Alumni and Friends Newsletter

WELCOME

By Naheed Bardai, Principal

Welcome to the first Alumni and Friends Newsletter of 2024. I write this fresh from my return to Wales from Phuket, Thailand where I attended UWC Congress. This is a gathering of the movement that takes place once every six years and is an important time to celebrate our collective work, come to better understand one-another and recommit to our collective and interdependent future; to work for peace and a sustainable future.

What struck me most is how incredible it is to see the tremendous work of each of our 18 schools and colleges. UWC Atlantic was well represented with 14 staff, students and governors present. We had the opportunity to present and share the incredible progress made in the implementation of the Systems Transformation Pathway: Leadership for Just Futures and to share our learnings so far. My special thanks to all of our alumni who help support the movement - especially through the National Committees. The dedication, care and pride our National Committee volunteers exhibit each year cannot be understated. We would not exist as a movement if it were not for the work of our National Committees.

Over the course of the next few months, I look forward to connecting with more alumni in various parts of the world. I also look forward to meeting the classes of '74, '84, '94, '04 and '14 at our reunions at the end of June. It is through you, our alumni, that we live and amplify the UWC mission in all its diverse and beautiful forms - regardless of work that you do at a local, regional or international level. Thank you for all that you do and the hope you continue to give all of us at UWC Atlantic.

UWC Alumni visit for Careers Day

We were thrilled to welcome a wonderful group of alumni from UWC Atlantic and UWC South East Asia to the college for our Alumni Careers Day in February! They generously shared insights into their post-UWC journeys and professional paths in fields such as business, education, environment, film, health, human rights, law, and STEM.

Our students had the invaluable opportunity to engage with these alumni, asking questions about university life and gaining first-hand perspectives on various industries. It was a day filled with inspiration and meaningful connections for our students. A special thank you to our UWC Atlantic alumni for participating: Ruth Dineen ('69), Charlotte Phillips ('99), Daniel Jenkins ('06), Scott McKenzie ('07), Catherine Arnold ('12), Ricardo de Luca e Tuma ('13), Maddy Day ('18), and Sienna Emanuel ('18).

If you would like to participate in future Career Days, please email alumni@uwcatlantic.org.

CASTLE RESTORATION UPDATE

Work is underway on restoring the Academic Admin roof (many will remember as the old sick-bay), thanks to the support of our generous donors – the Aase og Hans Torps Trust (Alumni from AC '85), Sybil Longson, Jill Longson (AC '81) and Colin Habgood, Andrew Orr (AC '77) and alumni who donated to our Atlantic Fund - Capital Atlantic. Their support has allowed us to bring the top floor of this building back into action and preserve this part of the castle for generations of students to come.

Our next priority when it comes to restoring the Castle is the old Brewhouse and the Portcullis. Our goal is to re-roof the Brewhouse and return the tower to its original state, ensuring the working of the portcullis itself (making it the only working portcullis in the UK), and transforming it into an iconic space as a heritage room for the college and wider community to visit and enjoy. This is dependent on the college fundraising a total of
approximately £600,000. If you are interested in supporting these amazing heritage works please contact: philanthropy@uwcatlantic.org.

Below our Director of Operations and Sustainability, David Emery and our Heritage Surveyor, Nathan Goss give us an update on where we are with the works.