From Biomedicine to F&B Ralph Monthienvichienchai

“Education is critical and I’ve found there to be few experiences in life as fulfilling as enabling a child who is really capable, who would not otherwise get the chance at a world class education, to benefit from one.”

Robert Milton ’78

Photo: Robert Milton ’78, currently serves as the Chairman of United Airlines, and as a Director and Trustee of many other corporate and philanthropic boards. Robert won the ‘Top 40 under 40’ award recognition for those who have achieved significant levels of success in leadership and innovation before age 40, founding his own airline company in his twenties and becoming President and CEO of Air Canada by age 39.

and the Korean culture, I am progressing toward my goal of understanding East Asia, comparing and contrasting development in East Asian countries with that in Vietnam.” Anh is also carrying out economic research with a faculty member on Gender Differences in Entrepreneurial Outcomes which she hopes will benefit female entrepreneurs. As she graduated from UWCSEA, Anh said, “The most powerful takeaway from UWCSEA for me, is that our race, our skin colour and our nationality don’t speak wholly for who we are.” She says of the Miltons and their scholarship, “UWCSEA has enabled many things I have today, including my constant intellectual growth and progress, and for that no words can express my gratitude to Robert and Lizanne for making my two years there possible.” The second UWCSEA student to enter Georgia Tech on a Milton scholarship is Davit, a young man from Armenia who has just begun his university studies in September 2017, majoring in Computer Science. We wish Davit a wonderful and rewarding journey ahead.

The third student to receive the Miltons’ scholarship to attend UWCSEA was Sivhuo, a young woman from Cambodia who entered in 2015 and graduated in May 2017, subsequently earning a Davis scholarship to Macalester College in the US where she hopes to pursue studies leading to a medical degree. As she left UWCSEA she said, “The education system in this school has taught me to be a student who loves challenging myself, seeks out opportunities and is always well prepared for them. Moreover, we are taught to put our values into action through service and that is something that is meaningful to me and will always stay with me.” The fourth and current UWCSEA scholar to benefit from the Miltons’ generosity and commitment to educating deserving young people is Aquib, a young man from Guyana South America who arrived this August. He says, “When I heard that I had been offered a scholarship to UWCSEA, it was probably one of the most ecstatic days of my life so far … the one thought that struck was that this is the path to my future.” Aquib will graduate from UWCSEA in 2019 and head off to university, Davit will graduate from Georgia Tech in 2021 and both will be followed on a regular basis by more outstanding students benefiting from the Miltons’ life changing endowed scholarships. Given these opportunities, some of these students will no doubt go on to become future leaders in their field of study, career or community, bring positive change to their home countries or perhaps even become world leaders. As Aquib says, “[The Miltons] are giving the gift of education, which as Nelson Mandela said, ‘is the most powerful weapon we can use to change the world’.”