Alumni Spotlight: Milly Bevan (’25) on Sustainability, Health, and Community Impact

Class of 2025 alumna Milly Bevan looks back on the experiences that mattered most during her time at ISZL. From building aquaponics systems and researching climate change and malaria, to working at the Kokobrite Chiltern Centre and staying connected to ongoing sustainability initiatives, Milly shares how these experiences clarified her interests and continue to guide her next steps.

Pictured: Student group from June 2024 Ghana PDW

Written by Milly Bevan

I first travelled to Kokrobite, Ghana, on an ISZL PDW in 11th grade, in June of 2024. We were given the opportunity to discover an amazing new culture, meeting village elders and learning how Ghana’s traditions and innovative spirit marry to create a rich tapestry of culture. We were able to appreciate the country’s beautiful forests and nature in Kakum National Park, and were moved by the history of Cape Coast Castle. Above all, though, we worked hard.

The PDW was started when a group of students visited the Kokrobite Chiltern Centre (KCC), a non-profit based in Kokrobite, which aims to enable children in the community to attend school and gain an education. The students realised that the traditional fishing village was struggling economically; their fish catch was diminishing due to foreign trawlers operating in the area. To fight this problem, the students worked together with the creators of the KCC, Jane and Kabiesi Zohoungbogo, to come up with the idea of an aquaponics system: growing fish and plants together in a closed system. In aquaponics, the ammonia found in fish waste is filtered out and converted in nitrates by bacteria to provide fertiliser for plants, which in turn clean the water for the fish. Since the conception of this idea, students from ISZL have been travelling to Ghana to build the system — mixing “aircrete” (a lighter and more sustainable concrete mixed with soap to create air bubbles), filling PET bottles with sand to make bricks and hauling blocks. Returning each night with our shorts covered in half-dried concrete and shoes covered in red Ghanaian sand, we felt immense satisfaction at seeing our plans come to fruition.

Pictured: Working onsite (very stylishly) in June 2024

I had always been interested in humans — why we behave the way that we do, both with each other and with our environment, and how we can use this understanding to improve health and happiness for ourselves and the planet. At ISZL, my teachers, including Chris Koch, helped me learn that my seemingly scattered interests in theatre, languages, biology, music, geography and maths did not have to clash. Instead, I was given the materials to explore each deeply and unite them into an interdisciplinary understanding of the world, shaping my interest in international health, climate change and anthropology. ISZL also supported me to act on these interests while still at school — speaking at and leading sustainability initiatives at YFS, I could begin to create solutions and learn how to take action in complex, interdisciplinary fields. Another unique opportunity I was given at ISZL was to become a fellow of the Villars Institute, a lifelong fellowship that gives young people a voice at the table on fighting climate change.

Pictured: Working in the sunset (September 2024)

With the help of Jane and Kabiosi from the KCC, I returned to Ghana in September 2024 alone to research for my IBDP Extended Essay on the impact of climate change on malaria in the region, and to further explore the rich culture. Working in a clinic in Accra and a rural health centre in Kokrobite, I assisted on a maternity ward. It was a baptism by fire in some senses of the word — from the first day, I observed labour and delivery cases, immunisations, abortions and more. I even had the opportunity to visit a “bonesetter” doctor and see traditional medical techniques, such as cupping to remove “bad blood” and garlic cream. Whenever I wasn’t in the clinic, I was on the building site of the aquaponics projects, fetching water, building moulds for concrete and helping wherever I was needed. After only a week, I left inspired by the dedication of the midwives and nurses, and acutely aware that I had seen only a fraction of the realities of healthcare in the region.

Pictured: Hard at work on the Aquaponics site

After graduating in June 2025, I took a gap year. I returned to Kokrobite in November 2025 to stay with Jane and Kabiosi for a month and once again work in the Kokrobite Health Centre. With more time, I was able to take on some more responsibilities like admitting patients, taking vital signs and passing equipment. I got to know the midwives and where they had studied, asking for advice on my own journey. I saw how candidly they dealt with challenges and scarcity of resources — for example, after the health centre ran out of surgical gloves, I naively brought an unopened box of latex gloves from the aquaponics site, which ISZL students had brought for mixing concrete. Although they couldn’t be used as surgical gloves, the midwives appreciatively accepted them as they were also close to running out of non-sterile medical examination gloves.

Pictured: The Midwives and I in the Kokorbite Health Centre

I worked as an intern at the KCC, completing “aircrete” moulds and planting seedlings at the aquaponics site, and surveying local food merchants and restaurants on which fish and vegetable produce they most need, relaying the information to ISZL students, continuing to formulate a business proposal for the system. Since I left, the plant trays and tanks have been completed, and are now ready for the seedlings to take root! For the first time, I was also able to see Jane and Kabiosi’s educational work firsthand — attending a talk that Jane gave to local schoolteachers on safeguarding and helping KCC employees Harriet, Rita and Engineer to teach students in the after-school library time at the Nea Onnim learning centre. Saturdays at the KCC were also a fun time to meet the children and learn about their lives and aspirations — over 200 children attend each Saturday to receive a free breakfast, play together and read in the learning centre.

Pictured: One finished plant tray, complete with banana plants!

Every year, the KCC also hosts a Christmas party for the children in the village, with gifts for each child and a warm meal. In 2025, over 2,000 children attended. I helped to wrap gifts and filmed videos for social media, not only on progress at the aquaponics site, but also capturing the children’s excitement for the party!

Pictured: Setting up stationary and equipment in the garden by the Nea Onnim Learning centre to give away to local schools

Since returning home, I have been working part-time as an assistant coach at Gymnasticals Steinhausen and have just started as a Medical Practice Assistant In-Training at the Arzthaus clinic in Zürich, putting to use some of the skills I learned in Ghana. I have continued my work with the Villars Institute, where I am now a member of their Youth Council. In October, I will begin my studies in the UK studying human sciences — an amazing interdisciplinary course which combines biological and social sciences to study humans from multiple interconnecting perspectives.

Pictured: My last Jollof rice in Kokrobite on my November 2025 trip

I am incredibly grateful to have been given the opportunities to experience such amazing initiatives during school — from participating in YFS to visiting Ghana and the KCC with ISZL. To even be a small part of the KCC’s work has completely re-shaped my ambitions and my understanding of the world.

Ongoing connections to ISZL

I will never completely leave the ISZL community. Currently, I am still connected, visiting YFS to see how the event has evolved and singing in David Smith’s Bel Canto choir with many other ISZL community members. The arts program at ISZL started my love for singing, acting and dancing, which I continued in theatre groups outside of ISZL and even with voiceover work! I started out in the Primary School in choirs and musicals though, where my mum got involved making costumes and has continued to this day working with ISZL Arts Director Kirsty Kelly to create magical costumes for this year’s Jungle Book Musical — and I even sometimes have to begrudgingly model a half-finished mask…

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