By Brenda Whately

Katarina Beckman Class of 2006 UWCSEA 2001–2006 Katarina Beckman, who attended UWCSEA from Grade 7 through 12, now teaches Theatre Arts and English at the second newest UWC, located in Freiburg, Germany. Katarina was invited to speak at the Mayor of Freiburg’s reception that welcomed and celebrated the opening of UWC Robert Bosch in September 2014.

The following is a recent email chat with Katarina.

Where did you go after you graduated from UWCSEA? I went to the University of California San Diego and completed a Bachelor of Arts in Theatre in June 2010. After that, I actually returned to UWCSEA to do an internship with the Drama Department for about one month. This experience made me realise that teaching at UWC would be something that I would love to do but I knew I would have to gain more teaching experience and further qualifications first.

I went to China to work as an English teacher for one and a half years at the Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing and then on to Oxford University to complete a Master of Science in Applied Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition.

What influenced you to want to teach at the new UWC in Freiburg?

The opportunity to be part of the founding team of a brand new UWC was an incredibly exciting prospect. I was also very drawn to UWC Robert Bosch College’s focus on sustainability and its location in the green city of Freiburg.

Two weeks after submitting my MSc dissertation, I found out that there was a new UWC opening in Germany and saw that there were teaching positions open for both Theatre Arts and English B, so the timing was incredibly fortunate!

About two months after that, just five days after my graduation, I received the job offer and I was absolutely thrilled.

How did it happen that you gave a speech at the Mayor’s official welcome ceremony?

Laurence Nodder, our Head of College, informed me that we had been invited

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L to R: Former teacher and Head of Global Concerns Anthony Skillicorn, Christoph Nguyen ’02, Katarina Beckman and former teacher Thea Skillicorn

to speak at the Mayor’s reception. He asked if I would like to speak about why I applied to teach at UWC Robert Bosch College.

Who was there for the opening ceremonies?

We had an initial opening for UWC alumni, organised by the UWC Germany National Committee. Former UWCSEA teachers, Anthony and Thea Skillicorn were there and it made the event all the more special for me because Thea was my IB tutor when I was at UWCSEA. I am incredibly grateful for their support and encouragement.

Two days after that, we had an official opening organised by the Robert Bosch Foundation. The guest speakers included two UWC Pearson graduates—Dr Abiodun Williams, President of The Hague Institute for Global Justice and noted academic in conflict prevention, peacekeeping and conflict management, formerly a senior official at the United Nations—and Rahila Muhibi, originally from Afghanistan, the founder of the 100 Mothers Literacy Program to teach young mothers from Dari, one of Afghanistan’s most remote areas, to read.

In addition to the Skillicorns, is there anyone else from UWCSEA who influenced your life and career?

Yes—I’d like to say a huge thank you to Lynne Arrol for her amazing support.

She has helped me grow and develop my love for theatre ever since my first theatre production in Grade 7! This past summer, she welcomed me back to the UWCSEA Dover Drama department to shadow her, as well as Karen Balthazaar and Jamie Cant, who I would also like to thank for all their advice and encouragement. Jonathan Carter, who was one of my IB Theatre teachers, also continues to be an inspiration to me.

My experience there was life changing.

Ever since graduating, I have sought ways to apply UWC values in my life.

Mike and the team on the ‘train’ at the finish line.

Re-enacting The Great Train Race

By Brenda Whately

Michael Heaton Class of 1981 UWCSEA 1976–1979 In 1955, Mike Heaton’s father Brian, then 24 years old, pitted himself against a steam train in a cross-country race in Devon, UK. He and two fellow soldiers on National Service, decided that they would jump off the train they were travelling on, at a spot in Devon where they knew they could run a 1.15 mile short cut across Dartmoor while the train did a 2.75 mile route around the hills, and hop back on as it travelled through the next town.

Mike had heard this story from his dad many times over the years and last year, at the age of 50, he decided to re-enact the race as a tribute to his dad, now 82 years old, bed-bound and suffering

The great train race re-enactment took place on 9 August 2014. The three soldiers were replaced by Mike, his son Joseph 23 and his cousin, Paul Hindle 52.

The steam train was replaced by a Land Rover because the railway line between the two towns where both races took place is now a cycle route. The Land Rover was driven at an average speed of 18mph to simulate the steam train’s speed while the three men set out at a run over the hills—and they won.

Afterwards, Mike played the film they had created of the race re-enactment for his dad. Mike says, “It was a fantastic way to make a connection and a very

special way for us to tell him how proud we are of him.”

Mike continues to challenge himself while raising money for charity. In July 2015 he was instrumental in choosing the charity that his employer’s bicentenary appeal would support and he joined 41 co-workers in a three-peaks challenge to climb Ben Nevis (1,344m), Scafell Pike (978m) and Snowdon (1,085m). The timing could have been better—over the two days of the climb, the group experienced all four seasons.

The charity’s website reports, “They battled against snow, wind and rain and amassed more than 70 blisters but 42 heroic staff … conquered the Three Peaks Challenge and raised a staggering 10,000 GBP for charity … Mike Heaton was brilliant at the summit of Ben Nevis; he went up and down time after time, helping people through the snow so they could reach the top.”

For fans of all things eccentric, we recommend Mike’s nostalgic amateur video of his train race re-enactment, which can be viewed at www. devontrainrun.co.uk, where a photo of his sister Lesley and links to both charities supported can also be found.

October 2015 OneºNorth 15

What they didn’t realise was that the train’s fireman would catch wind of what they were doing and stoke the engine to top speed, cutting four minutes from the normal journey time. It was a tight race but two of the three soldiers made it, applauded enthusiastically by fellow passengers and reported in the Western Morning News, 17 November 1955.

from advanced vascular dementia.

He says, “My objective was to try and simulate a bit of the past and to share that moment with him.” Mike also used the run to raise money for two charities.

One was Bowel and Cancer Research, an organisation that, as its name suggests, supports research into bowel cancer, the disease that took the life of his sister Lesley (UWCSEA ’79) in 2008. The other charity Mike chose to include was the International Child Campaign, an organisation co-founded by his former classmate Florence Kiff (UWCSEA ’81) and her husband Alan.

SAIL AWAY

By Barnaby Birkbeck

Barnaby Birkbeck Class of 2016 UWCSEA 2002–2016

“Daddy,” I said, “please can we put my Viper into a container and send it to the Viper World Championships in France this summer?” It was apparent that Daddy wasn’t quite as excited as I was! I wanted to compete somewhere new, to be out in the open where not everything is easy and where I might want to wear a bit more than my Singapore attire of board shorts and a hat. This was the summer of 2014 and after months of planning and training, there I was, a 16-year old standing on a beach that seemed bigger than all of Singapore, with close to 40 Vipers lined up behind me. I had never seen so many in one place and all were crewed by world-class athletes, here to prove a point.

