First Edition; Winter 2016 1 KenSAP students and JM after the 2009 NESCAC Cross Country Championships at Wickham Park, CT. Peter Kosgei of Hamilton (right) came first (his third straight NESCAC win), Edgar Kosgei of Williams (on JM's left) came second and Jay Koima of Williams (on JM's right) came third. Abby Cheruiyot (between the Kosgeis) ran creditably for Colby and David Bett of Yale (left) went along with JM as a KenSAP supporter. Worth noting also that the women's race was won by Sophie Galleher of Amherst (not pictured), who had been a KenSAP instructor that summer. KenSAP Kenya Scholar-Athlete Project
Transcript
First Edition; Winter 2016
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KenSAP students and JM after the 2009 NESCAC Cross Country Championships at Wickham Park, CT. Peter Kosgei of Hamilton (right) came first (his third straight NESCAC win), Edgar Kosgei of Williams (on JM's left) came second and Jay Koima of Williams (on JM's right) came third. Abby Cheruiyot (between the Kosgeis) ran creditably for Colby and David Bett of Yale (left) went along with JM as a KenSAP supporter. Worth noting also that the women's race was won by Sophie Galleher of Amherst (not pictured), who had been a KenSAP instructor that summer.
KenSAP Kenya Scholar-Athlete Project
First Edition; Winter 2016
Hello , KenSAP! !!
The long-awaited newsletter is finally here!!
For a long time, and in almost everyKenSAP reunion,you have asked for a newsletter delivered in an official capacity to your inbox. This dispatch would not just be a source of news related to KenSAP but also a fun, insightful read that keeps the warmth of the community flowing to every KenSAP affiliate.!
Indeed this initiative is long overdue. It has been over a decade since KenSAP's inception, and not everyone
is able to attend our annual reunions. Besides, KenSAP faces new challenges that require even greater cohesion and a stronger network. I am therefore deeply honored and thrilled to have spearheaded this initiative and I hope it is only the first of many to come.!
This edition will feature two students; Salash Nabaala (Harvard 2018) and Abigael Cheruiyot (Colby 2012). Read about who they are and what they're up to. Enjoy those kumbe moments! You will also find a message from JM and from the student president,Chemtai Langat. It is important to state here also that we are currently thinking of three editions every year and the layout of each will vary. In the future we hope to have creative writing submissions and other interesting content. Feel free to share the newsletter with as many people as you can!!
Let me close by thanking all of you for making this possible.Because this is the first edition, it will be lacking in many respects. Please, please reach out with feedback through [email protected]. Enjoy the read!!
KenSAP has just had its best Early Decision admission results in years: eleven of thirteen candidates admitted – to, among others, Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Dartmouth, Stanford and Penn! We fully expect our remaining candidates to be successful in the Regular Decision round. !
The eleven new admissions brings KenSAP’s total since 2004 to 141 – that is, 141 students placed at the very best colleges and universities in North America. What’s more, as I am very proud of saying, of the 130 students who have so far matriculated at these highly competitive institutions, 126 either have graduated or
are on track for timely graduation. No other college access program in Kenya, in Africa or anywhere else that I’m aware of can come close to numbers like these, or to the quality of the institutions involved. We have built a very good thing together, and you should all be proud.!
As most of you know, two of KenSAP’s fundamentals have recently begun to change. First, we are no longer strictly a regional program. KenSAP is national, welcoming applicants from all over the country. We will continue to be based in Rift Valley, and a disproportionate number of our students will be drawn from that region, but we are now explicitly a national program. This is partly because, as Kenya’s most successful college access program, we believe it’s right for us to share our expertise with all of Kenya. We have always expected that the skills KenSAP graduates bring home from America will benefit all of Kenya, and it is right that our constituency not be confined to a single region. But equally important is a purely pragmatic reason for this change. If we are to raise significant amounts of money from major donors,
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From John Manners:
Dearly loved teacher, friend, and Executive Director of KenSAP
First Edition; Winter 2016
we cannot present ourselves as a narrow regional operation benefitting only a small portion of the Kenyan population; we must benefit all of Kenya. !
