Portrait of our new Rektor: “The glue that holds a community together”

Our new Rektor Helen White has been with the College since its foundation in 2014. A Doctor of Marine Biology from Britain with extensive experience in boarding school education, Kurt Hahnian philosophy and conservation work, she is currently the school’s Director of Student Life and Vice Rektor, as well as a teacher of Biology and ESS, a House Tutor and a Personal Tutor. In August 2024, she took on the leadership of RBC. We spoke to Helen about her background, about setting up the College and about building a community.

“In a nutshell, I oversee everything that happens outside the classroom”, says Helen White, who has been one of the most important contacts for all RBC students over the past nine years. Helen manages the school’s residential program and oversees the student houses run by house tutors, Project Weeks, the Health and Wellbeing Team, the College Life program – to name a few areas of responsibility.

Having taught in boarding schools since her early thirties – including Schule Schloss Salem and the UWC Adriatic in Duino, Italy –, she brought with her a lot of experience when she joined RBC in its early stages. “I was really excited about helping set up a new international school in Germany, and about its focus on sustainability. When Laurence [Nodder, Rektor], Christian [Bock, Director of Studies] and I crafted the concept and handbook, we took the best things from other UWCs, learning from best-practice examples.“

Such as the room of four – a typical UWC concept. Each year prior to student arrival, Helen spends considerable time in August putting the house communities together, based on language, nationality and year group as well as students’ own wishes. “Once I have a diverse house community in place – always including two peer supporters per house—, I hand over to the house tutor to assign the rooms”, says Helen, who started her boarding career as the first-ever non-German speaking House Tutor in Salem in 1999.

In her six years at Salem, Helen also worked as Deputy IB Coordinator, CAS Coordinator, taught Chemistry and Biology, engaged in the Outward Bound program and introduced the Duke of Edinburgh scheme as well as rugby to the school. In fact, she had played rugby since university and had as a member of the early Scotland team participated in the first-ever England vs. Scotland (select) rugby match. “It was a disaster. We were all amateurs, and their English A team turned up. We got beaten badly – and it was all on television”, she recalls laughing.

As Salem’s ‘Round Square’ representative, Helen met Malcolm McKenzie, former principal of UWC Atlantic. He prompted her to look into UWC, and thereafter she started her nine-year career at UWC Adriatic. “I’d wanted the job as IB coordinator, but they took Peter Howe, so I joined to teach Biology and to head the Global Affairs and MUN program.” The UWC approach quickly grew on her; it made sense: “I realized this is for me. UWC encompasses everything I value and strive towards in teaching students about life. All my previous experiences, my skills, and my passions – they match the UWC mission.” Together with Peter, she then crafted and took on the role of Director of Student Life and as the head of college changed, she became Deputy Rector.

Education is a red thread in her work life to date. After completing her PhD at age 25, Helen worked for conservation organizations in Scotland, first as a volunteer, then formally training other volunteers. This training experience – through which she acquired her chainsaw and woodland management certificate – made her interested in teaching. “Initially, I got my teacher training certificate to be able to teach within my work in conservation. My introduction to boarding schools came when I needed money after living in South Africa and Australia for some time. I took a live-in supply job in a boarding school in England, not far from where my parents are from, and I’ve worked in them ever since.”

For Helen, the UWC magic happens in the student village. It is not new educational approaches or other innovations but the conversations in student houses and the rooms, shared by young people of diverse cultures and concerns, that are essential. “That’s what makes us different from any other school concept: it’s the intentionality of bringing students from all over the world, from different national systems, together.”

In her opinion, the House Tutor’s role is to help students to feel at home and to navigate issues, from how the kitchen works to living and building community together. “What works and what doesn’t can change from one year to the next, so staff need to be adaptable and not to take things too personally. Every year is different, as the students are different, so we need to reset, every year.” This is also the only way for Helen to be able to build relationships with students anew. “My focus is always on the current generations.”

Memories of past generations can blur, but some stand out: for example, the massive Ficus plant called Chanelle, installed in House 1 by Paul from the first generation, kidnapped by Kimi from the second, later returned, and now living happily in Helen’s home; or a session of hide and seek during which a bouldering-savvy student hid so well under a table that he was not to be found.

Helen is very much hands-on in how she works. For her current student house – the first female-only house on campus – Helen washes all dirty dishcloths. “It’s a great way to make sure the job gets done, and to be able to pop my head into students’ rooms and check-in with them.”

Helen is also approachable: sharing an office with Christian, who oversees everything that happens inside the classroom, as well as her dog Jack – a golden-colored Italian mix who has cuddled his way into many students’ hearts –, she always keeps her door open. If she were to appear on a Royal Air Force base, however, she would be saluted with “Ma’am”: her RAF rank would require it. “A lot of people do not know this, but at my first boarding school, I was Contingent Commander of the cadettes, which required me to do training with the RAF. I went up through the ranks and ended up being a flying officer in the volunteer section”.

Where she used to take students flying and gliding or later on sailing trips on the Adriatic, Helen now supervises students at RBC exploring the Black Forest or visiting cities around Europe during the Project Weeks. Much of her work with students and the community is, like Laurence’s work, based on trust. “It’s the glue”, she concludes, “that holds a community together.”