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No, we didn’t end up packing my boat into a container. I had to find another way. It came in the form of a Swiss man called Martin who wrote that he would be travelling to France with his boat to race and needed a helmsman. After liaising for what felt like a lifetime, I had a confirmed spot on the boat for both regattas. It was very exciting!

The Viper World Championships were held in Erquy, France. It was a very small town, but obviously a hub for multihull sailing, able to attract teams from as far away as Australia and New Zealand. The first day lived up to all expectations— the wind picked up to close to 15 knots and we had extremely competitive racing across the bay. Unfortunately for the rest of the week there was much

lighter wind and with a combined crew weight of 150 kilograms, we struggled for speed.

Having never sailed in waters of less than 25 degrees, each splash over the bows came as quite a shock to me. As my lips numbed and the water in my hair froze, my crewmate couldn’t believe how warm it was! Before that week I had never got out of the water so quickly after a capsize. I can’t complain though, because I was covered head to toe in fabulous equipment that I wouldn’t have been able to race without, supplied so kindly by our sponsor, Lloyd Marine.

I hadn’t gone all the way to France for one week of racing. It was followed by a second week in the Formula 16 European Championships, held in Le Touquet. That week was a true test of the all-round sailor. The conditions went from 25 knots gusting 30 with three-metre swell, to half a knot gusting 2, with a 4-knot current in the opposite direction—in other words, backwards sailing.

The first two days were the windiest conditions I have ever sailed in. A simple bear-away in the prestart would sink the bows and get the rudders so far out of the water, that I would lose all control of the boat. So I sat 50 metres back from the line trying to get the boat to a standstill and with 10 seconds to go, we pulled the main on, hooked onto the trapeze and started the race.

All we had to do for a good enough

position in these conditions was keep the boat upright! I think we went over about seven or eight times during the two days, most often when in a very good position. The most memorable one occurred as I was out on the trapeze building speed, when the trapeze line broke! As I hit the water, I looked up to see the boat sailing off and capsizing in slow motion. In my hand was half the tiller extension. Although it wasn’t my fault, it pushed us out of the top ten to the finish.

We got off quite lightly after the two days, with only a broken jib halyard, broken tiller extension, a broken trapeze line, four broken mainsail batons and a gash on my crewmate’s face. And

although it sounds like sarcasm, it’s not.

Two boats snapped their carbon fibre masts in half, two rudder blades were snapped, a side stay got ripped out of a hull and someone broke a leg. The fastest F16 was the strongest F16 at that point!

The rest of the week was not quite as exciting for the spectators due to lighter winds but it was more of a race, with the fleet very closely packed together and the helms having to know the racing rules inside out, to get through without a protest. I had some good races, some not as good, and overall I dropped from 12th to 18th place, as the youth teams were so light they could pop a hull out of the water in 5 to 6 knots, something we couldn’t do.

Overall the regattas were an incredible opportunity for someone of my age and experience. Since the events in France I have raced in numerous championships here in Singapore and my developing skills and experience have led to some convincing championship wins.

Unfortunately at this year’s Singapore National Championships I finished third after splitting my sail in half so training is on hold until I find the funds to buy a new sail! I am now aspiring to the ISAF Sailing World Championships in Melbourne later this year, where I will be crewed by my sister Tanika (UWCSEA ’17). We can’t wait!

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UWCSEA year in review This is just a sample of some of the activities and events that took place on both campuses during the 2014/2015 academic year.

By Mai-Khanh Pham and Kavya Madan Mohan, members of the UWCSEA Student Alumni Council

A Midsummer Night’s Dream More than 50 Dover High School students brought A Midsummer Night’s Dream to the stage as performers and crew members. This production is one of many examples of opportunities for UWCSEA students to learn and develop through the Arts.

UN Night

UWCSEA students compete in Touch World Cup 2015

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Dover students Rebecca Lambrou and Saphia Petard played on the Singapore Open Women’s team in the Touch World Cup held in Coffs Harbour, Australia. The team came in third place and Lambrou was awarded MVP for the Singapore team. East student Fiona Song played in the Singapore Open Mixed Touch team (13th place) while Dover students Horatio Price, Matthew Grundlingh and John Tolton played on the Singapore Open Men’s team (12th place). Eleven Dover Campus alumni also participated in the event, representing seven different countries.

The annual UN Night at Dover Campus again showcased the joyful diversity of nationalities and cultures that makes UWCSEA so special. The dance production is organised, produced and presented by students and the food from around the world, filling the tent plaza, is always exquisite.

Hair for Hope 2015

20 years with Tabitha Cambodia 2015 marked 20 years of the partnership between UWCSEA and Tabitha Cambodia. In the 2014/2015 academic year, the UWCSEA community raised over S$282K for Tabitha to build houses, schools and wells, for the family partnerships savings programme, and to sponsor the supply of innumerable chickens and pigs to help families secure an income.

SEASAC 2014/2015

The 4th annual Hair for Hope event on East Campus motivated 48 brave students and staff to make ‘a bald statement’ by having their hair shaved for cancer awareness and to raise funds for the Cancer Patients Aid Association (CPAA) in Mumbai, India. The event raised over $65,000 for CPAA’s programmes for cancer prevention and to provide care for patients with financial need.

The UWCSEA SEASAC teams had impressive performances and brought home a number of championships to both campuses. Notably, the East Dragons won both boys and girls swimming as well as Division II boys football. The Dover Phoenix won boys and girls cross country, girls basketball and touch, and boys football. In addition, gymnastics teams from both campuses won at specific levels.

CultuRama East Campus’ second annual CultuRama production amazed audiences as it celebrated the College’s panorama of cultures with music, dance and food. CultuRama is completely organised and performed by students and also includes a global array of food offerings, from Irish smoked salmon to Korean kimchi to Swedish kanebulle.

UWCSEA Initiative for Peace (IfP) students host Peace One Day in Singapore The Peace One Day Conference 2014 was centered around the theme of inner peace, and specifically how discrimination affects our inner peace.

160 delegates from six international schools across Singapore gathered at UWCSEA Dover for the day-long conference led by IfP facilitators from both Dover and East. One of the subjects explored was discrimination based on ethnicity, gender and sexuality, and class status.

THIMUN Qatar Northwestern Film Festival

Asian Arts and Culture Week

The 2015 IB Art Show at each campus this spring exhibited the work of Higher and Standard Level IBDP Visual Arts students in Grade 12. Guests to the show openings were invited to engage with the artists and explore the deeper meaning in the artwork.