Which brings me to the second way in which KenSAP’s fundamentals are changing. Again, as many of you know, our principal sponsor for the past eleven years, Charles Field-Marsham, is planning to phase out his support for KenSAP starting this year. Therefore, assuming we want the program to continue, we need to find other sources of funding. At our gathering in New York in November, Charles made a persuasive case for the idea that KenSAP students and alumni themselves should be the principal source, in that, as stakeholders, they are the ones most likely to provide reliable long-term support. !
So far the signs are pretty good that our students and alumni can manage to carry a substantial part of the burden. In the period between my initial appeal to KenSAPers last August and the end of the year, 56 students and alumni contributed a total of $7,730 and brought in an additional $2,425 through their own fundraising efforts. Special mention goes to Jay Koima, Titus Chirchir, Lizah Masis, Elvis Terigin, James Rotich, Kiptoo Magutt, Eric Kuto and Shina Leboo for their exceptional generosity.!
This is just the beginning, however. Now that Regular Decision applications are largely complete, I’ll have time to begin a search for a professional fundraiser to work with us on a part-time basis, with the aim of helping us connect with corporations, foundations and so-called high-net-worth individuals who might have an interest in supporting us. I have a bunch of leads, and I’ll be following up on them over the next few weeks. Our hope is to get a foot in the door with a few corporations and foundations (actually getting grants from such organizations takes many months) and perhaps hold a fundraiser or two in Boston, New York or Washington for a bunch of prospective donors who admire what we do. If we can set up any such functions, some of you
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KenSAP students and their tutor after a morning run in Iten during the summer of 2013. Major throwback for many!
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should expect to be called on to attend as exemplars of KenSAP’s brilliant beneficiaries!!
In the meantime, though, we also want to beef up our student and alumni giving. One of the things that donors such as corporations and foundations look for when considering whether or not to contribute to an organization like ours is the percentage of stakeholders who themselves contribute to the maintenance of the organization. So far, our total of 56 out of 130 students and alumni is not bad, but it’s not particularly impressive as such things go. We’re hoping for at least 80% participation (i.e. >80% of you contributing). What’s more, as we discussed at length during the November New York gathering, we’re hoping to get each contributor to commit to an ongoing schedule of donations. On the assumption that even current students are earning between $200 and $400 a month from campus employment, our goal is to have all KenSAPers commit on the KenSAP website to a monthly donation of a small percentage of their income, with the donation increasing as income increases. Come on, people! This is not so hard. If you sign up on the website, the donation will be made automatically and you’ll never miss it!!
Please remember our April reunion in Boston (Cambridge) and try to make time to come. The usual weekend for the gathering corresponds to Boston Marathon weekend, which this year is April 15 to 17. However, this may or may not turn out to be the most convenient weekend for the largest number of KenSAPers. Please let our Student Board Chairperson, Chemtai Langat ([email protected]), know which weekend in April would be best for you and we’ll try to adjust our plans accordingly.!
I hope to see lots of you then!
JM!
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A few members of the college class of 2016 upon their arrival at the Noble and Greenough School, the venue of our August reunions for many years now. How many of these guys do you know? Make sure to reach out to them as they graduate this year!
As we begin a new year I am thrilled to be part of a program that has to be one of the most active and vibrant international student communities in the US. At the New York Reunion last fall, attended by several friends and alumni, we had the opportunity to reconnect, reflect on our past, and think about KenSAP’s goals for the next few years. If you have not attended our events recently you should know that you have been missing out! Come and make friends and be a part of KenSAP’s growth and success.!
Speaking about goals and growth, the next couple of years are going to be challenging for the KenSAP family. A lot of thought and discussion has been going on concerning KenSAP’s sustainability and what roles we need to play to make sure that the program grows successfully. We have needed KenSAP to get ahead in life but now KenSAP needs every beneficiary and affiliate to be actively engaged in the sustainability debate and action.!
