Alumni News: June 2026 Edition

From the challenge of planning Project Week to pitching her vision to a investors in her social start-up, Paula is still dreaming big and bringing her ideas to life—just on a much larger scale. As the co-founder of Féro, a passionate social enterprise in Senegal, Paula is working on the ground to heal degraded landscapes and uplift rural communities. By bringing together mid-tech greenhouses and biodiverse farming, Féro is helping local farmers breathe life back into their soil while creating meaningful jobs in the rural areas. We sat down with Paula to chat about her journey from the East Campus to West Africa and how the global perspective she gained at UWCSEA guides her leadership today.

Tell us more about what you have been up to since UWCSEA and what inspired you to co-found Féro? Walk us through your vision, goals and challenges you have faced.

After UWCSEA, a gap year scholarship took me to Senegal, where I witnessed firsthand the economic and migration challenges driving young people to leave their communities. This sparked a deep commitment to the region. I pursued a BA in International Studies and an MSc in Migration Governance before moving back to Senegal to lead youth training and labour integration programmes.

Through this work, I saw a dual crisis: rural economies were weakening as youth left for cities, and smallholder farmers were struggling with degraded, deforested land. To tackle this, my co-founders and I launched Féro, a social enterprise working at the intersection of land restoration and rural empowerment. We help farmers transform degraded cropland into profitable, regenerative farming systems that combine mid-tech greenhouses with biodiverse agroforestry, so that people and the planet can thrive simultaneously.

Operating a startup in a completely new context comes with challenges—from navigating cultural differences to accessing finance. However, our team is deeply passionate about restoring thousands of hectares of land while creating dignified economic opportunities for rural communities.

As someone who moved across cultures at a formative age, how has that global perspective influenced the way you build Féro and approach collaboration within your team today?

Definitely! My experience at UWCSEA was the first time I was exposed to such a diversity of cultures and perspectives. It taught me that life can be interpreted from many different angles, and that exposing yourself to difference will always teach you something new. It also taught me the importance of treating everyone with respect and understanding, independently of their background. These lessons deeply shaped how I see myself and the kind of work I wanted to pursue in the future.

In my daily work at Féro, I engage not only with people of different nationalities, but also with people from very different lived experiences. I work with smallholder farmers, public servants, community leaders, investors, and environmental advocates. As UWCSEA taught me, I see each of these encounters as a gift, because every conversation brings new perspectives, new approaches, and new ideas that help strengthen the work we do.

I also believe this experience has shaped the way we build our team and collaborations at Féro. Working across cultures requires humility, active listening, adaptability, and trust. Especially in a context like Senegal, where we are building long-term relationships with rural communities, I think it is essential to approach collaboration with openness and genuine respect for local knowledge and experiences.
 

Was there a particular class, project, or even a conversation at UWCSEA that shifted how you saw your role in the world or gave you the confidence to build something from the ground up?

If I had to mention one experience during my time at UWCSEA that gave me the courage to pursue and execute ambitious ideas, it would be Project Week. I still remember the excitement, but also the confusion and fear, when we were first told that we had to design and organise our own Project Week experience. How was a group of five students supposed to plan a trip to a completely new country with creative, activity, and service components? At the time, it felt like an enormous task.

But we did it! To this day, I still remember it as one of the most exciting, rewarding, and transformative experiences of my two years at UWCSEA. Our supervisor guided and encouraged us, while also making sure that we believed in ourselves and our ability to make the project happen. I travelled to Myanmar with Mafe, Emi, Dario, and Vichea, and together we developed a plan, executed it, and learned immensely from the experience.

Project Week taught me that ideas can become reality when you plan carefully, believe in the vision, surround yourself with the right team, and have the confidence to defend your ideas. Just as I now have to make investors believe in Féro’s vision, during Project Week preparation we had to make sure that our teacher supervisor also believed in our mission!

For current UWCSEA students—especially scholars—who might be sitting where you once were, what would you say about taking early ideas or passions and turning them into something real and impactful?

