Vicky is one of Beyond St Jude鈥檚 newest Community Service Year interns. Confident and motivated, she鈥檚 having an impact on almost 300 government school students, who otherwise wouldn鈥檛 have a mathematics teacher.聽
Vicky attended the primary school linked to the government secondary school she now teaches at, before she was accepted into St Jude鈥檚 for Standard 2 in 2006.聽
More than 10 years after her St Jude鈥檚 journey began, she鈥檚 well on her way to achieving success, thanks to her free, quality education.聽
鈥淚 feel great. I have the chance to teach these students what I know, and make sure they reach where I am. I was once like them.鈥澛�
鈥淓very student has come from a different background and most of them are poor, so being with them and helping them is teaching me a lot of things.鈥�
Community Service Year interns are able to empathise with the students they teach, as St Jude鈥檚 graduates know all too well the perils of growing up in poverty.聽
Vicky was raised by a courageous single mother in a village near our Sisia primary campus. Her mother worked as a labourer on building sites while raising her only daughter.聽
Resilient and headstrong, Vicky is determined to now be the first person in her family to receive a tertiary qualification.聽
鈥淚n my family, it is me, my mother and my grandmother and none of them have been to university.鈥�
鈥淎fter finishing my Community Service Year, I would like to attend Sokoine University of Agriculture or the University of Dar es Salaam.鈥澛�
鈥淢ost people will say that if they are educated, they will get good jobs and then they will be able to earn money so they won鈥檛 be poor again, but I think it鈥檚 much more than that.鈥�
鈥淚 don鈥檛 just think that if you study, you get a job, you get paid. I think education opens your mind, you start thinking outside the box.鈥�
鈥淵ou see it鈥檚 not just about you being rich, it鈥檚 about thinking more deeply about society.鈥澛�
The aspiring agricultural economist sets high expectations for herself, and she holds similar hopes for her students.聽
鈥淚鈥檓 the kind of person who wants quick results. I鈥檓 trying to move the students with the lowest scores to the front of the classroom, so I can attend to them individually, and ask if they understand.鈥澛�
鈥淚鈥檒l be happy if all my kids get As or Bs.鈥澛�
In addition to providing underprivileged students with a quality learning experience, Vicky sets an example they鈥檒l follow in years to come: to work hard and try their best.聽
鈥淚 would just like to make sure that all of them believe in themselves, believe that they can do everything because it鈥檚 not that they cannot do things, they can, they just don鈥檛 trust in themselves so if I make them believe in themselves, I think they can do great things.鈥�
With her ambition, Vicky is sure to achieve great things, and inspire others to do the same along the way. Find out more about the Beyond St Jude鈥檚 program and how you can聽support students like her.
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