News from the College

45 of our students and 3 teachers attended this year’s Rafto Conference, which gave us an insight into the Human Rights situation in Europe with a particular focus on vulnerable groups, among them: women, refugees and LGBTI communities. We had a chance to learn about importance of the role of the civil society in addressing the issues often ignored or pushed to the side by governments. Marcia V.J. Kran, a member of the UN Human Rights Committee, stressed the importance of HR education, giving account to any individual case of the abuse of HR. All events over the Rafto weekend was as a great demonstration of Solidarity between the Norwegian and Polish People. As Adam Bodnar the recipient of the award said:

“I treat this award as the solidarity of citizens of the Human Rights City of Bergen not only with myself, but with all those who fight in Poland for freedom, human rights and rule of law: civil society, members of academia, judges, prosecutors, attorneys, and each and every member of the society who is concerned with the process of undemocratic changes.”

We are now in the middle of the Campus Renovation Campaign. A warm thank you to everyone who has donated or otherwise contributed. Our aim is to reach 600.000 NOK. As we write this, we are more than halfway there.

The Leif Høegh Foundation has just informed us that they will support the Renovation Work annually with 200.000 NOK for a period of 5 years. The alumni generations of 97/98 and 06/07 are jointly making a contribution in excess of 40.000 NOK. The start of the campaign nicely coincided with the announcement that we will receive extra funding from the Norwegian state for the necessary extra maintenance work coming up. This support from the state is an encouragement for others who have benefited from two formative years in Flekke to join in to the benefit of the coming generations. Every gift matters and is eligible for Davis matching which doubles the amount of any donation made.

If you would like to donate using Vipps or Paypal, click here.

Download the pdf,  to get a detailed overview of the need and costs.

Please make a contribution for the well being of the future generations of our students.

It was with great sadness we received the news that Arne Ophaug had passed away after a period with cancer treatment. Many colleagues took a last farewell in the funeral at Fedje last Friday, the place where he grew up and where he and Maria now had a holiday residence. Arne had been in charge of our kitchen since we started in 1995 and from 1999 took over as Head of Services. Outside of term time, Arne was responsible for the operation of our Red Cross Summer camps for many years.  For his long and faithful service, he received a special invitation from Queen Sonja to a reception in the Palace gardens in 2016. He retired in the summer of 2017. Arne fed more than 2000 students and countless visitors. Colleagues remember him fondly for his humour and for leading by example. You could always count on Arne. Our thoughts go to Maria and the rest of the family.

Recently, both Mark Wang (’98-’00) and David Sengeh (’04-’06) have been in the limelight with their mission related impact. Mark, now founder and Chair of UWC Changshu, was delighted to host King Harald and Queen Sonja at the College during the recent Norwegian state visit to China. It was Queen Sonja who had made a UWC scholarship to RCN possible in 1998, an opportunity that changed Mark’s life.

David has gone on from designing prosthetic for amputees at MIT to becoming the first Chief Innovation Officer in the government of Sierra Leone at the invitation of his President, Julius Maada Bio. In September David was one of the participants, and moderated a discussion between Bill Gates and President Bio, at the Goalkeepers 2018 event.