UWC AGM and ALumni Cocktail Event

The AGM is on Tuesday, December 21st at 5:30pm at the Mariner's Club.
There will be an Alumni Cocktail Party afterwards at Mad Hatters.

Here is the Agenda for the AGM:-

· Agenda

o Chairperson’s Report

o Treasurer’s Report

o Election of Officers

o Any Other Business


Officer Roles to be voted in at the AGM

o Chair – Michael Pearman

o Vice Chair

o Treasurer – Kirsty Swart

o Secretary – Rachel Biggs

National Committee Members to be voted in at the AGM – Crystal Clay, George Spurling, Robert Steinhoff, Sean Smatt, Kirsty Swart, Allan Steynor, Michael Pearman, Kelli Nusum, Rachel Biggs.

The following Committees need volunteers from the alumni.
This will be discussed after the AGM.

o Selection Committee – Chairman Robert Steinhoff

o Fundraising Committee – Chairman Sean Smatt

o Networking Committee

Blake Sonnenfeld

Blake Sonnenfeld was our 2008 recipient and headed to the UWC in Waterford, Swaziland in the fall of that same year. He is about to graduate from UWCWK next month. Here are some of his reflections on his two year experience.

IB1

In coming to Waterford, I found a school that was quintessentially Waterfordian while whole-heartedly embracing the ideals of the UWC movement. My first year saw me settling into a new environment with challenges ranging from the effects of the altitude (Swaziland is a mountain kingdom) to being away from home. I found Waterford highly liberal and the administration provides the means for self-exploration in a big way while staying safe. Waterford is a buzzing community defined by events that encourage you to be fit and share culture as well as be socially and globally aware. I found Swaziland to be so drastically different to Bermuda but also so similar in that the family structure retains a high level of importance and hierarchy and respect to elders is paramount. However, my eyes were also opened to the scourge of absolute poverty, a highly unique political system called Tinkhundla and the reality of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in our world. Going to Swaziland was a privelage.
For orientation, we wore traditional dress. It was hard convincing people that our politicians really wore shorts. To most Africans, shorts are for 'small boys', not men. It was interesting learning the significance of everyone else's traditional dress as well as teaching them about how manly knee socks and pick are in Bermuda!

I learned during this first year what really mattered in life and the beauty of humanity as a universal trait that connects us all. Living on campus at Waterford, there is a sense of an equality among academics and I enjoyed close friendships with the children of Namibian education ministers and orphans alike. You don't always know who your friend is or where he or she comes from but you know that you share the commonality of seeking to make a progressive contribution to our world. I found Waterford to be an intense academic environment where everyone is hungry for the education that we have the privelage to be getting. IB1 ended on a big low with having to say goodbye to friends and confidantes from IB2 who graduated.

"My kids" as I came to call them were the groups of kids that a partner and I practiced reading English with every week. Community Service is compulsory in IB but it is highly rewarding and I loved seeing "my kids" every week.

The Hiking club climbed Mount Mlembe-the highest mountain in Swaziland.

IB2

IB2 was a highly intense academic experience and you realize in a big way the effectiveness of IB in preparing you for academic rigor both in tertiary education and for your chosen career path. It is important to balance academic responsibilities with school and wider community engagement.
'Agamenon' drama production, 2009.

Over my first midterm break, I travelled by school bus to Alexandra township in Johannesburg to visit my friend Fifi's family. It was one of the most enriching things I have ever done and I visit as much as I can. I know I always have a family in Alex and I have also developed an informal link-parent relationship with two of my friend's families in Swaziland. Opportunities like this are trully the most rewarding and it alleviates homesickness and broadens one's horizon to become part of a family unit other than yours. I also went by bus to visit my IB3 friend (a 2009 graduate of WK) in Namibia before she left for Georgetown University. I never knew a desert could be so beautiful and seeing golden red sand meet the sea is breathtaking. I have continued to strengthen friendships this year and learn more about the world around us. This year I became proficient in speaking siSwati, a national language of Swaziland and very similar to siZulu (of King Shakka Zulu's tribe in neighboring South Africa). I practice as often as I can and because I take it as a subject can read and write it too. It's exciting to learn a new language in a setting where it is spoken and I'm trying to improve and remember as much as I can before I leave in November! This year I decided what path I want to take in life and am now aiming to study international relations and linguistics at university in the US or UK. I love the notion that with the right skills and in the right place I can make a meaningful contribution to improving people's lives. I also hope to learn Arabic or KiSwahili and return to the African continent. Being here for two years has really changed my life in a bigger way than I even though was possible.

UWC Day-celebrating diversity. Romeo Makore (L) of Zimbabwe and Vivian Ojo (R) of Namibia are two of my close friends.

Message from Sarah Maybury

Sarah Maybury is our most recent scholarship recipient. She is in her first year at the United World College in Costa Rica.

Here are her thoughts of her first few weeks at UWC!

It's great so far, although living alone and being completely independent is really different for me so was a little strange at first. But other than that it has been amazing. The classes are a challenge so far but I've been told that they get better and while being hard, I'm still finding them really interesting. I live in El Coco residence and I have really great roommates and the atmosphere in the residence is really nice. The greatest thing I think about this school is learning so many things about countries and different cultures that I never knew before. Its so cool, after dinner people make dishes and deserts from their countries. I haven't done that much so far, but I did go to camp up in the mountains and if it wasn't for my injured ankle I would go to another camp which is supposed to be so much fun. We've done a lot of activities like opposite gender day and central american week and there's so much more to come which I can't wait for. The options for CAS are so cool, like for example I'm doing clowning for my service option where we dress up as clowns and go to hospitals and cheer up sick children, something I definitely would not have been able to do back in Bermuda.

UWC Bermuda alumni, Josue' B. Paulos, is doing a run for the World Cancer Research Fund.
Since Josue' does not really exercise, this is an serious undertaking for charity.
The cause is a great one and his CEO will match any money that he raises, so please sponsor Josue'.

To sponsor him, click here.

Or copy and paste the link below.

http://www.wcrf-uk.org/fundraising/fundraising_campaigns/informa/informa_runners/Josue_Paulos.php

Help support a fellow alumni in a worthy cause.

Walk the Walk

Charity 5K Walk
Sunday, February 28th, 2010
Botanical Gardens
Sign in at the central car park.

You pay $25 and $20 will be donated to the charity of your choice. The other $5 will go to support www.VOLUNTEER.bm, Bermuda’s ONLY volunteer recruitment website.

Put UWC Bermuda in the Local Charity to receive donation line.
Bermuda Registered Charity 346

Download the flyer and registration form.

Invite family and friends to join you in raising funds for UWC Bermuda.
Hope to see many alumni there and wear your UWC T-shirts if you have them.

UWC Open House

An informal session for potential applicants and their parents to find out about United World Colleges and the Bermuda Committee application process.
Jan 21, 2010 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
The ACE Tempest Re Building, 30 Woodbourne Ave, Hamilton

Application forms will be available at the Open House.

Email UWCbermuda@gmail.com for more information

Teenagers Kiara Baxter and Blake Sonnenfeld embarked on an adventure of a lifetime this year when they signed up for school on the other side of the world.

They are both halfway through a year-long exchange, which was organized by the United World College Bermuda National Committee.

http://www.bermudasun.bm/main.asp?SectionID=9&SubSectionID=230&ArticleID=44127&TM=40295.13