My most sincere gratitude goes to all those who have contributed in kind and in cash to KenSAP these past few years. In particular, I want to thank the class of 2019 for raising $450 toward the ongoing fundraising despite all the challenges they faced as freshmen. We highly appreciate the generosity of our donors. This generosity, in much the same way as the generosity of college donors, affords us access to opportunities that would not be available without it.!
All can attest to the value of a strong community far away from the warmth of our home country Kenya. I cannot therefore close without inviting you to join us for our reunion in Boston this spring. Details on date and locations will be coming up soon. Not only will you get to reignite your old friendships but also you get to build new bonds and be part of the bigger family!!
Chemtai Lang'at, KenSAP 2013, Brown 2017!�6
From the Student President
First Edition; Winter 2016
Salash Tolan Nabaala is a Sophomore at Harvard. He was born and raised in Maasai Mara at a village called Oloonkerin, 20 kilometers off the Kisii-Narok highway. At Harvard he spends a lot of his time studying mathematics and physics, two subjects which he enjoys so much that he will talk about them with anybody at any time. He is known to have spent his free time at KenSAP reading interesting topics in physics or toying with recreational math. We caught up with Salash during one of those winter break nights when KenSAP collegians unwind with friends they have not seen for long.!!
Tell us about your ambitions growing up in Kenya
“I loved history so much while I was in primary school. I always wanted to get to know random historical facts. One of my older siblings was in high school and I remember reading a section in her history book about early inventions and this drew me to learn more about inventors. From then on, I thought I wanted to become one. And because I didn't know how one went about becoming an inventor, I became convinced early on that my “career” path would be unconventional. I wasn’t interested at all in Engineering, Medicine or Law which were, and still are, viewed as the main aspirational careers. Fortunately my parents were not insistent on me changing my interests because they thought I would change them later when I came of age. !
And sure enough, throughout high school, as my ambitions shifted even more into the obscure theoretical physics and math, their questions increased. But now they’ve just
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Salash Nabaala!KenSAP 2013, Harvard Class of 2018
First Edition; Winter 2016
resigned and let me be. I’m so glad they have become so understanding and supportive!”!
And then how did you come to know about KenSAP?
“Three students from my high school had already joined KenSAP and gone on to join elite universities in America. As soon as my KCSE results came out, the 3 of them separately contacted me and told me about the program and how to apply. I applied and I was lucky enough to be accepted.”!
!Life at KenSAP:
“KenSAP was an amazing experience to me. A lot of my views concerning education and life in general underwent a transformation during my time at KenSAP. I was introduced to the concept of learning for its own sake, something which coming from a Kenyan high school was nonexistent. We watched movies that I would otherwise never have watched, and learned about events and amusing historical facts from John’s digressions. I LOVED the digressions!!! But I also met wonderful people who continue to be my friends and I learned a lot from each one of them.”!
Any interesting memories from KenSAP?
“There was a particular morning when, during the usual morning run, I was left behind everyone. I wasn’t the fastest person around so after a few minutes I decided to slow down and walk. As I was walking I saw a couple of stray dogs nearby and I didn’t really pay any attention to them until they all started barking and running towards me. I ran so much for about 5 mins only to realize the dogs weren’t really chasing me, but rather another female dog that was close to where I was before. I hadn’t realized I could ever run that fast before!”!
Tell us about your experience at Harvard
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Salash (Right) and his KenSAP classmates and tutor in Iten
First Edition; Winter 2016
“I’m currently studying Math & Physics jointly since that combination perfectly captures both my interests in Theoretical Physics and Math and sets a solid background for grad school in both of the two fields. I enjoy the classes I’m taking right now and even though some of them are really challenging, it’s all I ever wanted to do and this motivates me to work through the classes.!
