Arusha Campus News – 10 Jun 2023

Our Duke of Edinburgh International Award Adventurers. From left – Avalon, Harry, Valerie, Gaby and Vivek prepare to embark on their gruelling 4 day hike as the ultimate test of self-sufficiency.

Wed 14th June – PYP Play

Thur 15th June – Interhouse Cross Country

Fri 16th June – Last Day of School

As I publish this newsletter the International Award Gold Level hikers (above) are nearing the end of their 3rd day on the move. The students carry everything they need including food, tents, clothing, cooking equipment and plan their own route. At least the bags are getting lighter as more food is eaten!

Well we have one more week to go but you would never believe it. This week we have had representatives from our Campus Sustainability Committee attending the Tanzanian Student Coalition on Climate in Dar and making strong connections with Government which will hopefully support our sustainability initiatives in years to come.

Sport in the form of netball and swimming continues unabated and you can read about our participation in the newsletter here.

Finally, please try and come along to our Blood Drive on Tuesday this week. Maternity Africa is a hospital we try our best to support and this initiative will help immeasurably.

Have a great weekend.

Phil

P4/5 learn how to find north with a compass on a river walk, whilst keeping an eye out for the rogue leopard!

An amazing fun filled penultimate week in the primary school.

The NEC class visited a mosque to learn about Islam. The P1’s had their camp at school with their bicycles. The P2 class made great booklets about inventions. The P3’s enjoyed their camp at Simba Farm. The P4/5’s explored the local river. The P6’s had their move up day into M1.  What a great way to finish off a fantastic year in the primary school.

Next week is just as busy with our primary play on Wednesday 14th of June at 1.30pm and an inter house cross-country event on Thursday, the 15th of June at 8 am. The student council has also organised events for the last day of the quarter. Please come along and support your children.

Amanda, PYP Co-ordinator

P1 having a great time on the class camp. Well done Miss Nangini, Miss Loveness and Mr Frank.

P4/5 and N/EC buddies we value and appreciate buddies tremendously. The value of learning from each other is so important and fun.

PYP student council ‘Twin Day’ (above)…..

…..and Monster Day (below)!

Mr Jonny ran a Science Technology Engineering and Maths (STEM) CCA this quarter and last week enjoyed sharing the students’ electric projects with everyone (see montage above).

Above, the Under 13 Netball team left Kennedy House as outright Champions in the NTSAA Tournament this year!

Below, the Under 9 Netball team impressed Mrs Adele at Kennedy House in the netball tournament. Well done.

The M5 Work Experience program was a great success, and we are thrilled to see the positive feedback from parents and students. We will continue to offer programs like this in the future, as they are an important part of our commitment to providing a well-rounded education that prepares our students for success in all aspects of life.

Here is some of the feedback we received from students. Images above:

“I gained valuable insight into the life of an architect. Designing houses and learning about managing a company were enjoyable. I was surprised by the amount of computer work and repetition. This experience helped me prepare for my future career decisions.” Alvar Mesiaislehto

“Working at Serena HQ taught me a lot about the operations and connections between departments. I enjoyed physical work in records and learning about finance in billing. Talking to employees and my supervisor gave me valuable insights. I found observing boring and would prefer a job in IT or computer science.”   Aadi Aggarwal

“I learned about fund-based organizations and how they treat animals. However, I wouldn’t say I liked the repetitive tasks like walking dogs and grooming them. I wanted to learn about veterinary medicine but couldn’t due to not having a rabies shot. However, I still aspire to learn about veterinary medicine.”   Chiara Frisee

“Work experience was a fun and empowering opportunity. It allowed me to step out of my comfort zone and gain insight into potential career interests. I appreciated the student-led aspect and enjoyed interacting with others while learning about business operations.”  Troy Shukuru Charles

“I learned about their operations and had tasks like scanning documents and balancing ledgers. I interviewed a staff member and experienced using QuickBooks software. I visited a new branch and learned about writing cheques and bank slips. It was a valuable experience that taught me about attention to detail and communication in the workplace.”   Aliabbas Kermalli

Ms Delphine, Life Skills Co-ordinator

For our community service project we decided to generate money for the Ujamaa Children’s Home, so we held an open football tournament over the past weekend. Although we had a month to arrange the tournament, a lot of it happened in the final week. The tournament performed much better than we had anticipated, and we were able to raise nearly 700,000 Tsh for the Ujamaa Children’s Home. We want to express our gratitude to everyone who supported us and made this competition possible. Thank you, Mr. Phil, for allowing us to have the event at school and for covering the costs of the referee and the dadas who cleaned the bathrooms. Miss Caitrin for assisting us in organizing the competition and serving as a great supervisor, the nurse who came and attended to everyone who got injured, lastly, we would like to thank all of the teams that came and participated in this amazing event. We hope to repeat this next year.

