Throughout the selection process, co-founder Jenni Doherty has sent reports from the field. Her reports have given us insight into one of the most important aspects of the school: the student selection process.

INTERVIEWS IN THE LOCAL AREA

When we last left you, the student selection team had gone to Nakuru to interview students from Western Kenya. Upon their return, they interviewed girls from the local area surrounding Daraja Academy. Jenni explains:

“We had our final day of interviews last Tuesday with girls from our local area.  Some of you may not know that at the end of last year, we hosted nine girls from our closest local school, Ol Girigiri Primary School, for three months before they took the extremely important Kenya Certificate of Primary Education (KCPE) exam.  We learned last September that the local school was allowing the boys to board (as a way to eliminate home distractions and allow them to focus on studying for the exam).  We were a little incensed that the girls were not offered the same opportunity.  We went to the school and offered them one of our bandas.  The Class 8 girls would stay with us during the week.  We would feed them good meals and allow our Daraja girls to tutor them.  I am happy to say that for the first time ever in the school’s history, four girls scored over 300 marks on their KCPE.  That says a lot about our model.”

The admissions team ended up selecting a few of those students, as well as a select amount of others from the nearby villages and towns.

THE FINAL 26

After thorough debate and analysis, the team finally chose what they felt were the strongest 26 girls out of the many that were interviewed. On Friday, February 11th, they sent the acceptance letters and made the calls. Jenni describes the moment:

“We narrow it down to our 26 girls.  We start making phone calls.  Vice-Principal Victoria is on one phone and Mr.Charles, Dean of Curriculum, is on the other.  First call (in Swahili of course), “Hello Mama.  Where is Irene?  Has she gone to school?  No, she hasn’t?  I am calling from Daraja Academy. May I speak with Irene, I have a final question to ask her.”  Irene gets on the phone. “Hello, Irene.  I am calling from Daraja Academy and I have one question for you.” Irene responds, “Go Ahead.” (and Victoria laughs) “Would you like to be a student at Daraja?”  “Oh, Yes!!!” She squeals.  Victoria laughs and so do the rest of us, because we are all listening into the conversation.  Charles stopped dialing so he could hear as well.  At the end of the call we all shout together and laugh and clap our hands in joy.

That is the moment when all the hard interviews, and the tiredness melt away and you are left with the warmest feeling in your heart and this lightness.  Imagine sitting through call after call like this.  We got some good, albeit bittersweet, calls in where we learned three of the students we had selected had made it to another school.  You are so happy that she went to school, but you are a bit sad because you know what we can offer her.  But what is really great is when one goes to school, it opens a slot for another deserving girl at Daraja.  The first day of calling left us with two empty spaces.”

After careful deliberation, the team picked two girls to fill the open slots. Both of those students were not enrolled in school when the team called and therefore received admission.

And with that folks, Daraja Academy now has its freshman class of 2014! The new students report to campus next Friday, February 25th. What a journey it has been!