Category: News

A team of United World College students for a second year in a row won New Mexico Academic WorldQuest title and advanced to compete for the national title. The event in Washington, D.C., was canceled due to the coronavirus.

Second-year students Paul Ellsiepen of Germany, Alejandro Ortiz Lopez of Venezuela, Karoline Nedergaard of Denmark and Vidar Önnerfors of Sweden won the statewide college bowl-style quiz competition hosted by the Santa Fe Council on International Relations. The foursome received an all-expense paid trip to the U.S. capital for the April 24-25 competition. The winning team would’ve received a seven-day trip to Qatar in June.

“I was very happy, of course, but also quite relieved,” Vidar said about the team’s win. “The whole team and I had all really put in a lot of time in our studies, so advancing meant that there was greater use to be made of the information we had learned.”

“We wanted to compete again this year to score better in the national competition than we did last year, and this was the most crucial step to be able to do so,” he continued.

Vidar noted he believes the team has common goals.

“We all work hard to study the information we need to learn,” he said. “In terms of our dynamics, I think what makes our team work well is that we have certain members who are able to reason their way to many answers, while others have an incredible talent.”

In related matters, a UWC-USA team consisting of all second-years placed second in the competition at Santa Fe Community College. Members were Ekaterina Tsavalyuk, Russia; Ellis Ward, USA; Erica Lee, Hong Kong; and Lorezno Laquidara, Italy. Another team placed fifth. Members were Aristotle Marangu ’20, Daniel Hodde ’21, and John Hanson ‘21, all USA-Calif.; and Pierleone Even-Shoshan ’20, Belgium.

The World Affairs Councils of America sponsors the competition, which tests players’ knowledge of current international politics, geography, global economics, history and world cultures.

During last year’s competition, the UWC-USA team placed fourth out of 45 teams. The team garnered 88 points out of possible 100. Jasper High School from Plano, Texas, took the title with 94 points. 

 

UWC-USA is actively preparing our community with education, prevention, and planning. Learn more on our page dedicated to this work.

We stand with many in our wider community who are actively working to fight this virus and whose lives have been disrupted.

This year’s Annual Conference at the United World College-USA will include presentations that focus on the theme “Greenovation: Sustainability and Technology.”

Featuring workshops, speakers and breakout sessions, the event is open to the public and will run from Thursday, Feb. 20, through Saturday, Feb. 22.

Learn more about the conference, speakers, and how to register here.

Presenters will include:

