Lester B. Pearson College
Encyclopedia
Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific (Pearson College) is one of thirteen United World Colleges
(UWC) around the world. It is named after the late Canadian Prime Minister Lester Bowles Pearson, winner of the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize
and originator of the United Nations
Peace Keeping program. The mission of the College is to promote peace, sustainability and international understanding by bringing young people from all walks of life, regardless of financial ability, together in a small and isolated village-like community to live, learn and grow together. 200 students from nearly 100 countries come together to share their lives as they finish their high school education.
Many alumni are leaders in human rights, international development, business, law, science and other fields. Recent graduates have placed in some of the world's top universities, including Harvard University
, Princeton University
, University of Oxford
, and Dartmouth College
. Students at the College are eligible, after graduation, to participate in the Shelby Davis Scholarship
programme, which funds undergraduate study, based on need, for UWC students at many elite American universities.
The director of the College as of 2006 is David Hawley, a graduate of Harvard University
.
on Vancouver Island
. The College provides a suitable location for the study of the environment, due to the surrounding woodlands and the nearby Race Rocks Marine Protected Area
.
There are 5 residence houses that house all students of Pearson College as well as some faculty members. Many other faculty members live on campus in separate faculty houses. All student houses are mixed gender with boys on one floor and girls on the other and students live in shared rooms of 4 to 5 people. Meals are served by a single cafeteria at the College.
Its proximity to Pedder Bay allows the College to have extensive waterfront activities. A fleet of sail boats, kayaks, canoes, as well as diving equipment are stored on the docks and in the floating marine biology building.
United World Colleges
UWC is an education movement comprising thirteen international schools and colleges, national committees in over 130 countries and a series of short educational programmes. The UWC movement aims to make education a force to unite people, nations and cultures for peace and a sustainable future...
(UWC) around the world. It is named after the late Canadian Prime Minister Lester Bowles Pearson, winner of the 1957 Nobel Peace Prize
Nobel Peace Prize
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
and originator of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Peace Keeping program. The mission of the College is to promote peace, sustainability and international understanding by bringing young people from all walks of life, regardless of financial ability, together in a small and isolated village-like community to live, learn and grow together. 200 students from nearly 100 countries come together to share their lives as they finish their high school education.
Many alumni are leaders in human rights, international development, business, law, science and other fields. Recent graduates have placed in some of the world's top universities, including Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, University of Oxford
University of Oxford
The University of Oxford is a university located in Oxford, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest surviving university in the world and the oldest in the English-speaking world. Although its exact date of foundation is unclear, there is evidence of teaching as far back as 1096...
, and Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
. Students at the College are eligible, after graduation, to participate in the Shelby Davis Scholarship
Shelby Davis Scholarship
The Shelby Davis Scholarship is granted to graduates of the United World Colleges to study at universities in the United States. The Davis family's contribution to the United World Colleges, in scholarships and grants for building projects, represents the biggest contribution to international...
programme, which funds undergraduate study, based on need, for UWC students at many elite American universities.
The director of the College as of 2006 is David Hawley, a graduate of Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
.
Academics and administration
The College's main academic curriculum is the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme. Students are also required to participate in community-oriented services, cultural activities, and sport events. A highlight of the academic year is the professional dance, music and cultural show, "One World", led by a talented backstage crew and attracting thousands of audience members from Victoria and the surrounding communities.Admissions
With a strict full scholarship policy, students must compete to be granted a scholarship by their respective UWC National Committees. Each National Committee makes recommendations for admission to the College independently and their selection processes may vary. Sponsorship for these scholarships comes from a mixture of organisations, governments and private donors. This way, acceptance into Pearson is solely determined by promise and potential, and admission is extremely competitive.Campus
The College is located on the shores of Pedder Bay, near Victoria, British ColumbiaVictoria, British Columbia
Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, Canada and is located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada's Pacific coast. The city has a population of about 78,000 within the metropolitan area of Greater Victoria, which has a population of 360,063, the 15th most populous Canadian...
on Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island
Vancouver Island is a large island in British Columbia, Canada. It is one of several North American locations named after George Vancouver, the British Royal Navy officer who explored the Pacific Northwest coast of North America between 1791 and 1794...
. The College provides a suitable location for the study of the environment, due to the surrounding woodlands and the nearby Race Rocks Marine Protected Area
Race Rocks Marine Protected Area
Race Rocks is a marine ecological reserve in the eastern entrance of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. The reserve served as a Marine Protected Area pilot project and is now seeking Marine Protected Area designation after the first bid in 2000 was derailed in Ottawa. Started in 1978 as a marine science...
.
