St Jude’s students
Girls scoop prizes at St Jude’s Science Day
ARUSHA’S YOUNG
SCIENTISTS
The School of St Jude, in Moshono, Arusha, is renowned for encouraging innovation in its pupils – some of the brightest (and poorest) in the region. That’s exemplified at its annual Science Day, which showcases projects of such prodigal ingenuity many of them have gone on to be developed into groundbreaking ventures that have changed lives in Tanzania. The event is as popular with girls as it is with boys at the co-education school, where, as of July last year, girls make up around 60 per cent of the 1,800 pupils. The imbalance is based on merit, reflecting local girls’ predominantly better performances at the school’s highly prized entrance exams.
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any of those girls have embraced STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects while at St Jude’s, which has, through its academic manager Nzinyangwa Mcharo, done much to encourage those pursuits. Graduates, supported by the school, go on to teach more than 10,000 government school students, spreading their passion for science to the next generation. Among St Jude’s science-loving girl students are Celina Kisaka and Debora Peter. Both the 17-year-olds are in their fourth and final year at the secondary school and made presentations at this year’s Science Day in April. The school is co-educational, but has separate boys’ and girls’ campuses. For the first time, the
girls’ campus hosted Science Day with pupils from across all years as well as students from surrounding government schools competing. Once all entries were judged, Celina was announced the winner for her home security app that locks doors remotely while Debora’s car sensors that warn drivers of the potential for accidents came in second place. Both projects were praised for their imaginative use of technology and their potentially far-reaching benefits in the outside world. It was a proud moment for both students made all the sweeter, they laughingly admit to me, by witnessing the shock of many of the boys at the quality and complexity of their work. “They were surprised and kept asking ‘how did you do that?’” says Debora. As well as the boys’ respect, Celina
and Debora won TZS 60,000 and will now take their inventions to the Young Scientist Tanzania (YST) Competition and the Nelson Mandela Science Competition, both held in July. Twiga got the chance to talk to each student in more depth about their individual projects and where they hope their passion for science and technology will take them in the future.
Celina Kisaka Celina’s security system works on facial recognition
Celina has been a pupil at St Jude’s since she was 14. STEM subjects have always appealed to her, though she is used to encountering surprise at that. “People say science is really hard for girls,” she tells me. “When I presented my project at Science Day, boys would say ‘how did you manage that?’ It was through commitment and hard work.” airtanzania.co.tz
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