Overview
The first years of the college were guided by our IB and UWC predecessors, but as we've grown, we've come to realize the truly unique opportunities afforded to this UWC given our immediate locale and broader, national milieu. To define ourselves optimally within our environment, the three rivers of the Triveni, previously symbolized in the C, A, and S of IB CAS have migrated to symbolize the broader experiential education the Triveni program affords MUWCI students.
The Myth of the Triveni
In the times when the Gods (Devas) and Demons (Asuras) enjoyed a sort of truce, they decided to do something positive for mankind. After much thought it was decided that they will help humans become immortal by giving us the celestial nectar that is found deep in the ocean.
So on a fine sunny morning they assembled at the ocean, and with the help of Nag Raj (King of Snakes) began to churn the ocean. After a long day they finally collected a jug full of the precious nectar, but then the tentative truce was shattered.
The Devas and Asuras fought bitterly over the nectar and as they did some drops spilled on to the earth in a place where the three holiest rivers of India, the Ganga, Yamuna and the Saraswathi, converged, in a city called Allahabad. This site is called the Triveni Sangam and is where millions of Hindus come to wash away their sins especially during the Kumbh Mela. One dip in these holy waters is considered like drinking a few drops of the precious nectar and washing away your sins to release you from the cycle of birth. (wikipedia.org)
Creation, Action, Community Interaction, & Campus Service
The first third of the Triveni program begins with the basic IB requirements of Creation, Action, and Service, but expands to define the expectations of a MUWCI student. To recognize the strong place of Service within a UWC education, we divide the IB requirement into Campus Service, an activity that works toward the operation of the campus itself, and off-campus Community Interaction, activities that engage MUWCI students with the surrounding communities to offer our time and to learn from the diverse experiences and skills of our surrounding community members. Further, here we value consistency of effort and learning over a raw number of hours, so each student is required to attend at least one Creation (C), one Action (A), one Campus Service (CS), and one Community Interaction (CI) activity each week. Assuming students are consistent in their attendance, they complete the IB requirements without much problem; as a result, we have the fortune to not "count hours", allowing students to focus more on the experience of learning Choir and Latin Dance, of working on the college Biodiversity Reserve, and teaching English to village school children while learning about their lives on a weekly basis. To read anecdotes written by MUWCI students about their experiences in this aspect of Triveni, click here.
Project Weeks
The second third of the Triveni program is the two Project Weeks during which students experience the work of Indian Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) around the country for their first, and have the opportunity to volunteer or travel in India for the remaining three. For their first Project Week, all students spend a week working with and learning from a professional organization engaging in the complex of issues facing development organizations in India. Ideally students learn about India in greater depth, about the work we do on a weekly basis in CI activities, and ultimately how complex the attainment of the UWC ideals is. For the March Project Week - "India Week" - students often volunteer their time an NGO of their choice or travel around India. To read anecdotes written by MUWCI students about their experiences in this aspect of Triveni, click here.
Go to the Project Weeks page for more.
3rd Year Option
The final third of the Triveni program is the third year option. Here we have learned from the experience of our fellow UWCs - especially Pearson UWC and RCNUWC. These two UWCs have offered 3rd Year Options/Volunteer year options for several years. Yet MUWCI students have long taken "gap years" in greater numbers than any other UWC, though often without much guidance towards the year itself. The Triveni 3rd Year Option program formally recognizes the educational value of extending and building upon the two years of academic UWC education by spending 6-12 months volunteering one's time with a professional NGO somewhere in the world. This affords the student the chance to practically implement what they have learned and experimented with over two years at MUWCI, and ultimately test their ideals with an infinitely greater degree of profundity. The MUWCI 3rd Year Option program is built upon the ideal that graduation from a UWC is not the completion of a "UWC education", but rather the beginning, the base foundation, and that the 3rd Year Option will solidify the first two years before students re-expand their ideals, interests, and knowledge in university. To read anecdotes written by MUWCI students about their experiences in this aspect of Triveni, click here.
Go to the Third Year Options page for more.
UWC.org