News / Unst Short Course
MORE than 30 young people from around Europe are in Unst this summer for a United World Colleges (UWC) Short Course.
The UWC involves 14 colleges bringing young people together to live and learn together and Unst has more UWC graduates per resident than anywhere in the world.
This summer’s course ‘Youth for Community’ revolves around rural and sustainable community development, the brainchild of Bethany Scott from Unst who is now studying medicine at the University of Glasgow.
Scott believes Unst is the perfect place to run a short course because there is “so much to learn from the people there, particularly considering the creative and diverse ways in which they have gone about sustaining their community”.
Having attended a short course herself in Wales in 2007 and a UWC college in India, she said: “The wonderful thing about my Short Course experience is that, all though it was only two weeks long, it still had a massive impact on me.
“It inspired me to take a more active role in my community and to think critically and constructively about issues that affect us all.”
Another UWC alumnus is former Unst resident Bobby Macaulay who helped plan and develop the course and will contribute to some of the workshops planned in August.
The Unst course will be working with local initiatives like Da Voar Redd Up, UnstFest and the Unst Partnership.
Project coordinator Undine Schmidt said: “We will be focusing in particular on the areas of food, waste, energy and social services, thereby bringing different stakeholders from around Shetland together.
“The building of wind farms, the future of fossil fuels, school closures and marine pollution are just some of the topics that we will explore.”
Thanks to the funding granted by Youth in Action it has been able to include participants from Denmark, Germany, Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, Malta and the UK, all of whom are between 15 and 18 years old.
The course coordinators are now looking for four participants from Shetland to complement this group.
“As a UWC alumnus, you will be part of an international community of thousands of like-minded people who believe in what the movement stands for,” Scott said.
Anyone interested in the Short Course or wishing to apply can visit www.shetland.uwc.org for more information, but hurry. Applications can be sent to astrid.meyer@uwcgb.org
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