Category: News

Roughly 70 UWC-USA students will remain on campus during the Dec. 17-Jan. 5 winter break.

Another 40 will be hosted by Get-Away and students’ families in New Mexico, while about 120 are expected to travel elsewhere in the United States.

Because of COVID, students and faculty were asked to remain on campus or in New Mexico to reduce the number of people requiring quarantine. The governor has mandated a two-week quarantine for all international arrivals and for U.S. arrivals traveling from 47 high-risk states.

“These mandates are updated regularly, and it is difficult for us to predict what they will be in early January,” said UWC-USA Dean of Students Naomi Swinton. “We are planning rejuvenating and fun activities on campus for the students who stay, and expect that being on campus is the safest option for students.”

The $500 fee for students to stay on campus can be offset with financial aid. Activities will include global holiday celebrations, virtual hackathon, winter camping, small group activities, sledding, time with friends, and off-campus activities consistent with COVID careful protocol. 

Students staying with host families will be tested for COVID before leaving campus; host families also will be asked to get tested. Students also will need to get a COVID test through the New Mexico Department of Health within the week prior to returning to campus and share results via email by Jan. 3.

UWC-USA plans on quarantining people based on the positivity rate of the state students are returning from, and quarantining roommates who travel together with one another upon return. 

Addressing the global ventilator shortage, Kernel Labs founder and chief executive officer Amit Mital ‘87, a leader in disruptive innovation, has created an inexpensive, practical approach that can bring aid to millions around the world.

Through his Seattle technology startup studio, Mital and his team, including three engineering students from Dartmouth and another from the University of Washington, have created AutoLung, a respiratory assistance device for low-income countries. The ventilator can be assembled in two hours at a cost of $200 with simple, locally available hardware. The instructions are easy to follow and require minimal and accessible tools.

“We realized that a core issue was the supply chain – access to parts, ” said Amit. “ We designed the device to use components that already had millions in existence.” The key part of the design is that all the complexity is in the software, which enables the mechanical components to be simple and more easily available.

Kernel does not manufacture these devices. Instead, users can download the free instructions at www.autolung.org to assemble their own. The software can be downloaded on Android phones. So far, the instructions have been downloaded 230 times.

The company came up with the idea in April as the coronavirus spread worldwide and countries experienced a ventilator shortage.  They quickly realized that any solution would be too late for the U.S. market, but not for the rest of the world.

“Even if they were available (worldwide), many don’t have the funds for ventilators at $20,000 a piece,” he said. “Most rely on complex manufacturing and parts. In the Central African Republic (a country of 4.6 million), you have seven ventilators for the entire country. We wanted to design a ventilator, that if you have $200 and two hours, you should be able to put one together.”

The first part of the plan is to make the design available for anyone to use. The next step would be to partner with medical groups to evangelize usage.

Autolung ventilator is not approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and is not meant to be a replacement for a mechanical ventilator. It is meant to be used in scenarios where a traditional ventilator is not an option.

An entrepreneur, Amit has served as chief technology officer and EVP at Symantec, and corporate vice president at Microsoft. He has been involved with technology startups as an investor, advisor and board member for many years.

 

The Texas distillery where Josh Madere ’07 works as the tours and education manager has produced more than 100,000 gallons of hand sanitizer to help meet the demand created by COVID-19.

Through a partnership with the City of Austin and Travis County COVID-19 emergency response, Still Austin Whiskey has donated bulk hand sanitizer to those on the frontlines battling the respiratory pandemic. Additional batches were allocated to hospitals, cancer centers, firefighters, police and public health officials, emergency medical services, nursing homes and high-risk groups within underprivileged areas.

The distillery’s decision to make hand sanitizer didn’t surprise Josh, who has an undergraduate degree in international relations and global studies from the University of Texas and has been with Still Austin Whiskey for three years.

“We are a company driven by our values,” he said. “We have all the tools, and the main ingredient in sanitizer is ethanol. Ethanol is another word for the alcohol you’re familiar with, and that’s what we make every day.”

The company started making the product in March after the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and Food and Drug Administration authorized production of ethanol-based hand sanitizers by permitted distillers. Still Austin continues to produce its signature bourbon whiskey and rye gin.