Over summer, I did a project that aimed to popularize advanced math among Kenyan high school students. It felt really nice to create the opportunity for students to discover the beauty of math and I intend to do that in the future. I want to teach Math and Physics at a collegiate level in Kenya and dictate the way the teaching is done. Hopefully I will start a Math/Physics college in Kenya in the future.!
Right now, I’m applying to research positions on campus so that I can do physics research during summer. I’m also thinking on studying Math abroad in Budapest during summer, but I’m yet to apply for that. Any of the two options will work very well for me.!
Apart from my studies, I play rugby during the weekends.Since it’s a club sport and there’s no varsity rugby here, it’s not that demanding and it helps relieve all the pressures of school.We mostly play during the weekends against other clubs within the Ivy League. I play intramural soccer as well."!
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Salash at a retreat in Vermont during the winter in his first year at Harvard. Looks like he has adjusted very well to the extremely cold New England winter!
First Edition; Winter 2016
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Abigael Cheruiyot, fondly known within the Kensap family as Abby, is a second year PhD student at Washington University in Saint Louis. She grew up in Mokwo, a village in the former Keiyo District. Although her family now lives in Chepkanga in Uasin Gishu, she still thinks of Mokwo as her true home. We caught up with Abby towards the end of the fall semester after a very busy fall where she was teaching
undergraduates in addition to doing research at the lab she joined earlier this year.!You’re currently a PhD student - do you still remember primary and secondary school?
“I attended Mowko primary school up to grade 5, and then I went to Kaptagat D.E.B boarding school for grade 6 and 7 to join my elder sister, Sabina. When Sabina completed 8th grade, I did not want to stay at the boarding school. I was scared of not having an elder sister to protect me from bullying at school, so I went back to Mokwo primary school for my final year of primary school.!
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Abigael Cheruiyot!KenSAP 2007, Colby Class of 2012
First Edition; Winter 2016
After doing well at KCPE, I was accepted to Sing’ore Girls’ Secondary School. I was gladly following the footsteps of Sabina, who had joined Sing’ore a year earlier. I truly thrived at Sing’ore. Apart from academics, I really enjoyed participating in music and drama festivals. We often travelled to perform our dramatized verses and songs. At first, I was scared of performing. But I loved travelling and soon I was at ease with everything. !
In Form 3 a few students and I, with the help of Mr. Jacobs, our mathematics teacher, started a mathematics club. I was elected president of the club when it started. To start preparing for KCSE, we compiled several past mathematics exams and answers and printed them in a book. We later sold several copies to students in Sing’ore and in neighboring schools, and used the money to fund club events. I loved math in high school and I attended several mathematics competitions between Form 1 and Form 4. My great moment was winning first place in a mathematics competition held at Bahati girls when I was in form 2!” !
And what were your career aspirations at the time?
“I always wanted to be a doctor when I was growing up. My father was a doctor and I wanted to be like him. He was actually a dentist, but in the village a dentist and a doctor were the same. Throughout my primary and secondary schooling I completely bought into the idea in Kenya that if you are smart in school, you should be a doctor or an engineer. I therefore worked hard in school to score a mean grade A in high school so that I could be invited to join medical school” !
And then how did you come to know KenSAP?
“I learned about KenSAP from a family friend and also from Lorna Kiplagat. After receiving my KCSE results, a family friend talked about a program that helped top-performing students from the region get into American universities. This friend had said that the program was based in Iten at
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Lornah’s High Altitude Training Center. I approached Lornah and then she told me more about KenSAP. She also let me stay at the camp so that I could do some running in preparation for the 1500m tryout race.” !
How was life at KenSAP?
“When I joined KenSAP in 2007, my mother had just passed away earlier in March. In retrospect, I could say that I was somehow running away from the familiar place at home that constantly reminded me of her absence. I completely welcomed the possibility of making new friends and setting new goals, and KenSAP did not disappoint. My most memorable times at KenSAP before joining college was listening to John Manners teach vocabulary lessons. We always enjoyed how one word could turn out to be a whole story when John explained it. His digressions made learning those SAT vocabs so much more fun. I could still recall some of those stories when I was preparing for my GREs!”!