• Chris Palm, a 1992 UWC-USA alum who for the past seven years has been photographing the Choco in Ecuador. The area covers 72,000 square miles and varies from alluvial plains to narrow valleys and steep mountainsides. His project, TreeTalk 2.0 forest conversations, is an exploration of teleportation of consciousness to and from the forest. Palm received his master’s in business administration from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore.
• Andrea Pappajohn is a sustainability professional based in the San Francisco Bay Area. She has been focused on running sustainability initiatives at San Mateo County and the City of Burlingame. Projects have covered everything from energy efficiency to transportation, renewable energy, sea-level rise adaptations, water conservation, EV charging stations and electric bike fleets. Pappajohn has a master’s in communications management from the University of Southern California and a bachelor’s degree in industrial engineering and management sciences from Northwestern University.
• Yoshi Abayasekara is a dance educator, dancer and choreographer from Sri Lanka. She holds a bachelor’s in dance from LASALLE College Of The Arts Singapore as well as a post-graduate certification in education from the University of Nottingham. Abayasekara toured internationally and performed professionally with companies based in South East Asia before relocating to Los Angeles. She is the artistic director and producer of Sri Lanka’s Performing Arts Festival, which began as a project to help the war-affected children in her country.
• A freshman at Georgetown University, Cynthia Desmet Villar graduated from UWC-USA last May. She is from Madrid, Spain, and is studying international politics and double minoring in French, and justice and peace studies at Georgetown University. At Georgetown, Desmet Villar teaches creative writing to local inmates, belongs to the marketing team for an intersectional feminist art magazine, and continues to pursue her interest in justice and policy reform.
• Jona Kerma from Albania is another May 2019 graduate of UWC-USA. She is a freshman double majoring in economics and government, with a minor in global studies, at St. Lawrence University. Kerma is a senator in the Thelmo Student Government and a representative of St. Lawrence for the Model Organization of American States and Model United Nations. She also volunteers for a refugee organization and helps host fundraisers for the Euphrates Club.
•  Maria Espinola Moreno comes from Barcelona, Spain, and graduated from UWC-USA last May. She is a freshman at Middlebury College majoring in economics and political science and minoring in French. At Middlebury, Espinola Morena belongs to the Pre-Law Club, Debate Society, Consulting Group and Women in Finance Association. 
• Julia Ying is a volunteer public speaker trained by former Vice President Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project to present the latest facts and findings about the climate crisis. She will share a multimedia presentation with the latest updates on impacts as well as solutions, answer questions and lead a discussion about what people can do to be part of the solution. Ying retired from general medical practice in Sydney, Australia. A resident of Los Alamos, she is passionate about taking care of Mother Earth to preserve the beauty of nature so her five grandchildren can grow up in a sustainable world.
•  Nicholas Seet has been a serial-entrepreneur since his first startup concept was funded and he left his software-development position at Deloitte Consulting. Seet has worked as a chief technology officer and chief executive officer, and founded Auditude, now called IntoNow; Yahoo acquired IntoNow in 2011. In November that same year, Adobe Systems acquired Auditude. Seet received a master’s in business administration from the UCLA Anderson School of Management. While there, he won the UCLA Knapp and Rice University Business Plan competitions, receiving more than$1 million in funding and prizes. Nicholas received bachelor’s degrees in engineering and economics from Harvey Mudd College.
• Roy Montibon is a serial entrepreneur and leader in strategy, branding, creative direction, design and technology innovation. As a founder, corporate executive, elected representative, educator  with University of California Los Angeles, University of California Irvine and the United World College, Roy has initiated and led scores of major projects across dozens of disciplines including arts and culture, science and technology, eco-heritage tourism, art and antiquities provenance, cybersecurity, community revitalization, healthcare, disaster-proof housing and more.
• Ousseynou Doumbouya comes from Senegal and is a 2019 graduate of UWC-USA. He is an economics major and a Spanish minor at Macalester College, where he is an office assistant/tutor for the French and Francophone Studies Department. Ousseynou is also a dancer and member of the Black Liberation Affairs Committee, Afrika Club and the Queer Union. 
• Valeska Fresquet Kohan ‘19, Brazil spent most of her life in Rio de Janeiro and has been passionate about dance since youth. Valeska believes that dance is the lone universal language, having the potential to be spoken by anyone from anywhere. She specializes in Brazilian Zouk, Samba de Gafieira and Argentinian Tango. At UWC-USA, Valeska was a show leader for the Carribean Latin American Day Show, overseeing the dance ensemble through practices and several shows. A freshman at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., Valeska is studying environmental economics. She spends her spare time meditating, daydreaming about conquering the wilderness and writing letters. 
• Hugo Contreras ‘87 leads the Nature Conservancy´s Latin American Freshwater Regional Unit. Prior to this, Hugo was business development and institutional relations director for Bal-Ondeo, a joint venture of the Bal Group and Suez Environment; he positioned the company as the leading private water operator in the Mexican market. Hugo has a bachelor’s in economics from ITAM in Mexico, and a master’s in environmental and natural resource economics from University College London. 
• Miguel Nieto Cifuentes ‘00 has served as an advisor to multinational companies with issues of strategic and operational sustainability, and sustainable purchasing practices. Miguel also led the start-up of Mexican companies dedicated to B2B water treatment, sustainable energy procurement, waste heat recovery and sustainable municipal solid waste management. He majored in economics, psychology and neuroscience at Macalester College in St. Paul, Minn., and did graduate work in environmental entrepreneurship at the Environmental University.
• Roger Fragua has dedicated his professional career to the advancement and development of American Indian communities. He is president of Cota Holdings whose mission is to support tribal community and economic development in the energy and telecommunication sectors. Roger has strong alliances with various state and federal agencies, external partners and private sector companies. He specializes in creating innovative business concepts and promoting partnerships between tribes and industry. 
• Joseph “Brophy” Toledo has served the Pueblo of Jemez for more than four decades. He has worked with numerous indigenous youth groups, served on the Native American Global Sports Committee and been involved with international indigenous projects such as Pueblo Pathways Project.  Brophy has traveled to Mexico, Canada and Africa as a First Nations representative for earth healing and environmental conferences. He has dedicated his life to harmony and balance with the earth and practicing traditional farming methods.

