Enthusiastic, passionate, caring and lively, I'm someone who's interested in social development, in the environment, in adventure and in life in general. I believe I bring a positive energy to people and places around me.

Let me tell you a little about my history and where I am right now, and kind of how I got here. I'm from Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal. When I was in grade 9 I learned about the United world Colleges [uwc.org]. It’s basically a chain of 13 high-schools in 13 different countries around the world that bring students together from 100+ nations for a peaceful and sustainable future which is to be achieved through education. I applied, got selected after a competitive application process and here I am at the UWC in USA in Montezuma, NM. I'll tell you more about my school [which is basically awesome] later, but for right now I'm going to tell you about my interests and beliefs.

I believe in Vasudeva Kutumbakam-a Sanskrit phrase that means one world one family. I've always loved culture, the festivities the traditions, the people, language, arts, architecture in different parts of the world, including the different faiths and it is all very interesting to me. And now that I’m at an international school with 200 kids who represent more than 70 nations, my personal idea of one world one family has become truer than ever.

I have three main areas of interest: Environment, Social/rural development and Social entrepreneurship[as my life themes I guess, will tell you about other interests in a while (:]. Environment because, well...simply because this is where we are, and it does so much for us, and its sad that what we give back to it is...well degraded land, soil air and water. [One of my personal reasons for loving the environment so much is that I think everybody, including my grandkids and their grandkids and their grandkids and so on, should see the glaciers. I’ve only seen a couple, and not the ones in Nepal [which I really want to do soon] and I think they're magnificent. And apart from all the ecological services that the earth gives us...it’s just these moments of happiness that we get from simply staring at nature that motivates me to work in the ecological field. Social development I like because I take interest in people and culture to begin with, and mainly because I feel strongly for my community and country and the world as a whole. I also think the idea of development is messed up a bit [people think development is road bridges, electricity etc] well it is all that probably but more than that too. I think education, public health, child mortality rates, HDI and some kind of happiness index would be a better marker of development. My interest in social entrepreneurship kind of ties in with my interest in Social development. I think giving people the ability to earn for themselves is a big gift, helping them become independent so they can work and function and feed their families and contribute to the world, all on their own caliber.

I’ve worked on a couple different project already, and have some more in mind that I would love to talk to you guys about soon (: Nowww, let me tell you about me as a friend, or daughter, or sister, or cousin. I love laughing, making people smile and happiness in general. Not just the general happiness, but that happiness you get from knowing that you make a difference in people’s lives. Some call me a ray of sunshine, some call me wonderfully weird, some think I’m hyper but say what..you can decide when you get to know me better (:

I really enjoy the sense of adventure, past summer I went on a seakayaking and backpacking course with NOLS [nols.edu] and loved it. At school I’m a wilderness leader [ I recently led a group of 11 in total down to Grand Canyon..woohoo] and I’ve also started learning boxing and more martial arts this semester which I really enjoy. Back home I volunteered with Nepal Tourism board (NTB)for a couple of months [check out welcomenepal.com ] its an awesome country, and if you’re looking for adventure, or culture or just beautiful scenery to hang around..you will love it. I’ve done bunjy jumping, rafting kayaking, trekking, hiking, canyon swing and soon plan to go home on another trek (:

I also love dancing, I learnt folk dance in school, and classical Nepali dance too. I learnt a lot of bollywood dance from bollywood movies and just love having fun with them in general.

Also, I love [nepali] food and cooking. I can’t speak for other foods because I haven’t tried much yet [I don’t think burgers and fries are my thing..] and I love [free] theater and street drama. For me its important because I think drama is a nice and entertaining way to educate and motivate the masses [social development again!] oh I cannot wait to get to know more people on this site. Please don’t hesitate to email/message me or add me on facebook [facebook.com/hugkripa] if you want to talk more. I hope all the talking didn’t scare you off (:

find me on facebook.com/hugkripa

Best,

check out my application video! www.youtube.com/watch?v=apS8GDf8Xtk