Roving Fulbright Scholar

2018-10-16T09:33:46+01:00March 22nd, 2014|

Flannery Burke, a UWC-USA graduate and currently a Roving Fulbright Scholar in Norway, has been visiting the College. Flannery was invited to address the community at the start of the ‘Happiness’ Global Concerns Day – talking about what makes her happy. As her subject she chose Light; specifically the clear, bright light of Los Angeles where she lived for some years. Her talk was poetic in her descriptions, and inspiring as she talked of the power of human diversity. It was a great way to start the day! Later, she delivered a World Today presentation giving a personal view of aspects of US history, politics and culture.

We have been very pleased that she was able to visit us.

A Trip to Rome

2018-10-16T09:33:47+01:00March 20th, 2014|

Second year student Lina Sadovskaja from Lithuania entered a competition sponsored by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation. The competition required that participants submit a text, video, audio clip or image on the theme of Europe in 2030. Lina submitted the New Year address from the President of the European Parliament in the year 2030 and hers was one of the winning entries. The prize for the selected winners was a trip to Rome to attend workshops and panel discussions. This is her report:

Having submitted an essay, and then being selected as one of the successful participants in the “Your Vision, Your Future, Your Europe” competition, I was invited by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, along with the other prizewinners from across Europe, to join their ‘Youth Election Arena’ panel with the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz. As the event was being held in Rome, and I had never been there before, I was filled with excitement.

Martin Schultz (front right) speaking during the event. Lina sits back and centre.

Martin Schultz (front right) speaking during the event

Prior to my departure I had a sit-down with Economics teacher, Rudy Herrera Marmol to broaden my understanding of the financial aspects of EU politics. My deepened understanding proved to be of great help in Rome, where we were first asked to prepare questions about the future of Europe in a workshop. Ultimately, my question was phrased like this:

“With the possibility of another Eurozone crisis in the coming 10 years, the measures taken – that is the Banking Union’s anti-crisis insurance along with crisis loans from particular governments – will barely be enough to bail out one or perhaps two moderately-sized banks. As we are obviously not ready for another crisis, what measures will be taken to prepare an effective response?”

Much to my surprise the event was given a lot of media attention; as it was being covered by several news stations from various countries it was hard not to be nervous. Mr. Schulz very humbly took more time than he was given to thoroughly discuss every single one of our questions. I was very impressed by his professionalism and frankness as, for example, in one of his answers, without hesitation he admitted that English had to be the lingua franca of the Union.

The following day some of us participants were invited to attend the Election Congress of the Party of European Socialists. Without having any specific allegiance to the party, I was still happy to experience my very first political congress. This was certainly the highlight of Martin Schulz’s presence in Rome as he was to be formally elected the PES candidate for the European Commission Presidency.

I would like to thank the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung for this tremendous opportunity.

Lina Sadovskaja (Lithuania) 

Red Cross in Førde

2014-03-20T14:47:22+01:00March 16th, 2014|

On the evening of 14 March students from the College were warmly welcomed by members of the Red Cross Youth in Førde who had organised a gathering to welcome two Youth Delegates from Colombia who will be engaged in local Red Cross activities for the next two months. Our three Colombians, Yerson, Yeison, and Andres, plus other Spanish-speaking students enjoyed the warm interaction with Willian and William, who have been in Norway for about seven months and relished the opportunity to converse in their native tongue. Those of us who didn’t speak Spanish enjoyed the company of the Norwegians, and we all enjoyed the pizza and the presentations, introducing ourselves and our organisations/projects. This was a first connecting step, and we aim for regular contact with local Red Cross youth.

Local Cooperation

2018-10-16T09:33:47+01:00March 11th, 2014|

Sogndal County Fair - Iman (L) and Jasmine (R) with the Fiskekake Burger prize winners!

Sogndal County Fair – Iman (L) and Jasmine (R) with the Fiskekake Burger prize winners!

Our student run organizations, SAFUGE, DROP and LEAF were represented at the County Fair for youth entrepreneurship in Sogndal last week; an occasion to see on what, and how, other student companies (Ungdomsbedrifter) are working. It was also an opportunity to talk about our own activities. Måløy Videregåande had won a competition that included major commercial companies to develop fish products  – one of their products was Fiskekake-burger!

We also got to know about projects with a strong humanitarian profile. At Flora Videregåande they are running a regular sports activity for immigrants – “Trimigration”, and they are supporting the running of a school in Malawi. We see much potential for local co-operation on projects with international involvement.

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