My two years at UWCRCN has deeply affected the way I am and what I do today. Going to a university was not the obvious choice for me when I grew up as a refugee from Iran in a socially disadvantaged neighborhood. But after UWCRCN I chose to study Social Sciences, driven by a curiosity to better understand the world around me. Since then I have been working project-based for a range of private and public organizations and have always tried to spice up the projects with some UWC idealism. An example was in 2011-2012 when I was part of the team planning and organizing the Danish Presidency of the European Council. My team decided to add sustainability as the framework of the Presidency. This meant considering environmental, social and economic aspects of all decisions from choosing suppliers, the way we cooperated with other actors as well as in our communications. The Presidency ended up being nicknamed “The Tap Water Presidency” and was the first event to be certified as a sustainable event. But more importantly, the UWC experience has made a huge difference for me on a personal level. Being selected to represent Denmark at a UWC as a Danish student was a recognition of me as a new kind of Dane. It gave me the feeling of inclusion in society that no integration policy will ever be able to achieve.

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Our alumni are a great resource for us. We are delighted to receive many visits from them and also stay in touch and hear how they, in various ways, live the mission. One of these is Pawel Urbanski, from Poland, who recently came as a guest speaker at the World Today event. His presentation was on what it is like to lose your sight and how it may seem like there is nothing you can do. Some of Pawel’s answers to this was to climb the Seven Summits, run a business and keep reinventing himself . The main theme of the presentation was how to maximize your potential,stay ambitious and at the same time understand and work within your limits and abilities. Students learned about Pawel’s quest of climbing the Seven Summits as a blind person, start new projects and do it with meaning and purpose.  He gave the example of taking decisions when everything seems to be unknown, with examples from his first expedition to mount Aconcagua. He gave perspectives on how to deal with failure and to prevent wasting personal energy and motivation and then moved on to the value of accomplishment, telling the story of his quest of Mount Kilimanjaro.

Almost 15 years after graduating from RCN, Pawel stresses that 2 years in Norway gave him a background to be entrepreneurial and ambitious, but also to care with empathy for people around him. In the true spirit of Kurt Hahn. “There is more in you than you think.”

He can be found here.

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