Posted by Ashley on Wednesday, May 30th, 2012 , Posted in Blog, News , Comments Off
In between Music Festival auditions and hosting a Leadership Conference, the Daraja girls found the time to breeze through this week’s Continuous Asessment Testings.
Sylvia anticipates high marks on her Term 2 CATs
Sylvia, a Form 2 at Daraja, smiled and shuffled her feet shyly. “The CATs are easy,” she said.
Julia, Form 2, works on her Kiswahili exam
“Not because the examinations were not challenging, but because the teachers prepared us so well that they are easy to do well on.”
The CATs are week-long examinations that every Daraja student must take in every subject. Forms 1 and 2 are in the midst of 11 CATs, and Forms 3 and 4, because they have already chosen their specialized academic career plans, only have 8.
Carol, Form 4, said, “We are being tested on what we have learned. This prepares us for mid-terms, for end-of-term exams, and for the K.C.S.E. We have been well prepared by our teachers, study groups, and study hall, so it is no surprise that we feel confident as we approach the end of the CATs.”
Term 2 CATs run from May 28-June 1, 2012.
- Lilian and Alice N. partner up as study buddies
Posted by Ashley on Monday, May 28th, 2012 , Posted in Blog, News , 1 Comment »
Daraja students branch out to different areas of Laikipia County this weekend to compete in a math competition and perform at an environmental research center.
Daraja’s Mathletes Rank in Top Spots at Math Competition
“We had to walk about 5 kilometers (3 miles) from the road to the school where the competition was held,” said Leila, Form 4 who prepared and competed with Daraja’s Mathletes on Saturday. Once at the school, each girl was given a math examination and two hours to complete it. Daraja’s Rosalia (Form 3) and Monicah (Form 4), placed 2nd and 3rd in their respective classes. Over all, the Daraja Academy placed 4th out of a dozen competing schools.
Mpala's Sarata ushers everyone to the presentation room
Daraja Performs at Discovery Day at the Mpala Research Conservancy
Mary meets an Mpala Primary School student
“The mission of Mpala, we learned, was to encourage a sustainable relationship between humans and wildlife,” Charity, Form 2 said. “They will do this through conservation actions.” Charity and ten other Daraja students attended Mpala’s Discovery Day. In a two part series of 5-minute presentations, Mpala researchers reported their findings on everything from birdbrains to effective methods of growing grass.
The Daraja girls had a special part of the the program, whereby they performed a spoken word poem about the importance of conserving the environment, sang and danced. Afterward, the students were able to go for a game drive around the Mpala property and saw hippos, zebras, giraffes and more!
Daraja girls pick up business tips: all the money raised from jewelry sales at Mpala go directly back to the community
Posted by Ashley on Saturday, May 26th, 2012 , Posted in Blog, News , Comments Off
Hailing from Australia, Team Toorak combined a group of about fifty 9th grade girls, a passion
for girls’ education, and love for Daraja to demonstrate the very power that the students at Daraja celebrate daily: girl power.
Running on the strength of passion and enthusiasm, the girls were able to contribute an impressive $2,040, and they’re not done yet! The girls are motivated even after the race to raise the extra $460 that will total a year’s education for Daraja student, Lilian.
Superstars!
Julia, stellar athlete from Team Toorak, gave the race her all, running the entire 12km after school. Her drive and spirit filtered inspiration through her team and showed in the amount of support she was able to create thanks to her dedication. Equally impressive is the awesome logo created by Ruby, which was represented on the cool badges Team Toorak sported during the event.
More on Team Toorak here!
THANK YOU, TEAM TOORAK! You are what makes Daraja AWESOME. And special thanks to the Lukach family for taking to heart “Daraja means bridge” by creating bridges to connect Daraja family members all over the world. We appreciate you!
Posted by Ashley on Friday, May 25th, 2012 , Posted in Blog, News , Comments Off
You’ve heard about the phenomenal success of Bay to Breakers, but what else has been happening on campus lately? Don’t miss a beat with this week’s Weekly Recap!
Leila, Form 4
Women of Integrity, Strength, & Hope Class
This week’s Form 1 class focused on the self-discovery of “Who am I?” Taught by Teacher Susan, the girls participated in an activity outlining strengths, weaknesses, hopes, fears, and unique qualities. “What makes up who we are?” Teacher Susan asked the class. The girls responded with, “The heart, the mind, the soul, the flesh, and our behavior.” The Form 2s tackled facts versus fiction related to sex education, and the Form 4s discussed the future with a class theme of “beginning with the end in mind.” The Form 3s class was led by Daraja senior, Leila, who discussed leadership. “You must have intensity in your integrity,” she told the class.