“We’re pleased to provide hand sanitizer for all the local heroes on the frontlines fighting this virus to ensure their safety while keeping the rest of us safe,” Chris Seals, chief executive officer of Still Austin, said in a news release.

Still Austin is also supplying high proof ethanol to Austin pharmacies to produce hand sanitizer for their customers.

Josh said his UWC education opened his eyes to the size of the world and differences among cultures, yet common ideas among people.

“Good times, kindness, passion and sharing, the values are similar between everyone,” the 32-year-old said.

Dr. Anna Rogers ‘03 took a job at a hospital on the border of the Navajo Reservation because she wanted to care for the underserved. Six months later, she found herself treating COVID-19 patients in the nation’s hardest hit area for the pandemic.

 “It’s been challenging, emotionally and physically,” said Rogers, who since last October has worked at Gallup Indian Medical Center in northwestern New Mexico. “It has been isolating personally and professionally, and it’s been hard to watch the devastation in the community. There’s not a family that hasn’t lost a loved one in the Navajo Nation.”

About the size of West Virginia, the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, Arizona and Utah is home to about 175,000 people. By mid-May, the Navajo had an infection rate of more than 3.4 percent – the highest in the nation — and more than 6,000 confirmed cases, according to the Navajo Nation Department of Health. By comparison, New York state had an infection rate of 1.9 percent.

As of earlier this month, 9,800 had tested positive for the coronavirus; 500 had died and 7,100 recovered.

The coronavirus was so devastating, experts say, because of severely lacking infrastructure on the reservation. An estimated 30 percent of homes don’t have running water, and over half of Navajo communities lack broadband access. A lack of healthy food options, overcrowded housing and high rates of heart disease, diabetes and obesity compounded the problem.

“They have such strong family networks and live in multigenerational homes so it’s difficult to isolate,” Rogers said. “Those communities that have been systematically marginalized are a setup for a respiratory virus to be particularly bad because of difficulty isolating and keeping their community protected.”

She works for the U.S. Indian Health Services, a government agency that provides care for 567 federally recognized American Indian and Alaska Native tribes and their descendants, or about 2.2 million people. Rogers spoke about her COVID experience as a private citizen and not an employee of the federal government.

“COVID affected the Navajo Nation disproportionally,” she said. “We very quickly had a significant number of cases in the emergency room and admitted to the hospital. The sickest were often flown to Albuquerque. Ultimately, the state set up a hub, where patients were sent all over the state – Santa Fe, Farmington and Las Cruces.”

Gallup’s 99-bed hospital had up to 45 COVID patients admitted to the inpatient wards, forcing Rogers to work 10- to 12-hour days. She also had to protect herself and her staff; Rogers tested negative for COVID six times. In addition, the hospital didn’t allow visitation, but provided video visits for patients and their families.

“I think the hardest part is that patients were alone and scared, and their families were at home and couldn’t be at their bedside,” she said.

Mother’s Day was the hardest.

“To have a family on a Zoom meeting, having to say goodbye to their grandmother on Mother’s Day… knowing Mother’s Day would be difficult forever, knowing their grandmother had to die alone without family in the hospital in a culture where when a loved one dies, there are often 10 to 20 family members in their room with them.”

To compound matters, Rogers lost an uncle to COVID two weeks ago.

“I, too, am grieving the loss of a family member to COVID-19,” she said. 

For Rogers, serving in her birthplace of Gallup is sort of a homecoming. Her family moved to California when she was just 5 and she returned to New Mexico to attend UWC-USA.

A 2012 graduate of University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine, Rogers completed her residency in family medicine at Ventura County Medical Center and remained with the hospital for two additional years before moving to Gallup.

“I had intended to take a job with Indian Health Service and knew I wanted to work in the Southwest,” she said. “I’m interested in global health, and at some point will work abroad and this allowed me to serve a very underserved population.”

“I think it’s important to provide access to excellent health care to those who need it most,” Rogers continued. 

Her experience at the United World College-USA is why she went into medicine.

“It’s the foundation for why I do what I do,” the 36-year-old said. “It’s a big part of why I came to work for the IHS. I started out wanting to go into a career where I could make a difference.”

“I was expecting to work in a place, where I was navigating cultural differences and working with a population in which I’m not familiar with the language or the culture” she continued. “No one expected a pandemic.”