Based on the premise that a deeper understanding of the arts and culture of a nation leads to a deeper appreciation of that nation, East Campus held its second annual Asian Arts and Culture Week in February, celebrating the arts and culture of Singapore during the 50th jubilee year. Students engaged in a range of performing arts workshops, including Beijing Opera and Dikir Barat and had the opportunity to visit the Singaporean ‘village’ built by parents in the plaza, which represented Chinese, Indian, Malay and Peranakan cultures.

To read more UWCSEA news, see eDunia at www.uwcsea.edu.sg/edunia

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Several Dover High School students saw great success in this year’s THIMUN film festival for their film submissions on the theme of advocacy which they produced for their Grade 10 Global Perspectives course.

Barnaby Duffy won Best Picture, and Best Junior Film was awarded to Sneha Srinivasan and Mahima Singh. The three-day experience was filled with museum visits, workshops and interacting with people from all over the world who share a similar passion in telling meaningful stories through film.

IB Art shows 2015

Giving back at home in Indonesia

by Dr Linda de Flavis University Advisor

Lailul Ikram Class of 2008 UWCSEA 2006–2008

“I have experienced how UWC can change lives and I wanted to do the same for others.”

On 26 December 2004 the world’s deadliest tsunami hit the coastline of countries all around the Indian Ocean, leaving hundreds of thousands of people dead and many others injured, displaced, or grieving, their lives changed forever.

One of the worst affected places was Aceh, a province in northern Sumatra— a region that had already endured nearly 30 years of civil conflict. Parents and teachers from UWCSEA joined forces in the relief effort, helping not only with the immediate crisis but also choosing to make a longer-term investment in the future of the region—through education.

The Tsunami Education Fund supports children in local schools, while the UWCSEA Trafigura scholarship fund has brought a number of Acehnese scholars to join our school.

The first of these scholars to join our school in Grade 11 was Lailul Ikram.

Tell us your story—where did you grow up? What were the formative experiences that shaped your life?

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I was born and raised in Aceh, a province in the northern tip of Sumatra, Indonesia. In 2004, my province was struck by the Great Asian Tsunami.

Having experienced not only the tsunami but also the civil conflict, I had a strong urge to make Aceh a better place.

In 2006, I was granted a scholarship to study at UWCSEA and I took this opportunity as a stepping-stone to reach my goal. I learned about this scholarship from my school student counsellor.

Thankfully, I was later selected, after

going through the selection process by the Indonesian National Committee, which at that time was managed by Sampoerna Foundation. None of my friends at my high school supported me to leave my high school as I was the head of the student council and had several other responsibilities. However, I wanted a different challenge and an experience that I believed could broaden my scope of knowledge.

What were some of the challenges you faced when you came to our school and how did you overcome them?

UWCSEA was the first institution that I attended that used English as its

He arrived in 2006 and went on to attend Earlham College in the US, as the recipient of a Davis UWC scholarship.

Throughout the years Ikram has remained involved with the Tsunami Education Fund, assisting in many ways. He travelled to regions where the orphans were living, helped with the selection of beneficiaries, and liaised with the schools. He remains the ‘go to’ person for our school, overseeing all the financial transactions of the fund and regularly making time to visit Aceh. While at college he also set up his own project, after winning an award from the Davis Projects for Peace. He used the grant to launch an arts centre where tsunami widows could generate an income by producing traditional arts and crafts. Three years ago Ikram made the decision to leave the US and return to his country, taking up a job with Citibank in Jakarta. Ikram recently spoke to Linda De Flavis about the way his UWC scholarship transformed his life and empowered him to become a leader in his community.

primary language. I had to deal with extensive adaptation, both socially and mentally, in order to do well. A lot of patience and practice eased these challenges. The IB Diploma Programme is a lot more challenging than my previous high school curriculum. The Indonesian curriculum was a lot more theoretical compared to the IB. In UWCSEA, I had to push myself to learn, not only by understanding textbooks but also by doing well in the lab and other practical assignments. Most of my teachers at that time were very supportive in helping me adapt through all of these challenges.

What are your best memories from the school? What do you miss from here?

I met some of my best friends in this school, which turned out to influence me in how I see the world and decided my career path. I miss them most, as they are the ones who were there to motivate and help me out through a number of different difficulties.

You went on to Earlham. Did you enjoy your time there? How did it change/enrich your life? What were your special experiences there?

I really enjoyed my time at Earlham.

I was the convenor of the Asian Student Union and the Muslim Student Association, while also representing the student body in the College’s Budget

Committee. In my junior year, I was chosen to do a study abroad programme in Jordan. While doing several research projects and interning at the Jordan Career Education Foundation (JCEF) in Amman, I also had the opportunity to help organise training programmes for Jordanian government employees funded by the King Abdullah II Fund.

During my final year at Earlham, I won a Davis Peace Project grant which allowed me to start a nonprofit organisation in the form of a craft-making and traditional arts development centre, where I help Acehnese mothers who lost their husbands in the conflict or tsunami. http://www.davisprojectsforpeace.org/ projects/2011/node/1634

This collection of experiences made me understand my potential in leadership to give back to my community.

What are you doing now?

I am currently working as a Management Associate in Citibank, Indonesia. After I graduated from Earlham, I was also asked to take the position of the UWC National Committee Coordinator for Indonesia. I have experienced how UWC can change lives and I wanted to do the same for others. Giving back is a big part of my future goal, and I thought being involved to help others find their paths through the UWC movement would fulfil this goal.

Davis UWC Scholars Program

Shelby Davis says, “I regard my support for these students not as gifts but investments. I am investing in promising students from all over the world, with the hope of realising major long-term

returns in the form of a better, safer, and more peaceful world. More immediately, I hope my philanthropy will have made Princeton and many other American campuses better places for all their students to expand their global knowledge, improve their cross-cultural skills, and befriend a network of future leaders from all walks of life in all parts of the world.”

Davis Projects for Peace Grants The Projects for Peace program was created in 2007 by lifelong internationalist and philanthropist Kathryn W. Davis, mother of Shelby M.C. Davis. On the occasion of her 100th birthday, Kathryn Davis committed $1 million to spark immediate initiatives for building prospects for peace in the world. Each

year, undergraduate university students at universities that are part of the Davis UWC Scholars Program, are invited to design grassroots projects and 100 of the most promising ‘projects for peace’ are awarded $10,000 to implement during the summer break.

Kathryn Davis passed on in 2013 but this part of her legacy lives on and the program is now in its 9th year.

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Philanthropist Shelby M.C. Davis funds the Davis United World College Scholars Program through which UWC scholars who gain admission on their own merits to selected U.S. universities, are awarded need-based scholarship support. The program’s strategic objective is to advance international understanding through education. It currently supports over 2,500 scholars at 91 partner universities throughout the United States. Since the program was launched in 2000, scholarships have been provided to over 6,000 scholars from 148 countries.

