Me and UWC

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UWC has been my dream since I was eleven. At the time, I was homeschooled as I travelled with my parents, and my mum and I had been discussing options for high school. She was the one that found UWC, but I was the one who decided that this was something I needed to do. Everything I learned about UWC just reinforced my dream. I loved travelling, so the chance to go to a school in a different country was a big draw. A challenging academic program sounded wonderful. And even the thought of a boarding school was exciting. Of course, what really drew me to UWC was the philosophy behind it.

 UWC was founded during the Cold War, by a group of Noble laureates who were intent on using education as a force for change and for peace. If they could unite a group of promising young people, maybe they could bridge the gaps between various cultures and religions, creating the next generation of change-makers. That philosophy has persisted over decades.

 My own journey to UWC has been a rocky one. I first applied in 2016, when I was fifteen. My application was selected for the interview phase, but I learned there had been a mistake. UWC candidates needed to be sixteen on September 1st but I was sixteen on September 6th. That was heartbreaking, but I decided to reapply in 2017. After a long, stressful process, I learned a month ago that I’ve been accepted to UWCSA, (Waterford Kamhlaba) in Swaziland. I’ll be leaving British Colombia in January 2019 to head to the school of my dreams.

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