 

Director and writer Rick Rowley ‘94 won an Emmy for best Investigative Documentary for 16 Shots, a film that chronicles the aftermath of the fatal shooting of a black teen by a Chicago police officer and the cover-up that followed.

Laquan McDonald, 17, was killed on Oct. 20, 2014, by officer Jason Van Dyke. Police had initially reported that McDonald was behaving erratically while walking down the street, refusing to put down a knife. Preliminary internal police reports described the incident similarly, leading to the incident being judged a justifiable shooting and to Van Dyke not being charged at that time.

A dash cam video showed McDonald had been walking away from the police when he was shot. Van Dyke was found guilty of second-degree murder.

Film critic Roger Ebert wrote, “16 Shots is a very deliberate, ominous documentary, filled with views of the Chicago skyline and a pulsing score, but Rowley makes several smart decisions as a storyteller.”

Rowley also directed the 2013 film Dirty Wars, which was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

 

 COVID-19 prompted the continued renovation of the historic Montezuma Castle at the United World College-USA.

Not included in the castle’s $10.5 million renovation from 2000-01, the vacant third floor over the summer was remodeled for additional classrooms.

“We didn’t have the (right) size classrooms for appropriate social distancing and decided to finish four large classrooms,” said UWC-USA President Victoria J. Mora.

Most classrooms can accommodate 15 to 18 students, said Alexis Mamaux, dean of students. These classrooms were initially built for purposes other than classrooms, including hotel rooms.

“With appropriate physical distancing, we only had five classrooms that could fit more than 13 students,” she said.

The school contracted with Grimm LLC of Las Vegas, N.M., on the project. The renovation included finishing the wooden floors, painting, installing electrical service and more.

“We did a bare bones project to make sure we have adequate space,” Mora said. “It’s a beautiful space with natural light that will offer a lot of flexibility.”

The long-term plan is to use the third floor for additional dormitory space.

“The one wonderful thing is while this was a different use than what was contemplated, none of this work will be wasted,” Mora said. “It will be very easy to convert. It was a great opportunity to get folks working in the area. It was a great opportunity to make sure we were prepared for the kind of health precautions needed over the next two to three years.”

One of two Harvey Hotels in Las Vegas, the first Montezuma castle was built by the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad in 1882. It was rebuilt twice after fires and had multiple owners before being abandoned for decades. In 1981 the Armand Hammer Foundation purchased the 90,000-square-foot Queen Anne castle and surrounding acreage for UWC-USA. Known today as the Davis International Center, the castle houses the dining hall, dorm rooms, offices, classrooms and student center.

Last year, the school completed a $1 million bat guano remediation project of the castle. Workers removed bats and sealed the building to prevent re-entry.

“It was a big effort to remove them safely and in an environmentally responsible way,” Mora said.

A crew of 30 spent a month removing the bat guano; sanitation followed. Upon completion, the third-floor space was build-ready.

The United World College-USA has joined five Las Vegas educational institutions along with the city to provide volunteer opportunities for students. 

Representatives from UWC-USA, City of Las Vegas, New Mexico Highlands University, Luna Community College, and Las Vegas and West Las Vegas school districts on Sept. 11 signed an agreement to create Vecinos Juntos de Las Vegas.

“This is a historic day in Las Vegas,” said Mayor Louie Trujillo. “This is the largest volunteer organizational effort Las Vegas has ever seen.”

UWC-USA has been involved with community volunteering for years–to the tune of 17,000 hours per year.

The mission of Vecinos Juntos – which means “neighbors together” in Spanish — is to make volunteerism a force for promoting the concept that we are all neighbors sharing an uncommon commitment for the common good.

The first project scheduled for Oct. 3 will be painting the Bridge Street bridge over the Gallinas River in Las Vegas and gazebos in the Plaza, South Pacific and Lincoln parks, Trujillo said.

“We’re also brainstorming for new projects and volunteer opportunities including snow removal for the elderly, litter eradication, weatherizing homes, and (providing) firewood,” he said. “The list goes on and on.”