RECENT ALUMNI EVENTS Singapore, 22 December The annual December holiday get-together saw over 250 alumni of all ages gather together to celebrate the holidays, have some fun and see who else was in town at the same time for the arrangement of further celebrations no doubt!

UAC University Alumni Week, 5–9 January

Perth, 15 November We had a great catch-up with over 25 alumni in Perth in November. It was wonderful to see so many familiar faces there for a casual social evening and the opportunity to hear an update about UWCSEA.

UWCSEA’s Dover Campus played host again this year in early January, to over 65 young alumni, willing to share their time to discuss their university experiences with current High School students preparing to make their own university application decisions.

San Francisco, 31 January Also in January, we had a lively catch-up with our largest San Francisco cohort yet! Thanks to all those who came out and made it such a great evening.

Los Angeles, 29 January

Vancouver, 4 February

On the same night as the Houston event, a group of alumni in LA joined Sona to meet and mingle. Earlier in the day a lunch was hosted at USC with a small group of young alumni studying there as well as Associate Professor and alumna Sheila Sofian.

We had the opportunity to connect in early February with a group of young alumni attending UBC (University of British Columbia) in Vancouver and a few other alumni living in BC.

Oslo, 14 March This year for the first time, we held an alumni gathering in the beautiful city of Oslo, Norway.

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London, 13 March The event in London in mid-March saw another large crowd of over 230 alumni this year who came to hear an update from the Head of College and to meet and network with other alumni located in the UK.

UAC University Alumni Week, 8–12 June The second of the two annual UAC University Weeks linking young alumni with current students took place in June.

REUNION 2015 Houston, 29 January In January, a group of alumni in Houston attended our first joint gathering with the Singapore American School. Thanks to those who came out and joined in.

Careers Week at Dover and East Campus, 9–13 February The Student Alumni Council, a group of Grade 10 and 11 students at both Dover and East again organised a week of in-person and online sessions via Skype, for alumni in Singapore and around the world to connect with current High School students. It was a huge success!

Singapore, 2 July Over 100 alumni joined us at the third annual summer Singapore gathering, which took place at a popular night club on the river this year.

Reunion 2015, Singapore, 21–23 August October 2015 OneºNorth 23

This August, we celebrated the classes of ’75, ’80, ’85, ’90, ’95 and ’05 with over 380 in attendance! The weekend events included a cocktail reception and dinner on Friday evening, followed by a barbecue and friendly football game versus a team of teachers at UWCSEA on Saturday and several class-specific activities. Thanks to all those who helped to make it a memorable weekend!

Growing food the sustainable and healthy way

By Brenda Whately

Jeremy Beckman Class of 2004 UWCSEA 1997–2004 Growing enough food under the expanding threat of climate change is an increasingly serious, international problem. One solution to address this problem, according to Jeremy Beckman, Class of ’04, is the farming method called ‘permaculture,’ meaning ‘permanent agriculture.’ Jeremy defines it as, “a way of living, and growing food based on design and ecology that has the power of creating living, regenerative systems in any climate, that will last indefinitely, without sacrificing quality of life.”

Jeremy became dedicated to permaculture when he took the

opportunity to attend a design course in 2012 with permaculture’s founder, Bill Mollison, and one of his students, Geoff Lawton, in Melbourne, Australia.

He says, “Farming is increasingly becoming the domain of large agricultural establishments and is not being done in an ethical, sustainable, or healthy way. In 2008, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) concluded that using small farms employing agro-ecological methods was the only sustainable way to feed the world.” Jeremy began to look into small cooperative farming initiatives, like the small farm cooperatives in India that fellow alumnus Jake Pflaum is involved in creating.

“Permaculture has solutions to global problems, including carbon

dioxide emissions, water shortages, desertification, food waste, waste utilisation, sustainable energy, energyefficient housing, community, social problems … you name it.” Jeremy says.

“Permaculture is one of the largest decentralised aid agencies in the world, with over 400,000 projects worldwide, some of the notable projects including the Transition Movement in the UK and Village Homes in Davis, California. It has not been adopted on a larger scale, mainly because there is no one-size-fitsall solution and because people would have to move from a passive lifestyle to a very active and thoughtful one, and many can’t even bring themselves to recycle.”

Jeremy focused his interest on China, where food scares have become commonplace. He points out that just

24 OneºNorth October 2015

Jeremy and ‘the lawn mower’

half a generation ago, most people in China and Taiwan used to grow much of their own food, but have since moved to cities to look for work. Small farms that fed communities were replaced with large profit-driven agri-businesses, bringing with them food scares that he notes were once more common in the West.

In 2013, Jeremy moved with his wife Celene to Fu Qing, China, where he was hired by TPV Technologies, a Taiwanese monitor manufacturing company that was interested in setting up an organic farm to grow food for its employees.

He started a farm on factory grounds that provided food for the company’s kitchens, including over 25 different types of vegetables, eggs and pigs raised on fresh kitchen leftovers. Over the span of two years, he established similar

projects at TPV’s Wuhan, Xiamen, and Beijing factories.

In April 2015, Jeremy and Celene moved to Taiwan for the birth of their first child, who, by coincidence, they welcomed into the world on Earth Day! In Taiwan, he began to plan some permaculture workshops at a farm near Taipei, but the plans had to be put on hold when the farm was flattened by Typhoon Soudelor!

Currently Jeremy is designing a rooftop farm for TPV’s new office building in Shanghai and at the same time he is consulting on some sustainability projects in his wife’s hometown of Los Angeles, California. One of those projects is in collaboration with the Little Tokyo City Council and local artists, to promote water saving techniques with functional art.

Jeremy says, “Through art we can grab the public’s attention and increase awareness of simple, effective ways to mitigate the severe drought in California.”

Jeremy plans to continue his work in sustainable farming methods and offers this advice: “People throughout history have ignored environmental limitations in order to maintain their way of life.

For those who do want to change and empower themselves with solutions, learning about permaculture is a great start.”

Left: ‘Recyclers’; Right: Employee farming on company land.

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Protecting the rights of women with psychosocial disabilities in Mexico

by Priscila Rodriguez Benavides

26 OneºNorth October 2015

Priscila Rodriguez Benavides Class of 2006 UWCSEA 2004–2006 In 2006 the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) was created and in 2008 came into force. It is the newest international convention and the treaty that has obtained the largest support in the shortest period of time. More importantly, it is a historic treaty in the recognition of the rights of persons with disabilities at the international level. The CRPD introduces a new paradigm shift on how people with disabilities are perceived.

They should no longer be regarded as ‘sick’ people who are mere recipients of our care, protection and charity; instead, they are people who have rights on an equal basis with everyone else.

