Interview with Xochilt Exué Hernández Leiva (Pearson College UWC, 2004-2006)

Having been selected by her national committee in Nicaragua to study at UWC, Xochilt Exué Hernández Leiva (Pearson College UWC, 2004-2006) has long been fascinated by UWC’s power to connect people through a common purpose. Building on her experience as a peace educator and youth advocate, Xochilt now works as Co-CEO of Peace First, an organisation supporting young people around the world to lead social change in their communities. 

In this interview, Xochilt talks about how she developed her interest in anthropology at Pearson College UWC, and why she believes that building dynamic partnerships with like-minded organisations is the best way to expand UWC’s global influence.

Tell us about your journey to UWC

I always had this interest in social change and I had been exposed at a young age to the realities of conflict, growing up in Nicaragua which was still reeling from the after-effects of a civil war. I wanted to understand what drove people to conflict and I wanted to learn more about how diversity and conflict intertwine. With my dual heritage, my father is Colombian and my mother Nicaraguan, I had some sense of cultural diversity, but I was hungry to learn more. The selection process alone taught me so much. It was the first time I’d been exposed to so many different people from all over Nicaragua. I was honoured to receive one of the two scholarship places, but I also realised there were so many other talented people that deserved the same chance. This is why I later came back to join the UWC Nicaragua National Committee (NC). So really the ‘spice’ for me is not so much about how I came to UWC, but more about how I stayed. And this is what I find so fascinating. There’s incredible diversity within UWC, so inevitably we all have very different connection points, but it’s the way UWCers stay connected, and the momentum this brings in driving the UWC mission forward.

How did your experiences at Pearson College UWC help to shape your future career?

The UWC Nicaragua NC placed me at Pearson because they saw how that particular setting could help expand and nurture my interest in anthropology: the College offers an anthropology course as part of the IB. It’s quite unique what they are doing at the College in terms of acknowledging the indigenous heritage and making this part of the entire educational experience. I always had this interest in anthropology, but sometimes when you’re young you need to be made aware of your potential – and that’s Kurt Hanh’s premise – for us to acknowledge that there is ‘more in us’ than we realise. But the second thing is that you need a community to help drive and challenge you, and that’s why I’m so thankful that the selectors saw something in me that could be nurtured at Pearson. After finishing my studies I returned to Nicaragua and worked a lot in social research supporting indigenous rights. But I was also always thinking about education and the power of this UWC ‘ripple effect’, which then led me to also become a teacher at high school and university level.  I then decided I wanted to do a Master’s in education, and I was able to study in the UK through a Chevening scholarship. 

You’d decided to volunteer with the UWC Nicaragua National Committee after your undergraduate degree – why was this important to you? 

I’d realised through my own selection process how important it was to enable access to opportunities that wouldn’t be available to young people otherwise. I saw some of the talent that was out there. But still we were not able to access people from more remote areas in Nicaragua. I wanted to work to improve that. For me, attending UWC was a transformative experience, but it was also very important for me to acknowledge this ‘changemaker’ narrative. I began to realise that although it’s something we talk about, it’s not always something young people self-identify with. I think this is something that needs to be developed and reinforced. The selection process is where that begins, but then I think we have to be really intentional about how we make sure this ‘ripple effect’ outside and beyond UWC happens. This is why I went into teaching, and it’s why I decided to chair the national committee. I realised that the power of UWC is definitely in its network.