By Tuana Kardas and Olivia Viersma, year 10
“Attending Ecolint provides us with many opportunities to study whatever we want and to fulfill our dreams.” Ecolint alumni have shown current students that that is truly possible. Alumni are former students of a school, college, or university. Each year hundreds of students graduate from each campus, becoming alumni of Ecolint. Information about said alumni can be found on Ecolint’s website. On there exists a page specifically made to display a platform where alumni can virtually reconnect with Ecolint and where Ecolint’s current students can learn more about said alumni. Ranging from stories, notable alumni, and the echo Magazine, this part of the website includes it all. For instance, within the Stories section can be found an article about alumni voices worldwide. It is done in a podcast format and celebrates how former students continue to bring Ecolint’s values to life.
One unique story is that of Victoria Vassileva, a 2014 graduate from Nations. On the Alumni Voices podcast, Mrs. Vassileva is interviewed by Samia, a 2021 graduate from La Grande Boissière. This specific episode speaks about the realities of a future outside high school and university, focusing on the real world and the unexpected outcomes of searching for jobs as a graduate. The two ladies discuss that the path one chooses after graduating from Ecolint is not necessarily the future one might have assumed to have. In her case, Victoria did not feel satisfied with the profession she pursued. She graduated from university with a strong business background. However, she wanted to work in a more technologically advanced field. Thus, she rethought her decision and decided to pursue another career. Following her gut instinct, she landed a job as an App Developer Customer Engineer at Microsoft in Geneva, Switzerland. She states her gratitude for the decision and says that the latter had been affected due to the principles and morals she had been taught throughout her years at Nations, Ecolint. The source of this influence is said to come from being taught to follow your interests and passions. For Victoria, it ended up being the best change in her life. She speaks highly of the influence her school life in Nations had on her and how it continues to help her even years after graduating. More marvelous stories similar to Mrs. Vassileva’s can be found on the website page, each worthy of a read.
Another interesting story is of Valerie Connaughton, a Program Scientist at the Headquarters of NASA in Washington DC, who graduated from La Châtaignerie in 1985. She has written an article about how her experience at Ecolint led and allowed her to encounter and be surrounded by classmates of different nationalities. Getting exposed to a diverse range of ethnicities and cultures made “navigating new places and situations less daunting.” A rotating cast of classmates and professors from various backgrounds also helped her embrace varied approaches to achieving goals as equally acceptable, rather than feeling obligated to follow a set of rules.
Mrs. Connaughton’s words of wisdom are that Ecolint students should really “take advantage of all the opportunities to participate in a range of activities,”, particularly those that allow you to get to know your peers outside of your close group of friends. Also, she encourages socializing with local Swiss folks outside the Ecolint bubble to take your time building long-lasting friendships and expanding your social world. By checking out the Ecolint alumni website, which students can access by passing through my.ecolint.ch, students can find several more stories on notable alumni and how their journey at Ecolint changed their lives. Alumni stories are valuable resources for a new insight into students’ futures at school, which they could take as motivation or even encouragement to succeed in the IB.