There is no question that historically, across all countries, persons with disabilities have been discriminated against, segregated, and have suffered violations to their rights. Underlying these violations is the paternalistic model that has portrayed them as persons who are not capable of taking care of themselves and as needing protection. While the focus on protection might be regarded as a wellintentioned approach, there is a real danger in not seeing them as persons with rights and obligations.

One sad and clear example of this is the case of persons with psychosocial disabilities—schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, severe depression—who are placed in psychiatric institutions for their ‘protection’ and the ‘protection’ of those around them. The majority of these psychiatric facilities have become

‘human dumpsters’ where persons with psychosocial disabilities are abandoned and segregated for life. People inside these institutions become a population that society prefers to forget about and in turn, the institutions are not monitored or supervised. As a result, grave violations take place, including inhumane and degrading conditions, sexual and physical abuse, lack of medical care and rehabilitation and prolonged use of restraints and isolation rooms that can amount to torture.

Disability Rights International (DRI), the organisation I currently work for, has documented these abuses in over 40 countries, from the US to Europe, Asia and Latin America.

With the CRPD coming into force, long-term segregation of persons with disabilities in psychiatric institutions is now considered a clear violation of

international law and specifically of the right of persons with psychosocial disabilities to live and receive services in the community.

More importantly, according to the CRPD, persons with psychosocial disabilities are not only rights holders but also stakeholders and should be ‘actively included’ and ‘closely consulted’ by the state in all the actions it takes to implement the convention.

This requirement by the CRPD is known in the disability community as the ‘Nothing about us without us’ principle.

In consonance with this principle, DRI helped create the Colectivo Chuhcan, the first organisation in Mexico directed by persons with psychosocial disabilities, to empower them and provide them training to become advocates for their own rights.

In order to address and seek protection of their rights specifically, I trained and assisted the women that belong to Colectivo Chuhcan to create their own women’s group within the organisation.

Through this group, the women have learned about their rights, shared their experiences as women with disabilities and addressed violations against their rights. They have become empowered to take leadership roles and become spokespersons for other women in their situation. Given the extremely positive impact of the women’s group, it is now recognised as best practice at the international level to effectively promote, protect and defend the rights of women with disabilities.

The main finding of the report is that Mexico has failed to implement policies that ensure that women with psychosocial disabilities have safe access to sexual and reproductive health services on an equal basis with others.

Particularly disturbing is the fact that in Mexico City, over forty percent of the women who were interviewed have suffered abuse while visiting a gynecologist, including sexual abuse and rape. Equally worrying is the high rate of sterilisation that we documented.

Forty percent of the women had been sterilised forcefully or had been coerced by family members to undergo the surgical procedure. In June of this year, DRI also visited an institution for children with disabilities whose policy is the forceful sterilisation of every girl admitted.

There is also a lack of government programmes that address the sexual and reproductive needs of women with psychosocial disabilities. As a result, almost sixty percent of the women interviewed stated that they knew little or nothing about sexual and reproductive health. We also found that for pregnant women with disabilities in Mexico, seeking care and delivering the baby become very difficult and even traumatic experiences. Discriminatory practices and particularly the fear of being forced to have an abortion, prevent women with disabilities from accessing maternal health care.

Women with psychosocial disabilities are particularly vulnerable to being forced to have an abortion if they seek maternal care during a psychiatric crisis.

For those who do manage to have their babies, there is no government support in carrying out their child rearing responsibilities.

In September 2014, DRI and the Colectivo Chuhcan participated in the United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ evaluation of Mexico. I had the opportunity to present before the CRPD the main violations against the sexual and reproductive rights of women with disabilities in Mexico, based on the results of our research. In light of this information, the committee made several far-reaching recommendations that will undoubtedly strengthen our advocacy efforts in Mexico.

Priscila is Director of the Women’s Rights Programme for Mexico and Central America, of Disability Rights International (DRI). She also serves on a voluntary basis as Coordinator of the Mexico UWC National Committee.

Priscila came to UWCSEA as the National Committee Scholar from Mexico in 2004. She then graduated from University College Utrecht with an undergraduate degree in International Law and a Master’s Degree (LLM) in International Law of Human Rights and Criminal Justice. In 2006 at UWCSEA, Priscila changed her career aspirations from medicine to law after hearing a talk by a guest speaker who described the legal work he was doing to help Cambodians who were being evicted from their homes, showing how law could be used to shape and improve the lives of others. She says, “UWCSEA has been the most life changing experience for me. I am so grateful for the opportunity I had to study there.”

October 2015 OneºNorth 27

Once the Colectivo Chuhcan women’s group had been empowered, we designed together, research into the sexual and reproductive rights of women with disabilities. The women of the Colectivo applied a questionnaire to women with psychosocial disabilities who receive outpatient services in psychiatric institutions in Mexico City.

The results of this investigation have been compiled into my report “Abuses against the sexual and reproductive rights of women with psychosocial disabilities in Mexico.” Its aim is to provide important primary data to be used as an advocacy tool.

Paying it forward

By Brenda Whately

Subodh Chanrai Class of 1982 Suvir Chanrai Class of 2008

28 OneºNorth October 2015

At the beginning of 2013, UWCSEA alumnus, Suvir Chanrai joined Far East Mercantile (FMCL) in Ghana as a business intern. FMCL is a member of the Chanrai Summit Group of companies, a family business that had its beginnings more than 150 years ago.

Suvir’s uncle, Subodh Chanrai, Group Executive Chairman, also a former student of UWCSEA, had offered the internship to his nephew Suvir, not only because Suvir was a member of the Chanrai family but because he was a member of the UWCSEA family. Subodh says, “I’ve returned to Singapore 30 years after graduating from UWCSEA and the school still feels like home.

My life wouldn’t have been enriched in the ways it has, had it not been for UWCSEA. The beliefs and ethos of the College allowed me to thrive and truly understand the culture, land and people when I moved to Nigeria.

Working in Africa is a truly humbling and profound experience and I’m very excited to continue my UWC legacy and share the same adventure with other UWC alumni.”

Chanrai family and their vision, water and primary health projects in Nigeria.

The company sells top brands in the fast moving consumer goods market, health, hygiene, foods and pharmaceuticals through their own extensive manufacturing, sales, distribution and logistics operations.

in the Hub Accra, a startup incubator similar to the Hub in Singapore and other Hubs around the world. And true to his UWC roots, he also founded the Chanrai Summit Scholarship Solution programme on behalf of his family.

Suvir’s internship started as a van salesman, but after only four months he was given the opportunity to manage the company’s Cadbury direct-toretail channel in Accra. Subsequent responsibilities included a bigger geography and a bigger portfolio and soon he had responsibility for the direct-to-retail operations for the entire country. At that point he was managing 100 vehicles and a 250-person team.

