I am Helena Scharnowski, an alumnus of the Windhoek International School (WIS) community. In this short article, I would like to share with you the path I took after graduating high school as well as my experience as a WIS student.
I came to WIS in year 9 (2012, I think) & graduated from the International Baccalaureate program (IBDP) in 2015 as most well-rounded student of my year. After leaving high school, I took a gap year during which I first worked with vulnerable youth in Germany. Following this, I travelled Europe to get acquainted with different customs & cultures to diversify my existing international background. In 2017 I started my Bachelor of Science in Psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam, graduating with a distinction in 2020. After this, I took a gap year to rebuild a project where troubled German youth are rehabilitated & reintegrated into society in Namibia. I did this for one year to gain relevant work experience for my future career in Forensic & Legal Psychology. In 2021 I began a Master of Science in Forensic & Legal Psychology at Erasmus University Rotterdam. I will finish my master’s in June & hope to graduate Cum Laude (I am currently on the Cum Laude list.
During my studies, I discovered a passion for research. I realised that there is so much we as humans can discover in this world about ourselves & about our environment.
I took part in several research projects during my bachelor's, winning the Local to Global research competition for best research topic & many more.
A topic that interests me the most is the topic of education. I have in confronted myself with the issue of education throughout my university career to the extent that I wrote a book about a specific teaching style titled “A Student's Guide to Problem Based Learning”.
My book aims to help students gain tips & tricks on how to master the teaching system at Erasmus University & is distributed at the beginning of each academic year to all first-year students at Erasmus University.
The next goal for me is to do my PhD in education within developing (third world) countries, as I am convinced that education is how we can change the world for the better. Everyone has a right to be educated; everyone has the right to free education, yet, to my disbelief, I have come to learn that not everyone is fortunate enough to have easy access to education. Therefore, during my PhD, I aspire to identify the critical factors that prevent access to free education in developing countries & develop a system in which education can be easily accessible for everyone. However, to be eligible for a PhD position, I first have to gain a sufficient amount of experience in research. Therefore, I am currently conducting research on how the onset of the recent pandemic (COVID-19) affected people’s behaviour, mainly focusing on increased aggression. I will attempt to map the factors that contributed to the increase of aggression due to the COVID-19 pandemic to provide society with preventative measures for future global crises. If you want, you can take part in my study & help me prevent severe behavioural consequences for future crises (see second link below).
To conclude, I would like to share what I have learned during my time at WIS. I believe the most valuable concept I learned from being part of the WIS community is the concept of family. When I first came to WIS, I lacked a feeling of belonging; I felt as though I was completely alone in this big scary world. However, this changed the moment I became a student at WIS.
All my teachers gave me a sense of belonging as well as direction in life, they cared for me as though I were one of their own children. The WIS community provided me with the relevant foundation to take on challenges in order to continue to develop myself within my personal & work life.
Through the support & the strength I gained from my teachers, I grew into a disciplined, committed, &, most importantly, resilient young lady. WIS helped me become who I am today & for this, I will forever be grateful to them.
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