Alumni Spotlight: Siddhima Srivastava (Class of 2016)

“Nothing before or after has given me that same excitement and joy.”

Nearly ten years have passed since Siddhima first stepped onto the freshly built campus of UWC Robert Bosch College, cranes overhead, the smell of rain on concrete, and the promise of something new in the air. She remembers unboxing furniture still wrapped in plastic, sharing meals with new friends in UWC T-shirts from their welcome packages, and the thrill of finding a path, sometimes literally, through a campus still under construction.

For Siddhima, RBC wasn’t her first encounter with UWC life. She had grown up around the movement, with parents working at UWC Mahindra and later on UWC Maastricht, where she saw firsthand the power of this education model to build community and inspire young people to lead with purpose. “It was exciting for me to bring what I knew from Maastricht to a first-generation UWC,” she shares, “to experience the pioneering energy of RBC.” At RBC, Siddhima found the kind of deep, honest connections that define a UWC experience: wearing matching t-shirts from the welcome packs, sharing milk rice dinners on Wednesday evenings, starting traditions like Holi in the monastery gardens, and spending afternoons on forest trails or talking late into the night about the world and their dreams. She remembers the warmth of a community where “you just knew everyone,” and the excitement of starting something new together, in a place where each day felt full of purpose.

After RBC, Siddhima began her university journey in the US at Gettysburg College, but it wasn’t the right fit. “I was so anxious about going to the US,” she recalls, and after a year, she made the decision to return to the Netherlands, where she pursued her studies and found her footing. It was a time of transition, but the courage to make bold choices was something she credits to her RBC experience. “Nothing really compared to what we had at RBC. It was such a privilege.” Today, Siddhima lives in Brisbane, Australia, working in management consulting with a focus on climate, engineering, and sustainable infrastructure. She loves the welcoming nature of Brisbane and the ease of daily life, and she has recently entered a new chapter, having become engaged to her partner, who is based there while completing his medical training. “We’re excited to start a life here, even though Australia can feel very far from the rest of the world.” When asked what she misses the most about RBC, Siddhima pauses. “I wish I had been more present,” she says, emotion in her voice. “I miss the people, the everyday moments, walking to the Mensa together, having Global Affairs sessions, building clubs and traditions, feeling like we were part of something bigger. It was such an enriching, transformational time, and the kind of learning and connection we had there is hard to replicate.”

Now, nearly a decade later, Siddhima is looking forward to returning to Freiburg for the 10-year RBC reunion in June 2026. “I can’t wait to see everyone again, to walk those paths, to be back in that place that meant so much to us all. For Siddhima, RBC is more than a memory, it is a part of who she is, and she carries forward its mission in the work she does and in the way she views the world. “It was a place that changed me, and I know it will always be a part of me.”