Opening UWC Costa Rica
Opening UWC Costa Rica
I have spent this week representing Li Po Chun United World College at six different but highly significant meetings. The first meeting was held on Sunday and Monday when, after the long flight from Hong Kong via New York, I attended the Latin American Regional Meeting of National Committees in Santa Ana, Costa Rica. As always when attending these regional meetings, I was deeply impressed with the enthusiasm and commitment of the National Committee members, all of whom are volunteers and most of whom are UWC graduates. Moreover, I was both delighted and amazed at the widespread involvement of graduates from Li Po Chun UWC in the Latin American National Committees - for such a young College we were well and truly over-represented numerically in the National Committees of Latin America, something that says a great deal about the loyalty of our Latin American graduates from Hong Kong.
The next day was also a long one, starting with wake up at 4 am, followed by three flights to travel to the United World College in Montezuma (USA), flying via San Salvador, Washington DC and Albuquerque. I finally arrived at my small hotel in Las Vegas at midnight. My destination was not the famous Las Vegas in Nevada, but Las Vegas in New Mexico, a historic town that resembled the film set of a cowboys-and-Indians Western movie. After an hour and a half spent answering e-mails, I finally got to sleep at about 1:30 am.
One of the great joys of meeting at UWCUSA was being able to catch up with the students I had helped select in Hong Kong to study there. It was really encouraging to enjoy dinner with them in the College’s canteen and hear about the wonderful experiences they were enjoying as they studied, interacted and lived with 200 other students from all parts of the world. The constant theme of their words to me was “thank you so much for the opportunity to come here!”.
As always, another benefit of the meetings was the opportunity to chat informally with colleagues and thus build deeper understandings of the UWC Movement, the work and needs of various National Committees, and happenings in the other Colleges. During the discussions this week, I have begun negotiations to secure several new fully-funded scholarships for students to come to LPCUWC from countries experiencing war and conflict. Perhaps just as significantly, I have managed to negotiate new ongoing scholarship opportunities for Hong Kong students to study in overseas UWCs, including a ground-breaking reciprocal link with the new United World College in Mostar (Bosnia-Herzegovina). The short-listed 2007 Hong Kong applicants have already received an e-mail from me about this great new opportunity!
Unfortunately pressures of time meant that I have had no time whatsoever to explore the fascinating geography around Las Vegas and Montezuma. Like several other Heads of UWCs, I had to leave the International Board meeting at midday (before its conclusion) to catch a 4:30 pm flight from Albuquerque (two hours drive from the College). I am scheduled to present the Theory of Knowledge lecture to all the 1st Year students tomorrow (Monday) morning, and with the loss of a day crossing the International Date Line, my return flight schedule is very tight indeed! As I upload this week’s blog, I am on my way back to Hong Kong, with fingers crossed that there will be no delays that might interfere with my delivering the ToK lecture just a few hours from now.
Yes, it HAS been a very busy week!
Sunday, 25 March 2007
UWC President, Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordan, chats with students at the opening of the United World College of Costa Rica