This summer, I traveled to Chepkanga, Kenya, to work as an instructor at the Kenya Scholar Access Program. Chepkanga is a small town forty minutes outside of Eldoret. KenSAP, as it is called for short, is Kenya’s premier college access program for low income, high achieving students. The program has worked for the past twenty years to help exceptionally talented youth from across Kenya prepare for and apply to top US colleges and universities. Recently, KenSAP has expanded beyond only Kenyan students to include refugee students from Somalia, Ethiopia, and South Sudan living in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in Northwestern Kenya.
In my capacity as instructor, I was responsible for preparing our 31 students for the evidence-based reading and writing section of the digital SAT, which they will take in September. I taught a 90-minute course each morning, covering topics like sentence structure, subject-verb agreement, and logic and reasoning. I was responsible for preparing lecture slides and activates for these classes, which was a time-consuming process. As well, I was responsible for proctoring and grading a practice SAT test every Wednesday. In the afternoons, I taught a non-fiction personal essay writing course.
For eighty minutes each afternoon, we worked with the students to help them hone their personal essay writing skills. We read short stories by authors like George Orwell and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie and taught on the narrative devices used by these authors. We then assigned short writing assignments to help the students practice applying these tools to their own work. Ultimately, we saw huge improvement among the KenSAP class, with many students leaving the course much more able to use craft compelling college application essays using their own narrative style.
Finally, as instructors we were also responsible for teaching a series of “academic skills” seminars. Twice a week, we would lecture in the evenings on basic academic skills like how to structure a formal email, how to structure a research essay, plagiarism, citing your sources, how to use google drive. Many of the students had never used a computer before, and therefore simple lessons like “navigating google drive” or “writing an email” were very helpful to them.
These lessons helped prepare the students for the practical aspects of attending a US college, where it is expected that each student arrives on the first day with a basic understanding of the skills and technologies necessary to navigate class.
One of the most meaningful aspects of this internship was the close connections which I formed with the students. We all lived on the same campus, ate meals together, and played games together in the evenings after class. Each morning, everyone on campus rose with the sun for group exercise. For me, this meant a training run out on the roads and trails of Chepkanga.
Some of the students came with me for runs in the morning, while others walked. During the last week of the program, we even hosted a 1-kilometer race for the students, which was quite fun! In the evenings, we hosted study hall and one on one help sessions with the students and facilitated community service trips to a local primary school, where we traveled to help teach English and math. All of these extra-curricular activities helped us form a strong sense of community.
The KenSAP students were very driven to learn and improve, and many came to me for extra help with their writing skills. I worked one on one with students in the evenings, helping them perfect their essay writing abilities. This personal mentorship opportunity allowed us to form close relationships. In the evenings, I also attended Kiswahili lessons and learned enough of the language to communicate with the students in their native tongue. While classes were taught in English in order to best simulate a US university, it was a sign of respect that during mealtimes or outside of the classroom, the instructors could communicate with the students in Kiswahili.
Ultimately, my time at KenSAP was transformative. It was my first time traveling to Africa, and I felt fully immersed in the Kenyan culture. We learned to enjoy local dishes like mursik (fermented milk) and ugali (corn porridge). We traveled across the country to visit beautiful nature reserves. As an instructor I taught skills that would prepare the students for success at US universities, and they in turn helped me learn about their local culture. It truly was an outstanding experience, and I am grateful to the class of 1978 foundation for making this experience possible for me!