There are 5 residence houses that house all students of Pearson College as well as some faculty members. Many other faculty members live on campus in separate faculty houses. All student houses are mixed gender with boys on one floor and girls on the other and students live in shared rooms of 4 to 5 people. Meals are served by a single cafeteria at the College.
Its proximity to Pedder Bay allows the College to have extensive waterfront activities. A fleet of sail boats, kayaks, canoes, as well as diving equipment are stored on the docks and in the floating marine biology building.
Alumni
- Douglas AlexanderDouglas AlexanderDouglas Garven Alexander is a British Labour Party politician, who is currently the Shadow Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs in the shadow cabinet of Ed Miliband. He has held cabinet posts under Tony Blair and Gordon Brown, including Secretary of State for Scotland and...
- British Member of ParliamentMember of ParliamentA Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
and Shadow Foreign SecretaryShadow Foreign SecretaryIn British politics, the shadow foreign secretary is a position within the opposition's shadow cabinet that deals mainly with issues surrounding the Foreign Office; such things are relations with other nations, if elected, the designated person may be slated to become the new Foreign...
. From 2007 until 2010 he was Secretary of State for International DevelopmentSecretary of State for International DevelopmentIn the United Kingdom, the Secretary of State for International Development is a Cabinet minister responsible for the Department for International Development and for promoting development overseas, particularly in the third world...
in Gordon BrownGordon BrownJames Gordon Brown is a British Labour Party politician who was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 until 2010. He previously served as Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Labour Government from 1997 to 2007...
's cabinet - Wendy AlexanderWendy AlexanderWendy Alexander is a Scottish politician and the former Member of the Scottish Parliament for Paisley North. She held various Scottish Government cabinet posts and was the leader of the Labour Party group in the Scottish Parliament from 2007-2008...
- Member of the Scottish ParliamentMember of the Scottish ParliamentMember of the Scottish Parliament is the title given to any one of the 129 individuals elected to serve in the Scottish Parliament.-Methods of Election:MSPs are elected in one of two ways:...
and leader of the Scottish Labour PartyScottish Labour PartyThe Scottish Labour Party is the section of the British Labour Party which operates in Scotland....
in 2007-8 - Paul ColtonPaul ColtonWilliam Paul Colton is the Church of Ireland's Bishop of Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross. He is now perhaps best known for being the priest who officiated at the wedding of footballer David Beckham and Spice girl Victoria Adams on July 4, 1999 at the medieval Luttrellstown Castle on the outskirts...
- Bishop of Cork, Cloyne and Ross - Anne EnrightAnne EnrightAnne Enright is a Booker Prize-winning Irish author. She has published essays, short stories, a non-fiction book and four novels. Before her novel The Gathering won the 2007 Man Booker Prize, Enright had a low profile in Ireland and the United Kingdom, although her books were favourably reviewed...
- 2007 Man Booker PrizeMan Booker PrizeThe Man Booker Prize for Fiction is a literary prize awarded each year for the best original full-length novel, written in the English language, by a citizen of the Commonwealth of Nations, Ireland, or Zimbabwe. The winner of the Man Booker Prize is generally assured of international renown and...
-winning novelist - Lene EspersenLene EspersenLene Espersen is a Danish politician and member of parliament who has been Danish Minister of Foreign Affairs since 23 February 2010 and was leader of the Conservative People's Party and Deputy Prime Minister from 9 September 2008 to 13 January 2011...
, DanishDenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
Minister of Foreign Affairs and former Deputy Prime MinisterDeputy Prime MinisterA deputy prime minister or vice prime minister is, in some counties, a government minister who can take the position of acting prime minister when the prime minister is temporarily absent. The position is often likened to that of a vice president, but is significantly different, though both... - Peter SandsPeter Sands (banker)Peter Sands is a British banker. Since November 2006 he is chief executive officer of Standard Chartered plc.- Early Life :...
, CEO, Standard Chartered BankStandard Chartered BankStandard Chartered PLC is a multinational financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom with operations in more than seventy countries... - Yuen Pau WooYuen Pau WooYuen Pau Woo is a thought leader on contemporary Asia affairs and expert on Canada-Asia relations. He is currently the President and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, a Vancouver-based think-tank on Canada-Asia relations....
, President and CEO of the Asia Pacific Foundation of CanadaAsia Pacific Foundation of CanadaThe Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, created by an Act of Parliament in 1984, is an independent, not-for-profit think-tank on Canada's relations with Asia.-Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada:...
External links
- Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific : : Welcome at www.pearsoncollege.ca
- Race Rocks Ecological Reserve/Marine Protected Area at www.racerocks.com
- Pearson Seminar on Youth Leadership at www.psyl.ca
- West Coast Eco-Adventure at pearsoncollege.ca
- PeerNet - Lester B. Pearson College at peernet.lbpc.ca