It’s a bit of a cliché by now: all our kiddos really are mature beyond their age. But of all eleven of them, I think Marija is the least likely to keep us – or herself – awake at night once the reality of living hundreds of miles away from home kicks in.

I’m not saying this as a compliment (even though it is), but as a fact: Marija talks and acts like a full-fledged adult. Don’t let the charmingly childlike tone of her voice fool you! Over the past few years, life has thrown a few curveballs at her. Her parents have been working a lot and had a difficult pandemic. One could argue that we haven’t helped either: Marija’s first attempt at our selections in 2021-22 was unsuccessful (despite a very solid performance). Even after this year’s successful attempt (after an insanely strong performance!), due to limited places, we could only offer Marija her 14th college preference: UWC Li Po Chun (LPC) in Hong Kong.

Yet, Marija reacts to curveballs graciously and… well… like an adult. “99% of the people I’ve come across in my life have been sent to me as lessons”, she reasons. She refused to stay negative during the COVID-19 lockdowns and used them to improve herself by reading self-help books. She is beyond thankful for the opportunity to attend UWC and is now more than happy with UWC LPC. As she thinks ahead to her UWC experience, she is resigned to the fact that nothing in life is set in stone. “Even if I had gone to a college that offers computer science, I might have then decided against studying computer science. Now, at LPC, I’ll be taking math and physics, but also business and economics, because who knows what I’ll end up being interested in!”

I’m sure I’ll get to know Marija even better in the coming years, but I don’t know if anything she does can top the two very fond memories that I already have of her. One dates to the group activities in our second selection round back in January. As I was moving a few bags from one place to another, I started browsing the applicants at the nearest table. One was biting their nails, another two were chatting as if I wasn’t even in the room, a fourth one was staring at the floor aimlessly. And then Marija’s shiny eyes entered my field of vision. “Do you need help with those bags, sir?” It’s one of those moments when you feel like interrupting the selections and saying “OK, this girl is already in”.… if only she hadn’t said “Sir” 😊

I wonder if I should share my second one as it doesn’t portray the rest of our kiddos in the best light, but hey we’ve praised them enough in these profiles so I’ll go ahead anyway. At our orientation camp in Ohrid, even though I spoke to most of our kiddos at length, Marija was one of only two people (alongside Viktorija) to return my questions and ask me how I was doing this summer. Preparing for UWC is such a wonderfully all-encompassing life event that I think I can forgive the others for their self-absorption, but my hat goes off to Marija for her almost built-in sense of empathy.

Oh, did I mention Marija has already been a UWC-er since last summer? One of the things that have stayed with her the most from her experience at a UWC short course in Germany is her interaction with a Lebanese student, who spoke openly about living in the fear that his house could be bombed at any time. Being the pure soul that she is, Marija cannot understand why people in Macedonia – unlike the Lebanese student – are so reluctant to share their feelings. “Why on Earth do we pretend we are not human when we are?”, she asks.

I know Marija will have an amazing two years at UWC LPC. I’m even more jealous of her classmates and everyone else who is yet to be touched by her empathy.

Kristijan Fidanovski, July 2023