June 2022
LEARNING TO SHAPE THE FUTURE
CASE STUDIES IN EDUCATIONAL INNOVATION
GRADUATION CONGRATULATIONS CLASS OF 2022
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Education might be the vehicle but we exist to make the world a better place. UWC exists to educate a generation of people who believe that they can take responsibility for the world and they desire to take responsibility for the world and must not shy away from that.” Faith Abiodun, Executive Director, UWC International, in his keynote address Commitment to Change at the UWCSEA Forum: Learning to shape the future on 23 April 2022.
June 2022
02 A CALL TO THE FUTURE Carma Elliot, College President
04 LEARNING TO SHAPE THE FUTURE Reflecting on the UWCSEA Forum
06 INNOVATION IN ACTION Explore four UWCSEA case studies showcased at the Forum
12 LISTENING, LEARNING AND COMMITTING TO ACTION Carma Elliot reflects on UWCSEA’s journey toward systemic change
14 INTEGRATING MISSIONALIGNED DECISION MAKING Piloting Overseas Trip Assessment Tool
16 GRADUATION Congratulations, Class of 2022
18 PLUS ÇA CHANGE Elizabeth Bray looks back on 26 years at UWCSEA
20 SPOTLIGHT ON … Sports: back in the game
21 ASIAN PEACE PROGRAMME Celebrating our yearlong partnership
22 FINDING A HOME IN THEATRE Nimisha Iyer ’22 and Raniyah Basheer ’22 recount their IB Theatre journey
24 PROJECT WEEK Outdoor Education, Singapore-style
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FUND A FLIGHT
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CREATING SOCIAL IMPACT Two young alumni bringing the mission to life
Bringing scholar families to graduation
32 MAKE TIME TO GET SERIOUS
26 BUILDING STUDENT AGENCY
Alison Forrow uncovers the purpose of LEGO Serious Play
Minna Wong ’22 and Jia Cheng Anthony Shen ’22 reflect on leadership learning
28 MAKING THE MOST OF NATIONAL SERVICE
COVER IMAGES
Front: Stefano Chiampo ’22 and Charlotte Ion ’22, student speakers at Dover graduation Back: Faith Abiodun at the UWCSEA Forum
UWCSEA NSMen share their story
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Editors: Sinéad Collins, Molly Fassbender, Jules Wainwright and Kate Woodford | Photography: Elena Bell, Janrius Rogers, Joseph Tan, Jules Wainwright and members of the UWCSEA community | Design: Nandita Gupta UWCSEA Dover is registered by the Committee for Private Education (CPE), part of SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) CPE Registration No. 197000825H | CPE Registration Period 18 July 2017–17 July 2023 | Charity Registration No. 00142 UWCSEA East is registered by the Committee for Private Education (CPE), part of SkillsFuture Singapore (SSG) CPE Registration No. 200801795N | CPE Registration Period 10 March 2017–9 March 2023 | Charity Registration No. 002104 Printed on 100% recycled paper with environmentally friendly inks | MCI (P) 033/02/2022 | MKT-2022
OPINION College which ensure we are preparing our young people for the challenges of the future. Partnership will be increasingly important: I found the keynote addresses and audience Q&A with both Howard Gardner and Andreas Schleicher inspiring and challenging in equal measure: we are on the right path, our challenge is to amplify our work and to extend our mission beyond our community. However, the real power of UWC and what we might collectively achieve as a movement came through in the messages from our other keynote speakers: Dr Musimbi Kanyoro, Chair of the UWC International Board, Faith Abiodun, Executive Director of UWC International, and Professor Kishore Mahbubani, our former UWCSEA Board Chair.
A call to the future This year of 50th anniversary celebrations has highlighted both the power of our mission and what contribution the UWC Movement has made to education as a force for good, over the last 60 years. The flagship event of our 50th year was the two day UWCSEA Forum Learning to Shape the Future. Attended by a global audience drawn from some 130 countries, our keynote speakers, our partners and our community spoke to the many ways that our College contributes to education as a force, and how we can continue to work together for even greater impact. 2 | Dunia June 2022
The supporting workshops, discussions and presentation of case studies which were run by members of our community, made a compelling case for the need to value, promote and double down on our collective work. The Forum was the perfect way to celebrate UWCSEA in its golden year; and through the strong messages of partnership and progress, to catalyse our community to continue to guide our students toward peaceful, sustainable futures. I invite you to take the time to read this magazine, to explore the narrative of the educational keynotes and to learn about some of the innovations in the
In the closing keynote on the first day Musimbi reminded us that movements are created when “people have a collective state of mind and a common understanding of the future they can create.” In describing the forward-reaching momentum that this commitment to a shared aspiration creates, Musimbi also reminded us that movements create a “space for people of like mindedness to come together to create” change for a common purpose, and to find ways to extend their reach in sometimes unexpected ways as they remain open to new ideas and people. The Forum represents the unique convening power of UWCSEA, as we put our mission into practice, by opening our doors and welcoming in those who are keen to work together with common purpose, sharing ideas and stimulating dialogue. This work has begun through projects such as the UWC IfP Toolkit, the Overseas Trip Assessment Tool, plans to share our concept-based K–12 curriculum, and the campus-based dashboards that are being developed to help us to manage our campuses, to educate our students and to share our learning with Singapore. Faith Abiodun opened the second day of the Forum with an inspirational discussion which included UWCSEA
High School students Tebby, Chloe and Issei. Centred around the need for the UWC Movement to commit to change to stay relevant in the future, Faith’s keynote developed the idea he put forward in the Kishore Mahbubani Speaker Series event in December 2021. In that discussion, he shared his belief that “whatever the future of education looks like, that UWC will play a very important part in shaping it.” At the Forum, his challenge for the UWC Movement, and all who are a part of it, was to acknowledge and adjust to the drivers of change surrounding us while bringing the spirit of UWC to the fore. Faith’s connection with the students and the global audience was both inspiring and motivating; as he talked of engaged leaders for the future, and spoke the truth “You are needed” - you truly could have heard a pin drop in the room and beyond. In describing the qualities that he believes UWC will need to continue to draw on if we are to meet the challenge of remaining relevant, Faith could have been describing what I have observed as the very DNA of UWCSEA. From the
very beginning, UWC has always been about daring adventure coupled with strategic innovation, and this has been supported by passionate leadership, guided by our mission, “Education might be the vehicle but we exist to make the world a better place. UWC exists to educate a generation of people who believe that they can take responsibility for the world.” I know we all believe this to be true, now more so than ever, and that this view is shared by many. In the final keynote at the Forum, I had the pleasure of hosting a conversation with Kishore Mahbubani. In this followup to our earlier discussion on the topic of peace on 21 September 2021, Kishore reflected on the importance of education as a tool to help further the cause of peace, saying “I do think that the UWC Movement plays a very important role in the world, in educating young people who go on for the rest of their lives, trying to further the causes of peace. ... But I also have come to realise that idealism is not enough in this world. The paradox about creating peace in the world is
that you need to be idealistic and you need to be realistic. And balancing these two traits is very, very difficult.” Wise words indeed. The focus remains on the future, in the short term bringing our community back together post-pandemic, and in the longer term in planning the strategy that will bring the College forward into the next 50 years. The College, as we have seen demonstrated at the Forum and throughout this last year, is well equipped with the skills and knowledge to move forward. The key qualities required are also present, demonstrated in the thoughtful, proactive commitment to the ideals of the mission–a quality that carried this community through the challenge of the pandemic. These are a reflection of the College’s values and the care with which we hold each other. This last year has been truly humbling to see so much outstanding work from so many exceptional people. The hope that Musimbi shared for the UWC Movement, that “when other people start to claim what we value, then we shall know we are making progress” is a rallying call for our College. There is much for UWCSEA to consider in how to work towards the future and in seeking ways to share the power and impact of our work with the widest possible audience. I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to lead an organisation whose mission and ideals reflect my own values, and it has been an honour to work with you to further the mission. I know that past successes will be matched and surpassed by future achievements. This is an amazing place to work and learn, home to students and staff who will continue to inspire me into the future. In peace, Carma Carma Elliot CMG OBE, College President
June 2022 Dunia | 3
FEATURE
LEARNING TO SHAPE THE FUTURE Educating for a better world
Adapted from UWCSEA White Paper 6: The Future World of Work As the climax of our 50th anniversary year, the two-day UWCSEA Forum invited thought leaders from around the world to share their perspectives with the UWCSEA community—staff, students, alumni and parents—and a global audience of educators and partners. The aim was to explore what the next 50 years of teaching and learning at UWCSEA might look like. The programme honoured the College’s long-held belief that sharing perspectives and welcoming a diversity of viewpoints is at the heart of shaping a holistic education that will equip students to bring the mission to life beyond their time at the College.
Passion, purpose and good work The opening keynote, delivered by Professor Howard Gardner from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, described the work of The Good Project, a 25-year journey to understand the concepts that underpin the answer to the question “What is good work?” One of their most important findings, he shared, is that good work which supports individual flourishing is composed of three strands: 1. Excellence - the worker knows what they’re doing and feels competent 2. Engagement - they care about their work and it has meaning for them 3. Ethics - workers have a sense of what it means to be ethical and behave in an ethical way1 Gardner went on to explain that further research has revealed that in secondary and tertiary education,“Few outlets allow students to grapple with ambiguity, complexity, and their own opinions and beliefs.” However, according to The Good Project, these are essential components in preparing students to flourish in their work lives. 2 This capacity to navigate the unknown is something that UWCSEA has increasingly understood to be a critical outcome of their education for our students. The College has taken a view that has proven to be a reliable constant since it was 4 | Dunia June 2022
first conceived in the late 1980s: that the world is volatile, unpredictable, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) and we have a responsibility to prepare our students for this.
Educating for a VUCA World In 2011 UWCSEA began work on a significant undertaking: to articulate a K–12 curriculum. The initial project took six years, along the way developing the first iteration of UWCSEA’s Guiding Statements. This work included defining the UWCSEA Learning Principles, identifying the UWCSEA Profile and developing a written K–12 curriculum across four of the five elements of the UWCSEA Learning Programme. This was a deliberate shift, intent on equipping and empowering our students to live the UWC Mission throughout their lives. It also brought about the College-wide adoption of a conceptbased approach to teaching and learning in which students are introduced to concepts and conceptual understandings as they engage in knowledge and skill learning.3 “Our decision to move from content to concept-based is directly about preparing kids for life beyond school,” says Ellie Alchin, Director of Teaching and Learning at Dover Campus. “It’s about developing transferable understanding that can be applied in new contexts. The whole idea of our concept-based curriculum is about being prepared for the unexpected, and using what you’ve got to help you navigate the world.” More recent evolution of UWCSEA Guiding Statements has seen the embedding of the UWCSEA Wellbeing Principles (Competent, Autonomous and Connected), the defining of Holistic Education (to encompass Disciplinary and Transdisciplinary Learning, Experiential Learning, and Transfer of Learning) and the naming of five UWCSEA Mission Competencies, which outline the ways the College aims to equip students to bring the UWC Mission to life beyond UWCSEA.
