Nik Carverhill appears to be on track to becoming one of the next generation’s most influential young men.
The recent graduate of Pearson College, it seems, is destined to make the world a decidedly better place and he attributes much of who he is today to his education at the Pedder Bay campus, near Metchosin.
Carverhill graduated from Pearson in 2013 and has since attended Yale University and Yale-NUS College in Singapore. And recently he was notified that he has been selected as a Rhodes Scholar for 2018 and is looking forward to continuing his education at Oxford in October.
Although Carverhill has travelled the world, he attributes much of his academic success and the development of the attitudes that have shaped his life to his education at the West Shore school.
“I guess that I can’t emphasize enough how much Pearson College was the transformative part of my life. The people the school attracts and the staff at Pearson are so amazing,” Carverhill said. “That experience instilled a passionate concern for social justice and centred me in so many ways. My time at Pearson became the core of my life.”
The president and head of college at Pearson College, Désirée McGraw is grateful for Carverhill’s kind words and takes some pride in having helped him along his path to doing great things in the world.
“Nik exemplifies the global mindset and practical problem-solving approach that we instill in students during their two years at the Pearson campus,” she said.
McGraw noted that
Carverhill is the 13th Rhodes Scholar to have attended Pearson, Canada’s only United World College, and an institution that draws 16- to 19-year-old students from across Canada and from about 160 nations around the world.
Carverhill explained that he hopes to steer his studies toward a master of philosophy and plans to a focus on developmental studies. His ultimate goal is to work in the international community, helping to manage and improve the plight of refugees around the world.
He has already worked with Rohingya Muslims in Bangkok volunteered with injured migrant workers in Singapore and spent his summer months supporting the recruitment of northern indigenous teachers in Canada.
“The people I met at Pearson College really helped me understand what was happening in other parts of the world and I just feel the need to help improve the lives of people in places where life can seem very hopeless, but doesn’t have to be,” Carverhill said. “They were, and continue to be, my inspiration.”
Carverhill is currently living in Singapore where he works for a strategic educational consulting company, helping largely public sector clients, like central banks, to develop policies and procedures to help their citizens. His work has taken him across South East Asia and beyond.
But, again, his current work has some roots at Pearson College where he was was the co-founder of Raise Your Voice, a charity to teach youth the skills they need to make a difference in their communities. He said that he applies some of those same principles to his current work.
This year the Rhodes Scholarship was awarded to 95 outstanding young people from 64 countries around the world.