And then came Colby! How was that?
“I had several interesting experiences when I joined Colby College, but I think most of them were associated to being a newcomer to the American culture. I expected my fellow college students, especially the ones from America (at least 80% of the college population) to be sophisticated. Therefore, when we had our orientation and were made to play very silly games, I was shocked. I found them too childish and I was embarrassed to play them, but I did not have an option. The whole ‘getting to know each other’ activities also involved talking about favorite things, which was new to me. Every student had a favorite color, favorite sandwich, favorite TV show, favorite song, favorite artist, favorite book, etc. I did not have such a diverse list of favorites; I liked several things quite the same. However, by the time I was a junior in college, I surprised myself by how much I was comfortable with several aspects of American college culture. I even ran around the school buildings dressed up for Halloween with my cross country team mates,
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Abby (Second from the left on the second row) with her Colby Mules Cross Country teammates. Keeping the scholar-athlete spirit going!
First Edition; Winter 2016
something that I completely avoided in my first and second years!!
When I joined college, I was still interested in being a doctor, so I focused on the sciences and completed pre-medical school requirements. However, as my education progressed, my prospects of joining medical school reduced because of two major reasons. First, I realized how expensive medical school was in America, and for international students, it was almost impossible to secure a loan to pay for it. If the medical school was to offer me a loan, I would graduate with about $ 200,000 in debt! Second, I realized that I actually enjoyed biomedical research, even more than the idea of being a medical doctor. I shadowed two medical doctors, (one in Tanzania, and one in Maine) and even though I respected what they did for the patients, I did not feel compelled to settle on that career path. I therefore began questioning why I wanted to be a doctor in the first place. I learned that I could still contribute to the community without being a doctor and I realized that the basis of medical practice is biomedical research, something that is lacking in Kenya. I became motivated by the idea of pioneering biomedical research in Kenya, and contributing high standard scientific knowledge to the world.!
However, it was difficult to figure out my focus in science research, and to actually start doing it. I was fortunate to have friends in college who had followed the same career path, and were doing well after graduation from Colby. I got in touch with a few of them to look for a research internship, and one of them put me in touch with her professor, who interviewed me and offered me a research technician job at Massachusetts General hospital. The research experience enabled me to focus my research goals to cancer biology research, and I went on to apply for a PhD program in the field.”!
What are you currently doing? And any additional thoughts
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First Edition; Winter 2016
“I am currently a second year PhD student at Washington University in Saint Louis. Early in 2015, I joined Dr. Zhongsheng You’s lab to work on cancer research. For my thesis project, I am studying the response of human cells to DNA damage, and how that may affect cancer formation and treatment outcome. Understanding how cells react to this DNA damage in different contexts may hold a key to understanding how cancers form, and how chemotherapy can be improved. It has been a very stimulating and exciting experience so far, and I hope this graduate education will prepare me to be an independent investigator in cancer research. I plan to do postdoctoral training later in order to become a researcher in big cancer institutions here or abroad. I am still keen on doing research that will have an impact in Kenya and the East African region, so I will keep looking for an opportunity to do so through KEMRI or other relevant institutions.!
I owe a lot of my achievements to KenSAP. Without this program, I would not have gone to Colby, and I would not have developed an interest in research. It is inspiring to see several young Kenyans realize their potentials through KenSAP. As the program grows, I hope that we the alumni will take a more proactive role in guiding young students through challenges in college and developing careers. Another aspect that I hope will improve in the coming few years is the funding for the program. I believe that we can build a sustainable program by pulling our resources together and investing wisely on behalf of this impactful organization.”
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Abby playing in the snow at her host family's house in Maine, not too far from Colby. Host families are a big part of the college experience among most KenSAP students, and for Abby it was no different.
