And they need your help…
It is with great pride that I share the exciting news with you that three extraordinary Clay School students have been accepted with scholarships into a summer intensive program at Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. From July 7th to the 27th, Mercy, Naomi, and Samuel will be staying with Bonnie and me while they attend classes across the river in Cambridge. (Pictured above with their chaperone and teacher, Mephine, and alternate student Dominic).
Since this unprecedented opportunity came about spontaneously and was not budgeted, we need help financing their airfare and amenities for a safe arrival in Boston. The hard work of securing their visas is now behind us, but they still lack other necessities such as traveling gear, bags, and clothes for the trip – their school uniforms won’t work for them at Harvard.
I’m writing this to you, a member of the Clay community of supporters, so that we may cover the costs of this once in a lifetime adventure for our students. We need to raise $6,000 to cover all remaining expenses. For Mercy, Naomi, Samuel, and Mephine, your generous help will make this a monumental event in their lives. And if you are in the Boston area in July, we hope you can meet them. See their personal statements below and please let us know if you can support them in this work.
Thank you and warmest regards,
Bob Wax
Chairman, Project Education Inc.
Meet the three students headed to Harvard this summer, where they will be immersed in hands-on projects with 10+ other students from around the world. The theme of Clean Water is particularly pertinent because of the absence flowing water and treatment of grey water in Ngomano and the villages where these students live. Harvard knows they will bring this special personal perspective to their classmates
Mercy Mibinya, Form 3, Age 17 Years
Why am I interested in this program?
This program presents a learning opportunity for me which will help me develop knowledge and skills to make life easier for myself and my community. I see learning about issues around clean water, its scarcity and its re-use to be connected to my dream of improving public health and reducing pollution in the environment.
Second, this program will be held in the United States of America and this will also give me an opportunity to interact and mingle with people from different cultures. In this way, I will learn about their way of life as they learn about my way of life and my socialization. It would be very enjoyable to share my culture with other young people from around the world
Naomi Mwikali, Form 3, 18 Years
How will this program help me ten years to come?
In ten years from now I see myself a medical doctor. I would like to be able to set up a hospital in my community and supply it with clean and plentiful water. This will be a big project and the knowledge and skills I will gain from this program will help me work together with the engineers and the people in my community.Hopefully it will be successful and other people will be able to do the same in other communities following my example so that we can improve the living conditions of many people. I will also be able to pass on knowledge and skills to other people so that more and more can benefit from them.
Nzomo Samuel, Form 3, Age 18 Years
Why am I interested in this program?
This program is a once in a lifetime opportunity for me to go outside my country and experience other cultures. I will be able to interact with other students from all over the world and in so doing know more about them and the cultures of the countries they come from and share with them. It will be very interesting to work on projects in a team with students from other countries and see how they work, think and interact. Through this I will be able to compare myself with them and in case I do not measure up I can work on myself and improve. I will also be able to work more on my English and communication skills, which will be very helpful in my future studies and career