Martin,Aidan,Charlie, Yuvraj,Karan and Quintin, M2 Service Action

ARDEI Student Committee Leads a Session to Promote Sense of Belonging (see image above)

During the Diploma Life Skills lesson this week, the ARDEI Student Committee organized an interactive discussion to encourage conversation and foster a sense of belonging among the students. The committee members facilitated discussions on relevant case scenarios aimed at creating a safe space for students to talk about familiar and uncomfortable issues.

Students who attended the session expressed gratitude for the opportunity to speak openly and honestly about difficult issues. They also felt that it helped to foster a sense of community and belonging on campus. In the future, we plan to offer more opportunities for students to connect, engage, and lead each other.

We want to thank the ARDEI Student Committee, Munira Nurbhai, Pardis Roham, Regina Mbake, Ammar Anwarali,  Rosemary Mbao, Dhanashree Birajdar, Oriana Torrealba, Eduardo Gonçalves and Joseph Mulindwa for their hard work and leadership in organizing this session. We look forward to collaborating with them and other student groups to create a welcoming and inclusive environment for all students on campus.

Ms Delphine, Life Skills Co-ordinator

This past week D1 chemistry students have spent time working on their IA’s (internal assessments). This is a mandatory assessment for all chemistry students taking the IB Diploma. We have taken the time this week during class and after school to work on the practical aspect of the IA. Fair to say it was busy in the chem lab! Here are some of the experiments that were going on.

Valerie, D1 Chemistry

Ellis, Doreen and Ze (above) from our D1 year were selected to represent UWC East Africa at the inaugural Tanzania’s Students Coalition on Climate held in Dar es Salaam last week

To officially launch the coalition and to commemorate the 50th World Environment Day, the founding team of the coalition was sent to Dar es Salaam. In addition to the Launching Ceremony of the coalition, they also held a beach clean up on 5 June, to commemorate the World Environment Day and align with this year’s theme to #BeatPlasticPollution. Additionally, to establish strong connections for the platform’s and the school’s long-term plans, the team also paid courtesy calls to important stakeholders on the following day.

Detailed Briefing:
1.       Beach Clean Up (5 June – morning)
The TaSCC held a beach clean-up along Coco beach in the Oyster Bay region of Dar es Salaam. This first initiative to drive collective action against climate change in Tanzania united some 30 students in a 4 kilometre walk along the beach to collect pollutant trash. The trash was meticulously sorted into three categories of recyclable plastics, general waste, and glass. All of which accumulated up to endless recycling bags of plastic and over 10 bags of general waste. The students said, ‘at times they felt deflated, but knew they were giving back in some small way and were joyous when locals came to help and support them, for they could empathise with them and their daily struggles as waste collects daily from the currents, storm pipes and people careless littering, despite the countless bins.’ This collection of accumulated trash was then brought to the local recycling plant to be processed and transformed.

2.       Launching Ceremony (5 June – afternoon)
The official launching ceremony of the coalition was held later that afternoon and counted numerous distinguished guests, including the Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology; members of the diplomatic corps and representatives of NGOs. As highlighted by His Excellency Manfredo Fanti, Ambassador of the European Union and host of this event, the student-led coalition will be the perfect opportunity to bring the youth together for climate related issues. As for the government, the Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education pointed out that it was “a pleasure for the Ministry to collaborate with this student-led coalition which just started”. A video message from Elizabeth Mrema, Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, also emphasised the support of the United Nations Environment Programme to this coalition, as she “welcomes the creation of this platform”. The Tanzania’s Students Coalition on Climate looks forward to becoming the main student-led network on climate action and hopes to reach out to as many students as possible. This initiative, which started at the UWC East Africa, now looks forward to a national expansion for better regional representativity. This network will engage all youth in Tanzania and connect them both nationally and globally with activists to help implement their ideas and change in their community, in our country. 

3.       UNDP and US Embassy Courtesy Calls (6 June)
To expand its network and establish strong connections for the platform’s long-term plans, the founding team of the coalition, which consists of UWCEA students, paid courtesy calls to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative, Ms. Christine Musisi, and to the United States Ambassador to Tanzania, His Excellency Amb. Dr. Michael Battle. The Resident Representative and Ambassador both reinforced their commitment to support youth-led climate-oriented platforms in the country and affirmed that they shall support the student coalition in its future endeavours.