Agency and ownership A concept-based approach also gives students agency and ownership over their thinking, which is essential for navigating a VUCA world.
Future-ready students need to exercise agency, in their own education and throughout life. Agency implies a sense of responsibility to participate in the world and, in so doing, to influence people, events and circumstances for the better. Agency requires the ability to frame a guiding purpose and identify actions to achieve a goal.” OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), 2018. The Future of Education and Skills: Education 2030 Carla Marschall, Director of Teaching and Learning at East Campus, says agency, which is embedded in the Wellbeing and Learning Principles, will continue to define a UWCSEA education regardless of what the future might look like. She describes the teaching of systems thinking in different parts of the learning programme as a good example of why, because the VUCA label stems partly from the interconnectedness of the world through systems. “If we help students to recognise systems, understand how parts can connect in non-linear ways to produce unintended consequences, and then equip them to be able to develop a tool kit of ways to influence systems, then we can help them ride the wave of complexity that they will encounter when they leave school.”
Qualities and Skills for life The College’s curriculum articulation project led to an intentional focus on developing social and emotional qualities and personal skills that would support students as they navigated challenges throughout their lives. This has ensured that opportunities to learn and practise the individual qualities and skills named in the UWCSEA Profile are embedded into all five areas of the learning programme and that age-appropriate understanding of each is a focus of the Personal and Social Education curriculum. The qualities and skills that comprise the UWCSEA Profile converge with those named in an OECD study published
in 2021, which identified qualities such as curiosity, responsibility, sociability, empathy and emotional control to be as important as cognitive skills in providing children a “fully packed tool box” to help them navigate the world as adults.4 Nick Alchin, Head of East Campus, describes these qualities as timeless, “Being a decent human being, a critical thinker, being able to communicate your point while being an active listener, these skills are not going out of fashion, and they never will.” He says that while UWCSEA has always been teaching these skills, articulating the curriculum led to an important development. “We realised that traditional subject areas could be the vehicle through which we develop transferable skills. So while we, of course, teach for conceptual understanding, we also teach so that students will be learning collaboration in a Maths classroom or empathy in a History classroom.”
Trends shaping the future In the Forum’s second keynote address Learning for a High Tech Era, Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills at the OECD, outlined several macro-level drivers of change which will shape the future. Among the issues he highlighted were how climate change will disrupt our lives far more than the Covid-19 pandemic, and how advancements in artificial intelligence will lead to a growing number of jobs being automated; meaning that many skills once considered essential may soon be obsolete. He also highlighted a trend in economic growth drivers away from tangible assets, to intangibles—noting the rise of global technology firms such as Google, Microsoft and Facebook. His point was that companies are increasingly created by ideas rather than industry and education needs to prepare learners for that, “We don’t know the future, but it’s very clear. We understand the broad trends that influence that future, and that could shape different futures. The better we become at imagining alternative futures and understanding their consequences, the better we will be prepared for the future that eventually arises.”5 June 2022 Dunia | 5
The changing way of work We know that some of the jobs once sought after by baby boomers, Gen Z and millennials are starting to morph or disappear, and new types of jobs are constantly being created. The pace of this change is driving an urgent need for the workforce of today to upskill and reskill to close a growing gap created by technology. It’s a period of change that Schleicher compared to the 18thcentury Industrial Revolution when mechanisation and largescale manufacturing rendered obsolete the craft-production skills of many workers. “It created so much social pain,” Schleicher said, “because they were not prepared for the new ways of working.” Schleicher went on to describe how education as we have known it for the past 100+ years grew out of the need of the then new industry-based economic system, which demanded workers with new skill sets. It’s now clear that our future also requires workers with different skill sets.
Getting to know oneself In the closing keynote Forrest Li, Founder, Chairman and CEO of gaming and e-commerce company Sea, offered three pieces of advice to students which point to the importance of knowing oneself in the world of work, “When you enter the working world, I hope you will do so with your values intact, I hope you will work more on your soft skills, not only worrying about your hard skills and I hope that you will take every chance you get to use new technologies to uplift others.”6 Li’s remarks underscore how much the world of work has changed, from requiring technical skills and know-how to placing importance on values, behaviours, attitudes and dispositions as an indicator of future success. Helping students to develop these skills and qualities in addition to gaining knowledge and understanding is a key
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facet of a UWCSEA education as it strives to equip individuals not just for university but to mobilise their learning to shape a better world throughout their lives. This building of character happens in many different ways. One strand of the five-part learning programme, Personal and Social Education, is dedicated to how students come to understand themselves and their relationships. Through age-appropriate group activities and mentoring, students learn how to communicate feelings and needs, problem-solve conflicts, navigate relationships and take responsibility. They learn about self-management, wellbeing and leadership. Building confidence and resilience are key parts of the programme that set them up to take on challenges not just in their life at school, but also beyond. Importantly, students learn to transfer their understanding to different environments and other parts of the learning programme. They might draw on or further develop their qualities and skills during an excursion as part of the Outdoor Education programme or when making choices and commitments to external organisations in Service. The ultimate aim is to empower students to embrace challenges by cultivating a strong sense of self, an adaptable and flexible mindset, an ability to think critically and to consider diverse views and opinions. As Li described in his talk, it was his love for gaming that led him to start Garena, the company that eventually grew to become Sea. Its success validated his belief that ideals and dreams should drive careers. “If you try, you will always be able to find a way to work on things you care about,” he says, adding that when the company evaluates talent it values qualities like commitment, discipline, responsibility, collaborative skills and a willingness to learn over pure technical ability. “Because every industry is a team sport. No individual can achieve great heights alone.”
Prepared for the future In considering the education required for the future world of work there may be expectation that any discussion would include topics like coding, AI, blockchain and frontier technologies. And while there is space for those topics to be explored in the curriculum, it is the skills, qualities, understandings and dispositions that will allow students to excel in futures that are yet unknown. At UWCSEA these are captured in the Mission Competencies which are expressed when students mobilise their learning in complex, real-world situations in service of the mission in their lives beyond UWCSEA. As a College that’s committed to innovating in education, adjustment to the curriculum continues. There’s a clear focus on being able to give students more choice in their educational pathway to better support their different ways of learning. This sort of agency can lead to greater motivation to learn, according to the OECD, which says that “these students are also more likely to have ‘learned how to learn’ – an invaluable skill that they can and will use throughout their lives.7 The College has already launched UWCSEA-designed courses for Grade 9 and 10 that align with the UWC Mission and offer an alternative pathway to IGCSE. And as it looks to the future, co-creating further pathways with entities outside of the College are likely to play a part. “We’re looking at partnerships with NGOs, partners in industry, universities and, of course, what matters to us as a school,” says Damian Bacchoo, High School Principal at East Campus. “For students to lead fulfilling and relevant lives we have to provide different ways to flourish, and work-aligned course development will be a feature of this.” It could be said that UWCSEA was set up from the beginning to approach education with a focus on the future. Our 60year old mission has an orientation toward action, describing
education as a force and defining peace and sustainability as enduring concerns that will lead to a better world. And so, as the world continues to respond to the impact of humanity and the forces of nature, the education on offer at UWCSEA will also continue to evolve. Footnotes [1] Good Work For Our Time: From Ideas to Impact. Howard Gardner, Harvard Graduate School of Education, UWCSEA Forum To Shape The Future, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0xJvDIcKY8 [2] Lesson Plans, The Good Project https://www.thegoodproject.org/lessonplans [3] Concept-based Teaching and Learning, UWCSEA Website, https://www. uwcsea.edu.sg/our-big-ideas/cbtl [4] OECD Findings: Learning that drives Student Success, Nick Alchin, October 2021 http://nickalchinuwcsea.blogspot.com/2021/10/oecd-findingslearning-that-drives.html [5] Learning for a High Tech Era, Andreas Schleicher, Director for Education and Skills and Special Advisor on Education Policy to the SecretaryGeneral at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) speaking at the UWCSEA Forum Learning to Shape the Future, April 2022 https://youtu.be/GLYE11AnO0Y [6] World of Work—Towards the Future, with Forrest Li, UWCSEA Forum To Shape The Future, 2022 https://youtu.be/3svUozzK2es [7] Student Agency for 2030, Concept note. OECD, 2019 https://www.oecd. org/education/2030-project/teaching-and-learning/learning/studentagency/Student_Agency_for_2030_concept_note.pdf
This article was adapted from UWCSEA White Paper 6: The Future World of Work. Download the full White Paper here:
Scan the QR code to download UWCSEA White Paper 5: Mission Competencies:
June 2022 Dunia | 7
FEATURE
INNOVATION IN ACTION Case studies from the UWCSEA Forum
As part of a year-long focus on exploring the future of education, the College launched the 50th Anniversary Innovation Grants, encouraging staff to extend existing projects and test new learning opportunities for our students. Made possible in part through community gifts to the Annual Fund, the intent was to catalyse ideas that were already in development by supporting those that had potential to create and extend their impact both within and beyond the College. “We wanted to combine a flexibility of approach with a way to build from the ground up, and to connect and build on ideas already alive in our community. We came up with the project based idea, because this matches best with where we observe people bring their skills together with their passions–at the transdisciplinary or interdisciplinary level–which is exactly what we are trying to encourage in our students,” explains Nick Alchin, Head of East Campus. The projects were presented at the UWCSEA Forum; read more below and then scan the QR codes to learn more.
Case study 1 | Virtual Reality: What’s in it for learners? IMMERSIVE AND INCLUSIVE LEARNING EXPERIENCES Over the last year, the UWCSEA community has explored how virtual reality (VR) technologies can enhance student learning. Thanks to a 50th Anniversary Innovation Grant, the Dover and East Libraries purchased five VR headsets each at the start of the school year. From transporting students to faraway lands or impossible to reach places (more on that later) to creating unique learning scenarios, VR has proven to be an interesting tool.
when you have a VR headset on, you can’t be distracted by your phone or look out the window. VR places learners right in the midst of the experience and this affords deep learning in ways not offered by any other technology. The ability to gesture and interact with objects within that environment further increases this immersion. And for neurodiverse learners, who benefit from multisensory learning and visualisation, VR is particularly powerful.
VR technologies are being adopted across almost every industry, including health, transportation, retail, and tourism to name a few. Exposure to VR technology helps prepare UWCSEA students for the new economies of the future, in which many careers will be connected to web3, or as it is also known as, the metaverse, in which VR technology plays a role. When people think of the metaverse, they may first land on Facebook or gaming, but VR is much more than that.