Summia Tora ’16, Afghanistan, has been named a Rhodes Scholar. She is the first student from her country and first female at Earlham College to receive the international postgraduate award to study at the University of Oxford in Britain.

Summia plans to pursue coursework in refugee studies, forced migration, and social entrepreneurship at Oxford. Her focus will be on internally displaced people in Afghanistan, and  refugees in Pakistan and different parts of the world.

A senior at Earlham in Richmond, Ind., Summia is double majoring in economics, and peace and global studies. 

“I was delighted with the news about Summia,” said Joanna Swanger, director and professor of the peace and global studies program at Earlham. “I had great confidence in her candidacy because of her unique combination of the characteristics of tremendous poise, humility, and courage she has shown, as well as the specific projects she has initiated that relate to peacebuilding.  I truly see her as a future leader on the world stage.”

A UWC-USA cook known for his fresh-made omelets and soups is retiring.

Victor Trujillo’s last day will be on Jan. 17. He has worked in the kitchen on the Montezuma campus for 10 years. Victor’s retirement also will mean the end of a nearly 45-year career in food service.

He won’t miss getting up at 4 a.m., but will miss his co-workers and the students, who have no qualms with standing in long lines for his omelets.

“They’re fun and they give me energy with their silliness,” the 59-year-old said.

Victor makes two types of soups daily. Some of the more popular are carrot-ginger, roasted tomato and New England clam chowder.

Victor grew up in remote Vaughan, N.M., 85 miles south of Las Vegas. It was in Vaughan – a town of 445 — that he started his restaurant career, washing dishes at his aunt’s restaurant. He aspired to become a disc jockey. A few years after high school, he found himself back at his aunt’s place working as a cook.

Victor then moved to Albuquerque, where he lived for most of the 1980s. He worked as the prep manager at Monroe’s Mexican Restaurant. While living in The Duke City, Victor met Tom Snyder. After being together for 31 years, the couple married this past New Year’s Eve.

Victor and Tom left Albuquerque and moved to Phoenix for Tom’s engineering job with U.S. West, a former telephone company. While there, Victor cooked for a retirement community.

Tom was then transferred to Denver, where the couple remained for 13 years. During that time, Victor worked for Holiday Inn Express next to Mile High Stadium, Gunther Tooties, Hot Cakes Diner and the sports bar, ESPN Zone.

At age 45, Victor returned to his native New Mexico with plans to retire. Five years later, he accepted a position with Sodexo, cooking for UWC-USA.

Victor and Tom own a 100-year-old home in Montezuma, which they plan to continue working on. They will be taking a three-week trip to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, and traveling to Utah in their Airstream. They also would like to go to Europe next year.

 

The United World College-USA is the first high school to apply to a program used only by colleges to improve sustainability.

Established in 2005, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education includes more than 900 colleges across 48 U.S. states, one U.S. Territory, nine Canadian provinces and 20 countries.

David Neidel ’87 got UWC-USA involved with AASHE while serving as an alumni-in-residence on the Montezuma campus during the fall 2019 semester.  The non-profit works with higher education faculty, administrators, staff and students who are change agents of sustainability innovation. AASHE evaluates a campus’ framework to assess its sustainability. The organizations assigns its members with either a bronze, silver, gold or platinum for its sustainability activities.