We hosted our last UWC Davis Scholar Partner institution of this school year on Friday, with the Provost and International Admissions specialist from Amherst College leaving the D1s with a lot to think about as they prepare for their long holiday and post-secondary planning. Our guests spoke about the value of a liberal arts education, some of the benefits of attending their institution, and the essay writing endeavor that they recommended D1s start over this break. The best parts of this visit were the time they spent touring our campus to build context of where our students come from, and the time they spent speaking with students after their informative presentation. These moments are so valuable in the process of exploring post-secondary options, and the more students (with their families) make the most of visits, the more informed the decision making process will be when it comes time to apply. Whether in person, or virtually, spend time over the long break “visiting” campuses together so that you have a better understanding of what could lie ahead when life after UWC East Africa begins.

Another special visit was from former UWC East Africa Moshi campus student, Peter (‘21/The University of Oklahoma ‘25, see image above). During his brief time on our campus, he visited with a few students (and thrilled staff members) to share his experiences as a student athlete on a large US campus, and some of the opportunities he has had as a result of attending the institution he matriculated to two years ago. These types of visits, either in person or via social media, help to delve deeper into the student experience at the institutions that are being considered during this time. I strongly encourage students to reach out to students on campuses they may apply to to learn from the firsthand experiences of peers who are currently on the campuses what their lives are like on a day to day basis, as well as getting answers to questions from someone much closer to their own age.

My travel plans for this summer include visits to UBC and Simon Fraser University in Canada, and a multitude of colleges in the US (ie. Occidental College, Ringling College of Art and Design, the University of Florida, Spelman College, Morehouse College and Emory University). I remember taking trips with my son prior to his final year of high school ten years ago. These were very special times that I will always treasure as we explored his options together before he left home to begin the next chapter in his life. This is a major decision making time in the lives of our students, and having their families going through the process with them can mean so much in the long run. Even if you do it virtually, you’re still spending time together as your child prepares for one of the most important decisions they will make in their life.

Exploring Careers and Skill Building over the long break

I would be remiss if I did not reinforce the importance of delving into career exploration over the long break. Watching some of the M5 Work Experience presentations, I was struck by how much they experienced in just one week on a variety of work sites. For some, it was affirming of what they want to pursue, and for others it helped solidify careers they now know they no longer feel is viable for them. This is valuable information, and the more onsite work experience, and skill building opportunities our young people can have well in advance of making major educational decisions, the better. With technology continuing to change the world of work it is more important than ever that young people are building skills while exploring careers that can be transferable to various professions. Encourage your child to participate in volunteering, job shadowing, career research, interviews, paid work, and any activities that will expand their professional horizons and help them acquire skills that can lead to a clear sense of direction for their future.

Before we close out the year, please make note of these…

UPCOMING College and University Events

15 June: 4:30-5:45 PM EAT Meet NYU Abu Dhabi (virtual presentation)
Link to join: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/85903597774
15 June: 4:45-6:00 PM EAT 15 on the 15th: US Liberal Arts Colleges Presentation and mini-virtual fair. June focus: Us Application Essay Writing, making an impact.
Link to register for these events: https://www.davidson.edu/admission-and-financial-aid/15-15th-liberal-arts-colleges-across-united-states (13 of the 15 institutions are UWC Davis Partner schools)

FYI: Confirmed visits for the 2023-2024 School Year
Concordia College
Davidson College
Earlham College
Harvard University
Methodist University
St. John’s College
St. Olaf College
St. Lawrence University
University of Pennsylvania
Wartburg College
Yale University
… and many more, so stay tuned!

Keep exploring and skill building!

Cassandra Ford
College and Career Counselor

cassandraford@uwcea.org

After the successful Club Nationals 14 days ago, where the Riptide swimmers had shone with 25 medals, including one victory, the National Junior Swimming Championships took place this weekend at the same location in the IST in Dar es Salaam (see image above).

The Riptide Team competed here again with a small team and managed to maintain its position in the Tanzanian swimming sport with outstanding performances. The thirteen strong athlete team was rewarded with a total of 20 medals for their hard work in training.

Of course, the title winners are always outstanding at championships. The Riptiders have 4 of them in their ranks.

Ingraham did the 100m backstroke in 1:43.58,

Vera the 100m breaststroke in 1:37.09,

Nicolene the 200m individual medley in 3:01.09 and Zac the 100m freestyle in 1:11.59.

In the relays, the Riptiders were also able to demonstrate the strength of their team and took additional luggage with them to Arusha with a bronze and a silver medal.

The most diligent medal collector was Nicolene with 7 medals including the aforementioned gold one, which also makes her the most successful Riptider.

If you have some financial acumen and feel you could contribute to our Finance Committee then we are interested in hearing from you. We meet on Zoom about four times a year.

If you are interested please contact Phil on philbowen@uwcea.org