A year of adventures and challenges – by Alumni reps of Class 2021

June 24, 2021

We are Ruel Domi and Alona Amisha, and we just graduated from UWC Maastricht! Ruel is from Albania,  he was a residential student and spent “only” the last two years living in Maastricht. Alona, who is from Israel and Russia, was born and raised in the Netherlands and attended UWCM for almost 14 years. We are delighted to be the Alumni representatives of the Class of 2021. As year reps, we have decided to dedicate a couple of lines to describe how the DP2 experience was for this year’s graduating class, as a reminder that even though each and one of us is far away from each other, our souls are still close.

This year has been quite an adventure. We have had our ups and downs but eventually, our community made it. In spite of the pandemic taking over a lot of our lives, we managed to keep up with the UWC spirit and continue with many events in these two past years. Trying to create hybrid online events was proven to be quite a challenge, and yet conferences such as IPC and TOK (along with many others) still took place. A positive aspect of having hybrid events was the fact that so many UWC alumni were able to attend these conferences. The typical UWC spirit..!

 An initiative that was newly implemented in our school that will definitely continue as a tradition is ‘Bald for a Cause’. A group of DP1s (UWCM’22) started this initiative in hopes of raising money for ‘Gire’, a feminist organization in Mexico. This event was a great success. We met our funding goal and all the hair donated went to a hair bank to make wigs for cancer patients.

Another change that has occurred in these past two years, is the wonderful renovation of the mensa. The mensa needed this renovation for quite some time, but it could not have come at a better time. Due to the pandemic, the library was closed to students to allow staff to have a safe space to work. Instead, the mensa became the place to hang out as well as study. A unifying temple for our community…

  On the other hand, the COVID-19 restrictions and numerous quarantines inevitably resulted in the slight broadening of the gap between residential and day students. However, each and every one of us tried hard to keep us together as a community by actively participating in student-led initiatives, extracurriculars, and conferences. It was in those moments when it felt like there was no pandemic, because of everyone’s devotion to unite, learn, and have fun. The typical UWC spirit.   

However, at the end of the day, what we remember from UWC it’s not only the classes and conferences. It’s the exciting moments, the hopes, dreams, ambitions, and aspirations of a generation to make the world a better place. It’s those school days, those chats with teachers, those parties, those failed or successful love stories that made our UWC experience special. And last and foremost, the idea that each and every one of us is special in its own way. For many of us, who are lying on the beach, waiting for the IB results, or maybe working, these feelings may not mean too much just yet. However, once University kicks in, we will see how much UWC meant for each and every one of us. May this first article be a remembrance of what lies in the soul of this class. We wish everyone a nice summer and future success in their lives. And remember Class of 2021: YOU WILL NEVER WALK ALONE…! 

 

Ruel and Alona