Dear friends and members of the UWC community, 

The last few weeks saw the graduation of a very special generation of UWC students at 17 of our 18 UWC schools and colleges: the Class of 2021. 

This generation probably had the most exceptional and challenging experience of any UWC class that came before them. Campus closures, abruptly saying goodbye to their second years and in some cases their co-years, moving their learning and community life online within days - these are just some of the challenges that they faced. Then there was the uncertainty around whether and how they could make it back to their UWC campus to start their final year at UWC. Some of them had to be transferred to another UWC campus and ended up finishing their UWC experience in a different part of the world than where they had started it. Others were unable to make it back to a UWC campus at all, and have now graduated after more than a year of online learning. All of them had to embrace some form of quarantine measures, alongside social distancing and masks to keep everyone safe. What a journey it has been! 

And yet, they persisted. And they made it through it. Join us in celebrating them! 

Class of 2021: we are so proud of you. And we welcome you with open arms into the wider UWC community! Congratulations! 

We would not be in a position to celebrate the Class of 2021 had it not been for the people who supported them: the staff members across all UWC schools and colleges and the volunteers at the UWC national committees. From teachers to administrative support, from house parents to the 18 Heads, from the board chairs and board members to the maintenance crews, from the counselors to the activity coordinators, from the volunteers to the staff members of the national committees, from the host parents to the sports coaches - each and every one of them went well above and beyond their call of duty during these exceptional times. 

Join us in saying thank you! And join us in telling them how grateful we are that they were all willing to go the extra mile, to start walking unknown paths, to turn all routines upside down, to go virtual and return to the in-person world again, to support the students day and night and to embrace all changes in order to keep the UWC education and experience going. Their commitment has been nothing short of exceptional and we know that it has taken a heavy toll on many of them. The UWC movement is so fortunate to be able to count on such a passionate community. We are very grateful. 

It might take a village to raise a child. It certainly takes a global community of passionate, driven, committed and loving individuals to keep UWC going at the best of times -- and especially so in times of a global pandemic. 

In gratitude, 

Hannah Tümpel 
Deputy Executive Director, UWC International 
(UWC Adriatic, 1996-1998)

As previously announced, after six years Jens Waltermann is leaving his role as Executive Director of UWC International at the end of June 2021. There is now an open call for applications for this position. We invite you to share it widely through your networks to help us identify candidates that you think have the potential to join UWC’s journey. For the time of transition between Jens' departure and the start of the new Executive Director,  the UWC international Board has decided to ask the UWCIO Management Team to take on additional responsibilities and has appointed the current Deputy Executive Director, Hannah Tümpel, as the Interim Executive Lead of this collaborative UWCIO team. Musimbi Kanyoro announced the news on behalf of the UWC International Board last week.

As the world prepares for COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021, the 18 UWC schools and colleges released a statement recognising their role in tackling the threat of global climate change and making their specific contributions to a resilient, net zero economy that protects, values and rebuilds the natural world. With this, our schools and colleges commit to take this time to develop their own local strategies with targets and programmes that will allow us to reach the challenging “net zero” goal as a movement by mid-century. 

With less than 4 months to go until UWC Day 2021 on 21 September, we are excited to share that this year's theme will be ‘Reimagine Tomorrow’, chosen by popular vote together with many colleagues across the UWC movement.

At a time when the impacts of COVID-19 are still very present in our lives, injustices and conflicts continue to cause pain for many, and the effects of the climate crisis are already being felt, particularly in the most vulnerable communities around the world - we hope that this theme will give us all an opportunity to take a step back and to dream up a better world. Because in order to start building a more peaceful, sustainable and just future, we have to start by reminding ourselves that such a future is possible: we have to Reimagine Tomorrow.

The UWC Day 2021 Resource Pack will be coming soon to uwc.org/uwcday. 

UWC Mostar, UWC Atlantic and UWC Adriatic are hosting a remembrance event for David B. Sutcliffe - a founding staff member and later Principal of UWC Atlantic, founding Head of UWC Adriatic and the co-founder of UWC Mostar. The event will be held virtually on 12 June at 2pm BST. Register here or check out the event page on Facebook for more information.

Phil Geier, the international educator, Executive Director of the Davis-UWC Scholars Program and former Head of UWC-USA, has been awarded an honorary doctorate at Trinity College in recognition of his vision and profound influence in the fields of education and international understanding. Among the long list of initiatives, accomplishments and contributions that led to Phil being awarded this honour, at UWC we have our own (very long) list of initiatives led by Phil together with Shelby Davis, which we also celebrate and reflect on in this news story.

If you follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or LinkedIn you might have already been introduced to some of the members of the UWC International Office whose profiles were shared there. So far, you will have met Daniela, the Communications Coordinator, Fi, the Funded Programmes Officer, Matthias, the Head of Programmes, Mane, the Executive Officer Coordinator and Michelle, who has been volunteering with the Communications & Engagement team since February. 

There are several open positions across the world and the UWC movement - visit http://uwc.org/jobs for current opportunities, including:

• Executive Director, UWC International (London, UK)
• Call for Applications for the UWC International Council
• Funded Programmes Coordinator (Maternity Cover), UWC International (London, UK or Berlin, Germany)
• French Instructor, UWC-USA (Montezuma, New Mexico, USA) 
• Physics and Maths teacher/Residence Mentor, UWC Atlantic (St Donats, Llantwit Major, Wales, UK)
• Junior Consultant, National Committee Fundraising Programme, UWC International (South Asia, Africa, Middle East)

The UWC ARDEI SG was formed by the UWC International Board following conversations sparked last May by the killing of George Floyd around how the UWC community can better address issues of anti-racism, diversity and inclusion within the UWC movement. After an extensive search and selection process for ARDEI SG members, 14 individuals were selected in February and met for their first meeting in March.

Below is the first UWC International Newsletter update from the ARDEI SG written by one of its members, Dr. Anjali Arondekar. 

Dr. Anjali Arondekar is an Associate Professor of Feminist Studies, and Founding Co-Director, Center for South Asian Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She is a literary historian of caste, sexuality and colonialism, with a focus on South Asia and the Indian Ocean World. At ARDEI, she and her comrades are committed to the creation of resources for the largely underrepresented members of our UWC schools and colleges system.

ARDEI’s goal is clear: expand, educate and diversify the parameters of who can, and should be a member of the UWC community. Driven by a vision that both embraces and transforms extant UWC values, ARDEI hopes to be the much-needed voice of change and futurity.

The current economic climate of shrinking resources, coupled with the heightened asymmetries between nation-states, mandates that now, more than ever, we create institutional environments that support ethical, inclusive and wide-ranging scholarly worlds. Currently, ARDEI has two specific short-term goals: (1) to develop written policy and guidelines on diversity, equity and inclusion, in collaboration with input from national committees and individual schools and colleges; and (2) to create a database of student diversity across the UWC system to flag clear gaps in outreach and impact. For the long-term, ARDEI is focused on infrastructural changes within the UWC system through the development of site-specific initiatives that would both monitor and incentivise a focus on diversity. Such wide-ranging change will require sustained conversations across regions, languages, cultures, genders and faiths, to fully grasp the challenges that issues of diversity pose at the transnational level. ARDEI is prepared for just such a journey!

Thank you to all of you who attended last week's UWC Unlocked Community Village Meeting on the UWC Financial Model. For those of you who were unable to attend or would like to re-watch the Talk, you can now find the recording on the UWC Hub. For those of you who did attend, we would love to hear what you thought of it via this short feedback form.