Our Alumni - Our Story
UNIS Hanoi is proud to be connected with its worldwide family of alumi - anyone who has attended UNIS Hanoi is considered to be an alum, including their families and former staff and faculty. Our hope is that our alumni will always remain connected with each other, with UNIS Hanoi and with Vietnam. With everyone’s help we hope to keep growing our world-wide alumni family.
Initially started in 1988 with 12 students in two classes, as of the start of the this school year, UNIS Hanoi has the privilege of welcoming more than 1100 students on campus every day, learning through a programme founded in the UN Principles.
One thing that has not changed during its long history is the importance of the school community, and UNIS Hanoi is making a special effort to reconnect with former families and faculty.
Alumni play an active role in the UNIS Hanoi community. Several regional reunions are held each year, giving our former students and teachers a chance to reconnect. UNIS Hanoi alumni all share a special experience from their time at UNIS Hanoi and we hope to celebrate the history of the school with as many of our alumni as possible.
Latest News for Alumni
Linhlan Dover Arthur (Class of 2002) married Ben Arthur on 16 March 2019 in Sydney, Australia. Instead of gifts or money, Linhlan and Ben set up a personal fundraiser on a crowd raising platform and asked the guests to donate to Blue Dragon Children's Foundation, hoping to raise AUD 1,603 to mark the date. The couple proudly shared that AUD 7,000 was raised as a result, "We are very happy that this money will go to helping street kids, and those affected by trafficking, AIDS and disabilities as well as help put those in need through school and rehabilitation." Linhlan and Ben and their children are living in Australia. They plan to be back in Hanoi this Spring for a small celebration with friends and family in Hanoi.
Lesley Peacock (Alumni Faculty/Staff) and her friend returned to UNIS Hanoi while on holiday with her friend. Lesley is currently working at the International School of Uganda as Senior School Principal.
Ellen Beard (Class of 2013) is working as the lead programme assitant of Redeeming Love, a safe house and holistic recovery program for sex trafficking survivors in Southern California. "I work directly with residents [of the safe house] to encourage movement toward healing and their future life goals. I've been learning about the issue of human trafficking and I discovered sex trafficking as one of the darkest and most troubling injustices I've come across, and it is far more common than we realize," Ellen shares. With this cause in mind, Ellen took on the creative challenge of wearing a dress during each of the 31 days of December 2018 for her personal fundraising campaign "December Dresses" to support Redeeming Love. Ellen's goal is to raise $750 USD, the cost of mental health services for one survivor, "I decided to start my own page because I know the Redeeming Love well and truly believe in the kind of healing it pursues. We focus on quality, highly-personalized support over quantity of individuals reached." Check out Ellen's donation page here or ask Ellen a question to keep the conversation going and raise awareness about this hidden problem.
Lauren Davenport (Class of 2007), formerly Lauren Purnell, and her husband Jon Davenport stopped by UNIS Hanoi during their visit to Vietnam from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia where they live. Lauren found the time to catch up with Mr Phi (PE Teaching Assistant) as well as Ms Dzung from Elementary School and Ms Huong, Library Teaching Assistant. Lauren was at UNIS Hanoi from 1993 to 2005 with parents Jacqui and David Purnell (Alumni Faculty/Staff) and siblings Ceinwen Purnell McCann (Class of 2002) and Dave Purnell (Class of 2000).
Adelaide Charlier (Class of 2019) was alongside Greta Thunberg in Brussels where Greta delivered a speech in front of the European Economic and Social Committee, an EU consultative body representing civil society organisations. They were also invited to the Élysée Palace to meet with President Emmanuel Macron on February 22. Adelaide is the Francophone spokesperson of Youth4Climate, the grassroots organisation behind the movement against inaction on climate change in Belgium, which mobilised thousands of pupils across Belgium, including 12,500 who marched in Brussels on Thursday (31 January) in protest and thousands more in the Flemish city of Leuven and in Liège, Wallonia. Adelaide will be walking again in a school strike for climate on Friday March 15 in coordination with related #FridaysForFuture demonstrations all over the world!
