Meet Kainat Ansari from Pakistan. After graduating from RCN, she studied Psychology at Whitman College, where she received the Ben Rabinowitz Awards for her community work. Now she continues her studies at the University of Oxford.

Reflecting on my UWC RCN journey brings nothing but tears of joy and gratitude. The place that polished me beyond what I could ever have expected. I grew up in a small slum area of Karachi and had always felt hopeless thinking that I could do nothing to change my life until I came to RCN. RCN brought a sense of optimism and idealism to me at once. Meeting people who shared the same experiences and endurances as I brought a sense of community I had longed for so long.

I remember coming to RCN and meeting my roommates; I was almost so shocked and in awe at the same time realizing that I am surrounded by such diverse people who come from very different backgrounds, and yet we find common grounds to come together. The people who believed in making this world a better and peaceful place. If I start to talk about my whole experience at RCN, it will take hundreds of pages to pen them down. However, I am grateful for the people who made me confident and believe that no matter where I grew up or what society I belonged to, I can be an independent and empathetic person regardless. I am grateful to my peers for giving me such unforgettable experiences. I am grateful for my teacher who once told me, “Kainat, learn to have fun, enjoy your journey; trust me you’re going to places.” Those words gave me the courage and directly and indirectly inspired me to achieve things that I never thought would be possible.

After graduating from RCN, I went to the USA to pursue my undergraduate degree at Whitman College. I am a rising senior, majoring in Psychology. Currently, I am completing my third year at the University of Oxford. I am looking forward to going back to the USA and completing my degree. This summer, I will work as a Psychology Teaching Assistant at Johns Hopkins University CTY program. This year brought me a lot of accomplishments in my life including the Rabinowitz Award. I am selected to do a project regarding the mental health of the BIPOC community at Whitman. I am passionate about raising mental health awareness among underprivileged communities, and I hope to do more work to make the lives of people better.

The purpose of sharing a little about myself was to tell people that I am proud of the work I am doing. I am proud to be called an alumna of UWC RCN. There are so many factors that have contributed to my confidence in dreaming big, and one of them is my experience at RCN. As I pen this article, I am almost tearing up thinking of my journey at RCN and how it has carved out my pathway. This place will always be a sacred place for me, and I hope to see this place again and reflect on my journey and those endless giggles and laughter.

Magnea Gna Johannsdottir (RCN ’17) is the youngest person ever elected to the Reykjavik city council. Her political party Framsókn (English: Progressive Party)  gained 18,7% of the votes, making it the third-largest party in the city and the key to negotiating majority governance. The elections showed that people wanted change, and people were willing to vote for parties with young people on the frontline. Read Magnea’s journey to current achievement.

“When I sit down to write about my United World College (UWC) journey, after having been in RCN and an intern at UWC Thailand, I realize how greatly the UWC movement has influenced my life. My UWC experience goes under an umbrella of idealism, beauty and unity. The consistent challenging of my ideals was something I now find beautiful. It broke down the walls of what once created my four sided “box” and allowed me to see the abstract world beyond it. In other words it left me thinking about the world from more than a single perspective. It also made me realize that I have a voice that I can use to make a difference for the good.

UWC taught me a lot of things, one of them is that if you want to get something done you must do it. Things do not happen by sitting by. I guess this is also something that led to where I’m now. Currently, I’m doing my Master’s degree in law, where I focus mostly on human rights law, and running for the city council of Reykjavík, third on the list. Where I’m focusing on matters that are in many ways shaped by UWC values.

For example, respect for the environment. One of the most pressing issues of our times are environmental issues. Especially, for generations to come as they will inherit the world. We must make sure that people can live a sustainable lifestyle and remove all hindrances to it. The will to live a sustainable lifestyle has never been more amongst people. Sustainability and the environmental issues must be the red thread of all actions.

Additionally, humanity must be in the foreground of all decision making. We must give voice to those without it and ensure equal opportunities for all. International and intercultural understanding has never been more pressing in Iceland, as we are welcoming more refugees than ever.

I chose a political party, Framsókn, that focuses on working together and democracy and objects polarized politics. UWC also taught me that the best decisions are made when we work together and discuss things to understand the issues at hand better. Framsókn has shown that they trust young people in politics. That trust I believe to be very important as we need to have all groups and ages of society involved in decision making. Especially young people that will inherit today’s decisions.

My two years in Flekke flew by – the most transformative years of my life. The years where I grew and expanded my horizons in the shortest amount of time. RCN is in my eyes truly an ideal place created by people from all over the world that come to live together and share the same values. Values that still unite us today and will continue to influence our decisions throughout our lives. I can’t be more thankful for the UWC experience. It is my hope that the UWC movement will continue to grow successfully, always creating educational opportunities independent of people’s socio- and economic status.”