Hi, My name is Philiswa Bulunga pronouns (she/her). I am from the small kingdom of Eswatini, in Southern Africa. It was always my life long dream to find myself enrolled in a UWC school, so finally getting there was the most exciting achievement in my life. The best thing about attending a UWC school was as to be expected, the diversity of thought and backgrounds that I found there. I got to be around so many different people than I had ever imagined and became friends with people i never could have imagined myself with before. I also really enjoyed the creativity that is palpable at my school-Waterford Kamhlaba, we were given so much space and resources to be true forces of change and allowed us to reimagine anything we dared to.
After I got my diploma at Waterford, I knew that I was very interested in attending a smaller school that could have the same spirit of community and acceptance that I had found before. After talking to some of my IB3s and other alumni, I kept hearing about this school Lewis & Clark College. This school caught my attention due to the small, vibrant community that had impressed a lot of my other friends who went there. Its proximity to the town of Portland and the fact that everyone attending seemed so content and happy being there encouraged me to apply and accept my admission into the college.
As I have started my journey here, I know I will be majoring in Economics with a minor hopefully in data science. I would love to be in the corporate world after I finish college and I believe that the topics of economics are very relevant for someone like me coming from a third world country, hopefully I can learn skills in the classroom that can be transferred in a helpful way practically when I return home. However, academics are not the only thing I spend my time on, I am also very interested in debate, reading, going out,fashion,music and dancing, I try to fit all these things into my days every now and then.
I am also really passionate about travelling, even though I have not seen nearly as much of the world as I would love to. I have been around a lot of the Southern African countries and am very immersed in Southern African culture. Since I am studying in the US, I hope I will get to go around and see more the country too.