Target: High School Form 4 & KCSE leavers and beyond
Dates: From Tue 14th January 2025
Location: MOHI Pangani, Nairobi, Kenya
Time: 9:00am - 12:30pm, once per week
Cost: Ksh 3,500/- per session,
Payable by MPesa to Till No. 9366385
For Sponsored students, Terms & Conditions are available by clicking here
Aim:
Transition preparation:
Life-skills from high school into college & real life!
This includes, but is not limited to, helping prepare willing, passionate and visionary youth to further seek admission and scholarship into top, world class institutions.
This is a PROCESS and not an EVENT, therefore it takes TIME as MINDSETS need to be transformed, developed and grow. Unlearning, learning & relearning.....
We celebrate the Case Study of Yuri Coret, as seen by clicking here
Our Value Addition includes;
- Self discovery – students first need to know themselves; their gifts, abilities, learning styles, dreams, goals and vision
- Identify possible careers – based on knowing themselves
- Prepare for their careers – based on post secondary institutions, such as universities
- Plot your educational journey – setting of goals, timelines for short, medium and long term goals
- Establish a career path – based on current & emerging challenges in the job and careers market locally and overseas
- Establish Life & Soft skills
- Launch entrepreneurial projects through proof of concept, pilot projects, scale up projects
The above is based on Customisation, not Standardization, deeply immersing youth in environments that celebrate their individual unique strengths, abilities, passion in an engating environment with great fun.
We truly appreciate the leadership and Peer Mentorship of previous AKAD mentees.
They include, but are not limited to, Joan Nekoye (Brown University, 2020), Eric Fairweather (Minerva Schools 2019) mentored Joshpat Lowoi (Duke University, 2018) mentored by Ernest Ochieng (Harvard University, 2016), Yuri Coret & Boniface Omina (African Leadership University, 2023).
The success of our Peer Mentoring model was well demonstrated many whom Ernest (Harvard, 2016) has positively inspired, impacted and influenced many such as Yuri, Boniface, James, Josphat, Eric and others.
Ernest was mentored at Alliance High School by George Gathiani (Washington University in St. Louis, USA 2015), who was mentored by Brian Ngugi (African Leadership Academy & Jacobs University, Bremen, Germany, 2019). Brian was mentored by Nyamawih Charo (Bath University, UK 2015) and Wambui Mburu, graduate of ALA and Oklahoma State University, USA.
Need we say more??
What is the AKAD Gap Year Program?
This consists of twelve (12) core sessions; 42 contact hours & 12 days of elective field sessions.
The soft skills provided in the Gap Year Program include, but are not limited to the following Soft-Skills, Life-Skills and Essential Skills; Confidence Building Critical Thinking Problem Solving Leadership Development Communication Negotiation, Group Work & Team Building Time Management, Project Management Stress Management, Relationships & Mental Health Entrepreneurship & Research Branding & Public Relations Self Defense - Shotokan Karate Presentations with assignments in between.
Our training format is by participation in a Socratic fashion. This requires active participation by all - no sitting back and falling asleep. Delivered within a fun environment with experiential team-building methodology.
Sufficiently motivated youth who enthusiastically show cause, are provided opportunity to demonstrate these skills through engaging Adult Mentors in their areas of passion and interest. In the past this ended with the privilege of attending Kenya's annual National Prayer Breakfast with H.E. President of Kenya, Deputy President, Senators, Governors and other industry leaders for exceptional youth.
Field Events:
Our First Field Event for the GAP Year 2024 will be
combined with Session 3
of 10 on Tuesday 30th January 2024 at the UN HQ offices in Gigiri, Nairobi
Due to
security reasons, we are to arrive at the UN HQ entrance gate on
or before 8:30am, as it
can take up to one hour to have access entry.
The session
is officially part
of the UN commemoration
of the Holocaust with our agenda as follows;
1.
Begin
by going through the art exhibition in the lobby area
2.
This
will be followed by a 1-hour walking tour of the UN Offices at 10:00am (at
their standard fee, to be advised). Cost of this is to be met by us
individually.
Kindly
ensure you wear WALKING SHOES and not high heels or other uncomfortable
footwear.
3.
This
will be followed by a 1 hour diplomatic session & panel discussion with
speech by Ambassador of Israel among others and discussion with other students
present. (11:00am – 2:00pm). Location is CR 1 in UNON so that you do NOT GET
LOST in the premises.
4.
Followed
by our informal AKAD debriefing session, with tea/snacks at your own cost. At
best, and if lucky - will include a UNON Guest Adult Mentor for an hour.
5.
Kindly
sort out your transport logistics to and from the UN HQ in Gigiri, directly
opposite the US Embassy. Know what public vehicles to take. Give yourself enough TIME to get there
and back. Planning & managing logistics to and from such events is your
responsibility.
Hint:
at best collaborate with your fellow AKAD mentees and travel together.
6.
Entry into the UN premises requires a
PICTURE ID such as your school ID. This
is a high security zone, with heavily armed security from the Diplomatic Police
and US Marines. Do not be in possession of anything that may cause your arrest,
injury or death.
Examples of previous Gap Year Core and Field Activities have included, but were not limited to;
Hello everyone,
Following the successful accomplishment of the borehole renovation project in Kawangware Primary School, we were able to have a handing over event today at the school. We have sustainably impacted over 2100 students representing more than 1000 households in Kawangware slum.
Furthermore, we have contributed to the fulfillment of 9 SDG goals. I want to say a great thank you to the Davis And Shirtliff Head Office , AKAD Africa , Public Image, and PACE (Promoting Access to Community Education), Kenya for supporting me through this journey. We will be hopefully extending the project to 2 more schools in Nairobi. — at Kawangware Primary School.
A PARENT'S TESTIMONY
Here is a wonderful testimony from a parent received yesterday, regarding impact of our one-on‐one mentoring, following a session in January 2020.
Greetings,
Thank you for your time on Monday morning. To me it was epic.
The key questions you asked my daughter - what do you have to offer, what value will you bring to the table, what solutions will you bring to the community. . were the very questions I have been grappling with over the past weeks as I write my application for my PhD. I thought that my daughter was getting exposed to a very great timely opportunity -talking to you that day.
At 19 this was a significant way for her to think through her choices.
Even better, the fact that you linked all categories of her person - spiritual, academic, gifting, personality together, was on point and really made me glad - many young people flow with what the world presents to them. They rarely think of who they are and what they have to offer.
Your analogy of climbing the stair well and realising that that wasn't the right stair case made me think again about how for me as a parent - my desire has been to get my daughters' to succeed - so I am likely to allow them to walk through a door of opportunity - even if it quite wasn't the right fit ??♀ stood out for me.
Your discussion on the build up of a deliberate personal brand was wonderful. . . The detail of verifying, measuring and deliberate visibility as presented was so timely.
All in all I realised that you were truly doing what you were called to do. Something that God prepared you to do many years ago.
I was so happy to have escorted my daughter because I learned a lot from your discussion. I asked myself - what exactly I was aiming for. .
Have a good night
H.M.
Previous Case Study Activities
For photos of activities, please visit our Facebook page "Akad Africa" or click here
Community Service
The advantage to participants is that community service verifies and measures your philanthropic contribution to society.
This is of value to youth seeking to demonstrate value addition to their profiles, when seeking possible admission and scholarship opportunities in overseas institutions (where an "A" grade is not enough). Community Service is one of the five basic pillars AKAD provides assistance to our mentees.
As a result, several youth engage with collaborative programs, especially those that add value to the less fortunte. These have included engaging with youth in slum schools and areas, such as Mathare, Kawangware and others.
Field Activity Essay samples