David, who has a background in environmental science and policy, environmental conflict management and ecological restoration, theorized that UWC-USA will receive a bronze status. He noted that the grounds and operations is probably the weakest area on campus due to lack of solar power and use of gasoline-operated vehicles.

“There are really no sustainability procurement policies in place,” David said.

The school does recycle and composts much of its solid waste.

“We have some numbers, but we don’t have a percentage on the total trash,” he said. “If you don’t measure it, you can’t change it.”

The farm on the UWC-USA campus supplies 30 percent of the produce to the cafeteria. Most uneaten food is composted at the farm.

“The cafeteria is doing really well in terms of plant-based diet training,” David said.

Providing plastic takeout containers and vegan options, and making a commitment to buy from small and medium-sized farms are on the plus-side.

A native of Pennsylvania, David has a doctorate from Yale University’s joint program in forestry and environmental studies, and anthropology. He currently works with Yale’s Environmental Leadership & Training Initiative, whose Asia program he has led since its inception in 2008. David spent the last 11 years working on tropical forest restoration in the Philippines and Indonesia.

 

 

 

Before leaving for their three-week winter break, several students were honored for their commitment to ExEds during the first semester.

Crew Not Passenger awards were presented for dedicated participation in the UWC-USA Campus Services program. Kicked off in September, the program involves students, teachers, and staff work alongside the custodial, maintenance and grounds employees to clean and spruce up the Montezuma campus.

Crew Not Passenger award recipients were:

Grounds Crew

• Sophie “Zosia” Sandweiss ’20, USA-Texas, and Julius Schaut ’21, Germany

Building Exteriors

• Karoline Nedergaard ’20, Denmark, and Anika Quon ’20, USA-Wash.

Hardscaping

• Lorenzo Laquidara ’20, Italy

Forestry

• Nghia DucNguyen ’20, Vietnam

Library

• Vyara Getahun ’20, Bulgaria

Maintenance/Custodial/Misc.

• Asja Babanovic ’21, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Snow shoveling

• Leah Wilson ’20, USA-NJ

 

Community Commitment awards were presented to:

Reading Buddies

• Sophia Huang ’20, Germany

Soup Kitchen

• Milania Lucia Soares da Costa ’20, Timor-Leste
• Catherine Quinn ’20, USA-Texas
• Julia Mazal ’20, USA-NM
• Olusotemidayo “Temi” Oyedele ’20, Nigeria

The SPOT Community Center

• Rara Dzikrina Istifadah ’21, Indonesia

 

 

Recipients of Ethical Action awards were:

STEM Club

• Yuden Lhamo ’20, Dorji, Bhutan

SOAAR

• Sophia Huang ’20, Germany

SWEET

• Elisa Ruiz ’20, Spain

Latin Ensemble

• Andres Block Martinez ’20, Mexico

Cultural Day Leadership

• Juliana “Juju” Lucena Gaspar ’20, Cayman Islands –

Amnesty International

• Foster Preston ’20, Canada

This year’s Mountbatten Memorial Prize recipient is Alejandro Rene Ortiz Lopez from Venezuela.

Presented annually since 1984, the award goes to a second-year student who best represents the UWC ideals of international and intercultural understanding, personal responsibility and integrity, compassion and service, respect for the environment, and idealism. UWC-USA faculty choose the recipient.

The award is named after Lord Louis Mountbatten, who was named president of the UWC movement in 1967. Mountbatten was one of the most decorated and important diplomats and military figures of his time. He grew up in a prominent military family, seeing action during both WWI and WWII. Mountbatten became head of the British Armed Forces in 1959. Upon retiring, he devoted his life to international affairs and the avoidance of conflict, with UWC becoming one of his most prominent interests.

The scholarship is funded by The Bern Schwartz Family Foundation. Bern Schwartz was a businessman and portrait photographer. The foundation sponsors educational projects and initiatives in museums, libraries, schools and universities and donates photographs by Bern Schwartz from its archive.

 

Jessica Lanham has returned to her childhood home — the United World College-USA.

“I’m loving it,” said Jess, the daughter of UWC-USA math teacher and residential tutor Shirleen Lanham and retired art teacher Colin Lanham. “It almost feels like summer camp.”

