With thousands of Davis UWC Scholars now making their unique marks throughout the world, we’re gratified, although not surprised, to see that the dominant theme among them is “giving back.” Of course, that is one of the tenets of our program, but we are always amazed at how wonderfully creative and courageous the Davis UWC Scholars are in their real-world endeavors.
What follows only hints at the scope of international possibilities for our alumni scholars and for those looking forward to that next transition. The work of these former students gives us confidence that this program is launching thoughtful leaders into a world filled with a critical need for them.
Christopher Rodney Yeoh, of Malaysia, focused on political Islam as a graduate student at the Harvard Divinity School, and is now a full-time history teacher and consultant about how to teach religion in high school.
“I specialize in anti-money-laundering and banking regulation compliance technology.”
“I am currently setting up a cafe-patisserie-community-artspace in India, to promote encouraging young artists, musicians, writers, and performers, while inching closer to my dream of setting up an international school in the Middle East.”
“Since graduating with a B.A. in molecular biology and biochemistry from Middlebury College, I have been part of a team involved in HIV/AIDS vaccine-related research,” writes Cheryl McClurg.
In the capital of Niger last December, Halimatou Hima Moussa Dioula’s forum drew 161 young people from all parts of the country for three days of meetings with political leaders, researchers, journalists, and UN staff.
Terence Steinberg was a senior when he devised a plan to train Macalester students as emergency medical technicians.
Junette Maxis’s economic-recovery project for earthquake-devastated Haiti was one of eight proposals selected out of thousands submitted for a Clinton Global Initiative University award.
Hernán Jimenez wanted to make films but didn’t have money or Hollywood connections—so he did a standup comedy tour and used the proceeds to make his first film.
Mlungisi Dlamini teaches students from four continents at Waterford KaMhlaba UWC, Swaziland.
Juan Sebastian Delgado graduated from the Boston Conservancy in 2011. He has performed widely since.
The skills Helena Shilomboleni has been building in Washington, D.C., which center on helping informed citizens influence national decision makers, are skills she hopes to take home to Namibia.
“Graduating from Smith debt free gave me the liberty to choose to move back to Lesotho a year later — a decision that had lain below the surface since I got to the U.S. in 2002. In Lesotho, I have held a temporary position as an administrator for a new family-medicine residency program.”
“After four exhilarating years at College of the Atlantic, I decided to pursue a Ph.D. in marine biology at Stony Brook University,” writes Santiago Salinas (Argentina, Lester B. Pearson UWC of the Pacific, COA ’05). “I have been at Stony Brook for almost four years, doing research on two main areas: fisheries-induced evolution and the relationship between temperature and longevity.”
“After my graduation in May 2009, I moved to London on a full scholarship to continue my education (a master’s degree) in Islamic Studies and Humanities with the Institute of Ismaili Studies.”
“During my senior year, classmate Robert McCourt and I won a Davis Projects for Peace grant to construct a biogas digester for a community of 25 Maasai women in Kenya.”
“Now I am working in Los Angeles, a universe so distant from the other reality I have left behind (and that my family continues to live through). Even in the relative calm of L.A., I am quite aware of all that I have left behind in Pakistan. And I cannot divorce myself from the country, its people and, most importantly, my family.”
Raised in Saskatchewan, Josh spent much of his childhood living in native villages, where his mother worked as a civil-rights advocate. That led him to focus on social justice and public policy at Princeton, where he was active on many levels. “He is a natural leader,” said Professor Marta Tienda, his senior thesis advisor.
“I interview companies, make site visits, and analyze financial statements — then I make recommendations whether to invest in the company.”
“I am now based in Delhi, and write for diverse local and international publications on art and culture —particularly those that are endangered.”
“I have been working on facilitating China’s investment channels into the Latin American region, including Venezuela.”
“The reason I went home straight from college is that the country is about to experience explosive growth in the next decade.”
In Budapest, Maria Lis Baiocchi works for Central European University on a program aimed at developing young Roma leaders and narrowing the higher-education gap between Roma and the majority populations of Europe.
As vice president of business development for TerraCycle, Johanna Opot helps the company determine “how items like coffee bags, pens, energy-bar wrappers and even car mats can be made into new products.”
Roya Mohammadi manages corporate social responsibility at Telecom Development Company, Ltd. Roshan, the largest telecommunications firm in Afghanistan.
Living in Dali, a town in Yunnan province, Ahmd reports: “We have been running Caffeine Arts Club, a bar and a community art space for musicians, artists, and photographers.”
When National Public Radio reporter Dan Charles attended a UN conference on climate change in Trinidad last fall, he found the meeting less intriguing, he reported on NPR, than a young man he met there
Having co-created the Ashraya Initiative for Children, a non-profit that three Mahindra UWC graduates started in order to work with needy children in India, Julia Neubauer (Austria, Princeton ’07) says the project is “going better than ever.”
“Friends: my country, my people, my family and I desperately need your help to save Kenya from becoming another Rwanda,” pleads Michael K. “Kip” Kiprop (Kenya, Pearson UWC, Colby ’07) at the Facebook site devoted to his initiative, “Kenya Is Bleeding — Help!”
“Since I graduated from Middlebury College in 2004, I have ended up working and studying in places as far away and different from each other [as] Venezuela, the UK, Tanzania, Egypt and, currently, Syria,” writes Helene Songe (Norway, UWC Singapore, Middlebury ’04).