At UWCSEA, the VR project was spearheaded by Kurt Wittig and Philip Williams, Head of Libraries at Dover and East Campuses. Let’s explore some of the ways VR was used this year:
One of the aspects of VR that makes it a fascinating educational tool is its ability to fully immerse the learner; 8 | Dunia June 2022
Math Julie Dale, Head of High School Mathematics on Dover Campus, explored exponential functions with her Grade 9s in a Covid-19 pandemic simulation. Students put on the VR headsets and found themselves in a virtual queue for fast food. The person serving them sneezed and students saw the virus spreading. Students then explored
the rate at which the virus spread and investigated containment strategies, such as mask-wearing and hand washing. On a virtual whiteboard, students developed a mathematical model to describe the spread of the virus with tables, calculators and mathematical tools. Through the VR simulation, Julie reports an increase in student engagement and retention of information and the development of deeper conceptual understandings, Over the last year I’ve seen how VR offers students a more complete understanding of mathematical problems and brings math to life in exciting ways.” Julie Dale, Head of High School Mathematics, Dover Campus Theory of Knowledge As part of the IB TOK curriculum, students study a unit on technology, applying critical thinking skills and
Case study 2 | Mirrors and Windows: inclusive classrooms CURATING PRIMARY SCHOOL RESOURCES
evaluating the impact of technology on knowledge, communities and society. They question the ethical responsibilities of technology and how it can be used to influence political outcomes. Dover Campus TOK Teacher, Nina-Noelle Hall, wanted to expand her students’ understanding of the power of technology and had students experience two VR simulations. In the first, students were launched into space as an astronaut, and could look down at Earth while connected to the space station by a thin cable. In the second experience, students are sitting at the edge of a virtual lake when a train in the distance comes towards them and eventually goes off the track, exploding into a million butterflies right before them and then leading them into a womb. Nina shared, “The VR experiences sparked fascinating discussions amongst the students about the power of storytelling techniques and influencing viewpoints and outcomes for good or bad.”
The TOK VR experience was incredibly lifelike and engaging and helped me understand the tremendous power of technology to inspire and influence.” Nia, Grade 11, Dover Campus English and Humanities As part of their English and Humanities class on East Campus, Grade 6 students visited VR volcano, earthquake and tsunami simulations. Teacher Andrea McDonald wanted to provide a learning
experience to engage students for their Natural Hazard Unit of Study. The simulations helped to spark deeper student learning and solidify conceptual understandings. Next year, she hopes to integrate VR into the Development Unit of Study by inviting students to experience overcrowding in a slum in a realistic and compelling simulation. Beyond the classroom VR has been used widely across the College: an East-Dover Ready Player One book club was held, the Dover Counselling team explored the use of VR meditation sessions, and departmental leadership teams met virtually. A Girls in STEM hackathon at Dover challenged students to create female-friendly designs, and at the end of the session, the students interacted with their objects in 3D in the virtual world, seeing their objects come to life before their eyes. Throughout all the VR experiences, it is clear that the immersive learning experience is very compelling for students. Teachers report increased student motivation to fully understand what is going on, effectively taking learning to a deeper level of conceptual thinking. The power of VR to engage students, especially our neurodiverse learners, is exciting and important. Thank you to our community donors, who helped make this innovative learning experience possible. Scan the QR code to watch the Forum presentation here:
This project was centred on creating inclusion, seeking to support all members of our community to develop a strong sense of belonging at UWCSEA. Over the course of a year this Primary School team researched and curated a collection of books, songs, library resources, lesson plans and other resources for teachers and parents of young children, in support of conversations centred on issues of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). As conversations centred on topics of diversity, equity and inclusion grew across the College in 2019 and 2020, both parents and teachers began requesting ideas and resources to help them engage in these important discussions with children. The Dover Infant School began searching for resources to support engagement with teaching and learning focused on DEI (involving both examining existing library resources, and considering new resources to source). In our search for resources, we found very little available for educators and parents of young children. A practical way to embrace the complexity of the diverse UWCSEA community, the results are already visible in our Primary School classrooms and library. Plans are now underway to make the learnings from this project accessible to everyone in our UWCSEA community, and beyond.
Scan the QR code to watch the Forum presentation here: June 2022 Dunia | 9
Case study 3 | Reimagining mathematical education CHALLENGING STUDENTS TO CREATE PRACTICAL SOLUTIONS TO REAL WORLD PROBLEMS Adapted from UWCSEA Forum presentation by Tippi Zhu, Teacher of Mathematics, East Campus and Jia Cheng Anthony Shen ’22, East Campus graduate
as simulation of dynamic scenarios such as shopping malls and an active classroom. They are currently extending their simulation from two dimensional measures to three dimensional.
Tippi: Our maths department has always been interested in alternative approaches that might attract different types of learners from a diverse background, and how we can integrate the UWC Mission and Values into our academic programme.
Anthony: Another group prototyped, 3D printed, and assembled a low costEEG detecting device. The mathematics involved including a Fast-Fourier transform [algorithm] to break down the brain waves into different frequency ranges, which they tested against independent variables such as resting, reading, and watching a video. They are in collaboration with service partner Apex Harmony Lodge and Project Fuxi to look at the effects of music on the brain activity of dementia patients.
Anthony: Our goal is to make mathematics enrichment, which fall under the activities element of the five-element learning programme, both disciplinary and interdisciplinary, to be experiential, and to encourage the development of transferable skills. Tippi: With this in mind, we developed Project 0, an extracurricular mathematical enrichment programme. Unlike a traditional activity, which is very much a linear progression following a path set by either a teacher or a student leader, all of the student groups in our programme independently developed and evolved their own projects from start to finish. Anthony: Some 93 students comprising 27 groups applied to be part of Project 0. We selected 21 students and five projects; as with any selective activity, we were at pains when not everyone received the opportunity to take part, as I’m sure many other ideas would have done well. But working with six student leaders, 11 community members–comprising industry professionals, alumni, and on-campus staff–we undertook nine months of project work in a number of areas. Tippi: We have a project that is focused on the globally-relevant concern of optimal social distancing during the time of pandemic. Students looked into the graphic design of static scenarios such as theatre and restaurants, as well 10 | Dunia June 2022
Tippi: We have a project that is looking at daily life issues such as traffic jams before and after school. Which is a great direction to practise problem solving with mathematics, especially when this topic could go all the way to a PhD thesis. Our students have done observations on the key corners around the campus. After identifying the cause of traffic jams, they looked into different AI algorithms to detect cars that were changing lanes inappropriately. These Grade 9 students made some very insightful data analysis. Anthony: Not all of our projects are STEM-based. One group looked at whether group diversity as measured by personality, leadership traits, and gender, has an effect on group performance. Their journey used several different approaches to examine the core problem of whether more diverse teams are better teams including: through a computerised simulation (coded by one of their members), interviews with different groups around school, and a randomised psychology experiment involving over 200 students in which they tested three different methods of group organisation.
Tippi: And our vertical agriculture project aims to enhance sustainability with innovation. Our candidates researched past vertical planter models and designs from the perspectives of life expectation, climate impacts, and energy efficiency and came up with a revolutionary model: a simple one piece module that can be scaled up to any size in any space. They have created the prototype and will use data simulation and collection to analyse and optimise the model on campus. Anthony: Let’s hear directly from some of our students on their experiences in Project 0. Jason: For me, Project 0 has been a big exercise in problem solving. So it’s about how you look at it, what is this problem and how can we overcome this together, working towards a bigger goal. What this has allowed me to develop is that idea of, hey, we are getting stuck here, do we need another perspective? Do we need to look at this in another way? Or do we need someone else to provide a fresh look? Gauri: All of our ideas that we brainstormed initially were about enhancing and contributing towards the wellbeing of our school community. I think it especially shows how we value our community and the idea of giving back to the community. It demonstrates how we can use something like maths, which we’re all passionate about, to do that. Aarshi: You have to be open-minded and negotiate with other people, as well as being steadfast on the target; but setting and streamlining that target was what we struggled with initially. And by researching and researching and non stop researching, we were able to develop the target and those skills and that is really important. Anthony: We hope that you see in our students reflection how they are developing not only the mathematical
skills, but also skills of collaboration, communication, critical thinking and creativity which are also essential to being a good mathematician, and whatever field of study they pursue in the future Tippi: My take away as a teacher is that this learning cycle seems to be for both sides. It will challenge our educators to make innovative applications of mathematics, to make connections rather than just maths formulas, and to provide spontaneous support rather than standard unit plans. Anthony: Because Project 0 is an Activity, meant to supplement the maths curriculum, there is more space to explore concepts without the looming worry of a final exam score. Inspiringly, our academic programmes are also reimagining mathematics education. The new UWCSEA curriculum in Grade 9 and 10 mathematics, an alternative to IGCSE, overlaps in part with our journey in Project 0. There is also increased emphasis on innovation, with the launch of Innovation@East last year and addition of Data Science and Computing Leads to support students in the coming year. So, whether you are a student like me or a teacher, or someone who’s interested in education, we now ask you the question “So, how do you reimagine maths education?”
To watch the Forum presentation, scan the QR Code:
Scan QR code to explore more on the Project 0 website:
Case study 4 | Project Fuxi INTERSECTION OF INNOVATION AND SERVICE Research shows that music awakens a part of the brain not impacted by dementia and evokes responses, such as singing and movement, and reconnection with loved ones, which in turn improves the quality of life of persons with dementia (PWD), and their families and carers. By leveraging UWCSEA’s community network and student-led project groups, Project Fuxi hoped to develop a user-friendly and cost effective way for PWD and their carers across Singapore to enjoy the benefits of regular music therapy. The project extends an eight year collaboration with Apex Harmony Lodge (AHL), in which a High School service group has collaborated with AHL staff to develop and deliver Music Therapy for PWD during their weekly service. Starting in 2016 with the ‘Music with Reminiscence’ programme, 33 students collected data as part of a two-year supervised research programme involving 61 PWD. Results indicated statistically significant increases in scores of positive emotions for residents over the period, while students gained greater understanding of the effects of living with dementia and the positive impact that music and personal interactions can have for elderly people. The student group has continued to run weekly music therapy, building a collection of Singapore-focused music into a library on which they can draw as they get to know the history and music preferences of each client. Project Fuxi proposed creation of cloud based software on an open-source platform accessible by anyone in Singapore and beyond. It combines coding, AI (matching biographical information with musical heritage), as well as collecting and tracking EEG data, and creating links to existing music libraries. Copyright and cost-effective access to music was a particular challenge which the group hoped to investigate further, in parallel with developing the online tools. Important milestones in the project this year included creating connections with Microsoft CTO Justin Baird, who is advising the group on the technology; EMOTIV, a company that makes EEG headsets to explore design; and Music and Memory, US-based not for profit who works in this space. The team also met with Spotify to explore options for cost-effective access to music, which has proved to be a more intractable challenge and has required a re-think of some of the projects original priorities. Several groups of students at East Campus continue to engage in coding and other technology development projects with the support of staff and community volunteers. These projects will continue next school year. Work continues on this incredible intersection of innovation and service learning, as the group adapts to the challenges and opportunities that the project presents. Scan the QR code to watch the Forum presentation here:
Scan the QR code to listen to the Service podcast here:
Explore it all! Recordings and transcripts from 6 keynotes, 2 partner presentations, 10 expert educator workshops and 19 exploratory sessions on our themes of Peace, Sustainability, Inclusion, Innovation and Partnerships: June 2022 Dunia | 11
FEATURE
Listening, learning and committing to action Reflecting on our DEI journey of systemic change
By Carma Elliot, College President, adapted from an article published in the International School Leader Magazine, June 2022 Over 60 years ago, Kurt Hahn’s vision recognised the power of an education that deliberately brought people together from different backgrounds, with shared purpose. At UWCSEA, over 50 years, we have acknowledged that our vision of peaceful, sustainable futures would only be achieved through the combined strengths and differences of many, working together and committed to deliberate actions for greater equity and inclusion on our campuses. We also recognise this as one of our greatest challenges; as we consciously cultivate a diverse community of around 5,600 students and 1,000 staff from over 100 nations, we cannot leave the development of intercultural competency to pure chance.
