10 minute read
High School Report
Robert Blanchard, EdD
High School Principal
Jarrod Dale
High School Assistant Principal
Iam excited to introduce this month’s High School Pride, so proud of our ISK students who continue to engage in meaningful teamwork and take active steps to tackle inequality. This month, you will enjoy a celebratory message about the grade 9 Aberdares trip, including reflections about the importance of a positive mindset, teamwork, and friendship - all key in the face of adversity and in support of personal growth. You will also hear from several student groups committed to tackling adversity with a particular focus on addressing and proactively supporting the UN Sustainability Goal for Quality Education. I hope that you will be inspired by the words and work of our High School students, who remain committed to meaningful work and are so clearly undeterred in the face of circumstances around the pandemic.
Robert Blanchard, EdD
High School Principal
Jarrod Dale
High School Assistant Principal
Last week, most of Grade Nine, alongside a handful of teachers, hiked in the Aberdare National Park for three days. As someone who rarely, if ever, hiked, I found this trip delightful, even though it came at the cost of an estimated 12-15 kilometer trek. Seeing as to how there is such a thing as nature and how rain is a part of nature, the rain was inevitable, or so we thought. Yes, there were puddles from previous days, but luckily it didn’t rain on us when hiking. A few of us slipped in the puddles and mud, but these were all learning experiences. Adding on to a learning experience, a skill most of us developed was endurance. The challenge of this hike grew the lifelong skill of endurance. To help aid the endurance was having a positive attitude and mindset. Thinking with a negative mindset can hinder your performance as well as your willingness to keep pushing yourself to reach the top and snap that picture-perfect photo.
Another learning experience was to keep watch and follow as a group. In other words, teamwork. On the hike at the Aberdares, teamwork does make the dream work. For our safety, the camp guides provided us with a series of codes: red meaning stop, yellow meaning slow down, and green meaning go. These indicated the pace we needed to go and keep us safe from any wild animals. I’d like to appreciate the guides and guards who safely led us to the campsite. Without our experienced guides, we might have been lost at the start of the hike. In addition, I’d like to thank the chefs at the camp for providing us with three meals a day plus snacks and making sure no one would hike hungry.
The mountain views and the waterfalls were breathtaking, literally and figuratively, especially at the break of dawn and at sunset. Wrapping up a long and tiring day with dinner around the campfire sparked conversations with people you wouldn’t talk to daily. New friendships were made, and trust was built among one another. At the end of the trip, I valued all of these, and I hope we all did too. What a journey we had, and a journey I shall never forget.
It’s not the mountain we conquer, but ourselves” -
Sir Edmund Hillary.
Cecille B. - Grade 9 Student
REPORT ON INTERACT’S BOOK DRIVE HELD IN OCTOBER 2021
The Interact club is a rotary club that runs projects in and out of school in order to benefit the underprivileged members of the Kenyan society. We believe that through our projects, we will have the ability to tackle some of the major issues within our community. Last semester, we identified a primary school with insufficient reading materials for its students. Acknowledging that we as the Interact Club and ISK community have the power to come together and try and address the school's desperate situation, we decided to hold a book drive. With a lot of planning and advertising, we finally had a book drive in the Elementary School and High School in the last week of October. Our book drive helped raise more than 700 books for the primary school and helped ameliorate the lack of reading material for the students. The school we helped was able to distribute the books to the students. Amongst other goals, Interact Club addresses Goal 4 of 17 The Sustainable Development Goals - Quality Education. Through such fundraisers, we hope to continue to improve literacy levels by availing age appropriate books of different genres to local schools. Ultimately, this also spills over to goal number 10 - Reduced Inequality - as it helps close the gap of education in Kenyan between the rich and the poor. But most importantly, our project gave new inspiration to the students and expanded their minds through the power of the stories they are reading. As a club, we look forward to running more projects within ISK that will help inspire and tackle major inequalities within our community.
