Sara Löwgren (’13 – ’15)

2018-10-16T09:32:41+01:00April 28th, 2016|

I am already starting to see how the UWC has changed me although I only graduated from UWC Red Cross Nordic a year ago. Two years in that unique little world made from multiculturalism and idealistic inspiration, placed among high mountains and peaceful fjords has, I think, brought about an enormous enhancement of my personality.

I went back to Sweden after graduation to gain some experience of ‘real life’. During the fall of 2015 Sweden became a very interesting place to be due to the European refugee crisis. What I learned at UWC helped me a lot in everything I was doing. I know that the people who come to Sweden are not just refugees, they are people with different stories, knowledge, languages, experiences and cultures – just like my beloved co-years at RCN. I cherish every opportunity to learn from, and help, these people. At UWC I also realized the importance of communicating and believing in one’s ideas. Therefore, I decided to set up a school for the refugees who have not yet received their residence permits (and hence, are not permitted to start the compulsory Swedish courses).  So I was teaching Swedish to about a hundred adults. Many Swedish people asked me how it was that I, a 20 year-old without a degree in education, could initiate and carry out such a project on my own. My answer was the UWC experience, which taught me the real meaning of equality between humans, the beauty of cultural and ethnic diversity and the skill to believe in myself and my ideas.

My plans for the future include more than humanitarian work, however. In the spring of 2016 I will be going to Ecuador, where I will teach English in a village school for three months. I look forward to the voluntary work, but also to the opportunity of throwing myself into a culture (and language!) that is brand new to me. In the fall of 2016 I will enrol at the College of the Atlantic in Maine USA, where I will study human ecology with a focus on environmental science. I have been interested in environmental science for a long time and my time at RCN made me even more keen to go into this direction. Environmental issues and injustice exist in the background of most global conflicts and it is becoming more urgent every day. I believe the international understanding and leadership skills I gained at RCN will help me to better understand and work with environmental issues worldwide.

Lauge Schøler (’06 – ’08)

2016-03-30T05:04:32+01:00March 30th, 2016|

I was always very interested in the idea of the suberb educational experience, the completely absorbed state of mind where time expands and you are fulfilling perhaps the most fundamental human need – the need for growth.

Going to UWCRCN as a student I was attracted to the dream of a social and intellectual flow state in the little utopia on a Norwegian fjord. I’m a psychologist now, recently graduated from University of Copenhagen (and also happily married to a fellow RCN graduate – Thi Qui). I now know that such flow states do not just happen. The physical and social structures must be in place – everything from proper curtains in the cubicles to good food to mental hygiene to the absence of bullying. You cannot start at the top of Maslow’s pyramid of needs. You must get the basics right. I learned that the hard way as a UWC student. It was a great experience coming back as an alumnus and giving a presentation on mental health to staff and students.

I am also a boarding school teacher now. Last August I co-founded a boarding school in southern Denmark with fellow UWC graduates. It’s a one year pre-high school program for 14-16 year olds and is, essentially, everything you ever wanted school to be! We are a bunch of learning geeks and we get to apply all the theory and experiences we have picked up along the way. I think we are creating a little educational utopia there.

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.

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.

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