A strategic focus In 2017/2018, when UWCSEA was devising its five year strategy—taking the College to its 50th anniversary and beyond—there was a strong focus on diversity as one of our greatest sources of strength, and as a strong compass for our future direction. As leaders and educators, we understood our vital role in creating and promoting change, and that we had a responsibility to stand up against social injustice in all forms. In this, we acknowledged that we had not done enough to address systemic change. The Values in Action initiative launched in 2019, which convened community dialogues to review our core values, 12 | Dunia June 2022
focused closer attention on issues of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion (DEI). In the 2020/2021 school year, unconscious bias training for leaders deepened our awareness of less visible forms of bias. How we recruit, how we communicate, how we represent multiple perspectives and listen to underrepresented voices—these are just some of the behaviours and practices that we reviewed to improve. Our DEI journey of the last few years has been about all in our community feeling heard, valued and respected. About all of us valuing the investment of time and resources to push through the inevitable challenges; and about all of our planning being grounded in action. Throughout, we have encouraged students to debate, discuss, and engage with topics surrounding race, class and privilege, and how they could take control of their education and educational experiences in a world where these things matter a great deal. Supporting students to better understand their identity and the role that cultural differences play in relationships and strong communities are key themes across all the elements of our learning programme, and this has proved a rich seam of knowledge and insight.
Lessons along the way It has been a journey in which we have challenged ourselves and each other and held each other to account for commitments made. We have worked on how we build bridges within and among our community to foster a culture of respect, trust and understanding. Has it all been smooth
sailing? By definition, DEI work is difficult, complex and challenging—so the answer is no. Have we learned from our mistakes, our missteps? Undoubtedly, yes. Understanding diversity and working towards inclusion is complex and takes time, as do raising awareness, building trust and understanding. Engaging the broadest community is critical: our community has valued the extended dialogue; and although on occasion we have appeared to be making slow progress this work is such that these conversations take time to work through an embed. Some reflections on the lessons we have learned, often the hard way: • As we began to explore how we might further support diversity to flourish throughout our College in the future, a series of ‘World Cafés’ in 2019 created an opportunity for all to contribute to an Action for Diversity plan. This provided a strong baseline and benchmark for our work— but also revealed significant differences in priorities among students, staff, parents and alumni. • We had a fairly clear idea of what our mission required of us, but did we have enough difficult conversations to start with? Did we have a shared understanding of what ‘good’ might look like—and how we might recognise and mark milestones along the way? Did we do enough at the outset to seek partnerships? More recently, we could have spent more time establishing a clearer understanding of what systemic change would mean. • Following the murder of George Floyd in 2020, we signalled that we were taking a deliberate anti-racist stance, and this commitment was both important and urgent. However, we did not do enough to communicate that this work was not to the exclusion of other work—a powerful lesson learned. We have a wide spectrum of voices in our community: concerns were expressed about over-intellectualising DEI issues, or for jumping on a US-centric response—perhaps because we were without a solid justification and strategy specific to our South East Asian context. Navigating these tensions while ensuring all voices are included continues to be challenging. • In our large community, as well as gathering information, data and perspectives from focus groups, it took us almost a year to map the many initiatives already underway across both campuses. We identified early on that we needed a shared language and lexicon for our dialogue and we spent time exploring options to achieve this. A particular challenge has been a shared understanding of the language of diversity across our whole community. We have sought to bring the widest community with us by engaging parents in workshops on Intercultural Competence and Unconscious Bias in English, Chinese, Japanese and Korean. • We invested significantly in our professional learning, by designing a roadmap which focused on identity and intercultural competence, as well as how our cultural
values shape our (unconscious) biases. The roadmap has helped us to surface the main issues, both from a personal and professional perspective, and to engage across our large community. • What we teach and how we teach it is key: work continues on a review of our curriculum which includes close examination of whether our broad programme included perspectives beyond the traditional Western narrative. • We have not always succeeded in creating inclusive and safe spaces for all community members. Acknowledging that this may look different across the community, we could have spent more time agreeing what constitutes a safe space. We have added more structures for support, embedded in schools, and created a pilot bias incident protocol, with a focus on restorative practices. • We have adapted our recruitment and selection processes in order to make this more equitable. We have also invested in training on recruitment bias, and we lobby our government partners, where we feel policies mitigate against diverse recruitment.
Sharing ownership to accelerate change This work has been a powerful validation of our UWC Mission, and purpose: the peace and sustainability of our planet has always needed communities operating with a high degree of intercultural competence. Intentionally promoting intercultural competence throughout our school culture as well as through the individual actions of our students, staff and wider community is well within our grasp. Looking back on our DEI work, there are many things we could have done differently, and better: in particular, we could have worked toward greater buy-in from our community when we acknowledged change was needed, and in determining how we were going to address the changes in a systemic way. Our main learning has been that—without being complacent—it is possible to find a way to address the big issues through collective endeavour, and to build trust even while disagreeing. We can and should allow space for kindness in the process of difficult discussions and decisions. A lot of this is about challenging and changing behaviours, attitudes and belief systems. It is the responsibility of us all. From next school year the College will adopt a model of distributed leadership on DEIJ, with shared ownership facilitating positive change. We acknowledge that there will always be more for us to do; as our founder Kurt Hahn said 60 years ago, “there is more in us.” We can and will achieve most by working together, for full accountability, as we move towards the next 50 years in our UWCSEA story. Scan the QR code to watch a Forum presentation on DEI at UWCSEA here:
June 2022 Dunia | 13
FEATURE
Aligning College behaviours and values Integrating mission-aligned decision making into overseas trip planning
We have written extensively about our long-term efforts to build, manage and maintain our campuses as sustainable showcases that support student learning. Prior to the launch of the UWCSEA Strategy 2018–2023, many other initiatives have inched us towards our goal. But by the time Covid-19 stopped travel, work was well underway to examine how we might further align our behaviours and decisions with our mission and the ultimate goal of net zero. Outdoor Education, which is experienced by every student at the College, was one of the most obvious places to start. The programme is one of the most dearly held in the hearts of our community and so any change would require careful consideration. An existing collaboration between sustainability leads and the Outdoor Education team was accelerated during the first Covid-19 lockdown (April-June 2020), examining how we might shift the environmental impact of our existing outdoor education trips. This work directly informed planning and decisions in the necessary pivot from overseas trips to the campus and Singapore-based Outdoor Education programme of the past two school years and will continue informing the expedition programme. However, in the course of a ‘pre-Covid’ year, numerous other overseas trips took place as part of our extensive commitment to experiential learning in the elements of Service, Activities and Academics, and these also contributed significantly to the collective impact of the College. Tasked with creating an assessment tool that would allow the College to understand both the environment and educational impact of all proposed trips when travel resumed, the campus-based Environmental Sustainability Leads, Gordon Hirons (Dover) and Claire Psillidies (East), set to work.
Understanding the carbon footprint The College‘s aim is to balance decisions that ensure student safety, wellbeing and learning outcomes while minimising our environmental and social footprint wherever possible. Continuing work begun by Nathan Hunt, UWCSEA’s first Director of Sustainability, this included a review of policy and practice and identification of a tool to map the carbon footprint of the expedition programme. Gordon’s role as High School Science Teacher on Dover Campus prompted him to volunteer to continue to map the College’s carbon footprint against all trips, and to identify a way for future trip planners to evaluate carbon impact as part of their initial trip proposal. After assessing a number of tools, the UN-affiliated ICAO Carbon Emissions Calculator 14 | Dunia June 2022
for flights was agreed. This tool, made available by the International Civil Aviation Organization, reflects realtime emissions based on publicly available industry data that accounts for factors such as aircraft types, route data, passenger load factors and cargo carried. Trip planners estimate the emissions attributed to any air travel using this calculator, and/or calculate carbon emissions for land transport on the basis of 27g (0.027kg) of CO2 per km travelled. This land and sea transport figure is under review as the College undertakes further work to estimate the carbon emissions of coaches and ferries.
Social and environmental trip behaviours Claire, Head of Environmental Sustainability on East, also drew on her long experience in planning and delivering an extensive schedule of Service learning trips. This work was guided by the UWC Mission, with the aim being, she explains, “to create a ‘handprint’ that tried to reduce our ‘footprint’ while modelling sustainable and regenerative behaviours and bringing best practices into our operations.” This experience informed the list of social and environmental impact considerations that now support trip organisers to bring a sustainability lens to trip planning for any purpose. They do this by rating the trip against each of the following considerations to create a ‘trip behaviours score’: • Environmental food, local and seasonal choices, move to plant based where possible • Meaningful, intentional and reciprocal engagement with NGO and GC partners, local community groups and third party providers where possible
• Elements of environmental stewardship through direct or regenerative action, aside from payment of carbon offsetting fees • Behaviours that respect the natural environment, minimise resource use and waste, and support connection with nature • Accommodation choices demonstrate environmentally friendly policies and processes, showing mission alignment through a high commitment to the protection of nature, the local community and the environment • Ground transport as sustainable as practicable • Third Party Provider(s) and leisure activities practise and promote sustainability and are of benefit to the local community, including assessment of their supply and outsourcing chains • Participants bring a personal sustainability kit e.g., crockery, cutlery, bags, storage containers and reusable water bottles • Equipment lists, for example kit and clothing etc., are considered in light of sustainable practices e.g., no goodie bags or trip tshirts, circular economy behaviours are encouraged both by participants and partners • Donations and gifts of equipment and resources for local community and partners have been considered in light of the economic system support in the host country, sustainability practices and the needs of the recipient community • Explicit teaching of social enterprise engagement e.g., consideration of the impact of the visit on the community and location; shop well if you must shop at all, etc. The social and environmental trip behaviours section of the tool was developed by East Service over a number of years, and launched as part of the College-wide pilot as staff began to make plans for post-pandemic travel. “It isn’t perfect and there are many nuances, but it is proving to be a great starting point for our community,” says Claire.
