Vittoria Frua De Angeli – Kurt Hahn Prize Winner 1992

When I think back to my time at Aiglon, I realise how profoundly it shaped who I am today. At the time, I could not have known that the experiences I was having: climbing mountains, living alongside students from different cultures, learning to sit in stillness each morning, would stay with me in such meaningful ways. But they did.

I was sixteen when I found myself in the middle of what would become a defining moment. I was on a kayaking expedition with school. We had stopped for a break, and I had gone for a swim. It was quiet. And then I heard the screams.

A kayak had capsized. One of the paddlers was trapped—wedged between the upturned boat and a rock, the rapids pressing her harder and harder into the stone. I remember the moment vividly. I was already in the water and just swam across. There was no real decision. It felt instinctive. I tried again and again swimming across the rapids successive times to push away first the paddle and then the kayak that were crushing her. Eventually, we got her out.

Later that year, I was presented with Round Square’s Kurt Hahn Prize. I remember standing on stage at the RS International Conference in Canada, confused as to why I was being recognised for something that had felt so immediate and natural. It was only much later that I began to understand where that sense of calm and courage had come from.

Aiglon had prepared us for the unpredictable. We were often put in situations where we had to navigate unfamiliar terrain—sometimes literally—with only our teammates, a compass, and ourselves to rely on. That education built more than confidence; it built resourcefulness. It taught us how to stay present, and to trust in our ability to meet the moment, even under pressure.

After Aiglon, I studied law and eventually worked in finance. But the thread of curiosity and self-discovery remained. After some years in the corporate world, including a time at Lehman Brothers, I chose to take a break. I travelled, reflected, and reconnected with a practice that had quietly been with me since my first job: yoga.

What began as a personal practice gradually became a vocation. Today, as a leadership coach, I work in both schools and corporate settings, helping others cultivate self-awareness and resilience through the body. The language may be different now—somatics, embodiment, nervous system regulation—but the heart of it is the same: helping people come home to themselves.

One of the most powerful tools I teach is simply observing the breath. Not trying to change it, just noticing. That simple act—being with what is—can create profound shifts. I also use techniques like cross-body tapping to calm the nervous system, and movement or dance to reconnect people with joy and vitality. These are accessible tools that allow us to pause, reset, and remember what grounds us.

Self-awareness, for me, is not a destination. It unfolds slowly, over time. Often, it is only in hindsight that I notice how something no longer affects me in the way it once did. That is when I know something deep inside has shifted.

Throughout all this, community has remained central. At Aiglon, we were part of something larger than ourselves—mixed-age houses, shared meals, long hikes that blurred the lines between student and teacher. That sense of belonging has stayed with me. Even at our reunion in 2019, decades later, there was a feeling of recognition and connection that defied time and distance.

Looking back, I see how deeply the Round Square’s IDEALS were embedded in our lives—not as slogans, but as lived experience. We were never taught resilience in a classroom, but we learned it by climbing ridges in storms. We were not given lessons in leadership, but we took turns navigating our way off the mountain. We practised democracy not as theory, but by making decisions together, across cultures and perspectives.

Even the wellbeing practices that now form the core of my work had their roots there. We started each day with a moment of silence. the irony was that the morning meeting was called “meditation”, but only many years later did I connect that name with the name of a practice. —but it was an invitation to start the day in stillness, listening to a new story or life lesson and to make space for something other than achievement.

If I could say one thing to my younger self, it would be this: do not sweat the small stuff. Soak in each day. Trust that even the quietest experiences can plant seeds that will grow for years to come. Hell, it is advice that is still useful for me today. 

What I learned through Round Square, through Aiglon, and through the journey that has followed, is that education is never really finished. If we are open, the lessons continue—and so does the growth.

How to Build Courage

• Trust your instincts in the moment – Courage often isn’t about planning or overthinking; it’s about responding when action is needed. Practising presence and awareness, even in small daily experiences, builds the inner calm that allows you to act decisively under pressure. Practices like observing the breath, noticing what moves in your body as you breath in and breath out. even just being curious to observe the length of your exhale and your inhale. Being able to come back to the movement of your breath in your body helps you stay present, so you can hear your instincts instead of than being swept away by fearful thoughts or distractions.
• Embrace challenges as learning opportunities – Facing unfamiliar situations, whether navigating new terrain or stepping out of your comfort zone, develops resourcefulness and resilience. The more you place yourself in situations that require adaptation, the more confident you become in your ability to meet the unexpected. This is less about putting yourself in harms way and more about being willing to be a beginner: engaging in an activity that is not in your wheelhouse, doing that thing that makes you feel just a little bit awkward, or makes your palms sweat is the sweet spot for you train a growth mindset.
• Cultivate inner grounding through through movement –  Movement helps regulate your nervous system and can give you the lived experience of staying connected your own strength even as things shift and change. Courage grows when you know yourself, and know you have been here before and got through it. Start small, maybe even just challenging yourself to balance on one leg, to up the challenge you can flail your arms, or/and swing the the other leg in space, or if that still feels a bit too easy, move your head and your gaze, or even try doing it with your eyes closed. Courage also comes from failing/falling and being able to get back up.
• Learn to Rest and Restore – emotional and mental resilience are nurtured by taking breaks, time away from task and yes, sleep! Create healthy habits around sleep. The first rule to get good quality restorative sleep is Regularity. Go to bed at the same time and waking up at the same time will pay dividends to body and mind in it’s ability to thing outside the box as well as have the physical and mental resilience to tackle whatever the challenge is at hand. 

Vittoria’s website: www.vittoriafrua.com