By Turk Pipkin | Project Leader
What an inspiring year at Mahiga Hope High School. The 2014 KCSE (Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education) scores are in for 25 girls and 20 boys who completed Form 4 / 12th grade. Average scores were up 6% for the year, a wonderful gain worth celebrating. The KCSE is a very difficult test - comparable to the SAT or ACT exams in the U.S., and these students have worked hard to score higher and make the grades necessary to go on to college, University, or to enter the job market.
In late June, we'll be presenting new laptops to the top-scoring boy and girl at Mahiga Form 4 (and also at Ol Moran Secondary, Simbara Secondary and Laburra Secondary). Those laptops awards have been a great incentive (as have the bikes for top scoring boys and girls in Form 1, 2 and 3). And the laptops will be important tools for upcoming University studies.
When Wangari MaathaI first invited me to the Aberdares soon after she received the Nobel Peace Prize, my first school visit was to Mahiga Primary - mud floors, slat walls, wind and rain coming in. There was one high school a two-hour walk away and very few students in this area were enrolled in any secondary school. Working with the local communities, we helped to build Mahiga Hope High School, Simbara Secondary and Laburra Secondary.
These three high schools - and the preschools and primary schools that feed students up this education ladder - have thousands of kids enrolled - all of them working hard to build a better future for themselves, their families, their communities and the nation.
Our work at Mahiga and elsewhere in the area continues with materials support for textbooks, with planning for future teacher housing, incentive programs, and college sponsorships. Thanks to everyone who's supported The Nobelity Project and Mahiga Hope High School! If you want real inspiration, make a donation on Global Giving and send us an email requesting a gift dvd of our award-winning feature doc, Building Hope.
If you know teachers who'd like a special classroom edition dvd with online education materials, those are free of charge for every teacher who requests a copy. Just email us at info@nobelity.org.
Let's keep Building Hope!
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