Build the USAP Community School in Zimbabwe

The last cohort of USAP based at Education Matters before the USAP Community School opens is off for university with over $7,728,2112 in scholarships and financial assistance.  This group of twenty nine USAP Zimbabwe students chosen from an applicant pool of over 700 will study in seven countries this month.  From all provinces of Zimbabwe, they 29 are pursuing a wide range of fields of studies at universities in Costa Rica, Ghana. India, Korea, Scotland, South Africa and the United States.    We are proud of them and look forward to the ways they will impact the future of Zimbabwe!

In other news, fundraising and work toward the opening of the USAP Community School moves full steam ahead.  We have met with Cambridge International Examinations and have ordered our textbooks for the first class of students.  The school will be offering Mathematics, Biology, Chemistry and Physics Cambridge AS and A Levels.  All students will also partake of a Humanities Core reading and writing intensive English class, computer literacy and independent research projects to link their education to critical thinking around Zimbabwean current day challenges.  We are in the midst of the hiring process for our dynamic teaching staff.

We thank you for your continued support as we build the USAP Community School. Our matching donor is still active, matching every donation dollor for dollar until we reach their $500,000 limit.  It indeed is a great time to give!

We are grateful for your continued support as we build the USAP Community School.  We have enlisted a local Zimbabwean architectural firm which is committed to designing sustainable buildings that take advantage of natural light and are fitting for the local environment.    We believe that design reflects values and ours will reflect the values of integrity, service and equity which form the backbone of our school, as well as our commitment to sustainability and stewardship of our environment.

We are working hard to meet our $500,000 challenge grant through this platform alongside other fundraising efforts and thank you for your continued support which is allowing us to get there.  Please remember that 100% of your donations go directly to building the USAP Community School with a grant we have covering all administrative costs for running Education Matters.

As we continue to fundraise to build the USAP Community School, brick by brick, board by board, we have exciting news.  An extremely generous donor, who has chosen to remain anonymous, has pledged a $500,000 matching grant to match every donation we get from now through the end of June dollar by dollar.

This matching grant, if we can match it, will mean that we will have made significant progress toward our overall building budget for phase one of hte school.  We thank you for your support as we work hard to unlock the $500,000.  Please continue to support us and tell your friends about the transformative power of the USAP Community School!

Links:

• http://www.usapschool.org

Happy March!

We are making solid progress on both the fundraising and building/planning sides of creating the USAP Community School.  After a successful end-of-year fundraising campaign, we are excited to announce that we now have $585,000 in the bank from a combination of GlobalGiving and direct donations as well as employee matching funds.  We are excited to announce that an anonymous donor has pledged $500,000 to match all large donations from $500 and above in the coming months that come through any channel toward the building of the USAP Community School.

We have engaged a very innovative architect based in Zimbabwe who is especially talented at using the local weather and terrain to take advantage of natural light in the design of buildings.  He has completed a feasibility study of the site.  For Year One we will be building student and faculty residences, the dining hall, classrooms, a lab and an administrative building that includes a staff room and offices.  

We thank all of your for your donations which is making the USAP Community School come to be.  If you are already not one of our monthly recurring donors, please consider joining us in this way - having a steady monthly flow of donations greatly assists us to keep the momentum going.

Sending sunshine from Zimbabwe to all of you in colder parts!

Best,

Rebecca/Mai Mano and all at Education Matters

Happy New Year from Education Matters!  We write to you as we start an exciting 2019, with our main objective being building the USAP Community School.  With your continued help we will reach that goal!

We rolled into the new year with some exciting USAP news.  First of all, two USAP alumni, Itai Muzhingi who graduated from Amherst College and Shantel Marekera, who graduated from Arizona State University last year, both were awarded extremely competitive Rhodes Scholarships.  Itai will be studying Molecular and Cellular Medicine and Shantel Jurisprudence at Oxford University starting in September.  We are proud of them both!

We ended the last year with some positive Early Decision application news with students accepted and funded at the University of Edinburgh, Smith College, Northwestern University, Bennington College, Rochester University, University of Pennsylvania and the University of CapeTown. Our current USAP cohorts in Zimbabwe, Zambia and Uganda have currently submitted applications under Regular Decision and will hear decisions in March.

On the school front, we have engaged an architect who is drawing up a site plan and building designs for the school that reflect values of community, sustainability and engagement.  We are closing in on land for the building site and are still scheduled to begin building by the end of March.

We look forward to your continued engagement with this project and will be back with more exciting updates!