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So far Edmund Cluett has created 595 blog entries.

Elizabete Romanovska (’13 – ’15)

2023-12-13T14:35:10+01:00March 14th, 2016|

Before and during my time at UWC Red Cross Nordic I was told that I and the other UWC students would be the leaders of tomorrow. I had always thought that I would be under pressure to be the next president of my home country Latvia, or have to find a medicine to cure cancer. However, during my journey at the Nordic College I learned what it meant to truly be a leader of tomorrow.

One of my closest friends at UWC was Thupten from Tibet. A quote he always had on his desk said, “The planet does not need more ‘successful people’. The planet desperately needs more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers and lovers of all kinds. It needs people to live well in their places”. This is what my UWC story is about.

I came to Norway as a girl who wanted to help change the problems of the world, but I left as a young woman who was desperately interested in the world and had a huge enjoyment of being alive. I remember the night when my friend and I went to sleep at the top of the mountain. We fell asleep at sunset and we woke up at sunrise, and I could smell the fresh cold air and at that moment I knew – I choose to love and live this life for real.

After my graduation I moved to the USA to study at University. During the first weeks I began to talk to people who at first seemed very intimidating, but at UWC I had learned to celebrate the differences amongst people and appreciate the importance of getting to know people for who they are and not for who I think they are. And now I am good friends with many of them, and indeed they are the way I expected them to be. I strongly believe that my UWC story will never end, because the things I learned there follow me every day. As I reflect more every day, I learn more. Isn’t that an exciting life to live?

Elizabete is currently studying at Macalester College in the US.

For profiles and news of other students and alumni, click here.

Youth and Leadership Day

2016-03-10T06:09:18+01:00March 10th, 2016|

On Monday we had a Youth and Leadership day at RCN, designed, led and managed by the students themselves. It was attended by the first years of RCN with the aim to introduce them into a culture of participation and awareness of the role of leaders and their place within a team.

There were 8 workshops both of a practical and informative kind. We looked at the concept of Gender and Leadership as well as the the cultural implications of certain leadership styles. Active sessions were carried out as exposure to situations where teamwork was essential to success. These activities were rounded off with sessions on business leadership, taking initiative and on active listening.

In all it was a comprehensive set of workshops, put together to make it a thoughtful day. Hopefully the students of RCN will put some of the techniques and concepts into practice, and in doing so become more aware of their role and responsibilities within teams and ultimately as leaders for the future.

Daniel Toa-Kwapong (’95 – present)

2016-03-14T05:58:50+01:00March 7th, 2016|

Daniel has been dedicated to his calling as a teacher at UWC RCN since the College opened in 1995. How many individuals and generations have benefited from his generous presence on campus!

Hope is what I call ‘the oxygen of life’. This is what the College provides. I’m looking at some of my students now who came here last year. When they came they hardly spoke any English – you should see some of them today in class! If you and I, as English speakers, were taken to Cambodia or Laos and asked to do Economics, Philosophy or Development Studies in Khmer – Oh gee, I would be on the next flight home! These people are my heroes. I mean people who write in different scripts, in different directions on the page. Did you know that some languages don’t have punctuation? It took me some time to learn that. I know a student who came here with who could barely speak English and now he is a neuroscientist. There are so many stories; you see so many students’ lives change in just a matter of two years. That’s what I think people need. They need hope; they need to believe that they can do the right things, have faith in themselves and in humanity. We need to restore faith in humanity.

The father of my wife, Barbara, said something I will always remember. He was one of the top architects on the African continent. He said, “When I die, I will not be buried with any of my buildings; none of my models will be on my death bed, I have to remember that I came to this world naked; God opened up opportunities to me and look at what I have become. Look at how many lives I have touched.”

For profiles and news of other students and alumni, click here.

Climate Eyewitness Workshop at RCN

2018-10-16T09:32:45+01:00March 3rd, 2016|

UWC Red Cross Nordic, the Norwegian Glacier Museum and 4H successfully applied to “den Naturlige Skolesekken” for a climate education pilot project. The first programme in the pilot project was a Climate Eyewitness Workshop at RCN. The workshop was organized by six of our students, coming from five different continents and was delivered for a class from Firda Vidaregåande Skule in Sandane. The workshop aimed to give a global perspective about climate change for Norwegian students through hearing different stories from all over the world and learning about how to make responsible, climate-friendly decisions in their personal life.

At the beginning of the workshop RCN students gave a presentation about climate change in general and its effects on their continents and home countries: Maldives, Morocco, Italy, Canada and Chile. After the discussion the students learned about possible solutions and heard about the Paris Climate Summit in 2015 in this context. The visitors from Firda made their own carbon pledges in groups, finding their on their own solutions, as the countries did in Paris.

At the end of the workshop all participants was awarded a ‘Certified Climate Eyewitness Diploma’.

The next step of the pilot project is a trip for the Firda Vidaregåande class to the Norwegian Glacier museum with the 4H organization. We believe this complex education programme gives comprehensive knowledge about climate change that students can use in their everyday life.

(Photos by Paula Bustamante RCN ’15-’17)

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