Maximising educational opportunities The third area that goes into making up the overseas trip sustainability assessment score is that of educational impact. In this, the sustainability leads adapted an existing framework created by the Heads of Outdoor Education Oliver Sampson (Dover) and Chris Newman (East), which helps to align learning experiences on trips more closely with the mission. The checklist originally guided the planning of Outdoor Education experiences across K–11 using the Outdoor Education curriculum standards. Adjusted to extend its applicability beyond the expedition programme, and all trip planners are now asked to self evaluate their proposed itinerary against the following criteria: • Adventure - does the experience encourage risk-taking, resourcefulness and the embracing of unpredictability?
• Connection with place - are students asked to learn local knowledge, skills and issues associated with a place? • Creativity - does the experience promote creative thinking and self-expression? • Excitement in discovery - does the experience promote inquiry and discovery? • Interdisciplinary learning - does the experience allow students to connect learning from multiple areas of the learning programme, e.g., academics, PSE? • Personal challenge - are students supported in stepping out of their comfort zones to experience mental or physical challenges? Does the experience develop students’ personal responsibility/looking after self and others? • Self-reflection - does the experience explicitly encourage quiet contemplation and build students’ self-awareness and ability to self-reflect? • Skill development and application - will students learn new skills or apply existing skills in appropriate situations? “These adapted provocations proved really successful in our initial pilots,” says Claire, “There have been many shifts in thinking as a result of explicitly examining and considering these. I think there’s a real power in making the invisible visible, tracking our journey, and holding ourselves accountable to our mission.”
Learning and growing As the College begins to plan trips further afield once again, these guidelines and the assessment tool will be used and tracked. All trip proposals in the 2022/2023 school year will use a scale of 1 to 6 to rate on two criteria: 1. Carbon Footprint 2. Educational Impact + Trip Behaviours (combined and averaged) The two scores for each trip are then plotted on a Trip Evaluation grid as part of a process which takes into account other factors, such as whether the same experience can be delivered at a location within or closer to Singapore and whether the trip being planned can integrate other elements of the learning programme. In its pilot year, sustainability leaders will gather feedback from users, and continue to develop supporting resources, such as guides for ethical and environmental consumerism to support travel planning. UWCSEA has prided itself on our capacity to offer a rich and exciting range of trips. We are, at the same time, acutely and increasingly aware of the urgency to reduce our carbon footprint, and to model for our students the behaviours that support our mission for a sustainable future.
• Collaboration - does the experience encourage team and leadership development through collaboration? June 2022 Dunia | 15
GRADUATI
SATURDAY
DOVER
This May, we returned at last to the congratulate the 583 members of the Cl The cohort completed the challenge entirely within the challenging restrict therefore seemed particularly fitting th together to celebrate their achievemen
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students
Congratulations Class of 2022, ou
24 scholars
51 countries
We won’t dwell on the difficulties and stresses of the past three years because, true to the UWC spirit, we as a school have come together today and we have prevailed. To us that is the essence of the UWC Movement—togetherness and unity in times of adversity. As we stand here in 2022, we can only hope that the values we can take away from our UWC education are values that will help ensure that peace and a sustainable planet are achievable realities. Stefano Chiampo ’22 and Charlotte Ion ’22 Student speakers
Ultimately UWCSEA, and your life beyond it is what we believe it to be. Its essence, which Graham Silverthorne sought to define in the [UWCSEA] 50th Anniversary book, is you, and the generation before you and the generation before that. Our mission and values are just ink, but your beliefs and actions give them life, substance and colour. You graduate today as part of a legacy that dates back 50 years. Linsey Lawrence High School Principal, Dover Campus
ION 2022
Y, 21 MAY
EAST
National University of Singapore to lass of 2022 on High School graduation. of their High School Diploma almost tions created by the pandemic, and it hat our community were able to gather nts and to say our farewells in person.
261
raduates, proud family members and monies were joined by a global audience ers in 75 countries.
students
ur newest alumni. Stay connected!
21 scholars
Adulthood might mean asking the right questions; which are likely to be about your lifetime purpose. The questions may be a little scary, because there is no perfect information, no perfect rationality. Life demands that we take actions and make commitments even though the future is uncertain. Anyone who has given their heart in love, brought a child into the world, watched them walk across a stage like this, headed into an uncertain future, knows this to be true. And now it’s your truth too. Damian Bacchoo High School Principal, East Campus
Bring the commitment to care and empathy that lies at the very heart of the mission and what we have learnt here at UWCSEA. Use these to bring together new communities, make new familial connections and don’t let the presence of negativity, bias and other bad actions convince you that they are too monumental to be solved. Keaan Nesfield ’22 Student speaker
50 countries
FEATURE
Plus ça change: Reflecting on 26 years at UWCSEA
This June, we farewell Elizabeth Bray, Head of Dover Campus, after 26 years at the College. Over the past quarter of a century, Lizzie has seen many positive changes at the College and been an integral part of the rich tapestry she so often celebrates in her messages to the community. In many ways, her story tells the story of the College, a march through significant moments that helped to establish UWCSEA as a leader in international education. In her first year at the College, the Board decided to expand to include younger students. Not long after that, amongst many other changes, Lizzie was appointed Head of Lower School. She was the staff-elected member of the Board of Governors when we decided to open a second campus in Tampines. She led (shepherded, sometimes cajoled) the Dover Campus through the challenge of our first CIS accreditation in 2012, and subsequently imagined and initiated the K–12 curriculum articulation project, shaping many elements of our Guiding Statements and the five elements of our Learning Programme. She was Middle School Principal and then Head of Campus, steering our community through a pandemic. All seminal moments in our history. It is not surprising, however, that when we ask Lizzie to reflect on her time at the College, it is the students and the people that she talks about most. The stories she tells are not of key moments in history, but significant moments in the relationships that matter, between colleagues, between teachers and parents and, most importantly, between teachers and students. Lizzie’s reflection paints a picture that is specific to Dover Campus, recognisable still today, though much changed. We thank Lizzie from our hearts for being part of our community and wish her all good things for the future.
18 | Dunia June 2022
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference.” These words from Robert Frost’s poem have remained a favourite of mine, since Ms De Mello first taught me to analyse the structure of a poem many years ago at school in Montreal, Canada. Thinking about the roads that I have travelled, I am immensely grateful for each bend and twist in the road as they have afforded me the opportunity to learn from and work alongside incredible human beings. The act of reflecting on 26 years in Singapore at UWCSEA creates a kaleidoscope of memories flashing through my brain. Taking the 196 to Dover Road; walking up the tree lined driveway past the old boarding houses where I spent many an evening as a ‘non-resident assistant’—we had boarders as young as 11 years old back then! Past the old swimming pool where some of my skills were put to use as a synchronized swimming coach. Down to the often soggy pitch to coach girls football. My first classroom was in what is now our Humanities and Arts block. Global politics rooms were once the “Lower School” (Grade 6 and 7) Science labs. My first phone was a Nokia 3310 and a fax machine was essential. The students referred to the blue and gray stripes of their shirts in a less than complimentary manner. They had to wear these from Grade 6-10 before finally being able to wear a white shirt in Grade 11. It wasn’t until late 2001 that brighter colours began to appear as part of the school uniform. One big mistake was the year Grade 8 and 9 wore a muddy brown colour shirt! Trips and outdoor education were well established but we were always on the lookout for new locations. At one time Taman Negara, Malaysia was really only accessible by train and boat. It became very inaccessible on one trip when the single rail track was blocked by a lumber spill. The contingency fund that I was in charge of was very well used for the sixty Grade 6 students and their teachers. I think that was the point that the school phone number became embedded in my memory cells, and it is still there. Pulau Tioman became the go-to location for Grade 6 adventures. Travelling there by hovercraft; by plane and finally by bus and ferry. Thankfully the hovercraft and plane options no longer exist. The hovercraft route required a large supply of airplane barf bags on the packing list. Some part of my heart will always belong to the Grade 6 team and the students of 6EBR, relocated to the 2EL pod with science labs and math classrooms including extraordinarily bright pink sofas in the central pod space. I do hope the current primary school occupants of this space have as much fun there as we did. My flashbacks through the years include a number of images of animals—and not one of them was in a zoo. The python at the bus stop was a bit of a shock. The monitor lizards and otters scampering towards the drains made me laugh. The snakes hiding in the trees and the owls, kingfishers, bats and hornbills swooping past me as I walk through the campus were always a surprise—but so very special. There are so many mysteries that remain unresolved and that is okay too. Why is handball so popular and how come ‘our rules’ are different from East Campus? Chicken 65 is possibly one of the biggest taste mysteries. I have never understood its popularity. Our unique naming conventions added to Singapore’s three letter acronyms make sentences such as “the bus is caught in traffic on the CTE so the students from 6EBR will be late for the football game on the AYE” perfectly acceptable, if not universally understood. My best memories of UWCSEA will always include our students. Whether they were in my tutor group of 6EBR; part of my Reading Buddies service; in my mathematics or science class; a member of a student leadership group; a boarding house student; a graduate or an alum, each interaction has contributed to who I am today—and for that I will be forever grateful. New generations will build on what has come before, and our raison d’etre will be strengthened with each new iteration. June 2022 Dunia | 19
SPOTLIGHT
SPOTLIGHT ON …
SPORTS: BACK IN THE GAME Our representative sports teams took to the field, the arena, the pool, the pitch, the court, the sports hall, the gymnasium, the water and even the walls as inter-school sports resumed across the island in time for Term 3. Proudly wearing the Phoenix and Dragon, teams from U8 to U19 competed in Badminton, Basketball, Climbing, Cricket, Cross Country, Football, Golf, Gymnastics, Hockey, Netball, Rugby, Tennis, Touch Rugby, Sailing, Swimming, Track & Field and Volleyball. Pictured: UWCSEA Dover U19A Touch Rugby team in a match against Tanglin Trust School on 11 May 2022 at the AYE Field on Dover Campus.
