School Based BWB (Buddies Without Borders) Clubs

BWB Club at Whittle School & Studios in the USA, Led by Student President Calla O'Neil (Click here for their Local Action Project)

Calla O’Neil is a high school senior dedicated to creating change and empowering others to do so as well. She runs the first Buddies Without Borders chapter in the U.S. at Whittle School and Studios, leading international discussions on the world’s biggest challenges and projects to help make a difference such as the BWB Podcast and Climate Action Week. Calla also serves as the Co-Chair of the National Youth Board of Graybridge, a nonprofit that has built an engagement platform to assist companies and schools in working towards racial unity and provide individuals with the opportunity to take action against racial injustice and inequity. In addition, she is a national runner up for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s 2021 Students of the Year campaign, leading a team that raised a record-breaking $545,000 and continuing to support the organization’s mission by serving on their Junior Leadership Team.

BWB Club at Villiers School in Ireland, led by Student President Rowan Beddows (Click here for their Local Action Project)

Rowan Beddows is in 11th grade at Villiers School in Ireland. She strives to bring people together to change the world. She is most dedicated to achieve equality and end climate change. Her first act with the BWB Club was to conduct local cleanup hikes with her club and school. Rowan participates in Global Schools and MUN in her school to learn more about the world around her and to further bring about change. However, she takes pride most in her writing career in which she has been published 4 times already and is working on publishing her book. She hopes that people can learn from the messages she implants into her stories and poems which usually contain issues concerning mental health, climate change, power, and diversity.

BWB Club at Tsai Hsing High School in Taiwan, led by Student President Annabelle Wei  (Click here for their local action project)

Annabelle Wei started the BWB Club in her school.  Annabelle believes in the power of communication, and rational discussions can reduce conflicts.  She organized various international discussions on topics ranging from the FOMO problem to the use of facial recognition technologies on campus. In 2021, Annabelle led her club to conduct their action project, where they interviewed BWB clubs worldwide and reported what the whole BWB community did for their local community. Annabelle also participated in the 2021 Global Initiatives Symposium in Taiwan, which is the largest student forum in Taiwan. In the symposium, she focused on the social stigma problem, trying to find a solution to help underprivileged children to get out of the poverty trap. Annabelle won the second prize with her teammates in the Taiwan national English debate tournament.

BWB Club at British International School in Cairo, lead by Student President Hanya Abdel-Hamid (Click here for their local action project)

Hanya Abdel-Hamid is in year 13 and she is committed to driving change in all ways she can and to foster understanding and growth among different communities. Her local action project to help supply orphanages and low income schools with water filters. She has participated in 16 MUN conferences, which has helped her learn about varying global issues and conflicts and inspired her to pursue studies in politics and international relations. She is a fellow for Take the World Fellowship, in collaboration with Harvard College Project for Asian and International Relations (HPAIR), MIT Solv[ED], and the Leadership Institute at Harvard College (LIHC), where she is collaborating with others to find sustainable solutions for global challenges. She hopes to raise awareness about issues regarding the Middle East and enact change through her future work and study.

BWB Club at Kabojja International School in Uganda, led by Student Presidents Caren Marcela Karamagi and Cianna Byekwaso Nantale (Click here for their local action project)

Caren Marcela Karamagi, an 18-year old humanitarian, is a co-president of the BWB Club at Kabojja International School, Uganda. She aspires to foster a philomathic global perspective in her community. She has engaged in several BWB programs ranging from Interclub Debates to Online Forums.
Cianna Byekwaso Nantale, an 18-year old trailblazer, is a co-president with Caren. She strives to make the club more functional in the school - as it is just budding, and create a global awareness culture.
Together they organized a Local-Action Campaign where they donated essentials to an orphanage that was greatly affected by the pandemic.
They aim to develop their club to create a sempiternal impression - not only in their society but the country too. 

BWB Club at SIS in Mumbai, India, led by Student President Timsa Bajpai (Click here for their local action project)

Timsa Bajpai was the Best Representative in the first Buddies Without Borders Forum.  She believes that holistic learning is through participation in various extracurricular activities and sports. From helping the street animals, to collecting and donating school supplies, to teaching the less privileged children, Timsa is dedicated not only in the classroom but in her community.  As a result, Timsa was recently given a leadership role in her school student council. As part of the prefectorial board, and a roundsquare prefect, her main goal is to work with her team to create a conducive and friendly environment for everyone around her.  With her sincerity, hard-work and dedication she envisages a dream to pursue an administrative career on the global issues and help all humankind.

BWB Club in Japan

Student President: Miyu Aoki

Saint Andrew's School in Bolivia

Student President: Alejandra Gonzalez