Congrats to Daraja’s Athletes!Last week, Lisayo (400 meter), Mary P (javeline) and Cate (long jump) traveled to Eldoret, Kenya for the Provencial Athletics competition. Even after making the two day trek from school to the arena, the girls made Daraja proud! Lisayo placed 7th out of 30 competitors, Mary P. placed 5th out of 30 competitors, and Cate placed 4th! Congratulations, ladies!
Lisayo, Mary P,. and Cate: Daraja's superstar athletes!
Charity shares her team's reportings
The Next Step of Project-Based Learning. The Form 2s have gone into local villages, collected community-health related data, and now are reporting their findings. This week, the Forms 2s had a special PBL class to share with each other what each group discovered. The leaders of each group stood up in front of the class and reported common diseases found, how the diseases were contracted, potential preventative measures and other relevant data. Stay tuned for the next step of this process!
Daraja welcomes another intern to the team, Tehsin, a Masters of Social Work student from University of Calgary. Tehsin will be around for 3 months to development the curriculum of the Academy’s W.I.S.H. classes. Welcome, Tehsin!
Favorite Photo of the Week! Form 1s Meldah, Hannah and Zaituna before their first ever Lap-a-Thon!
Posted by Ashley on Wednesday, May 23rd, 2012 , Posted in Blog, News , Comments Off
At Daraja, we learn through classes, teachers, field trips and guest speakers how to be academic achievers and leaders in our communities.
When Father Wario came to visit Daraja, he gave a motivational speech that changed my attitude. I had started to feel stressed, but he reminded me what it takes to be a leader and a good student at Daraja.
Everyone has a dream, vision, ambition or a set goal that they wish to accomplish one day. Before this, motivation and guidance is of great importance since it renews one’s strength and brightens one’s future. I will focus on the following principles, and encourage my little sisters at Daraja to do the same:
Discipline: As a student, be expected to stand accountable for every role you play. A disciplined student is one who knows why she/he is in school and can live peacefully with everyone. A disciplined student is a successful student.
Being an Eagle: An eagle is a proud bird; a bird who flies with other like-minded birds. Students should wisely choose their friends, friends who add positive value to her studies.
Focus on the Future: I have learned that we cannot change our past, but we can change our future. The tool to my future is education, and although I cannot change the status of my family, I can help them by becoming a member of the educated community.
I believe the key to being a leader at the Daraja Academy is to be respectful of my teachers, school staff, sponsor and fellow students. While my four years at Daraja is a limited amount of time, I know I can use my experiences here to change my entire life, and the lives of my family and community at home.
By Marylene, Form 4.
Posted by Daraja Team on Tuesday, May 22nd, 2012 , Posted in Blog, News , Comments Off
On Sunday, May 20th, more than 120 Daraja advocates came out in groves to represent the Daraja girls at the 101st Bay to Breakers footrace in San Francisco. Despite being a FRACTION of the size of the other charity partners, the Daraja Academy team was the biggest group represented at the race and the worldwide team raised more money than any other Bay to Breakers charity partner. The collective effort from the San Francisco racers, as well as advocates abroad and students at Daraja, resulted in $93,000 raised from over 1200 individual donations. That amount is equivalent to 37 scholarships! Advocates flew in from San Diego, Seattle, and far parts of California to represent their Daraja partner.
A special highlight during this campaign was seeing longtime supporter Sarah Montgomery representing the team on NBC. Her passion and genuine appreciation for the girls was the perfect exemplification of the type of advocates that exist around the world for Daraja. We’re thankful the world got a glimpse.
We also want to give a shout out to Anthem Branding for designing the awesome Race for Daraja T-shirts. They make us look good!
Although Bay to Breakers champion and 2011 Daraja teammate Lineth Chepkurui was not in the US to participate, we are proud that Ethiopian female runner Manitu Daska — last year’s second fastest woman–was the first to finish the 7.46 mile course with a time of 39 minutes and three seconds!
Check out pictures of the fantastic event in San Francisco and Kenya. Here’s to another successful Bay to Breakers race! We can’t wait for next year! Only 12 months left…
