Dr. Ronald Sturm

2014-10-10T06:55:11+01:00October 5th, 2014|

Dr. Ronald Sturm (AC Alumnus), Head of the Nuclear Disarmament and Non-Proliferation Unit of the Federal Ministry for Europe, Integration and Foreign Affairs of Austria, kindly offered to come to UWC RCN for the second year in a row to address the World Today Forum on nuclear disarmament and the humanitarian impact of nuclear weapons. Ronald brought with him two copies of the new United Nations publication “action for disarmament: 10 things you can do” (to be found here ) and donated them to the College library for reference and use by Global Politics students and others. He has also invited the College to send a student to be a representative at the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons – we are also looking into live streaming the conference in the auditorium on 8th-9th December.

Ronald, until recently, was a member of the Board at UWC Mostar and has put a great deal of time and energy into contributing to the success of our sister college – and he is also an active member of the Austrian National Committee. As part of his diplomatic portfolio, he will be moving at some point to North Africa in 2015 – and we wish him all the best for this new position.

Thor Heyerdahl Week

2018-10-16T09:33:31+01:00September 29th, 2014|

The 29th September marked the beginning of UWC Red Cross Nordic’s Thor Heyerdahl Week – our College’s contribution to celebrations planned across Norway for the centenary of Thor Heyerdahl’s birth on Monday October 6th.

Thor Heyerdahl – archaeologist, author and explorer –  played a hugely significant part both as International Patron of the United World College movement and, at a later stage, in developing the concept of a United World College in Norway. We continue to be grateful for the support and energy he committed to the establishing of our College in the fjords. Please click here for the speech given by Thor Heyerdahl at the official opening of the College on 30th September 1995.

Thor Heyerdahl Week at RCN included: a presentation on the life and legacy of Thor Heyerdahl, a screening of the film ‘Kon-Tiki’, and a student-led raft-building project. Students this weekend have braved apocalyptic rains to build their own version of Kon-Tiki; the challenge is for the students to attempt to sail the raft across Haugland Bay. Here are some images of the work done so far on the raft.

Indeed on the day of the centenary itself, our Board Chair Tove Veierød, has invited the current Oslo-based Nordic ambassadors to a reception at the Nordic Association  where Rektor Richard Lamont will speak about the vision of Thor Heyerdahl and the other members of the founding team of this College. The text of his speech is here. A delegation from UWC RCN will be meeting with Maja Bauge, the Director of the Kon-Tiki Museum, on Tuesday 7th October.

Heyerdahl taught us of the possibilities of living on a raft or papyrus ship within speaking and touching distance – day and night – with ‘room only for people who could shake each other by the hand’. Following in the footsteps of Thor Heyerdahl and those responsible for the founding of the College, we continue to encourage our students and staff to contribute to society, both now and in the future, by reaching an open hand to fellow humans everywhere.

Click here to see an excellent documentary about Thor Heyerdahl.

 

Phil and Amy Geier

2018-10-16T09:33:32+01:00September 26th, 2014|

It was a pleasure and privilege to welcome Amy and Phil Geier this week to UWC Red Cross Nordic. Fresh from the inauguration ceremony at UWC Robert Bosch College, Amy and Phil arrived on campus on Tuesday evening and proceeded to take a full part in College life – from meetings with staff and students to participation in lessons. At the invitation of the Admissions Team at Middlebury, Amy kindly agreed to meet with students on an individual basis to give an introduction to studying at the College in her capacity as a Middlebury Fellow. Phil, as co-founder and executive director of the United World College Scholars Programme, gave a presentation on the history of the partnership between Shelby Davis and the UWC movement alongside an introduction to new projects focused on bridge / gap years including the Semester at Sea Programme and the Global Citizen Year. In the late 1990s, Shelby and Phil started with a simple idea: provide scholarships to talented international students at American colleges and universities, which they hoped would transform those students’ lives and enhance the global diversity of American higher education. This founding aim has blossomed into a strategic objective that now advances international understanding through education built on the following twin principles: 1) that promising future leaders from a broad range of cultures should be afforded greater educational opportunities and serve to accelerate global networking; 2) that these educational opportunities take place at leading US colleges and universities, in the belief that these American schools will become more effective learning communities for all their students by becoming more internationally diverse and globally engaged. In the academic year 2013-4, 5,508 graduates from UWCs (and representing 148 countries) studied at 91 US universities as part of the Davis UWC Scholars Programme. Phil presented to a packed auditorium and responded to a series of stimulating and thought-provoking question from students on the history and future of the programme – and certainly fired the imaginations of those considering studying at US universities.

This was the third time Phil and Amy had visited the College. They were first here in 1995 for the opening ceremony when Phil was the President (equivalent of Rektor) of UWC-USA and then again ten years ago – and we so look forward to welcoming them back to UWC Red Cross Nordic in the future. We wish them safe travels in their European tour which will now take them to the International Office in London, to UWC Atlantic College, to UWC Maastricht, to a short expedition on a Semester at Sea voyage, and finally to the inauguration ceremony at UWC Dilijan. We appreciate and applaud both Amy and Phil for their extraordinary commitment to the UWC movement.

Larry
Rektor

UWC Robert Bosch

2018-10-16T09:33:32+01:00September 23rd, 2014|

The students and staff at UWC Red Cross would like to express our delight that – after years of preparation – UWC Robert Bosch College in Freiburg is opening its doors on the 23rd of September 2014 as the 14th UWC College worldwide. Tove Veierød (Chair of UWC RCN) and Tom Gresvig (one of the founding team of UWC RCN) shall be attending the opening ceremony as representatives of our College.  It is particularly exciting that a UWC College has been established in Germany – home to Kurt Hahn (1886-1974), the educational pioneer responsible for founding the UWC movement. We wish the first cohort of students and new members of staff (drawn from Germany and across the world) all the very best for the academic year ahead.

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

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