Though his role was primarily focused around sales, he was also responsible for marketing, warehousing and logistics and was part of the team that opened the first MAC Cosmetics store in Ghana.

The programme is run in conjunction with the University of Nottingham and aims to provide Ghanaians with better access to medical professionals. The scholarship is limited to Ghanaians and Nigerians to study within the faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences and candidates must agree to return to Ghana to contribute back to society there.

Suvir says, “I spent two years in Ghana.

It’s been the biggest adventure of my life. I started right at the bottom, as a salesman starting at 7am every day, visiting 40 stores in my van. I walked in the shoes of our sales team and in four months’ time I was leading them.”

In addition to his primary role in the family business, Suvir is also an investor

The Chanrai Summit Group is heavily invested in social responsibility, with initiatives in Nigeria for instance, concentrating mainly on primary health, vision and water. Between April 2014 and March 2015, reports of their Mission for Vision programme indicated that over 6,000 patients were screened and more than 3,000 cataract surgeries performed. In that same time period, their Mission for Health programme report indicates that more than 246,000 patients were seen, more than 29,000 babies delivered, about 90,000 infants immunised against

“My life wouldn’t have been enriched in the ways it has, had it not been for UWCSEA.”

In India alone they have funded close to 200,000 free eye surgeries. measles and 583 malnourished children brought to normal weight.

Growing his company and its social responsibility

Recently, Suvir has joined a branch of the company in Lagos, Nigeria. Along with manufacturing and distributing for other brands, the company has recently ventured into their own brands.

Excited about the new venture, Suvir says, ”In exporting from Nigeria we are adding value by providing more jobs and building industry.”

by Brenda Whately

Planning to pursue his MBA in 2017, Suvir none-the-less says that the best learning for him has been out there in the market. “I’ve had the best headstart on my career that I could possibly have dreamed of.” He says that his uncle, Subodh realises the extent to which talented alumni from UWCSEA can help out and be helped out in this regard and they are both very keen to extend the opportunity to as many as possible. Suvir has offered to take on the responsibility for the internship programme at FMCL and says he will strive to ensure that interns are given responsibility and a real opportunity to add value, as he was.

In the July 2011 profile, Luke was reported to have evolved his company from a mobile technology start-up with three people in a sunroom in Sydney, to a global personal media company with 82 employees in five locations around the world. That growth has not slowed down since and today in 2015, Luke is Executive Chairman of a company that employs more than 220 people in eight offices worldwide, including an innovation lab and a product research division. The company has been listed in Deloitte’s Fast 50 for seven years running and in Forbes’ Top 100 Companies to Watch.

You may recall reading about Luke Janssen in the eighth issue of One°North.

An extreme sports enthusiast, Luke has not only taken calculated risks in his leisure activities, but also in his career. After a degree in Computer Science with Management from King’s College, London and eight years as a Chartered Accountant with KPMG, Luke made the decision to leave his job and set up a mobile technology company called Tigerspike.

Social mindedness is important to Luke and along with introducing a range of health and well-being initiatives for his employees, Luke and his company have become involved in a number of community initiatives. Tigerspike marked its tenth anniversary in 2013 by donating time and expertise to the World Food Programme (WFP), working to provide a number of solutions to make WFPs current registration and distribution processes faster and more secure through mobile technology in remote environments.

Tigerspike has provided technology to mKopa, a company that provides solar lighting solutions to developing countries, and it is also currently working closely with the Melbourne government to use technology to address domestic violence.

When I spoke to Luke in early 2011, he mentioned that one of his goals was to move back to Singapore and enrol his young daughter, Lucia into UWCSEA. By early 2012 his office was open and his family was in Singapore. In August 2014, his daughter Lucia started K1 at UWCSEA, and he is applying for his son Leo to start next year.

Since his return to Singapore, Luke has been happy to support the College with his time and talent. He has participated in practise interview sessions for Grade 12 students, he has given talks to students at both campuses regarding entrepreneurship and careers, has offered internship opportunities to young alumni and was the keynote speaker at the student-run TechLife Conference last year.

For more information about Luke and his company, please visit his website at www.tigerspike.com

October 2015 OneºNorth 29

Their newest intern, Natacha, UWCSEA ’10, started an eight-month term at the beginning of July. She says, “When I was offered an internship in Ghana, I was truly thrilled. Back in 2010, I was a student at UWCSEA in Singapore where I loved the multicultural environment that allowed me to meet people from all over the world. Having completed a master’s degree in London I was very keen on moving to another continent once again and then came the opportunity to move to Accra. Africa is a fascinating continent, ready for a major economic upturn. I feel privileged to be able to observe this from the inside.”

Luke Janssen, UWCSEA 1990–1994, Class of 1994

Publishing goes DIY

by Sue Grossey

Sue Grossey Class of 1984 UWCSEA 1977–1984

30 OneºNorth October 2015

Writing is my thing. I’m useless at anything sporty and not good with numbers, but words seem to work. I was a regular writer on the UWCSEA publication Emphasis, and may as well now confess that I was the anonymous gossip columnist on Harlequin, the student newspaper, for years. So it was almost inevitable that one day I would want to write a book. And indeed, as part of my day job as an anti-money laundering consultant, I have written over thirty, all about money laundering and the prevention thereof. But a novel, ah well, that was something different. One day I was researching a corrupt bank and came across the story of a banker who stole from his own customers way back in 1824—how times do not change, it would seem— and so I started writing a novel based on Henry Fauntleroy, bad banker.

It took me four years of evenings and weekends, but then that did include a complete rewrite when I realised that the investigating policeman would make a much better narrator than the banker. I tried hard to get it published via the traditional route, sending a carefully crafted synopsis, draft chapter, character outline, brief biography and more to a succession of agents and publishers. Several of them were kind enough to reply, but all said the same thing—good story, well written, but not commercial enough. Friends in publishing tell me that with the growth of e-books and self-publishing, the

traditional publishers are pulling in their horns. And if you’re not already published and successful, or a celebrity, it is harder than ever to get a publisher to take a risk on you.

But I thought that a tale of financial corruption would be of interest to modern readers; after all, Fauntleroy took advantage of the new money of his day, paper notes as opposed to gold and coin, and now we are worried about the new money of our day, virtual currencies and financial instruments so complicated that it seems no-one actually understands them. And so I turned to self-publishing. I had some experience as several of my money laundering books are self-published, but a novel with no guaranteed audience was an altogether more risky venture.

it to be all my own work. Foolhardy, possibly. Opinion is divided among the self-published. What I did find invaluable was a friend who acted as a ‘plot reader’ checking to make sure that my plot worked and that I hadn’t made silly mistakes.

