Category: News

For over 16 years, Patricia Mengech ’88 (far left) worked to fight the spread of HIV in Uganda.

Through the U.S. funded programs Patricia helped administer, about 1 million of the 1.3 million Ugandans infected with HIV are on AIDS treatment that will substantially extend their lives, she said.

“When AIDS first appeared in Uganda in the 1980s, it was a death sentence,” said Patricia, who has an undergraduate degree in biology from Dartmouth College and a master’s in international health from Johns Hopkins University. “People were dying in enormous numbers.”

A native of Kenya, Patricia for the past 17 years has worked for the U.S. Agency of International Development. She has lived in Ethiopia, South Africa, Uganda, and now works as the Deputy Director of the USAID Health Office in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Director and writer Rick Rowley ‘94 won an Emmy Award for best Investigative Documentary for 16 Shots, a film that tells the story of a cover-up following the police shooting of Laquan McDonald in Chicago in 2014.

He also directed Dirty Wars, a feature documentary that was nominated for an Academy Award in 2012. Dirty Wars shed light on the covert wars the U.S. has engaged in around the world.

Rowley spoke with UWC-USA students and alumni last fall about the challenges of telling stories about charged issues such as police shootings and covert wars. He credits his storytelling skill in part with his experience at UWC-USA, where he had to learn to understand the concerns and perspectives of people from very different backgrounds.

As a documentarian, Rick works hard to tell the stories of people whose stories are not otherwise being told – or that are being told incompletely.

Megan Minoka Hill ’93 supports Indigenous nation building and self-determination throughout the United States and around the world.

“Before attending UWC-USA, my experience and knowledge was limited to American Indian nations in the U.S.,” she said. “Countless patio conversations and debates with my friends at UWC opened my eyes to both historical and contemporary Indigenous issues around the world. These experiences and the education I received at UWC has directly influenced and impacted my career.”

Since graduating from UWC-USA, Megan has gone on to work for an Indigenous governance think-tank at the Harvard Kennedy School known as the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development.

As director of the program, Megan is involved in a variety of activities from research to executive education to pro bono advisory services to the administration of Honoring Nations. Founded in 1998, the national awards program spotlights tribal government programs and initiatives that are especially effective in addressing critical concerns and challenges facing the more than 570 Indian nations and their citizens.

A member of the Oneida Nation of Wisconsin tribe, Megan was born into a family of Native nation builders.

She graduated from the University of Chicago with a master’s in social sciences and received a bachelor’s in international affairs with an emphasis on Latin America and economics from the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Jessica Horn ’97, Fiji, is living the UWC mission by advocating for women’s rights and gender equality with clients as varied as the Ford Foundation and the United Nations.

“I am also currently a commissioner on the Lancet Commission on Gender and Global Health and also serve in a voluntary capacity on the board of the Fund for Global Human Rights,” Jessica said.

Working on women’s rights since receiving her master’s 20 years ago, she recently served as director of programs for the African Women’s Development Fund – the continent’s first and largest women’s fund. Jessica oversaw a four-fold increase in grant-making and established new initiatives around African feminist futures and on activist well-being.

She credits part of her success to her time at UWC-USA because it showed the possibility of living in a community that places respect for diversity and a passionate embrace of human rights and ethics at its heart.

“We really gave all of our creative and emotional energies to creating ways to live together as diverse as we were, to listen to each other, to make friends, and to be of service to community,” Jessica said. “This has been invaluable in so many ways, grounding me in the possibility of working in a multi-disciplinary way, bringing the many skill sets and interests that I have to the work of advancing feminist transformation, and also working with organizations and activist communities across the globe to support this work of change.”

Although immigration has become a hot button issue debated by people who know very little about it, Kimi Jackson ‘92 comes back to a central truth: immigration is about people’s lives. “My ancestors came to this country to find a place that is safe where they could simply live and contribute,” she said. “That’s what the immigrants I work with every day want. They want to live in safety and to have opportunities.”

Kimi directs the 190 staff members working at the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (ProBAR) in Harlingen, Texas. The attorneys and other staff work with minors and adults who have been detained on the southern border to help them access the U.S. immigration system.

“Unlike in our criminal justice system,” Kimi explained, “in the immigration system people do not have a right to representation if they can’t afford it. We do our best to serve these populations by providing referrals to agencies and partners, counseling them on their rights, and representing them directly.”

Kimi’s UWC-USA experience helped her see that she is a part of this world – not just part of this country. “At UWC-USA I learned about the importance of doing work that has meaning. And joined a global community that to this day encourages me and supports me in my work.”

UWC-USA’s Bartos Institute for the Constructive Engagement of Conflict publishes the CEC Journal to share insights, practices, and leadership in the fields of conflict resolution and peace studies. This year marks the
20th anniversary of the Bartos Institute and part of this issue is dedicated to the legacy of its founders and the promise of its programming. As ambassadorial chair Dr. Selena Sermeño writes about the work of the institute, “…it is important for students to become aware of the link between personal character, academic knowledge, ethical leadership, and constructive approaches to conflict… Moral courage and the development of a moral imagination are at the core of the program.”

Faten AlMukhtar ‘13 uses design to make people’s lives better. Specifically, working with Etisalat, an Emirati telecom company with a mission to promote “togetherness,” she was a key member of a team of designers and developers who recently created a web extension browser for people on the autism spectrum. The result is Etisalat Wider Web, which is a browser extension approved by Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Firefox for use in their web browsers.

“This technology scrubs through web pages on most any web browser and alters the code to make the web experience autistic friendly,” Faten said. “The colors and fonts change and the extension alters the images so they don’t trigger the kinds of reactions that overload the senses of people with autism. We combined technology and an art platform to help people with autism be more comfortable and productive on the web.”

