Between Portland and Mostar, Building Bridges, Climbing Mountains :)

An article about me was just recently published in the SW Community Connection, a local Portland Newspaper.
Check it out :)
http://www.swcommconnection.com/features/story.php?story_id=128569163805286400

Southwest student in melting pot of culture, education

Former Wilson High School student on two-year IB exchange

BY CLAIRE OLIVER

The Southwest Community Connection, Oct 1, 2010

SUBMITTED PHOTO / HILARY JOHNSON

Johnson, a former Wilson High School student, looks over Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, her home during a two-year International Baccalaureate exchange through United World Colleges.

A world apart, togetherHILLSDALE — While most others her age are still navigating the waters of American high school life, Hilary Johnson, a senior and former Wilson High School student, has already spent a year abroad in Bosnia-Herzegovina and is beginning a second through her participation in a two-year International Baccalaureate (IB) exchange program.

“I originally heard about the United World Colleges program through my uncle, who was an admissions counselor trying to recruit UWC students,” Johnson said.

Further research piqued her interest even more.

The United World Colleges program was founded in 1962 by German educationalist Kurt Hahn and since then has established 13 campuses worldwide, from Swaziland to Singapore, Norway to New Mexico.

According to its website, almost 40,000 students have participated in the colleges’ two-year IB track, which is meant to “deliver a challenging and transformative educational experience to a diverse cross section of students, inspiring them to create a more peaceful and sustainable future.”

Queen Noor of Jordan acts as president of UWC, and Nelson Mandela holds the title of honorary president.

Each year, only 50 U.S. students are selected for the program through a process that involved what Johnson called an extensive written application” as well as a day-long interview for finalist candidates.

UWC’s Mostar, Bosnia-Herzegovina, campus opened in 2006 and houses 154 students between the ages of 16 and 18.

“They consciously place students of diverse backgrounds together as roommates,” Alice Johnson, Hilary’s mother, said. “Hilary’s roommates included an Israeli and two Bosnians, one of Muslim background and the other Serbian.”

Johnson said the majority of her schoolmates come from Eastern Europe, but Western Europe, Asia and Africa are also represented.

There are five other American students in her program from Alaska, Ohio, Michigan and Vermont.

UWC employs teachers from around the globe as well. Johnson said her economics teacher is Welsh and her biology teacher comes from Africa.

“The same classes are taken both years of the program to give a great depth to and comprehension of the subject material,” Johnson said.

Usually, students take three standard-level courses and three higher-level ones. Johnson is taking four higher-level classes, which require a greater number of classroom and work hours, and two from the standard tier.

This year, her course load includes a mix of physics, economics, English, French, chemistry and mathematics.

Johnson said that, although her classes are taught and her exams administered in English, a basic knowledge of the Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian languages spoken around Mostar is essential for day-to-day interactions.

After school

Aside from the diversity created in UWC’s school environment, Johnson said the city of Mostar itself is also full of contrasts.

“I live on the Muslim, Bosniak side of the city,” she said. “So many mornings I wake up to the combined sound of roosters crowing and the call to prayer.”

Moreover, as the city was a center of fighting during the 1992-96 Bosnian War, it is still in a process of physical repair.

“You see gleaming new buildings but not far away bullet-ridden, bombed-out structures since they are still recovering from the … war,” Alice Johnson said.

In fact, UWC’s Mostar campus is focused on demonstrating how members of different ethnic groups can cooperate in this post-war period.

“The biggest adjustment (for me) was recognizing and becoming comfortable with the cultural differences and expectations,” Johnson said.

She said Bosnian culture places a high value on hospitality and respect for elders but that there is “not much support for underprivileged groups such as orphans and the mentally and physically disabled.”

Through UWC and independently, Johnson has traveled throughout Europe during her fall and spring breaks as well as for college-sponsored programs such as debate tournaments in Stuttgart, Germany, and educational development programs in Kosovo.

Johnson visited UWC’s campus in Italy during a Spring Break trip and spent time at its Victoria, B.C., campus this summer.

When students aren’t traveling, she said they also have opportunities to share their own culture with their schoolmates in Mostar.

“Every year, we have four cultural weeks representing regions of the world: Asian and African; Balkan and Eastern European; Western European; and American,” she said.

“During the week students organize dances, cultural movies, food tasting or events specific to their culture.”

These weeks are capped off with a meal served to the student body by these “ambassadors,” who dress in traditional attire and present a show.

Johnson said her experience abroad has allowed her to learn more about American culture as well.

“My appreciation for Portland, the beautiful city of roses, and the entire Pacific Northwest, which I call my ‘bio region,’ is much greater because of my time abroad,” she said.

Both she and her mother recommended the program for both its challenging curriculum and the experience living abroad provides.

For more information about United World Colleges, visit www.uwc.org.