During the 2025 graduation ceremony on the theme “Your Raise Me Up” our community celebrated the enormous contribution of Mr Shelby Davis to the UWC movement and, specifically, to UWC Dilijan over 10 years since the school’s establishment.
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Dr Vladimir Yakunin has been supporting UWCD scholars over the last five years. During the graduation he met with his two current scholars - Aleksandr Grichenko (Russia, UWCD’25) and Elina Mosoian (Russia, UWCD’26) - and an alum Erdni Mangutov (Russia, UWCD’24). Thank you, Dr Yakunin, for your trust and belief in the power of education.
Speech by the UWCD Co-Founder and Chair of the Board Veronika Zonabend at the 2025 graduation ceremony
During their visit, our students Jonas Borgemeister (Germany, UWCD'26), Zhixing (Dan) Song (China, UWCD'26), Mari-Elena Arutyunova (Russia, UWCD'25), and Amevi Kwidama (The Netherlands, UWCD'25) had the opportunity to engage in a brief exchange with President Steinmeier and Ms. Büdenbender, discussing UWC Dilijan, their international backgrounds, and the school’s mission to promote peace and a sustainable future.
We are grateful to Marianna Khachatryan & Grigori Zakaryan of Dilijazz Hotel, and to Bakur & Gayane Melkonyan of ArtLunch for supporting the TedXYouth event this year. We are also grateful to Melante for their significant in-kind support.
Dan Silfwerin, our Philosophy Teacher, has had no opportunity to meet Ruben Vardanyan, the UWCD co-founder, since he moved to Armenia in 2023. However, having followed Ruben’s fate, he was inspired to write a poem about him. Dan said, “I am making a parallel between Ruben and his namesake in the Bible, Jacob’s oldest son Ruben. When Ruben came to save Joseph from the well, he noticed that he was gone and screamed and tore his clothes. That sorrow is what I have drawn a parallel to.”
Alumni donors who contributed as part of the Ten for Ten campaign.
We are deeply grateful to Movses Pogossian, Professor at UCLA (violin), a regular guest at UWC Dilijan, for not only generously sharing his musical talents with our community but also providing financial support for the school. We eagerly anticipate his next visit!
We are proud to share that Dr. Noubar Afeyan, a Founding Patron of UWC Dilijan, along with his company Moderna, have been awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation by the President of the United States.