User:MarkAndrewsNZ/sandbox

Alexander Kuch (born 19 April,1995) is an Romanian born, German-New Zealand adoption advocate. Kuch started his advocacy by giving his first speech at the Romanian Parliament in 2013. Since then he has spoken about his his adoption story in various countries outside of New Zealand including, Malaysia, Australia, Canada and Switzerland. In 2018 Kuch was made a semi-finalist for Young New Zealander of the year, as part of the 2018 New Zealander of the Year Awards.

Personal life
Kuch was born in the town of Cluj-Napoca, Romania in the Transylvania region. He was adopted by his German family in 1997 and then moved to New Zealand with his family in 2006. He attended Kings Way School from 2007 until 2013. He also collaborates with Russian-born New Zealand adoption advocate, Alex Gilbert who is the director and founder of I'm Adopted.

Achievements
Kuch has received numerous awards and honors for his adoption advocacy. His total list of achievements and honors include the following:


 * AIMES Service Award 2018
 * The University of Auckland Blues Supreme Leadership award 2018
 * ASEF Fellow and delegate 2018
 * Semi-finalist for Young New Zealander of the Year 2018
 * Royal Commonwealth Associate Fellow 2018
 * Rotary Peace Fellowship Nominee 2018

Career
Kuch started of his advocacy in 2013 when he gave his first speech in the Romanian parliament sharing his personal experiences and subsequently also spoken there again in 2015. Kuch was mentioned in the 2017 Toastmasters International magazine. Kuch also was apart of the 2017 Global Changemakers Forum that was held in Zurich, Switzerland. Kuch has also spoken at numerous international forums such as the ASEM Forum and TEDx talk in Malaysia in 2018.