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. 

Veronika Zonabend, UWCD co-founder and chair of the board, said during her address: “Today I would like to single out a person who made it his business to raise people up. It is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist - Mr Shelby Davis. Having climbed to the heights of success, he committed himself to lifting others. When ten years ago, Ruben and I were looking into the school models and settled upon a UWC school, the example of Shelby Davis’ commitment to the UWC movement was an inspiration for us. It is 25 years since Shelby Davis started his generous support for UWC that benefits all schools, including ours, through the scholarship awards.”  

Apart from university scholarships to UWC graduates, since 2018 Mr Davis has been providing Dare to Dream scholarships to young people from around the world to attend UWC schools, including UWC Dilijan. Over the 2024-25 academic year UWC Dilijan has had 26 Dare to Dream Scholars. They joined Veronika on stage to express their gratitude to Shelby Davis who, together with his wife Gale, attended the opening of UWC Dilijan in 2014. Three of them: Makur James Akech (South Sudan, UWCD’25), Miren Yubero Gutiérrez (Spain, UWCD’26) and Bintang Samudera (Indonesia, UWCD’25) spoke on behalf of the student community, while Bintag introduced Pandeka Bagaga - Creation Dance - dedicating it to Mr Davis. The dance is inspired by the cultural traditions of the Minangkabau people in Indonesia and carries meanings of the spirit of struggle, courage, agility of both body and mind, as well as the value of cooperation within the community. It is just like UWC!

Here is the link to Veronika Zonabend’s address and a special tribute by UWCD Dare to Dream Scholars.

About the Davis UWC Scholars Program 

Shelby Davis and Philip O. Geier co-founded the Davis UWC Scholars Program in 2000, during Geier’s tenure as president of UWC-USA, seeking ways to have a meaningful impact on individual lives and educational institutions in the 21st century. 

They saw the need for expanding educational opportunities and scholarships for promising youth from around the world. They also saw the need for the campuses of American colleges and universities to become more global communities. 

Since then, thanks to Shelby Davis’ generosity, the Davis UWC Scholars Program has supported over 15,000 Davis UWC Scholars availing of amazing opportunities to receive university education in the US.  The program works with 106 partner universities in 31 US states.

25th Anniversary Reflections of the Co-Founders

Davis UWC Scholars Program: Uniting the World for 25 Years