Mt Kenya Academy Secondary School

 

Greetings to all our family and friends from Mt. Kenya Academy Secondary School!

We arrived 3 weeks ago and have 3 weeks of school under our belts. We have learned so much about an entirely different education system and we're managing to keep our heads above water. As Chris says, they haven't fired us yet!

The staff and students are absolutely wonderful! And I must say it's very refreshing to be teaching without the daily intrusion of school politics which had been such a big part of my last few years teaching in Seattle.

This photo shows the interior of the campus with the dining room on the left and classrooms, computer and science labs, offices, and a library on the other 3 sides. The secondary school has grades 7-12, split into two groups following two different curricula. The Kenyan system is 9-12 but they are called Form 1-Form 4. The Cambridge International system are grades 7-11, called Year 7-Year 11. 

From the 3rd floor balcony of the school, You can see Mt Kenya on a clear morning. (So far, as the day progresses, the cloud cover increases.) It has rained 80% of the afternoons, sometimes the downpour is so hard, I can hardly hear over the pounding on the roof. The rain tends to come after school when students are outside doing sports.

Can you see Mt. Kenya in this picture? One morning it was absolutely clear, bright, and brilliant but, my phone was at the apartment charging. This is a stratovolcano, similar to Mt. Rainier. The volcano is about 3 million years old and has lost its crater walls to erosion. It was once believed to be higher than it's current 17,058 ft. It has 3 summits, Batian, the tallest, Nelion, 17.022, and Point Lenana, 16,355. Summiting Batian and Nelion requires technical climb beyond our level, but we hope to reach Point Lenana during a short break at the end of February. 

Our first full day at the school was scheduled for a staff team building excursion. We boarded the schools two yellow school buses and drove about halfway to Nairobi to a camping, adventure, and team-building place called Rapids Camp.

From the parking lot, we walked across a pedestrian bridge over a roaring river.

I think there were about 60 staff members, from both the Junior and the Secondary School, who attended. This included teachers, office staff, school nurses, and administrators.

We spent the day doing cooperative games and activities outside and had a great time. The facilitator appeared to have a lot of experience and ran the day very well. Before leaving, Chris told him it was the most well received school/teacher PD he has experienced in 35 year of teaching! Nobody yawned.  Nobody checked their phones or their watches.  The buy- in was unparalleled.

Students arrived the next day, Sunday afternoon. Mt. Kenya Academy is a private boarding school. There are some students some day students from nearby who are collected daily by a couple buses and vans. School started Monday morning with a 7:25am assembly. Classes start at 8am. The school day has 9 periods, called lessons, and each is 40 minutes. Each class has their own classroom where the students have desks with all their books, notebooks, and school supplies. Teachers change classrooms, not students. There is a staff room for teachers to work in when they are not teaching.

On Wednesday of the first week, the school welcomed a group of 8 high school students and 3 staff from Westminster Schools in Atlanta. This is a private school that has had a longstanding relationship with Mt. Kenya Academy. In April, 8 Mt. Kenya Academy students will visit Atlanta, stay with families (Westminster is not a boarding school), and attend classes there.

Two staff from Westminster with MKA teachers

The day before the Westminster group left for home, the woman who founded Mt. Kenya Academy took the group to lunch at The Trout Tree Restaurant. Chris and I were lucky enough to be invited.

This outdoor restaurant hovers in the branches of a monstrous fig tree.

Inside part of the restaurant

A hyrax passing the day inside the restaurant.

The restaurant has an active trout farm situated along a river.

Some trout in one of the ponds

The trout we had for lunch!

Our hostess (on the left) who started Mt. Kenya Academy 40 years ago. Her friend on her left was a parent and co-conspirator in getting the school started so many years ago.

Most of the Westminster students had burgers, fries, and a coke!

The restaurant and trout ponds were surrounded by trees and a number of Colobus monkeys!

Can you find 2 monkeys in this picture?

Biology students doing a mini-field investigation for my class.

Water, pouring off the roof and out of the rain gutter during a recent afternoon downpour.

Every day is a little different, some more than others. We love the people, the countryside, and the mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the 70's. It's a great experience! We miss all of you and wish you all the best.

Love, 

Chris and KK