Amalia Lopez came to Surval in 1995 from her home in Mexico. During her time at the school, she studied Liberal Arts and French Language and has happy memories of friendship and fun travels. She is still friends with her former course mates. She recalls how Surval taught her much about the world, giving her the ability to open up to different cultures, explore creativity in a unique way and introduced her to friends from across the globe. Amalia is the founder of Malia Joyeria, a jewellery design brand that sells worldwide. She is passionate about entrepreneurship, innovation and connecting with others.

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Lucía joined Surval Summer Camp 1990 and returned to Mexico to finish High School. After graduating from High School, Lucía spent a year learning French at Eurocentres Lausanne before starting her degree in International Relations in Mexico City, and going on to complete her MBA at the London School of Economics.

Today, Lucía is the General Director of CosmoEducación, a Mexican company with 40 years’ experience in foreign language learning and educating children and adults abroad.

Lucía says her time at Surval gifted her “Independence, maturity and new friends from all over the world. Surval taught me to get involved in different activities that in my country does not exist, to be more open as I had to deal with so many cultures and nationalities that are very different from us.”

Lucía feels this Ambassador opportunity is a real honour. She would like to help many Mexicans experience Surval as “it opens your mind to study and travel more.”

Amal joined Surval Summer Camp from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the summer of 2009 for an English language course.

Years later, she earned her BS and MBA degrees, and worked as an executive for a few years. Today, Amal has launched an FMCG start-up that distributes food products across Saudi Arabia.

Even after many years, Amal still remembers the day her father took her to Surval to spend a memorable summer there. She still has very fond memories of her time at Surval Montreux, and she can't wait until her young daughter Layla is old enough to attend Surval as well.

Her time at Surval taught her the importance of connecting with people from different cultures and of having a global perspective, one that she has carried with her ever since.

Amal feels that the opportunity of being a Surval Ambassador is a real honour. She would love to help connect young ladies from KSA country to experience Surval because, in Amal's words: “Surval Montreux opens your mind to different cultures, helps you learn about languages, etiquettes, creative & fun sports and activities while creating lifelong memories and friendships."

Judith Muller de Perez Balladare says, "I attended Surval in 2003 specifically for the Winter program: since I was in a Panamanian school schedule this was the best time for me. I went with two friends from Panama and left with friends from all over the world.

Coming from a small country where we have to care for our security being exposed to an environment like Switzerland and specifically Montreux was liberating. We felt free but at the same time taken care of.

I really enjoyed having breakfast at the dining room with that magnificent view and great food of course!

Part of our program took place in Andermatt. There we skied every day and got a chance to interact with everyone, different cultures and backgrounds but we felt like a family. Even through time we have maintained contact thanks to social media.

Back in Panama I graduated from Law and Political Science and also from Accounting School so I am a Tax Lawyer. Currently I’m not on the work force but rather stay home with my three soon to be four kids and my husband. I enjoy writing children’s stories, cooking and running.

I recently visited Surval and I can tell you that it gets better with the years, if only I could go back. I surely want my girls to go when they reach the minimum age."

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Paulina joined Surval Summer Camp 2003 and returned for academic year study in Grades 11 and 12. Paulina remembers how living in Switzerland got her recognising and embracing seasons as they are not so apparent back home! She found that breathing and soaking up the beautiful lake and mountain views heightened her self awareness.

After Surval, Paulina came back to Switzerland to undertake a Bachelor in Business Administration at European University ("EU") in Montreux. She subsequently married Raphaël (they met in Montreux!), and moved to Geneva in 2010, starting work at a Trust, becoming a Trust and Estate Practitioner ("TEP") and working for Rothschild Trust for almost 5 years. In 2016, Mateo was born and Paulina is expecting a little girl this summer!

Currently Paulina is keeping very busy, dedicating her time to Mateo in his formative years and being actively involved in the Parent bodies at Mateo’s school. She continues to keep abreast with developments in the Trust sector, which she considers very important.

Of her time at Surval, Paulina says “Surval was a great eye-opener into new cultures, a new life style and most of all at that age self-awareness, realising and taking into account the great deal of trust that my parents have put into me to be in the other side of the world. [my experience at Surval] was indeed a very important turning point for me. After spending those fabulous years in Surval and creating for myself a world full of options, cultivating myself, learning, travelling and seeing really a whole different world… from what we see and experience in Mexico, I knew for sure that.. what I had experienced in the past years was too great to leave aside.”

Paulina is very happy and eager to take on the Ambassador role, seeing it as a great opportunity to pass on knowledge “to all those girls who are the future leaders of our society.”

Masako spent her Swiss boarding school life in Surval at the end of 1970s. First she was forced to do so by her father who wanted his daughter to overcome her shyness, but she eventually ended up asking her father to extend her stay by one more year. As an alumna, Masako has sent more than 100 Japanese students to Surval over the last 35 years. Masako visits Surval every two years with her husband, Hiro, who is a university professor in Sapporo, Japan, so that they both can periodically say hello to both old and new people there.

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