Nathan O. Grade 11 - Interact Club Leader
Koh-Ed
Koh-Ed is a science club led by enthusiastic High School students who teach Elementary students science concepts in a fun and interactive way. In January, we made an operation game (like the board game) using a cardboard box, aluminum foil, LED light, and tweezers to explore the concept of electricity and to learn about series circuits. This week, we had a construction challenge where the team with the bridge that can sustain the most weight wins. The students were able to learn different geometry support systems and understand the structural integrity of large architectures. For the next five weeks, we will be learning new topics in a hands-on manner that engages the students and cultivates their love for science. Koh-Ed is beneficial for the elementary students and is also for us, for we can learn a lot by teaching and interacting with younger students. Our goal is to address the United Nations’ sustainable development goal of providing quality education to everyone. We are starting by sharing our passion for science with younger ISK students, then expanding to local schools in Nairobi once the Covid regulations ease. If you are interested in our club, check out our website: https://www.koh-ed.org/
By Yohan K. & Keifer T. - Grade 11 Science Enthusiasts
PROJECT IMAGINE
PROJECT IMAGINE’S FUNDRAISING REPORT
1) Brief background
In August 2015, Project Imagine was founded to end period poverty in Kenya. By creating reliable access to sanitary pads, offering menstrual health and hygiene education, and facilitating peer mentorship programs, Project Imagine has supported over 1300 vulnerable girls to stay in school and work towards the dreams that they imagine. Our aim is to help every girl receive a proper education, which is the mission further set by our Project Imagine Presidents, Makda and Keifer!
2) Overview of the fundraiser
Luckily, becoming an ISK club has also allowed us to reach and eclipse our goal of dispersing 250,000 pads! We have now collected and distributed over 255,713 pads since 2015 and are still counting!!!! This was achieved by our launch of a fundraising drive to accumulate period pads. The campaign initially aimed to gather 18,975 pads by the end of a five-day school period, but amazingly collected over 24,688 pads. The campaign consisted of a week full of carefully planned and advertised activities. Monday was the day for decorating masks, where multiple peers contributed to a covid cautious exercise of coloring and personalizing their own PI merch masks. Tuesday followed with a “wear red day” for raising period poverty awareness. Wednesday was the day of our highest donations, paired with plenty of PI stickers to match. Even now, these stickers can be seen throughout the school! Placed in lockers, on computers, on phone cases, on walls, and on clothing!! Thursday was yet again another high donation day, with chocolate, candy, and facts about periods handed out to every pad donor. The last day ended on a sublimely positive note, with our goal achieved and our spirits soaring from the happy challenge of the day’s task- “write a letter to a woman in your life!” Overall, we are so grateful to our terrific peers, parents, and sponsors for helping us achieve such a huge milestone. We could not have done this effort of all, present and past Project Imagine participants, leaders, partners, and stakeholders, including beneficiaries. On the threshold of a new year, we hope to see even more enthusiasm in the future, as support for Project Imagine at ISK continues to grow.
3) Which SDG(s) does our club address?
Project Imagine aligns with the fourth and fifth sustainable development goals, which are Quality Education and Gender Equality. This initiative is in accordance with these goals within the targets 4.5, 4.1, and 5.1. Target 4.1 states that, “By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys complete free, equitable and quality primary and secondary education leading to relevant and effective learning outcomes”. Target 4.5 speaks of the elimination of gender disparities in education and ensuring equal access to all levels of education. In this regard, our club’s goal is to end ‘Period Poverty’ by providing sanitary towels to local girls in need and helping educate them about menstrual health. Period poverty is a critical concern in Kenya and alludes to the inability to work or attend school due to a lack of funding for sanitary products. Our distribution of pads and fundraising initiatives solidifies Project Imagine's impact in regards to sustainable goal number 4. Furthermore, due to the negative connotations surrounding periods, women are not offered an equal chance towards education due to the inaccessibility of sanitary pads. As we assess goal number 5, it is crucial to acknowledge that period negativity contributes to the overall educational and vocational success of women because when a bodily function is condemned through the penalization of women, not only does it affect education but overall equity in the eyes of the public. Target 5.1 highlights the ending of all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere. As a club that explicitly addresses period poverty, it is critical to note that the stigma associated with periods operates as a form of discrimination when education is jeopardized- attributable to societal conformity and expectations.
To conclude, Project Imagine and our team utilize education as a vehicle for equity in terms of women's access to higher education. Since its inception Project Imagine has: o Distributed to Swani primary school for 15 terms (5 school years) o Distributed to Mt. Olive primary school for 9 terms (3 school years) o Conducted a biweekly mentorship program at Salama school for 3 years o Developed a boys' program and curriculum o Partnered with Zana Africa foundation- a leading menstrual health advocacy group
4) Plans for the future?
Moving forward, we hope to continue our fundraising efforts throughout the second semester. Since March 8th is International Women’s Day (and March is considered women’s month), we plan to organize further initiatives throughout that month. Stay tuned to learn more about these plans in the coming weeks/ months! You can follow us on social media @project.imagine, or visit our website https://www. projectimagine.net/ to learn more!
Annabel O. - Grade 10 - Project Imagine Media Leader
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