Kenneth Rojas Araya

UWC attended: United World College Costa Rica
Class Year: Class of 2021

I’m from a small town in the north of Costa Rica. We are not an island, or at least not yet, and people usually get confused. There is a lot of nature, agricultural activity, and tourism from the place I come from.

I got chosen for United World College Costa Rica, which is kind of ironic, no? But being there for one month showed me that there wasn’t a better place for me. I truly appreciate the opportunity and the time I spent with incredible people that I love. 

The first thing that comes to my mind of what I enjoyed the most from UWC is the simplicity of this place and the huge joy that I got from really small moments. Eating on the stone tables at snack, climbing the roof to look at the stars or play some ultimate freebie during the shiny afternoons became my reasons of happiness during these 2 past years.

What made me consider Lewis & Clark was the dynamics and values of its community that friends have shared with me, and its educational model has what I’m looking for in my professional life. I want to major in Communication because I’m passionate about anything that pushes me to create new interactions with people.

Since I arrived at UWC, the idea of languages and communication has become an important part of my interests. Listening to many languages made me discover that I find them really flashy. Also, the fact that I had to learn English from scratch since I started at UWC made me experience the feeling of reaching the basic communication need in any environment, and let me tell you, that is the best feeling ever!


Outside the classroom, I’m a really social person that likes to bounce around and meet as many people as I can. I enjoy exercise a lot, and I’m planning to join the rowing team at Lewis & Clark. It is something really new but I was involved with swimming at a national level and I really miss being involved in this kind of environment.

Something interesting that I would like people to know is that even though this next fall is going to be my first time away from home, I’m really excited to get to know this new culture and people, I hope to share mine as well and spend a great 4 years at Lewis & Clark.

I hope to grow as fast as I can in Lewis & Clark, both academically and personally. I hope to get the necessary skills to develop any professional goal that will come in the areas that I will choose, but also, I hope to get the time to learn about the people that will be around me and the beauty Portland.