COMMUNITY NEWS
Looking for long-term peace Celebrating our year-long partnership with the Asian Peace Programme As part of our year-long 50th anniversary celebration, we turned to the mission for inspiration and guidance, committing to incorporating “Peace” as a foundational element of the programme of events. The theme, woven through our work and our celebrations throughout the year, was also a focus of UWC Day on 21 September. As the culminating event on UWC Day, we welcomed Professor Kishore Mahbubani to a speaker series event named in his honour, where he and College President Carma Elliot engaged in a wide ranging discussion on the topic of peace. The event was also the launch of the year-long partnership between UWCSEA and the Asian Peace Programme (APP), housed in the Asia Research Institute (ARI) of the National University of Singapore, with the aim of building on our shared commitment to the understanding and promotion of enduring peace. The partnership involved establishing a one year UWCSEA Fellowship position at the APP with a focus on discussion and research about peace, peace building and conflict, particularly in ASEAN and South-East Asia. Together, we selected Bertrand Seah for the position, whose research under the Fellowship aptly focuses on the intersection between peace and environmentalism, particularly international climate diplomacy. A perfect expression of our mission and values in action! The UWCSEA-Asian Peace Programme Peace Essay Competition, launched in March, was a core part of UWCSEA’s partnership with the APP. The competition was an opportunity for UWCSEA students of all ages to write a policy essay and to have their essays read by prominent academics and policy practitioners from across the globe. “When I first started discussions with APP, we envisaged that this competition would be an opportunity to encourage direct student involvement in the peace agenda, focused on Asia, and promote student voice on critically important issues,” explains Carma Elliot, UWCSEA College President. “I am proud that we had significant interest from students on this theme, with 50 entries from students across in Grades 7 to 12. This gives me such hope for the future to know that our young people are engaged in the kind of conversations necessary to bring forward peace and progress.” It was apt that the culminating event of the partnership with the APP, the announcement of the winners of the Peace Essay Competition, should also be the last formal event of the 50th year, and was timed to align with the International Day of UN Peacekeepers. Given the current global context, it seemed
even more relevant that the theme for this year’s day was “People. Peace. Progress: The Power of Partnerships” Ten essays were longlisted, and the judges all acknowledged the incredible insight with which the students wrote about complex conflict situations. The winners of the essay competition were announced on a Zoom meeting with Professor Mahbubani and Carma attended by students and teachers; the following three students were selected to have their essays published on the APP website: • 1st place: Tanvi Kothari, “Thailand and the Barisan Revolusi Nasional - Transforming Governmental Frameworks for Long-term Peace” • 2nd place: Kamila Hak, “Building a Process of Trust between India and Pakistan on Kashmir” • 3rd place: Vanshika Anand, “Solutions Towards Peace Along the Sino-India Border” Special mentions also went to Aarush Yendamuri whose essay was titled “India-Pakistan: The Pakistan Conflict” and Leon Hunte who wrote on “The West Papua Conflict.” Congratulations to our published essayists, and thank you to all of the students who took up the challenge to share their thinking. The strength of the interest and the students’ willingness to engage so thoughtfully in complex, difficult issues gives us real hope for the future, confirming that so many of our young people remain committed to the mission of peace and a sustainable future.
Scan the QR code to read the essays published on the APP website:
June 2022 Dunia | 21
COMMUNITY NEWS
Finding home in
theatre
Nimisha and Raniyah have been instrumental during the pandemic years in providing opportunities for all students to still be engaged in theatre-making using a strong ensemble process and creative generation of ideas in the staging of the plays across the period 2020 to 2022. We are grateful to them for the strong leadership shown and the warm collaborative nature of their approach to directing. We shall miss them.
Act I, Scene I Time: 20 May 2020 Set: Director nestled on a sofa. Outside the window, not a soul on the street. Middle of lockdown. The first wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic. Two directors in their respective homes turn the last page of their scripts, the vision of a fully developed production already running amok in their imaginations. Enlivened, they put down their scripts and opened their laptops. They click the all too familiar “Join Meet” button, unaware of the significance it would come to hold. This was our first official Google Meet as directors. A title that we would see on various programmes, a title that we believed we understood and a title whose true meaning we were about to uncover. We entered that Google meeting with hidden panic and confusion about how we would possibly handle all the jigsaw pieces that would realise the scenes from our imagination. While in reality, the process was more complicated than we ever thought, we also had a lot more help than we expected. In just the first week we virtually met with a plethora of people of different specialisations who were as excited to share these stories as we were. We learnt on the job and the learning curve was undoubtedly steep.
Act I, Scene II By Nimisha Iyer ’22 and Raniyah Basheer ’22, East Campus
Time: 28 August 2020 Set: The Drama Studios. Groups of students waiting outside to audition. Then, we reached…. the auditions. To be honest, we felt almost like imposters with our little notebooks and improvised criteria to judge the actors. We learnt that confidence was key not only to believing in yourself but to have those who rely on you believe in your ability. The biggest support system was having each other and the other directors to reassure our impressions. Post-auditions, we huddled in the drama office, with warm tea and snacks, discussing late into the night. This office became our personalised human library to ask our technical questions, but also a sanctuary to release our emotions. So, it was no surprise that we found ourselves, back there, in August 2021.
22 | Dunia June 2022
Act II, Scene I Time: 28 August 2021 Set: Black Box Studio with a giant glass cube and wooden stairs This time around, we were much more comfortable in our leadership roles. We had a different rapport with the department, one of comfort, that allowed us to extend the way we bounced ideas between the community. This pushed us in our creative thinking. We no longer felt limited by our knowledge and were secure enough in ourselves to take a risk. Devising a production creates a high-energy atmosphere for experimental play that unlocks raw human emotions. Giving the cast the autonomy to experiment with bolder ideas naturally formed a familial relationship. And bigger productions always bring bigger emotions. And bigger emotions require bigger hugs of support. So to everyone who made this experience beautiful, you know who you are <3
Act II, Scene II Time: 20 May 2022 Set: In the Drama Studios, for the final time Theatre is fundamentally about people. Which is what makes it special amongst all our art forms. After being involved in theatre for five years, we have concluded that it is always the people that make the process. Even in unprecedented times of social distance, directing theatre was never an isolated process. From a practical perspective, it is impossible for a show to come to fruition with a lone individual managing it. A director’s vision is worth nothing without the expertise of set, costume and lighting designers who functionally and creatively construct an immersive world to play with. Just consider the vivid imaginations of children, playing makebelieve. This creativity is something we are all born with, and something we unfortunately lose, unless there is a space, whether that be a stage, a studio, or a classroom, where we are free to express our unbridled emotions. Diversity in theatre comes from different experiences, ideas and visions that co-exist without animosity or judgement. When these communications skills are applied to our leadership position, they take on professional attitudes and conventions as they are used in the real world. These cement invaluable soft skills that go beyond the confines of a traditional classroom. For example, we learnt the sensitivity with which to convey and receive constructive feedback in order to create the best possible outcome. We learnt to strike a balance between creative workflows and structure to keep the process grounded. One of the most remarkable feelings in the creative process is, interestingly, letting it go. At the start of the creative process, you feel a sense of personal ownership of the piece— it’s “mine”. Your thoughts and your vision are under your
Photo credits: Noodle Photography
control. Gradually, it transforms into a collective ownership— the play becomes “ours”. It encompasses the labours of everyone on stage as well as off stage. Eventually, we hand it over to the audience—it’s “yours” to watch and interpret. This transfer of ownership is the foundation of art. It allows us to connect people across places and times, outliving individuals but carrying the values they instil within it.
Act III, Epilogue Time: 30 November 2027 Set: UWCSEA East Drama We return to watch the 7th annual Student Theatre Festival, reminiscing about the year it began. As the lights come up, we spot the director hiding behind the set in the dark. Their foot tapping with anxiety while their face beams with pride. A wave of nostalgia overcomes us. We realise the lessons learnt, the relationships built and the emotions experienced are bigger than any singular production. Theatre has been our privilege and every student should experience its magic. June 2022 Dunia | 23
COMMUNITY NEWS
PROJECT WEEK SINGAPORE
336
Dover students
74
Dover groups
255
East students
60
East groups
By Kate Lewis (Dover) and Agi Toth (East), Project Week Coordinators For well over 40 years Project Week ran annually, despite challenges such as Bird Flu, H1N1, SARs, natural hazards and political unrest in the region. It took a pandemic to stop the trips in 2020. There were fears the experience would be lost forever when the circuit-breakers of 2021 and ongoing restrictions meant Project Week was cancelled for a second year. It was therefore an enormous pleasure to see students resuming the valuable educational tradition with Project Week 2022 in Singapore. Project Week is a unique programme, undertaken by all Grade 11 students on both campuses. It involves independent, low cost trip planning, which challenges students to learn about themselves and their ability to work effectively with others beyond the limits of the classroom. Project Week has a CAS (Creativity, Activity, and Service) focus, which is an integral part of the IB Diploma Core requirement, allowing students to complete worthwhile, meaningful projects. The programme provides an invaluable learning experience as students work outside the normal College routine to encourage self-reliance, initiative and resourcefulness; develop new skills; encourage contacts outside their usual circle and to work on the essential seven IB Learning Outcomes using the five stages of CAS. Students prepare for the trips in small groups, following good trip planning protocols, with the support of a teacher supervisor. Dover students completed their projects in Singapore from Monday, 25– Wednesday, 27 April, although some students choose to begin their CAS activities over the weekend to maximise the opportunity, completing an impressive range of activities. Service learning was a popular option specifically at Willing Hearts, a soup kitchen that prepares, cooks and distributes around 11,000 daily meals to those in need, while others choose litter picking across the island and other volunteer work from food packing to charity shop window-dressing. Some students chose to expand their creative and life skills with painting, graffiti art, cookery, pottery, self-defence, first aid, archery and perfume-making courses, to name but a few. Outdoor activities were also popular and varied from trekking, kayaking, cycling and dancing to sailing, martial arts, paddle and wakeboarding. At the time of writing 255 students from the East Campus are in the final stages of planning their trips in early June. After the project days students then take time to reflect to maximise learning opportunities. Project Week Singapore has certainly been a worthwhile experience. The students gain far more than IB credit for the time they spend planning and then actively engaged in creative, activity and/or service activities. They gain invaluable life experiences and we thank them for their help in restarting this important tradition which will be a precursor for future trips in Singapore and beyond. 24 | Dunia June 2022
COMMUNITY NEWS
BRINGING SCHOLAR FAMILIES TO GRADUATION
36
Scholars had family travel to Singapore from
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countries
• Bolivia • Brazil • Cambodia • Curaçao • Ecuador • El Salvador • Ethiopia • Ghana • Guatemala • Hong Kong • Indonesia • Italy • Kenya • Macedonia • Malawi • Malaysia • Montenegro • Myanmar • Namibia • Netherlands • Panama • Paraguay • Philippines • Romania • Sierra Leone • South Africa • Spain • Tajikistan • Tanzania • Thailand • Uruguay • Venezuela • Vietnam • Zambia
After being away from my parents for nearly two years, it was a blessing and an honour to have them with me at graduation. We were so thrilled and grateful for this opportunity to be together.” Brooke Mumbi ’22, whose parents travelled from Kenya Thanks to the generosity of our community, 36 scholars from the Class of 2022 were able to take the offered opportunity to graduate with a loved one by their side. All scholars had the opportunity to invite a family member to attend, and while not all graduating scholars had family that were able to make the trip to Singapore, it was a joyful opportunity for those who could travel. For some, it had been two resilience-building years since the scholar had seen their family members, as travel restrictions prevented many boarders from visiting home during the school holidays of the past few years. Community generosity extended to include return flights, travel insurance and in many cases accommodation in Singapore. A number of families also welcomed scholar families to their homes as guests over the graduation weekend, and a lucky few even got to experience life in the Tampines House! My mom is the most important person in my life and she supported me so much during the last two years. I couldn’t have done it without her. Thank you for bringing us together for graduation to share this priceless moment.” Sovanriachny Samnang ’22, whose mother travelled from Cambodia It’s a proud moment for parents, so it is a must for them to attend graduation.” Lieke Sofiar, Fund a Flight Donor While a UWCSEA scholarship includes flights to and from Singapore for students, it does not pay for family members to attend graduation. Fund a Flight is a remarkable programme that brings scholars and their loved ones together for this significant occasion. Scan the QR code for more detail on the scholarship programme: June 2022 Dunia | 25
COMMUNITY NEWS
Building student agency
Reflections on the learnings from student leadership By Minna Wong ’22 and Jia Cheng Anthony Shen ’22, East Campus Student Council alumni Since its conception more than a decade ago, the East High School Student Council, composed of a student-elected body of members from each grade in High School, professed a goal to empower student voice, support student initiatives, and foster an open and friendly school spirit. How these lofty goals translate into on-the-ground results is the real challenge for elected members. For a number of years, the group had been busy organising high school assemblies and spirit week, which we recognize are important in fostering school spirit but fell far short—in our view—of the potential that the broad purview of the Student Council provides. This view, it turned out, was shared by high school leadership and the student body alike. Entangled in the trap of short-termism [created by the fast-paced annual school cycle], the push for change emerged from an unexpected place. With the pandemic came a new set of challenges, but with the cancellation of traditional
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events, an opportunity arose to explore alternative priorities—such as student wellbeing during remote learning, as well as serving as a liaison between administration and the student body.
