Mount Kenya Academy

 

We are back at Mount Kenya Academy, the same school where we taught for 2/3 of the school year in 2024.  This time we are teaching for one term (1/3 of the school year). We began teaching on January 12th, with KK teaching science to grades 7, 8, and 9, and Chris teaching swimming to grades 1-8 and coaching the middle and high school swim teams.

The inner courtyard is known as the G-Square for Graduation Square and is surrounded by classrooms. Mount Kenya Academy has two campuses, a junior school and a senior school, that are about 200 yards apart. Both schools have a pool but the senior school pool is better designed for lessons and workouts.
Chris at the senior school pool with a class of junior school students
Some swimming stars!
Chris and two colleagues at MKA:

On the left is Gerald who works as the school's lab technician, setting up biology, physics, and chemistry labs, maintaining equipment and ordering supplies.

In the center is Peter, a swimming and PE teacher. Peter takes care of the pool, doing all the cleaning and maintenance as well as teaching and coaching.
This was my second schedule for this term. The first was good for only the first week. I never really know when to anticipate a new schedule, except that it could happen anytime.

Classes last for 40 minutes and there are 9 each day. Most of the teachers teach 35-40 classes during the week. My load is half of theirs, for which I am grateful! I can also get most of my planning done during the week and don't have to bring work or grading home.

In the 8th grade science classes, we have been learning about gases. Students made books about air pressure in different objects. When the books were finished, students read their classmate's books and wrote reviews of them. 
I tried to take this selfie secretly, without the class knowing but clearly that didn't work!
One Saturday in January, the senior school students and staff went to hike up Nyeri Hill, a prominent hill just outside of town.
A few photos from the walk up Nyeri Hill







Mount Kenya, 17,057 feet at the highest point
One of the buses with Mt. Kenya in the distance
After 6 weeks of school, there's a weeklong, midterm break. The school usually plans some sort of event to showcase student achievement for the parents when the come to pick up their children. This time it was the Annual MKA Swim Gala.
Gala = Swim Meet
Costume = Swim Suit
Forgive us if we use the wrong words when we get home.

The youngest swimmers used noodles and kickboards to swim across the shallow end of the pool.
The students are assigned "houses" which compete for points during the competition. The houses are Venus, Mercury, Mars, and Neptune. The younger students have colored t-shirts which indicate their house affiliation.

These two photos are from the practice gala, a week before the actual event.
It was a cool, overcast morning when the school band opened the gala playing the Kenyan National Anthem and then the school song.
The school rented tents to provide shade from sun or protection from rain. Areas were marked for the different houses and for the parents. The pool area was packed!
Swimmers waited behind the starting blocks for their race. They also assembled in the MPH, multi-purpose hall. The kids had fun and there were lots of parents present. It's a festive way to mark the midpoint of a school term and send the students home for a week with their families.












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