A representative from UWC-USA will serve on the Vecinos Juntos Advisory Council along with Trujillo, NMHU President Sam Minner, LCC Interim President Dr. Kenneth Patterson, Las Vegas Schools Superintendent Larryssa Archuleta and West Las Vegas Schools Superintendent Christopher Gutierez.

This year’s theme for UWC Day is United We Can and UWC-USA is pleased to announce that two alumni – both from the class of 1994 – are sharing their recent work.

Please complete this form to receive the links and codes to watch the documentaries. You can also register for a workshop featuring the filmmakers this Sunday, September 20, 2020.

16 Shots, directed by Rick Rowley ’94, is a documentary about the 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald as he walked away from police in Chicago. Rowley’s film is up for three Emmy awards (the Emmy’s are this weekend) and it is co-produced by UWC-Adriatic alumna Jacquie Soohen ’94.

¿Quién mató a mi hermano? (Who Killed My Brother?) is a documentary directed by Ana Fraile ’94 that explores the enforced disappearances of people in Argentina and the human rights issues they face.

Workshop Schedule (all times are Mountain Time):

11:30am  Discussion of Rick and Jacquie’s movie 16 Shots
12pm       Discussion of Ana’s movie ¿Quién mató a mi hermano? / Who Killed My Brother?
10 minute break
12:40pm  Q&A: Audience will be able to ask questions and Rick, Jacquie, and Ana will ask each other questions

We look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

Elizabeth Legault ‘21, Canada, wasn’t exactly thrilled about camping for six nights at the United World College-USA farm during a recent sustainability leadership expedition.

But when “farm camp” came to a close, Elizabeth was grateful.

“I learned a lot of skills, working with carpentry and power tools,” she said. “There was a lot of teamwork.”

The sustainability program was one of three leadership expeditions that second-year students participated in after completing their 14-day quarantine in mid-August. Wilderness leaders took a 10-day backpacking trip, and Constructive Engagement of Conflict leaders did a training retreat on a local ranch.

The 14 students staying at the farm, officially named the Agroecology Research Center, got a hands-on experience with the opportunities and challenges of a sustainable community, including working together to grow food, manage water, produce electricity, and deal with waste.

“The idea was to have students leave their normal lives where everything is taken care of for them, come to the farm and experience their use of resources more directly, said farm director Ben Gillock, who also teaches IB environmental systems and societies at UWC-USA. “When our relationship to our environment is more intimate, it is easier to see the connections between our decisions and their impacts.”

Students camped in a meadow and used a tarp structure as a communal kitchen and gathering space. Each morning while some students gathered eggs, harvested vegetables and weeded the garden, others cooked breakfast.

During the day, students broke into teams to work on sustainability projects, ranging from infrastructure projects to pressing cider and making land-based art. In the evenings, students participated in discussions that focused on the ethics of place and explored the intersections between sustainability and social justice.

The sustainability infrastructure projects were aimed at improving the quality of camp life while shifting to more sustainable resource-use and learning about appropriate technologies. For example, students built a pair of highly efficient, wood-fired rocket stoves. Using these stoves allowed the camp to expand its cooking area and reduce propane use, while also connecting to the reality of people who rely on wood for cooking and heating.

Students spent several days building a solar-heated shower using on-farm materials like black irrigation tubing and reclaimed lumber. Using an old UWC-USA school bus as a platform, students built a solar power plant that powered camp lighting, a stereo and a projector for watching films at night. Students also spent an afternoon re-plastering the farm horno — a traditional adobe oven used to cook sourdough pizza on the last night of camp.

Farm camp had several contributors that enlivened the learning experience. Farm manager Adrian Carter taught students construction skills and vegetable wrangling. Autumn Billie, co-founder of the 3 Sisters Collective, spent four days introducing students to the sustainable traditional practices of Pueblo and Dine peoples, while engaging them with the complex and challenging legacy of colonization in Northern New Mexico.

Mikaela Osler ‘13, USA-Vermont, spent the week at camp engaging students in discussions about environmental justice in the context of Northern New Mexico. One evening, UWC-USA art teacher Santos Contreras showed the documentary Lean into the Wind about Andy Goldsworthy’s land art, then helped students create a sculpture from branches and found materials the following day.

Joined by their two children, UWC-USA economics teacher Liam O’Hara and his wife, Aracelly, led students in preparing farm-based dinners.