Planning for change We soon realised that without a formal action plan or organisation, our grand hopes and aspirations on how we wished to improve our school community would never be realised. Thus change needed to be rooted in leadership characterised by accountability, sincerity, and strategic thinking. Drawing inspiration from the UWCSEA East Strategic Plan, and supported by senior leadership (we owe a debt of gratitude to Mr Alchin and Mr Bacchoo for their counsel), we envisioned creating a concrete roadmap for long-term success. Over several brainstorming sessions, our team went through a scaffolded process designed to engender new ideas with questions that provoked discussion, e.g. What does an ideal school look like? What began as a daunting process of organising our thoughts gradually transitioned to goals
and concrete steps which could change our community for the better. At the core, we wanted to shape the culture of the council to be one that is mission and strategy-driven, living up to its goals of empowering student voice. While this process required a large investment of time and effort, taking the better part of late 2020 and early 2021, we managed to consolidate 37 objectives proposed by members into a strategic plan consisting of measurable benchmarks and actionable items contributing to four aspirational goals: 1. Establish stronger connections with high school leadership teams and student groups 2. Creating effective means of communication between students, faculty, and administration 3. Amplifying student voice for autonomy on decisions made in our community 4. Identifying and acting upon ways in which we can improve student mental health and student learning With a strategic plan in place, there would be greater unity, clarity, and accountability in the actions we
are taking, shifting the focus away from low-impact, one-off tasks to meaningful projects that are contextualised within a bigger picture.
Rethinking group work: decentralising responsibility Restructuring how our group worked reduced the traditional leadership hierarchy, as all members were encouraged to initiate and lead projects. This approach decentralised power and instilled a sense of ownership and responsibility in each member. Crucially, it also nurtured the skills of future student leaders.
From vision to action Several of projects were started by Council members as a result of a focus on our new strategic priorities including: Diversity, Equity and Inclusion • Scholar representation • UWC Day debate • Global issues debates Mental health and wellbeing • Mental Health Report • East Wellbeing Group
Amplifying student voice • Focus Groups and consultations in leadership, policy and board discussion • Student input and news
Lessons in leadership Minna (former Chair): “Throughout my personal journey within the Student Council and other opportunities in UWC, I have learned that leadership comes in many forms. While I may not have been the most outspoken, or confident student in the room, I have learned that these qualities are not always necessary for true leadership. Perhaps at times, being too outspoken diminishes the voices of the quiet. Perhaps, being too confident means we disregard opinions that may be better than our own. I now believe a true leader is someone who does their utmost to serve by listening to the voices of all and trying to create change as a team. While I have certainly not suddenly become the most engaging or assertive leader, I do have a newfound sense of courage and confidence to try, and I believe these efforts are worthwhile in building my own unique form of leadership.”
Anthony (former Vice Chair): “My involvement in Student Council has been one of the most personally rewarding experiences at UWCSEA. Perhaps the most important lesson I learnt is that an effective, synergistic team is as much a function of its members as its leaders. Leadership and followership (less fashionable, but equally important) exist on a continuum and good leaders know when to move between these two extremes. When faced with complex situations and difficult ethical decisions, I have realised the importance of taking advice (and we have our teacher advisors to thank for that!), careful thought and discussion, and demonstrating compassion.” References Driskell, D. (2002) Creating Better Cities with Children and Youth: A Manual for Participation. | Eisenhower, D (1954) Address at the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches, Evanston, Illinois.
Footnotes [1] Read more about the College’s Values in Action project in Dunia June 2021, Words to live by, pgs 26-27
June 2022 Dunia | 27
FEATURE
UWCSEA’s commitment to National Service Supporting graduates turn challenge into opportunity
Before entering his National Service (NS) in Basic Military Training, Teddy Lee ’20 never imagined he’d find himself on a 24-hr training exercise, leading a platoon of cadets digging trenches in the middle of the night. Pulling up the earth in the darkness, he shouting encouragement to the soldiers around him. Despite the sleep deprivation, and the extreme physical and mental exertion, Teddy pushed on. “This training exercise was the biggest single challenge of my two years in NS,” says Teddy. “But I was a lot better off than most because at school I’d done a lot of sport— swimming, running and rugby. And the fitness hugely helped me throughout my training. I also think being captain of the cross-country and swim teams gave me the confidence to talk to people, to motivate people to just do our best to get the job done.” After completing two months of basic training, Teddy was posted to Officer Cadet School (OCS), and then promoted to officer. Now, as he completes his service with nearly two-years of real-world leadership experience under his belt, Teddy is preparing for his next challenge: university. In the fall he’ll fly to the UK to study Sport Science at Loughborough University. He is just one in a long line of UWCSEA graduates continuing the tradition of enlisting in NS before pursuing their university studies.
Leading the community Since its inception in 1967, more than 1 million young men have enlisted in Singapore’s National Service. As UWCSEA celebrates its 50th anniversary year, it continues its decadeslong commitment to prepare students who enlist for NS after graduation. From information sessions led by alumni NSmen, to support from its University Advising team, the College recognises the value of supporting students who follow this path.
Class of 2022 graduates enlisting in NS
29
10% of East Campus graduates
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63
UWCSEA enlistee’s
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11% of Dover Campus graduates
And this isn’t limited to just UWCSEA students–the College hosts Advisory Council on Community Relations in Defence (ACCORD) information sessions open to multiple foreign system schools, acting as a community leader supporting families across Singapore’s international schools as they prepare to send their sons to NS. ACCORD was established by the Ministry of Defence (MINDEF) as a connector to the business, family and educational communities. Carma Elliot, UWCSEA College President, serves as a member of the ACCORD Educational Institutions Council, where she actively promotes the understanding and support of NS. “We work with ACCORD to make sure that our National Service boys and parents are well aware of the process,” says Pat Desbarats, University Advisor and NS Coordinator at East Campus. “But also what basic military training will look like, the different positions that are available in NS and then their commitment long term after they finish.”
Support before and during National Service
Turning challenge into opportunity
Reflecting on his last two years of NS, Teddy says his time at UWCSEA (which spanned K1 to Grade 12), helped him prepare in many ways.
“NS is a challenge, but it’s a matter of perspective—how can you turn this challenge into an opportunity?” says Shruti. “How can you make it the best for you?”
“When I entered my OCS training, I saw an opportunity to speak up about possible changes in the use of plastic, based on my experience at school,” says Teddy. “I also think the preparation I had, through Outdoor Education and Academics, made me seem like a good candidate for OCS.”
Although at opposite ends of their NS journey, this is a sentiment that both Teddy and Arun agree with.
But it’s not just the holistic education process that prepares students for their time in NS—support structures are in place to help students navigate the move from school, to NS, and then onwards to university. “With NS, a student may sometimes worry they are going to fall behind their peers who are heading to university,” says Shruti Tewari, Interim Head of University Advising, Dover Campus. “We ensure they do everything that their peers are doing in the application process and it’s important to note that National Servicemen are never left without a contact person at school.” UWCSEA also hosts informal information sessions led by alumni NSmen to share their experiences with current students who were due for enlistment. These sessions have benefited the school’s students and their parents who welcome the avenue to receive first-hand information and have their queries and concerns addressed.
“I’m looking forward to it, actually,” says Arun. “Many of the boys who have gone through it have told me it’s helped them mature and develop as a person. It’s an experience that you don’t really get in university. It’s sort of a once in a lifetime opportunity.” As Teddy Lee comes to the end of his NS, he is taking some time to reflect, thinking about who he was at the start and who he has become. What would he say to a student like Arun who is just about to start his NS journey? “It’s like a lot of things in life—whatever you put into your National Service, you’ll get out of it,” he says. “So whether you want to give up at the beginning or whether you want to try your hardest, you will get what you deserve, essentially. So I tried really hard, I was able to get the officer rank, and I actually enjoy my job now. I like having this responsibility.” “But in the end your story is going to be different from mine. So my advice is just to go in head on, do your best to make the most of it because if you do that,” he says, “it will be worth it in the end.”
“We make sure that the candidates are equipped for making decisions around future planning. And that includes college and university applications either before they go into National Service or while they’re in their NS,” says Pat.
Starting the National Service journey While Teddy Lee wraps up his NS journey, Arun Kukreja ’22 is just about to embark on his. Arun says he plans to use the time in NS to reflect and grow, and then send out his university applications later this year. He sees his service time as an opportunity to prepare for his future. “I think you’re afforded some extra time to think about your future and tailor your applications more thoughtfully before applying,” he says. “This additional time, along with support from the University Advising Centre, is very helpful.” Arun says the thing that’s helped most so far has been UWCSEA’s informal information sessions with alumni NSmen, where enlistees have a chance to ask questions directly to alumni who’ve been through the process. “I’ve gotten the chance to learn about their experiences,” he says. “This was really helpful in cultivating a relationship so that we always have someone to look up to and have a guiding light into the first few months of NS.”
