Lodewijk’s Goodbye

June 17, 2024

Dear UWC Maastricht alumni,

Graduation

This year’s Leaving Class Ceremony in the Maastricht MECC saw the graduation of no less than 191 UWC Maastricht students. This was our largest graduating class to date, and it included the seventeen pioneering students of our new IB Career-related Programme in Sustainable Business. As many of you know: this year I will also be graduating from UWC. It took me twenty and not two years to complete my journey at UWC, not at one but at five of our UWC schools and colleges.

Hotel California

We often say that UWC is like the Hotel California: you can try to check out, but you can never leave. Although I have decided to leave UWC Maastricht, I am quite certain this will also ring true for me. I am keen to find out in what ways UWC will not leave me, and what shape or form my involvement may take. We often say to graduating students that they can continue to support UWC with their “Time, Talent or Treasure” – I have never liked this phrase but I do understand what it means. It is important to continue to contribute to UWC in any shape or form. UWC Maastricht is not just about those who went there in the past, but equally about the students currently at school and those yet to come.

UWCM turns 15!

The coming school year will be dedicated to UWC Maastricht’s 15th birthday. Some of you will remember the opening of the school in August 2009, and the opening of the campus in October 2013. This will be celebrated with a number of events throughout the school year. The school will also use this year to ensure the future of the school, doing what can be done to ensure the school will continue to exist in the next 15, 30 and, why not, 100 years.

Endowment

As part of a wider initiative within UWC, our school is setting up a special Endowment Fund to ensure the continued support of students in need of financial aid. Our ambition is to raise 15 million euros by the end of 2025. This is a big ambition, but also achievable if we all try our best. Here at UWC Maastricht, we usually do not fundraise very actively among our alumni. We know that many of you are relatively young and at the beginning of your careers. But should you be in a position to make a donation to our Endowment fund, or would like to learn more about it, then please do not hesitate to get in touch. This summer I will also be writing to all you parents, asking them to contribute as generously as they can to our fundraising challenge. Should you speak to them any time soon, then please feel invited to bring our challenge under their attention!

Goodbye

It has been a real pleasure to be UWC Maastricht’s Head of College over the last seven years, and to dedicate my working life to many generations of UWC students. I send my greetings to all of you, and look forward to seeing you again – any time, any place – soon.

With all good wishes,

Lodewijk van Oord
Still the Head of College