Global Friends

The United World College system will mark the 50th anniversary of its founding on Sept. 19, 2012, a date celebrated at Macalester by a dinner held that night for its UWC Scholars. 

In addition, a leadership conference on the Macalester campus marking the anniversary and the legacy of the UWC movement will be held Feb. 22–24, 2013. The conference is being organized by Ezequiel Jimenez ’13 (Red Cross Nordic United World College ’09; Salta, Argentina) and Annual Fund staff member Taren Kingser ’11. The Macalester Connect+ Leadership Conference will bring together student leaders from Macalester and other U.S. colleges and universities .

Since the mid-1980s, nearly 400 graduates of the United World Colleges have studied at Macalester, whose mission as a liberal arts college with a special emphasis on internationalism aligns closely with the mission of the UWC movement.

Macalester is a member of the Davis United World College Scholars Program, a philanthropic enterprise begun in 2004 that provides up to $80,000 in scholarships to each of more than 4,000 UWC graduates attending U.S. colleges and universities.

The founding of the United World College movement in 1962 was a turning point in the education of thousands of teenagers around the world. The colleges’ commitment to academic excellence, social service, and peaceful coexistence has inspired generations of young people to stand for the values of international and intercultural understanding. Amid the challenges posed by accelerating globalization, UWC graduates actively fight the fragmentation of economic, social, and cultural spheres in local and international communities.

Workshop participants will take part  in roundtable discussions of leadership, idealism, personal responsibility, and project start-ups, learning from peer leaders in the global community. The Macalester Connect+ Leadership Conference will create an opportunity for student leaders to take what they have learned, and the connections and networks they have formed, back to their home colleges, where they can ultimately impact their communities and the world at large.

Visit their site: macalesterconnectplus.org