UNF student building global bridges through sustainability leadership  

Uendi Xhani has always cared about helping people and the environment.  

She started studying law near her home in Albania but put that on hold when her sister moved to Florida, opening an opportunity for her to attend the University of North Florida.  

“UNF has a reputation for being a great value and with its beautiful campus, coming here was a dream come true.”   

Upon moving to Jacksonville in 2022, Xhani immediately got involved with projects, clubs and a job on campus. 

While participating in the UNF Environmental Leadership Program (ELP), she worked on a project aimed at enhancing environmental awareness and protection at the Tournament Players Club Sawgrass golf course.   

She said she was pleasantly surprised by the high level of sustainability in the TPC operations.   

She took that knowledge into her next UNF ELP project where she forged global networks by connecting TPC leaders with city officials in Kazakhstan to find water sustainability solutions more than 6,000 miles away.  

Xhani will graduate from UNF with a bachelor’s degree in finance and a minor in computing this summer. She dreams of combining these skills into developing a successful nonprofit sustainability solutions company one day.  

Coming to UNF  

Xhani, who is fluent in Albanian, English, Japanese and German, was already versed in youth leadership when she came to UNF, as she represents her home country as a Western Balkan Young European Ambassador to the European Union. 

She participated twice in UNF’s ELP, which provides students with an opportunity to receive a scholarship to complete leadership training and implement a community-based project in Northeast Florida. The goal of the program is to create the next generation of environmental leaders through education and training, networking opportunities and community partnerships.   

Her first ELP project, in partnership with the PGA Tour, focused on sustainable water use, habitat preservation and community engagement at TPC Sawgrass. Her second project involved working with GlobalJax on a proposal that was approved by the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program, aimed at helping Kazakhstan improve and strengthen its approach to water management and resource planning. Xhani took her experience and connected leaders in Jacksonville and Kazakhstan to explore global water resource management strategies.    

“It was so powerful to make these connections and bridge continents to share solutions,” she says.  

While at UNF, she maintained President's Honor Roll and Dean's List status almost every semester and served as a tutor in managerial accounting through UNF’s Supplemental Instruction program, helping peers succeed academically in a challenging course. She participated in two registered student organizations, as the chief operating officer of the UNF Finance and Investment Society and as a board member of the International Ospreys. She attended the Insight professional development conference last June in Nashville. She also works as a house manager at UNF’s Fine Arts Center.  

Soaring onward  

Xhani completed a competitive internship in wealth management and financial planning with Capital Analyst of Jacksonville this spring, was quickly offered and accepted a full-time financial service associate position.   

Xhani wants to use the various skills she has acquired to run her own business eventually. Her career goals are inspired by her mother and father, who own and run a small retail business in Albania.  

Her long-term goal is to launch her own business that integrates her legal, financial and technological expertise to drive sustainable development in Albania and around the globe.   

“I want to be a force for good in this world,” she says simply.  

Albanians refer to themselves as shqiptarë meaning “sons of eagles.”  

Now, Xhani can proudly call herself a mighty osprey as well and continue to build international bridges as she soars.