WHY I'M BACKING THE NEW PATHWAY

I came into the college when UWC Atlantic had just turned 30 years old and last year it hit its 60 year mark. So my time here was exactly at the halfway point. It was also the time when the Cold War was supposed to have come to an end, and so mission accomplished for UWCs in many ways. Unfortunately, we now know that it's not mission accomplished.

There are huge challenges that still need to be tackled, and I believe need to be tackled, with the UWC formula.

I'm a believer in the intervention that UWC makes in the lives of young people. They make it at the right level, in the right community, in the right mix and then release them into the world with that gift of international understanding, together with a rigorous education to make an impact in the world. All of which is now being renewed with the our ambitious 10 year vision.

This is the moment to really invest in that and help provide resources to support its new vision.

My theory of change is that you empower young people in a place based learning, with the deep analytical tools that you need to assess things from all sides, and then approach at the level of systems, not just silos.

We need to invest in our capacity to collaborate and act with others across divides, and then engage in constructive conflict to really thrash out differences. Not with a view to winning people over to one side or another, but to come to a place where they can collaborate constructively in spite of differences. 

My UWC Atlantic education has been extremely transformational for me as a person. If I look back 30 years ago when I was here, I was prejudiced in all sorts of ways. My lived experience here has helped me shed most of them.

This is a joint donation with my wife Deborah. We are a multicultural couple, and for the sake of our children, we’re invested in the cause of international understanding. For diversity, for inclusion, for constructive conflict. In order for us to make progress together.

We want to do all that we can to make that kind of world a reality.