Alena Svobodova, 19 – Business Plan
Happy Dog
Montezuma, New Mexico/Czech Republic

"I always remembered my grandmother, a woman who I incredibly admire and who had a very hard life. Women in our family are fighters who do not give up."

Alena Svobova is a student at United World College of the American West, which is a high school in the European system that prepares international students for college in the U.S. She developed her business plan for Happy Dog in the NFTE program at UWC.

Happy Dog will provide services for dog owners and their dogs in Alena’s home city in the Czech Republic, including dog walking, dog sitting, training and counseling. “The purpose is to offer services for dog owners who do not have enough time to give quality care to their dogs,” Alena says. She plans to implement the business this fall.

Like many of the students at United World College, Alena found coming to an international school to be challenging. “I left all of my family, friends, and my well-known environment,” she says. Her English skills were minimal, and all classes are taught in English. “The first three months were probably the hardest months of my whole life,” Alena says. “There were many times I just wanted to give up and go home to see my family and my friends, but I did not.”

Alena says she has learned many things in her time at UWC, including understanding, tolerance and being open-minded. “Also, I learned to be more independent, more responsible, more mature. I learned that even though things might be hard from the beginning, if I do not give up and keep on fighting, then success and satisfaction will come as a reward.”