UWC‑USA alumni, parents, and current‑student families gathered in Boston’s Back Bay on March 11 for an evening of conversation, connection, and inspiration. The event featured keynote remarks from entrepreneur and technologist Sanjay Manandhar ’84 and alumna Yelyzaveta (Liza) Sterzhynska ’25; each traced a line from Montezuma to their current work in technology, finance, and social impact.
Sanjay drew on his new book and his own improbable journey from Nepal to New Mexico. “My book The Power of Why Not?: Harnessing the Gift of Small Probabilities features my UWC-USA experience heavily. I thoroughly enjoyed speaking about the themes from the book at UWC-USA’s Boston event for alums and non-alums.” He reflected on how a full scholarship to UWC‑USA opened the door to MIT, the Media Lab, and a career founding technology companies spanning SaaS, ad tech, computer vision, and AI for cybersecurity. His core message: probability is personal, and action matters more than abstract odds.
Chief Advancement Officer Mark Hodde ’89 noted how powerfully this resonated with the room: “Sanjay’s presentation on the ‘Power of Why Not?’ challenged the idea that we have to beat ‘the odds’ to take on bold challenges. While society uses failure rates to keep us playing it safe, he made the case that probability is a ‘degree of belief’ rather than an objective reality. Reflecting on his own improbable journey from Nepal to UWC-USA on a scholarship, he offered examples where personal passion and context change the equation—and scary statistics that might prevent personal action don’t actually apply. Using this frame, Sanjay encouraged the audience to stop letting ‘someday’ be an excuse and start asking, ‘Why not now?’”
Liza Sterzhynska ’25, now a first‑year student at Babson College, shared how UWC‑USA—and especially the Entrepreneurship for Social Impact Club—sparked her interest in aligning finance with moral responsibility. As Vice President of Finance and Operations for Scholars of Finance, she works with students across the U.S. who believe capital should serve the greater good, aiming for a future where investment decisions are guided by integrity and support for communities in need.
Together, Sanjay and Liza offered a multigenerational snapshot of the UWC‑USA mission in action: embracing risk, challenging conventional wisdom, and asking, again and again, “Why not now?”