“If you have an idea, go for it!” Young people can play such an important role in changing our planet for the better through new innovations. We have more access to knowledge than ever before, and it is much easier to connect with other driven people around the world.

UWCSEA is a great place to start developing those ideas because there are thousands of curious students with different skills and interests, engaged teachers and staff who are willing to support you, and so many groups and initiatives that allow you to explore your interests more deeply. Many people might not take you seriously in the beginning, but I encourage you to keep going, because you could play a key role in making the world a better place through your innovation.

There are three key tips that I would give to future UWCSEA changemakers:

It is really important to deeply understand the challenge you are tackling: read many sources about it, take with as many people involved as possible, and consider different perspectives. Secondly, it is key to have passion for what you are doing and to believe in yourself. Make sure you are surrounded by a team that is equally committed and enthusiastic. Finally, do not be afraid to ask for help. There are thousands of people out there with impressive skills and knowledge who will be happy to support you.

The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship is a very special opportunity that allows graduating seniors nominated by their colleges to explore their deepest interests. I spent one year travelling through Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, Ecuador, Australia, New Zealand and Spain with my project “Climate Ecologies: Weaving Stories Through Art.”

This idea was born from the understanding that the social demands that I engaged with growing up in Chile are in many ways ecological demands too. I aimed to explore the nature-culture binary by meeting, living with, and joining communities that use art as foundation to articulate their knowledge and relationships

I learned about ecology during my bachelor’s degree in Human Ecology at the College of the Atlantic. During that time, I realised that so much of these new learnings on ecology resonated with complex political movements and practices that I had been part of in Valparaiso, Chile. Some of these practices were in intimate spaces like my household, others in workshops at squats, and in educational settings. Hence, my project involved political ecologies, art and multispecies perspectives.

Looking back, “Climate Ecologies: Weaving Stories Through Art” evolved in unexpected ways. One of my main takeaways is that it transformed not only what I know, but how I understand relationships between people, power, place, ecology, and knowledge. I think I expected to come back with clearer answers. Instead, what surprised me was learning to deeply appreciate uncertainty, difference, and complexity.

My Watson experience profoundly shaped my direction. Spending time with communities on the ground reminded me that while lived experience and local knowledge are vital, technical and scientific skills are equally necessary when defending land, territories, and ways of life.

This realisation led me to my Master's programme, where I hope to strengthen my understanding of environmental science and policy through a critical, transdisciplinary lens. Watson taught me that while science is essential to environmental decision-making, scientific knowledge alone is not enough. Communities should not just be the subjects of environmental policy—they must be active participants in shaping it. Equipping local communities with technical tools and scientific language strengthens their ability to advocate for their own needs.

Ultimately, addressing environmental challenges requires deep cooperation across grassroots movements, universities, and policymakers. It has left me with broader questions that continue to guide my studies today: where does science meet policy, and where does it meet politics? In a changing climate, researchers are not separate from the political realities in which knowledge is produced, and my time in the field has made me far more attentive to the responsibilities that come with environmental research today.

Many people may not realise the work that happens behind the scenes—what does the National Committee do to support students in your country?

As Brazil is so vast, we run an extensive selection process—receiving between 3,000 and 5,000 applications every year! The journey begins with online essays, recommendations, and academic tests to ensure accessibility for students from all regions. From there, 120 students advance to interviews, culminating in a selection camp in São Paulo for the final 25 candidates.

Once selected, we face the massive task of matching our students’ profiles with available scholarships. Since many of our applicants come from low-income backgrounds, securing financial support is a continuous, major effort.

But our work doesn't end at selection; we act as a vital bridge between families and the schools. Because many parents do not speak English, we support them through the entire departure prep, match students with alumni English tutors, and even have a dedicated Wellbeing Director to support students through mental health, academic, and adaptation challenges during their two years at UWC.

Behind the scenes, our committee is entirely volunteer-run. We rely heavily on community engagement—organising dinners, gatherings, and meetups—to keep our alumni network active. Today, our biggest focus is improving our fundraising strategies to ensure the financial sustainability of the committee, so we can keep opening doors for Brazilian students for years to come.