Novel Mark Two now had the title Fatal Forgery, and I knew from the start that if the book was to stand a chance, it needed to look good. Not for me a cover knocked up on Paint and filled out with macaroni and glitter. I went to a proper cover designer and he was worth every penny, if only for the unbelievable thrill of seeing my policeman Constable Sam Plank ‘in the flesh’ for the first time.

Finally, it was time to upload the files.

I wanted to publish two editions—a print-on-demand (POD) paperback and a Kindle book. For the POD, I uploaded the interior PDF file and the cover JPEG file to a publisher called CreateSpace. They checked the files for printability and sent me a paper proof copy. I checked the proof and when I was happy with it, pressed the big red ‘Publish’ button. For the Kindle book, I reformatted the text into a simpler Kindle template, mainly taking out all of my careful formatting, then uploaded it to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) platform. Creating e-editions is relatively easy, so I knocked up versions for iBooks, Nook and Kobo as well. Fatal Forgery appeared on Amazon a mere three hours after upload. I only knew I had been published when a friend told me via Facebook! I bet that never happened to Dickens.

Once you have the text and the cover, you need to format the interior to look like a real book. Many self-published authors overlook this and their books have an off-putting amateur feel to them. I treated myself to a book design template and spent several days painstakingly cutting and pasting text into it. Then came the hell that is proofreading. I did consider getting a professional editor to go through it, but (a) they’re expensive, and (b) I wanted

But what I really wanted was to see my novel on the shelves of real-life bookshops. I live in a university city and so I went to the two main booksellers and showed them the book. Their crime buyers read the book and liked it, and said that as it looked professionally produced and had an ISBN (the long number that identifies books for cataloguing purposes), they would take it. That was two years ago and since then I have written and self-published

The Man in the Canary Waistcoat and Worm in the Blossom, the next two Sam Plank mysteries. All three books are selling well and if all goes to plan, there will be a series of seven in total, taking Sam from 1824 to 1830. Without selfpublishing, Sam Plank would be sitting on his own in a drawer somewhere and now that this option is available to all writers, I would encourage anyone to have a go. I can honestly say that there is little to beat the satisfaction of writing and publishing your own book and then selling the very first copy.

Since leaving UWCSEA in 1984 (having attended for a full seven years), Sue Grossey has made her living from crime—specifically, she works as an anti-money laundering consultant.

Sue attended university in Cambridge, England, spending her first term she says, trying to figure out how to turn off the aircon in her room before realising that it was just really, really cold. She met her husband, trained as a teacher, went on holidays to reunite with friends from school, and discovered the fascinating subject of money

laundering—the ways in which criminals attempt to hide their money. For twenty years, she has read about it, researched it, talked about it, designed procedures to catch it—and of course written about it in more than thirty books, countless articles and her popular blog (www. ihatemoneylaundering.wordpress. com). In 2013 she published her first novel—and the topic was, inevitably, financial crime.

October 2015 OneºNorth 31

Alumni Giving Endowment

Alumni members of the UWCSEA Foundation Board of Trustees

Lizanne and Robert A Milton UWCSEA Endowed Scholarship

Dale Fisher ’78 Heinrich Jessen ’86

Robert ’78

Lizanne ’83

Robert and Lizanne’s third endowed IB scholar, Sivhuo, started at UWCSEA in August 2015. Born in Cambodia, Sivhuo is supporting Tabitha Global Concern which helps the poor in Cambodia gain self-respect and esteem. She is also involved in the Initiative for Peace programme where students have the opportunity to be involved in planning a conference in peace and conflict resolution.

Sivhuo

1971 Society Named in honour of the year the Dover Campus was opened by the then Prime Minister of Singapore, Lee Kuan Yew, the 1971 Society recognises those who have made significant accumulative lifetime gifts to UWCSEA. Through their generosity, these benefactors are helping the College remain at the forefront of international education.

Alumni members of the 1971 Society:

32 OneºNorth October 2015

Michelle Sassoon ’82 Kim Teo ’76

Iain and Tejas ’98 Ewing Dale Fisher ’78 Craig Flood ’78 Fredrik Fosse ’03 Kush Handa ’78 Peter Jessen ’83 Jacques Mainguy ’79 Lizanne ’83 and Robert Milton ’78 Michelle Sassoon ’82 John Shang ’78 Tord Stallvik ’86 Zain C Willoughby ’78 Soofian Zuberi ’90 Anonymous

Annual Giving 2014/2015 A big thank you to the alumni listed below who supported the Annual Fund 2014/2015. There were 32 initiatives supported across both campuses, including a full two-year IBDP Scholarship, an artist-in-residence programme, active learning classrooms, a new timing system for the swim team, mental health and Personal and Social Education workshops, and a whole host of other programmes enhancing the UWCSEA student experience.

Alumni Donors (Reunion 2015 donors listed on the facing page): Summie Aoki ’84 Haerul Bengardi ’87 Ashwin Bhat ’06 Michelle Crouse Paul Cummins ’78 Permada Darmono ’98 Ojas Doshi ’91 Tejas Ewing ’98 Dale Fisher ’78 Frederik Fosse ’03 Frederic Grandjean ’02 Kush Handa ’78 Bev Hewitt ’74 Adrienne Hintz ’81 Alexander Krefft ’93 Oisin MacFadden ’04

Jacques Mainguy ’79 Anna Parr Soracha Prathanrasnikorn ’11 Tony Robb ’86 Michelle Sassoon ’82 Virginia Sipiere ’74 Sheila Sofian ’81 Linda Teagle ’78 Jason Kok Kiong Toh ’02 Felix van Oost ’12 Jorge Vizcaino ’87 Eric von der Luehe ’83 Wan Jiachen ’15 Thomas Hao Tian Yang ’15 Christoph Zenker ’82 Anonymous gift

UWCSEA Scholarship Programme 2014/2015

95

scholars represented in 2014/2015 from 45 countries across the world Thanks to the alumni and parents of alumni who are supporting the scholarship programme!

Reunion 2015 giving Thank you for celebrating your reunion with support for the scholarship enrichment fund!

The scholarship enrichment fund provides support to current scholars in several areas including participation in programmes such as Model United Nations (MUN), Initiative for Peace (IfP), house-building, Gap Year; the purchase of equipment for sports, arts, music, etc.

Your gift has enhanced their UWCSEA experience. Thank you!

Reunion 2015 Donors 1975 Katy Berentsen ’75 Peter ’75 and Tania Dyer Kate Gudgeon ’75 Kim Ivey ’76 Thomas Reske ’75 Colin Robertson ’75 Pat Robinson ’75 Kathy Somic ’75 1980 Kay Brockmueller ’80 Anthony Cheung Man Chung ’80 Alison Green ’80 Heddy Motzfeldt Hedström ’80 Dirk Heerding ’80 Annecke B. Jenssen ’80 Bron Laney ’80 Lee Cheu Seng ’80 Rebecca (Becky) Martin ’80 Karen Rimington ’80 Nigel Swinnerton ’80 Michael Taylor ’80

of attendees from the classes of ’75, ’80, ’85, ’90, ’95 and ’05 participated in their class gift.