“There’s something about intense physical labor that makes food taste especially good at the end of the day,” said Isabela Alvarez ‘21, USA-Minn.

The students plan to return to the farm.

“I am definitely going to come back down here and hang out during the school year” said Becca Panlilio ‘21, USA-Fla. “The farm is all set up with everything we need.”

Mikaela Osler ‘13 has shattered the fastest known time for a self-supported hike by a female on the 485-mile Colorado Trail.
Hiking with blistered feet and little sleep, Mikaela averaged 45 miles a day to complete the trek from Denver to Durango on Aug. 9. It took her 10 days, 12 hours and 36 minutes. Russian Olga King held the previous best time of 15 days, 2 hours, and 28 minutes set in 2018.
“I cried a lot and just was so happy it was over,” said Mikaela, a graduate student in creative writing at the University of New Mexico. “I think I was euphoric and so proud of myself.”
Buzz Burrell, co-founder of Fastest Known Time, a website that tracks hikers like Mikaela on 2,328 routes worldwide, called the 26-year-old’s performance a “great accomplishment.”
“Four days is a massive margin,” Burrell said. “As usual with these multi-day efforts, her trip report describes many hardships to endure, obstacles to overcome, a lot of determination, and then a last-gasp push to the finish.”
From Jericho, Vt., Mikaela is among an elite group to complete the Triple Crown — thru-hikes of the 2,650-mile Pacific Crest Trail, 3,100-mile Continental Divide Trail, and 2,190-mile Appalachian Trail.
Rated moderate to strenuous, the Colorado Trail has an elevation gain of more than 80,000 feet with most terrain above 10,000 feet; the highest point is 13,271 feet. The average hike-thru takes four to six weeks. The trail passes through six wilderness areas and goes over eight mountain ranges. Hypothermia, dehydration, and lightning hazards are common problems, and snowfields may be encountered well into mid-summer.
Self-supported hikers like Mikaela, who is known as FlyBy in the thru-hiking world, can accept support along the way, including caching supplies in advance, purchasing supplies along the way, to finding or begging for food or water. They cannot make plans for assistance from others.
“I was carrying my own stuff and had three mail drops with packages of food that I sent to businesses and campgrounds,” she said.
The base-weight for Mikaela’s backpack was 5½ pounds. She estimates she never carried more than 8 pounds of food.
Mikaela slept as little as 45 minutes one day and up to 6 hours on other days. Mikaela would sleep from 9 to 11 p.m. and then hike until 3 or 4 a.m., or when the sun came up.
“I didn’t plan it that way, but had a full moon, which was nice,” she said. “(This was) part of a psychological experiment. I think your brain needs sleep, but your body doesn’t need to be asleep. Just rest. A little sleep-break is supposed to reset the brain.”
For the last 75 miles on the Colorado Trail, Mikaela hiked 31 hours straight except for a 30-minute and a 15-minute nap.
“On the final day, I tried to run to keep myself awake,” Mikaela wrote. “I took a lot of caffeinated crystal lite and took a lot of caffeinated electrolyte pills, but they didn’t help that much. I felt bone-tired.”
Swaying on the trail with her eyes slipping out of focus and shutting, she ran as much as possible.
“I ran as much as I could, but with 6 or 7 miles to go my quads started to seize and I just had to walk really, really slowly. (I) finally finished a little after 8 p.m.,” said Mikaela, who acknowledged the Cheyenne, Ute and Pueblo tribes for allowing her to pass through their land.
Mikaela was a wilderness leader at UWC-USA and led wilderness trips while studying at Stanford, where she received her undergraduate degree in comparative studies in race and ethnicity.
She said UWC-USA prepared her for her hiking-related accomplishments.
“I think having modeling that type of balancing academics with things outside academics was formative for me,” she said. “Every time I led a trip with UWC-USA, I felt like I learned so much about myself as a leader and an outdoorswoman. Starting to lead trips was the beginning of that journey. So being a UWC wilderness leader was important.”
Mikaela was born into a hiking family. Her parents met while hiking the White Mountains in New Hampshire. When her father was in his early 20s, he hiked the Appalachian Trail. Growing up, Mikaela and her two siblings took hiking and backpacking trips with their parents.