On September 11, UWC-USA students, faculty, and staff set aside the regular schedule for UWC Day 2026: a campus-wide day of learning, reflection, and community-building centered on the theme “Water in a Changing World: Many Perspectives, One Future.”
UWC Day offered an opportunity for the UWC-USA community to celebrate its diversity and advance its shared mission while engaging deeply with the realities of life in the Southwest, where water access, climate change, ecosystems, agriculture, and community well-being are closely interconnected.
The day began with students sharing personal stories prompted by an object, photograph, or artifact from the place they call home. Their stories explored the ways water has shaped family, culture, daily life, and landscape in communities around the world.
Students then took part in experiential workshops that connected global climate challenges with the local landscape. Activities included planting native high-desert seeds, testing water samples and tracing campus water systems, mapping the UWC-USA watershed, examining climate-change scenarios, creating a time capsule for future generations, and exploring the geopolitics of water in the Southwest.
In the afternoon, advisory groups created art connecting water and place to UWC values, including respect for the environment, mutual responsibility and respect, compassion and service, and action and personal example. The day concluded with a community gathering featuring local partners.
“This was the most engaging and exciting UWC Day experience I’ve had in almost 25 years in the UWC movement,” said UWC-USA President Andrew Mahlstedt.
Through shared stories, hands-on exploration, artistic expression, and conversation, UWC Day 2026 invited the community to consider how people and communities can respond to a changing world—and how the choices made locally can contribute to a more sustainable and equitable shared future.