“Coming from a war-torn country, I was able to relate to the problems the [IfP] delegates are facing. Participating in the conference gave me the opportunity to make a difference and educate others about the importance of a peaceful and sustainable future.”

Nita Bislimi, Kosovo, Class of ’15 Caroline van Eijk ’85 Yap Lee Ling ’85 1990 Farhan Ahmad ’90 D.D. Daruvala ’89 Sandra Farmer ’90 Ernest Leung ’90 Vanessa Loong ’90 Juliette Martin ’90 Claudia Maschi ’90 Sanjay Parakh ’90 Ee Chen Wong ’90 Gary Yeoh ’90 1995 Yasmine Ameen ’95 Angela Armstrong ’95 Anshul Arora ’95 Anirudh Baheti ’95 Anna-Mae Chin ’95 Andrew Cunningham ’95 Mia Davidson McGregor ’95 Rosah ’95 and Marcus Dunn Samuel Evers-Swindell ’95 Salina Froehlich ’95 Mandy Furstenberg ’95 Yvette Ingwersen ’95 Roslan Jaffar ’95 Kumiko Kaneda ’95 Angeline Lee ’95 Jin Kwong Lim ’95 Biraj Mandavilli Uppal ’95 Stuart McLelland ’95

Jacqueline Moccand ’95 The Mules Family Gareth Saunders ’95 Jota ’95 and Claudia Shohtoku Pam Sikkers ’95 MC Spence ’95 Sripriya Sundararajan ’95 Grace Tahir ’95 Vanessa van der Burgt ’95 2005 Dr Ben Au ’05 and Yeo Jing Wen Anja Frotjold Birkeland ’05 Mattia De Biasi ’05 Pavan Jeswani ’05 Marie Lamy ’05 Martin Lund ’05 Jeremy Nunns ’05 Marian Quek ’05 Nadia Sofiandi ’05 Anonymous Five donors

October 2015 OneºNorth 33

1985 Malek Ali ’85 The Datta Family Yen Mee Lai ’85 Stephanie Magdalino ’85 Stephanie Miller ’85 Ronald Ong ’85 Vipart Pakartikom ’85 Jeroen van der Heijden ’85

32%

Weddings Han and Boris, 3rd and 2nd from the right, front row.

H an N guyen ’01 weds Boris F orey ’99

Yoonah Shin ’03 weds John H ayes ’03

9 January 2015

4 October 2014

The wedding of the year is an understatement to describe the union of two UWCSEA alumni, Han Nguyen (’01) and Boris Forey (’99), it was a joyful celebration that not only allowed two best friends to “tell the world that we finally got it all right,” but brought together over 20 UWCSEA alumni spanning from the class of 1999 to the class of 2013 and a teacher, Mrs Karen Niedermeyer.

Yoonah and John met in UWCSEA in 2001. She had beads in her hair. He had a beer at her pool party, which he doesn’t remember. After UWC, John went to the UK and Yoonah to Korea; they met again when Yoonah returned to Singapore in 2007 and John in 2008. They love travelling to new places together, and would like puppies and children.

The lyrics from, ‘I choose you,’ by Sara Bareilles, a song played at their wedding in Singapore and Vietnam, perfectly summed up Han and Boris, “but then you found me and everything changed.” Having known the two from the start of their nine-year long love affair, their wedding was the ultimate celebration of two amazing individuals and dear friends, where their friendship, love and respect for each other will endure a lifetime.

Their wedding was truly “a beautiful start to a lifelong love letter.”

By Lilian Lee ’01

They were blessed to have so many UWC alumni join the celebration as bridesmaids, groomsmen, and guests in Singapore and Seoul.

N aomi Clark ’09 weds M ichael Shen ’09 12 July 2015

34 OneºNorth October 2015

Our low-key, intimate, casual and simple wedding celebration—a representation of our appreciation for the small things in life—took place aboard a yacht with guests serving themselves and taking the wedding photos. The ceremony took place at the bow, overlooking the water in front of 30 guests, followed by a sunset cruise and dinner.

One of the difficulties of having friends from UWC is that they’re scattered all over the world—but we’re thankful to have had 10 attend the wedding, some of whom flew to Singapore just to join us, which shows how strong the bond is between UWC friends! Both of our brothers also attended the wedding—Adam Clark and Jeffrey Shen, UWCSEA ’07.

Left to right: Tony Wendratno, David Kim, Kelsey Ryan, Michelle Tjia, Wen Bertelli, Vincent Shin, Naomi Clark, Michael Shen, Jonno Mann, Eloise Swaine, Gregory Teo, Arvind Mahendran (all ’09 except Vincent, ’05).

Our vows poked fun at each other, mocking how we grew up together at UWCSEA. We both joined UWC at age 11, started dating when we were 13 and have been together since. At 18, Mike did National Service and Naomi went to university in the UK. After Mike’s NS, he joined Naomi at university. They have since moved back to Singapore, and are living and working here now.

Singapore December 2015

London 2016

Kuala Lumpur 2016

Upcoming reunions Reunion 2016!

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

Jakarta 2016

26-28 August 2016 The Classes of 1976, 1981, 1986, 1991, 1996 and 2006 are invited to celebrate in Singapore in August 2016. Alumni friends who wish to join in the celebrations are welcome too.

All six classes are invited to a Friday evening cocktail reception and buffet dinner party to kick off the weekend. On Saturday afternoon, a barbecue lunch is organised at the Dover Campus of UWCSEA. Revisit your memories and take a tour guided by current Grade 11 and 12 students. Saturday night and Sunday are left open for you to plan your own class year group activities. Join us for a weekend of fun, fond memories and reconnection with old friends and new.

Registration for all events is via the UWCSEA alumni website: http://alumni.uwcsea.edu.sg/events

Bangkok 2016

Singapore 2016

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

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

Don’t miss out!

October 2015 OneºNorth 35

21 September 2016

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

Social media and app ‘official’ UWCSEA alumni page: UWCSEA Alumni various locationspecific groups: UWCSEA [location] Regional Alumni Group LinkedIn group: UWCSEA Alumni Community Twitter: @UWCSEA_Alumni Alumni mobile app: Download EverTrue app and select UWCSEA

UWCSEA Dover 1207 Dover Road Singapore 139654

UWCSEA East 1 Tampines Street 73 Singapore 528704

Printed on recycled paper.

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