After graduating from UWC-USA, Faten went on to study at the Savannah College of Art and Design and now works full time as an art director at Impact BBDO, an agency in Dubai. This groundbreaking development for those with neurodivergent disabilities was the product of a team that worked across continents, languages, and ways of seeing the world. “The big challenge,” she explained, “was to create a design that was not for our brains but for brains that are a little different.”

Faten credits her ability to succeed on a project of this scale with the kinds of collaborations she worked on while a student at UWC-USA. “My UWC experience informs my everyday life. There’s nothing that I do that wasn’t influenced in some way by my two years in Montezuma. I refer back to it all the time. The biggest two things I learned were collaboration and initiative. When we see a problem we don’t stand by – we get a group of people together to start solving it.”

The extension is free to anyone who wants to download it and Faten is eager for members of the broader UWC community to share it widely within their own communities. Etisalat, the client for this project, sees it as a gift they can give the world. Further, the code behind Etisalat Wider Web is open source, meaning that other developers are welcome to work with it, adapt it, and find new platforms for it.

Roughly 1% of children are diagnosed with autism each year. Faten’s dedication and her collaboration with her team has created a useful tool that can help them going forward. “I learned quickly that at UWC-USA we are leaders and collaborators. That’s the UWC spirit I like to bring to my work every day.”

Learn more about the Etisalat Wider Web extension and download it here.

Four first-year United World College-USA students took top honors during the 2021 Northeastern New Mexico Regional Science and Engineering Fair on March 27, according to their chemistry teacher Aaron Yang.

Boubacar Ballo, Senegal, took first in the biology senior division for his project entitled “Can We Quell Enzymatic Browning?”

Christopher Lundgren and Anson Sidle, both USA, and Jose Carlos Hernandez, Guatemala, teamed up to take first in the chemistry senior division with their project entitled “Evaluation of Homemade Rocket Propellant Formulations.”

Alexandra Gomberg Shkolnikova ‘22, Mexico, placed third in the Medicine and Health Science Senior division for “SSRI Medication and its Influence on Cognitive Function.” She also received a special award from the American Psychological Association for the project.

The American Chemical Society gave special awards to Zed Davidson ‘22, USA, for “Alum Crystal Growth vs. Temperature” and Christopher, Anson and Jose for “Evaluation of Homemade Rocket Propellant Formulations.”

During the 2021 New Mexico State Science and Engineering Fair on April 17, Boubacar took honorable mention for “Can We Quell Enzymatic Browning?”

The American Chemical Society once again gave a special award to Christopher, Anson Sidle and Jose for “Evaluation of Homemade Rocket Propellant Formulations.”

Finally, on April 10 during the 2021 2nd Annual Climate Innovation Challenge Renata Espinosa ‘22, Mexico, was recognized for Outstanding Individual Project Entry “Adapting to our Present  and Changing Futures. Emma Hivonen ‘22, Finland, received the Outstanding High School Entry for “Seagrass for Climate.”

UWC-USA 2020 graduates Erica Lee, Hong Kong, and Andres Block Martinez, Mexico, have received scholarships from the National Outdoor Leadership School to backpack for a month in Alaska this summer.

NOLS is a non-profit outdoor education school based in the United States dedicated to teaching environmental ethics, technical outdoors skills, wilderness medicine, risk management and judgment, and leadership on extended wilderness expeditions.

Both received the scholarships last year, but the program was canceled because of COVID.

Erica is excited about receiving this year’s scholarship.

“I can finally have a break from technology and academics to truly enjoy the life without technology, which I always wanted to live in,” she said. “I was a bit disappointed in the beginning.”

“During my quarantine in Hong Kong, I had the chance to explore the wilderness in a city, which kept igniting my passions and interests in living in the wilderness and exploring the world in a different way,” Erica continued. “I decide to apply for this scholarship this year again because I want to keep finding my grit to step forward boldly as a leader.”

A freshman at Colby College in Waterville, Maine, she was chosen as a Colby Orientation Outdoor leader for the coming academic year.

Andres, who took a gap year to study music and spend time with family, is extremely happy about the opportunity.

“I was hoping I could get the scholarship again this year, but when I talked to Anders (Fristedt, co-director of the wilderness program at UWC-USA) and NOLS a few months ago, the prospects did not look too promising.”

During his time at UWC, Andres said he discovered how much he loves the wilderness.

“This experience has now become an essential part of my life and something that I want to keep with me in the future,” he said. “It is really hard to explain how much I have grown as a result of my interactions with the wilderness. The 14-day leadership expedition was doubtlessly the most beautiful and impactful experience of my life.”

 

BY BRITTI PAUDYAL ’21, Nepal

The United World College-USA will have four sets of twins in 2021-22.

Twins Cyndia and Mark Wani ‘22, USA-NC, will be joined by three sets of first-year twins. Of those, two sets are from the United States and the third is from China. 

One set of twins for the Class of 2023 are the sons of UWC-USA physics teacher Dr. Peter Samaranayake, better known as Dr. Sam.

Both sophomores, Xandro and Yohan Samaranayake will be 15 when they start the school year in August; they will turn 16 in January. Xandro goes to Menaul Boarding School in Albuquerque, while Yohan attends Robertson High School in Las Vegas. 

“After 20 years as a principal, I took on this job four years ago because I knew that I wanted them to experience the UWC mission and environment,” said Dr. Sam. “Thus, I feel that these four years have made them appreciate this great school and want to be a part of this culture.”

The boys participated in the virtual summer UWC Global Leadership Forum and look forward to being part of the UWC movement and making their own contributions. 

Both U.S. citizens, Xandro and Yohan are originally from Myanmar and Sri Lanka and have lived in China and the Virgin Islands, and have visited Australia. They also lived in Texas, Wisconsin and California before moving to New Mexico 4 years ago.