In April 2022, UWCSEA was awarded the NS Mark (Gold), recognising the college’s exemplary policies and HR practices supporting NS and Total Defence. “The NS Mark Gold recognizes employers who have taken additional measures to support the National Service and National Servicemen,” says Ron Chua, Head of Health, Safety and Risk at UWCSEA, and former Major Unit Commander in the Singapore Air Force. “The Gold Star accreditation is a reflection of its strong support for staff who need to balance their work and duty to serve the nation.”
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UWCSEA staff are concurrently NSmen and actively committed to attending incamp training June 2022 Dunia | 29
ALUMNI STORIES
Creating social impact Young alumni bringing our mission to life Raza Nazar ’14 The expertise, thought leadership and rich exchange of ideas that took place at the recent UWCSEA Forum: Learning to Shape the future extended far beyond the stages and screens. Many meaningful connections were made as a result of the many conversations that took place, on stage and behind the scenes. These hold the seeds of great potential for the growth of collaboration to create impact well beyond the UWC Movement. At the centre of some of these exciting exchanges was Raza Nazar ’14, an alumnus from East Campus’ inaugural graduating class whose recent visit to Singapore coincided with the UWCSEA Forum. An active and engaged alumnus, Raza has participated in Alumni University Fairs, attended London Alumni gatherings and has continued to connect with former teachers, including Nick Alchin, Ted Cowan and Pamela Wetzell on his journey beyond UWCSEA; specifically his enduring vision to transform Pakistan’s education system by introducing values-based learning inspired by that which he received as a student at UWCSEA. “I think if we could universalise conceptbased learning, critical thinking and education for peace, we could empower billions of people to discover themselves and take control of their own destinies,” Raza noted. Raza went on to study law at the London School of Economics (LSE) where he became the first Pakistani to be elected president of the LSE Law Society. At the age of 19, he also founded the largest student-run developmental forum in the world: the LSE Future of Pakistan Conference. The second conference hosted then Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shahid Khaqan 30 | Dunia June 2022
Abbasi, and made headlines globally for enabling students to hold the government to account. The conference remains an annual event at LSE which sees current students and sitting ministers go head-to-head on issues of government policy. Following three years practising international commercial law in the UK, Raza is poised to take his vision for educational reform in Pakistan to the next level. He has
been accepted to pursue the world’s premier law course, the Bachelor of Civil Laws, at Trinity College, the University of Oxford, this fall. Raza is also working with the Ministry of Education of Pakistan to help with the conceptual design of the National Curriculum Summit (NCS) 2022. The NCS is a national consultation which is due to take place this summer and will explore a way forward for Pakistan’s national curriculum reform and establish pedagogical priorities. Raza also hopes to make meaningful introductions between UWCSEA leadership and the Ministry at the NCS in order to facilitate a continued exchange of knowledge. “It is incredibly exciting to think about the idea of ‘Education for Peace’ being tabled at the national summit and the potential for UWCSEA to leverage its thought leadership in that space.” Attending the UWCSEA Forum was an opportunity for Raza to tap into the collective wisdom of thought leaders from the wider UWC community, including UWC
Executive Director, Faith Abiodun, and Co-founders and Co-Executive Directors of Amala (formerly Sky School) Polly Akhurst and Mia Eskelund Pedersen all of whom have charted a course to make a UWC Mission-informed education accessible to disparate groups and disadvantaged youth. Raza recounts that in their conversation, Faith likened the UWC spirit and the concepts of values-based education for peace to ‘software’ that can be brought to all corners of the world even in the absence of ‘hardware’ (by which he meant a physical UWC in Pakistan) and that this can be equally, if not more rewarding. He went on to encourage Raza to ‘take the leap’ and pilot the introduction of a UWC-style short course on the proposed focus of climate change in Jacobabad, where the root causes are relevant to both Pakistan and the rest of the world. During the Forum, Raza also took the opportunity to connect with fellow UWC alumni Polly and Mia of Amala Education (formerly Sky School) whose mission to make education both accessible and relevant resonates with Raza’s own beliefs. Their discussions revolved around Amala’s departure from conventional curriculum and traditional pedagogical methods such as textbooks and assessments, to focus on the aims and needs of local— specifically refugee—communities. Raza took away a lot from his meetings at the form. “We have a powerful community, a movement, which is willing to support us: if you have an idea that can drive positive change, if you talk about it enough times, it really can materialise,’ he noted.
Shen Ming Lee ’16 This year, the Dover Campus welcomed Shen Ming Lee ’16 as their graduation speaker. Shen is an author, entrepreneur, and ecosystem builder passionate about food and agriculture tech and social impact. Through her work, she aims to support building a more sustainable, connected and innovative food future. This is something of a theme throughout her life, as she recounted to the audience gathered at NUS. “One of my fondest memories was starting Fresco Supper Club, a farm-to-table, social mission-driven supper club restaurant in the Dover boarding house, where I was a boarder. I cooked three course meals for guests, and all the restaurant’s profits went to a Myanmar Refugee School in Malaysia to fund the refugee childrens’ education. I managed to bribe my roommates and even my brother to wait tables in exchange for free food.” Shen went to the Cornell University School of Hotel Administration to pursue her undergraduate studies, and more recently is the author of Hungry For Disruption: How Tech Innovations Will Nourish 10 Billion By 2050, which was an Amazon #1 New Release. She has previously worked to develop the agrifood innovation ecosystem through her work at Thought For Food, GROW by AgFunder, and FoodFutureCo and most recently served as the Group Chief Marketing Officer of CRUST Group, a food tech startup on a mission to fight food waste and loss. Challenging the Class of 2022 to clarify their notions of success, Shen explained how the six years between her own graduation and now have been a process of re-learning and re-thinking, and following her passions, “I went to hospitality school for university and had the skills and experiences to really pursue mythen dream of starting a restaurant chain. That was my plan and the path all along. But different experiences opened my eyes to how broken our food system was and how science and technology was helping to fix it. I realised that I wanted to dedicate my work to more than just restaurants and started becoming deeply curious about food system change and the world of agrifood tech. I had to unlearn the mentality that I had to go down my original path and learn again in the world of agrifood tech that I barely had experience in at the time. It wasn’t easy but I essentially had to reinvent myself and unlearn old plans, and it was unexpected, but it changed everything for me.” “Know that life will give you moments of pivot and inflection. The ground beneath us is always shaking. Embrace the uncertainty of where life might take you. Learn to weather and surf these tides of life. Have the agility to learn new things, unlearn old ways of thinking, and reinvent to climb your way up new ladders. Because you must do things you’ve never done, in order to get to places you’ve never been.” June 2022 Dunia | 31
COMMUNITY NEWS OPINION
Make time to get serious By Alison Forrow, Digital Literacy and Instructional Coach, and Teacher of Middle School English and Humanities, Dover Campus At the end of 2021 I jumped at the opportunity to become a certified facilitator of the LEGO Serious Play (LSP) method and since then I have been in the fortunate position that UWC South East Asia staff are enthusiastic about using this method of facilitation and ‘visioneering’ with departments and team members across the College.
So what is LEGO Serious Play? LSP is an approach that supports participants in an inclusive creative thinking process. During a workshop each participant is invited to build a solution to a question using LEGO bricks. The certified facilitator guides the participants through warm ups, the individual building processes, followed by group building, storytelling and reflection. An important principle is that each participant builds an individual model which then becomes part of a larger group model, ensuring that every participant contributes to the solution. LSP techniques aim to guide a team or group closer to its desired solution. Along the way fun, laughter and storytelling are absolutely encouraged!
LEGO Serious Play at UWCSEA Since earning the certification Tim Lovatt, Head of Digital Learning Technologies on Dover, and I have co-facilitated a number of face to face LSP workshops for a range of departments within the College. In March, I facilitated the Dover K–12 Learning Support Department team through the process. This 17 person department was seeking to develop a shared vision to ensure they support students as effectively as possible, and requested the LSP workshop–so the buy-in was already in place. Workshop participants were divided into three groups and invited to begin the creative thinking needed for subsequent parts of the session with challenges to build and explain individual models representing ideas such as ‘What a dog thinks’, ‘The Meaning of Life’ or ‘Collaboration’. These warm ups, whilst whimsical, allow participants to exercise 32 | Dunia June 2022
their flexibility while setting them up to use the bricks as metaphors for build tasks in the next part of the session. It’s interesting to observe how quickly adults tap back into their childlike playfulness during these short tasks. Claire O’Farrell, Learning Support Teacher in the Infant School, explained that it was a “fabulous way to appreciate (in an experiential way) that, despite our different communication styles, experience and sometimes lack of familiarity with each other, that the Learning Support team K–12 have shared values and aspirations.” The focal point for the next part of the workshop were two Build Questions which were created in advance in consultation with the Heads of Department. The shared models that were built by the three groups of participants were intricate, multifaceted and closely represented the ambitions of the department. With the focus of discussion on the models, and not on any individual participant, the ideas flowed and key elements were identified quickly. The College’s philosophy of keeping students as the focus of our conversations was reflected, as students were placed at the centre of the models and surrounded by the support the department provides. Each group had to iterate, rate and agree that the models they created were as close as they could be to representing their responses to the Build Question. “The structure of the session made collaboration an essential part of the process,” said Dan Forster, Head of Middle School Learning Support. Moving forward the Learning Department has a clear idea what is important for its continued success and recognises that many of these elements are already in place. Reflecting on the missing elements is where they will focus next. Claudia Campbell-Pegg, Head of High School Learning Support welcomed the time for her team members to be involved in “such an important discussion for our department.” Each time I have the privilege of facilitating a workshop using the LSP method I am reminded of the power that these tiny bricks can hold. From individual pieces of coloured plastic to a cohesive and efficient team in agreement about their future vision and aspirations. What other process can do this so powerfully?
Student-designed Facilities Team tshirts
Sharing our learning–UWCSEA White Papers
Commemorative mural on Dover Campus
UWCSEA IfP Toolkit launched
Taking up Giving Day challenges
Founders Week community campaign
VALUES IN ACTION Award Launch
50 Years United book launch
Celebrating our many service partnerships
UWCSEA awarded NS Mark (Gold)
Student engagement with Faith Abiodun
UWCSEA–Asian Peace Programme Partnership
MOU with Amala Education
UWCSEA–OSU Outdoor Education Study
50th Anniversary Song
Student-designed system logos
UWCSEA FORUM: LEARNING TO SHAPE THE FUTURE 22–23 APRIL 2022
Themes of Peace, Sustainability, Inclusion, Innovation and Partnership guided the culminating event in our 50th year. One highlight was a panel discussion on Commitment to Change hosted by Faith Abiodun, Executive Director, UWC International who was joined by High School students Tebby, Issei and Chloe.