Meet the girls who have benefited from Altrusa's generosity:
Risper: Risper is a form 1 student this year and she has been the overall number 1 ranked student after every exam since she started here at Bande. She has a true passion to learn and she often comes to my office after classes to ask for extra help or to talk about her goals and how she can achieve them. One of my favorite stories about Risper happened last term. The principal of the school was going to the form 1 class to teach History but she could hear another teacher in the class so she went back to her office to wait for that teacher to finish. After waiting for 10 minutes the teacher had not left the class so she sent the secretary to tell the teacher that they were using her class time. The secretary came back to report that there wasn’t in fact a teacher in class, instead, Risper had been at the board explaining some complicated concepts in mathematics that her classmates had asked her to help explain.
Lilian and Faith: Lilian and Faith are two of the smallest form 1 students in the school but they never let that stop them from being the first to raise their hands to participate in class. Both of these girls were among the top 5 performing girls in the district when they took the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education Exam (KCPE), the national exam taken by all students at the end of grade 8. Both girls are outgoing and inquisitive and are a joy to have in class.
Maureen: Maureen is always smiling and joking and never fails to make me laugh in class. She is incredibly outgoing, which used to lead to her being distracted from her school work, but I have seen her transform her outgoing nature into a positive trait that helps her to absorb as much knowledge as she can in class. Last year, when I taught Maureen as a form 1 in biology, she was scoring between 20% and 30% on her exams. This year Maureen has improved tremendously and now scores between 60% and 70% on her exams, placing her among the best in the class. Maureen is the first to volunteer for a class activity and is constantly asking insightful questions. I have been truly touched by her academic progress and I know this scholarship will further encourage her hard work and dedication in the classroom.
Winne: Winnie is a form 3 student whom I had the pleasure of getting to know through her participation in science congress for the last two years. Science congress is an interschool competition where students present scientific concepts or experiments related to that year’s topic. For the past two years Winnie has presented at the zonal level and placed number one, qualifying her to move on to the district
competition. Winnie has excellent public speaking skills and is extremely gifted in academics. She has served as a prefect in the school for the last 3 years and teachers have come to depend on her honesty and leadership abilities. Winnie’s success in school is made even more remarkable when you learn that she became pregnant when in primary school which forced her to take a year off from school. Now
back at school she has expressed her gratitude for the chance to finish her education and the opportunity to improve her living standard for the future.
Trizah: Trizah is another form 3 student who transferred to Bande at the beginning of this year. I got to know her during this year’s science congress competition. I have been extremely impressed with Trizah’s drive and her academic ability. When she went home for the April holiday her mother, who is a single mother after the death of Trizah’s father, informed her that there would not be enough money to continue
to pay for her school fees. Through Altrusa’s generous donation, Trizah has been able to stay in school and has the chance to reach her goals.
The difference that these scholarships have made in the lives of these six young women cannot be overstated. The school plans to use the money from these students’ school fees to help build a badly needed new dormitory for the school.
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