A freelancer designer with a background in art direction and visual design, Jess needed a break from her California life. She also missed New Mexico.

“I had strong desire for New Mexico and the landscape, and this will probably be my parents’ last year here,” said Jess. “I was in a housing situation where I would have to move.”

So she left San Francisco and arranged to offer workshops to UWC-USA students in exchange for an art studio on campus. The studio is on the top floor of Sasakawa. She’s absolutely loving it!

“It’s been super easy to fall into the community here,” the 33-year-old said. “There’s a younger faculty who are very welcoming and friendly. I’m just really grateful for that. I like to join in on the student activities.”

At age one, Jess moved from UWC Swaziland to UWC-USA with her family. Since UWC provides faculty housing, Jess and her brother, Nick, grew up on the campus where their mother has taught for 32 years. Colin taught here for 30 years before retiring in May 2018.

“I loved growing up here,” Jess said. “Two of my good friends were (retired English teacher) Anne Farrell’s daughter and my other friend was Anna Curtis, Linda Curtis’ (retired dean of students) daughter.”

“We would get into all kinds of mischief,” Jess added. “We ran all over campus and played down by the river. Our mothers never knew where we were.”

In high school, Jess befriended some UWC-USA students. She always looked up to them, and attended cultural day shows and other performances.

“It was just a real treat to have this as my backdrop of growing up and getting to go to all those things,” she said. “I thought they were the coolest people and couldn’t wait to be a UWC student.”

The wait turned into reality when Jess left Robertson High School in Las Vegas to attend UWC Atlantic College in Wales, graduating in 2005.

“Atlantic College was really different from UWC-USA,” said. “They had more students than here, and it was a very different climate.”

At UWC-USA, she experienced the fun, but not the stress of the academics and the international baccalaureate.

“The IB was hard and it kinda kicked my butt,” she said.

Taking IB art allowed Jess to completely immerse herself in fashion and installation. Prior to going to Atlantic, art was just a hobby. After UWC, Jess went to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago on a Davis Scholarship.

“I went there with the intention of doing fashion design and ended up hating the program,” Jess said. “So I took an introduction to etching class and fell in love with print making.”

She received a bachelor’s of fine arts in printmaking in 2009 and moved to San Francisco, which is known for its print-making community. Her brother and boyfriend at the time also lived there.

Concerned about finding work to pay her student loans, Jess taught herself graphic designing and worked at editing house. She ended up in marketing, working as an art director. After four years, Jess wanted a challenge and got into freelancing.

“I’ve got a pretty good steady business now,” she said. “It allows me to have flexibility and mobility, so I’m here for four to five months.”

While in Montezuma, Jess continues to run her business and is working on light installations created on silk fabric. She plans to present her designs and artwork to students.

 

 

 

 

The United World College-USA’s Cultural Showcase series will launch Saturday, Nov. 23, with a two-hour stage production dedicated to exploring the theme of color as it manifests across time, place, culture and consciousness.

“Our new thematic approach to the traditional cultural shows will allow us to explore the nuances of culture as a concept and to explore intersections and divergences of a single idea throughout our individual and shared cultural spaces,” said Melinda Russial, director of arts and culture and the international baccalaureate music program at UWC-USA.

The performance production and exhibition will be entirely student created and directed, and reflect works from across disciplines of music, dance, theater, film, poetry. and visual art, Russial said.

The format replaces the cultural show tradition of featuring three regions of the world during one academic year and three more the following year. This gave every student the chance to participate in at least one show.

With the new format, students also will have the opportunity to learn about and celebrate cultural practices from their individual regions through the new Community Cultural Event series, Russial said.

“We have recently celebrated Diwali with rangoli, cricket games, Bollywood dance lessons and Guy Fawkes Night. Other highlights will include a Lunar New Year Celebration, Nawruz Celebration, Eurovision Contest, Quinceañera, Coronation of Kings and Queens of Africa, and Black History Living Museum.

A second Cultural Show case will be held in the spring featuring the theme of memory.