SHELBY DAVIS VISITS WARTBURG

LURA AJDINI, TRUMPET STAFF WRITER

Shelby Moore Collom Davis, philanthropist, investor and co-founder of the Davis United World College Scholars Program, will visit Wartburg College on Saturday, Feb. 15. His visit will be followed by an Honorary Degree Ceremony which is open to the campus community and the public at 5 p.m.

“Davis has opened up doors for me to pursue my dream career in the United States,” Sharon Rachel Ndjuluwa, senior Wartburg student from Namibia and 2016 graduate of Waterford Kamhlaba UWCSA,” said. “He is setting a standard to other philanthropists, community leaders and everyone else trying to make a difference. His investment in education is a big deal because it says a lot about how he’s trying to tackle social injustices and global issues.”

In 2000, Davis co-founded the scholarship program with Phil O. Geier, who serves as the executive director of the program.

The Davis United World College Scholars Program awards the Shelby Davis Scholarship to graduates of the United World Colleges program (UWC) to study at one of 94 partner universities in the United States.

This program provides financial support to students who have completed the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program in one of 18 UWC schools around the world.

“Thanks to this scholarship, people who would not be able to afford higher education are being impacted by robust educational systems that consequently will help them to bring innovative ideas to communities in other places,” Kimberly Céspedes Torres, a senior Wartburg student from Costa Rica and 2016 graduate of UWC Costa Rica, said.

“The most significant impact that UWC Scholarship has had for me is to allow me to adapt and be adopted by communities of which I never imagined to be a part and to allow me to contribute to the change and the improvement of human relations among culturally diverse groups.”