As the 2021 Senior Class Speaker, Lindo Zondo (UWC '17) delivered a remarkable speech last week at The College of Idaho's commencement. 

Co-founder Phil Geier was given an honorary degree at Trinity College's commencement and enjoyed meeting with some of the Davis UWC Scholars and Projects for Peace winners on campus.  

Luther College’s DUWCSP Kelao Charmaine Neumbo '22, a graduate of UWC Robert Bosch College, is stepping up to help her community during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. As a global health student with an interest in rectifying the disparities of access when it comes to the COVID-19 vaccine, Neumbo and mentor Dr. Jane Njeru have worked together to make a difference.

In her undergraduate years as a Davis UWC Scholar, Sarah Mackenzie (Canada, UWC Adriatic, UNC '20) developed her passion for social justice and human rights. Now she heads to Oxford.

Every year on the date designated by the United Nations as the International Day of Peace, Davis UWC Scholars at St. Lawrence University organize events on their campus to show how learning and collaboration can make a difference. 

Florida Gator recenlty featured four Davis UWC Scholars who had to remain on their undergraduate campus for a COVID summer.  

Fatmata Bah grew up in Sierra Leone and attended Li Po Chun UWC of Hong Kong. Her dad is a tailor and her mom owns a small convenience store. She says, "not in a million years could they have been able to afford me the education that I am receiving today." 

Martin Troska’s (Czech Republic, Pearson UWC, Middlebury ’21) dream of becoming a teacher began in frustration.

As a tenure-track faculty member in Colby’s Psychology Department, Veronica Romero (Venezuela, UWC Adriatic, Colby ’09) has returned to where she was a Davis UWC Scholar.

Agim Mazreku (Kosovo, UWC Adriatic, College of the Atlantic ’20) is not waiting to work for positive change. In his home nation, Agim has been an intern in climate policy and science for the UN Development Programme.

It’s a long way from Kathmandu, where she grew up, to Silicon Valley. But as she builds a dynamic career, Niyanta Khatri (Nepal, Mahindra UWC, Colorado College ’17) is right at home in Palo Alto.

“There’s no day that goes by without me thinking about the challenges my generation and younger are going to face, with climate change, increasing inequality, increasing migration,” says Andrew Nalani (Uganda, UWC-USA, Dartmouth ’16).

Yale announced that Marwan Safar Jalani (Syria, UWC in Mostar, Yale University ’20) had been awarded a Rhodes Scholarship for at least two years of study at Oxford.

Ariel Mota Alves was selected for the East-West Center Graduate Degree Fellowship, which gives him a full scholarship to pursue his master’s degree at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.

Unable to gather for their usual graduation dinner due to the pandemic, Macalester sent a video message to their Davis UWC Scholars.

A cure for lung cancer is still in the future. But at the Harvard lab that Magda Bahcall, Ph.D. (Czech Republic, UWC Atlantic, Wellesley ’05) directs, a team of researchers is working hard to improve patients’ chances of surviving.

Surya Karki, Country Director and Co-Founder, United World Schools Nepal has been named a 2020 WISE Emerging Leader. Karki is a 2016 College of the Atlantic graduate and Simon Bolivar UWC alumni from Nepal.

Bozhidar "Bobo" Stankovikj, Princeton '20 from Macedonia and UWC Robert Bosch graduate is one of nine seniors and one junior named as recipients of the Spirit of Princeton Award. Since 1995, the award has been given annually to recognize undergraduates for positive contributions to campus life.

Having been involved since her first year on campus with Colby Cares About Kids, which pairs students at the college with young people in local schools, Pinyi (Irene) Zhang (China, UWC Atlantic, Colby College ’22) grabbed at a chance to be a summer program assistant for Colby STARTALK

An entrepreneur, innovator and development strategist in her home country, Pumla Maswanganyi (South Africa, UWC Maastricht, St. Olaf ’16) has been nominated as one of the Most Influential People of African Descent by the organization of that name.

When Mauzay Dlamini (Eswatini, Waterford Kamhlaba UWC, College of Idaho ’20) first came to the college, “There was a clear divide between American and international students,” he says. 

As a Ph.D. candidate in physics at Stanford, Bingyi Wang (China, UWC-USA, Williams College ’18) is doing thesis work in “the field of brain-machine interface,” she writes from Palo Alto.

“My big goal in life is to find a cure or a treatment for Alzheimer’s disease,” says Estella Tcaturian (Russia, UWC Robert Bosch College, Lake Forest ’21). Whether or not she gets there, she has made an amazing start.

As she travels the world for a year on a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, Moni Ayoub (Lebanon, UWC Adriatic, College of the Atlantic ’19) has been digging for insight and understanding on the issues of human trafficking, domestic violence, refugees and vulnerable communities.

“Josh stepped into leadership roles from the first moment he arrived on campus,” wrote Wartburg College President Darrel Colson in successfully nominating Joshua Voigt (South Africa, Waterford Kamhlaba UWC, Wartburg ’20) to be a 2019-20 Campus Compact Newman Civic Fellow.

Within New Lab, a large business-startup incubator in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Michael Eaton (Botswana, UWC Atlantic, Cornell ’18) is working for Voltaic Systems. It’s a young company that develops small-scale solar panels “for weird and wonderful projects and products,” he says, “like bird tracking and agriculture.”

Aside from her academic work as a mechanical engineering major, Brishti Mandal (India, Mahindra UWC, Bucknell ’20) has devoted her campus years to sharing international student perspectives, and to focusing all of her peers on the world scene and global events.

“The world is facing a huge learning crisis,” says Maroua Sallami (Tunisia, Li Po Chun UWC, Northwestern ’16). The World Bank, where she works, estimates that 53% of children in low- and middle-income countries can’t read or comprehend a simple story by the end of primary school.

Catherine Cartier (USA, Pearson UWC, Davidson ’20) keeps on building up adventures and experience in the Arab world.

“We believe that poverty alleviation starts with financial inclusion,” declares Emma Smith (USA, UWC-USA, Duke ’16). She is the cofounder and chief operating officer of Eversend, a startup that offers Africans a mobile-phone-based “multi-currency e-wallet.”