Kenya Program Alumni Head to Graduate School

Posted on September 2, 2016 by mcaroten

Alumni of the Kenya program, often integrate their experiences abroad into their academic and professional lives long after they leave St. Lawrence. Beginning graduate degrees in Public Health and African History this fall, two recent alumni take us through their path from undergrad to graduate school through their experiences on the KSP. Hongera Emily and Katie and good luck this fall.

Emily Adams ‘16 (KSP Spring ’15)
Major: Neuroscience
Minor: African Studies
Currently: Masters of Public Health Student at Emory University

Emily starting her Masters in Public Health Program at Emory University

Hamjambo, Saints! I just graduated from St. Lawrence with a B.S. in Neuroscience and minor in African Studies, and I’m now living in Atlanta, GA attending Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health where I’m beginning my coursework to earn a Master’s degree in Global Public Health. While I’m now fairly confident in my career path, I certainly did not begin my time at SLU that way! Without the KSP, I don’t think that I would be here in Atlanta at this world-class institution.

My freshman year began with a bit of luck. I had always been interested in the African continent, kind of annoyed that the topic was glossed over in high school, and I was delighted to be placed into an African Studies FYP taught by Dr. Matt Carotenuto. Having spent my junior year of high school living in France as an exchange student, I knew that study abroad was important—and, because I’d already done Europe, I was planning on choosing a different continent. I was interested in the KSP right away, but Matt’s guidance as my advisor plus my interest in his class solidified my decision to go to Kenya.

I should note that, through my sophomore year, I was planning on following the pre-med track. Especially as an incoming college student interested in health sciences, I didn’t know that there were other options—it of seemed to me that, because I liked neuroscience, I had to be a doctor. The combo of organic chemistry and physics was very stressful for me, though, and by the end of the year I decided that I did not want to spend four-plus years at medical school hating my life. So, I stopped focusing on what I felt like I had to do and instead just did anything I found to be interesting.

I ended up on the KSP during the spring of my junior year, which was really the beginning of finding my passion. My semester in Kenya was a wonderful experience—the level of cultural understanding my peers and I gained was wildly beyond anything we could have learned as tourists, which is what I was looking for in a study abroad program. Living with Kenyan families and speaking with Kenyans (and Tanzanians!) from all different backgrounds is something that is not really possible for most people later on in life—truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

Even better for me was the independent study. The IDS portion of the program allows students to have a month-long educational experience at the organization of their choosing, almost anywhere in East Africa, and is the opportunity to depart from the program curriculum in favor of a focus on individual students’ specific academic interests. Still interested in health, I did my IDS at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital (MTRH). MTRH, in the city of Eldoret, is Kenya’s second-largest public hospital. MTRH also happens to be the home of Indiana University’s AMPATH program, which focuses on the holistic treatment of HIV/AIDS in an area of the country with relatively high rates of infection.

While at AMPATH, I was able to do a myriad of things that solidified my interest in public health. The most influential activity was shadowing an epidemiologist as she visited/surveyed Eldoret’s large population of street children in an attempt to better understand their health in general, but specifically rates of HIV infection in what is a horribly marginalized population. I also had the opportunity to accompany community outreach workers, pulled from the local population, as they visited AMPATH’s HIV-positive patients in their homes in order to ensure compliance with medicine regimens and offer support outside the hospital. It was during these activities that I realized that my true passion was community-based health work. I enjoyed forging relationships with patients in their homes and learning about their lives and perspectives.

I’m not going to sugarcoat it—my month at AMPATH was intense, incredibly emotionally draining, and I was frankly relieved when it was over. I saw some difficult things and learned some hard truths that are easy to ignore while halfway across the world in America. At the same time, my experiences in Eldoret awoke something within me that I knew I needed to pursue.

I returned to SLU that summer where I was granted a SLU Fellowship to study the historical roots of STD stigma in Kenya, which I argued was inherited from their British colonizers. The research, done under Dr. Carotenuto, turned into my senior African Studies thesis, which I then completed and presented at a conference in Ottawa later that fall.

When I started applying to grad schools, I had personal experiences that both showcased my experience and passion in the field of public health, and I was accepted to Emory—arguably the best global health program in the country. Emory is home to some of the world’s leading academics on HIV/AIDS, which I had identified as my main area of interest. The school of public health also happens to be located across the street from the Centers for Disease Control, offering opportunities for internships, work study, and amazing guest lectures. Just today my class heard from Sandra Thurman, who was appointed personally by President Clinton as the leader of the Office of National AIDS Policy during the 1990s. We were all hyperventilating in our seats as she flipped through photos of her with President Clinton, Madeleine Albright, and Nelson Mandela, reveling in hearing from such an HIV/AIDS superstar—who also happens to be a member of the Emory faculty!

Basically, I am studying my passion at a place filled with THE experts of the field. Would I be here studying global health without the KSP? I hope so. But, honestly, I really doubt it. The best thing about the KSP is that anyone—even a neuroscience major—can find a way to tailor it to individual interests and to turn it into something that will be beneficial throughout a lifetime. I am certainly proud to be a SLU graduate, and even more proud to be a KSP alum!

Katie Greene ’14 (KSP Spring 2013)
Major: African Studies and History Combined
Currently: Graduate Student in the MA/Ph.D. Program in African History at Michigan State University

Katie with Friends in Nairobi

While studying at Saint Lawrence, I first took Introduction to African history. Pre-existing notions about African culture were altered, and I became intrigued with African history. That paired with the incredible support of professors like Dr. Carotenuto and Dr. Schrems encouraged me to pursue history as a major, and my interest in encouraged me to apply to the Kenya program.

Thinking about how to connect this experience to my major, Dr. Carotenuto helped me develop an outline for a summer fellowship researching youth and generational politics in Kenya that would focus on processing my study abroad. While in Kenya, this research interest drove me to do my independent study with Student Campaign Against Drugs – an NGO run largely by young Kenyans and university students. This helped develop my interest in youth and generational relationships and led to a senior thesis regarding the role of youth in Kenya’s socio-political sphere and generational conflict rooted in colonialism.

During the summer before my senior year, I conducted preliminary research for my senior thesis, travelling to Syracuse University to utilize the Kenya National Archives microfilm collection. During my senior year, I was fortunate enough to receive funding from the History department’s Vilas research fund university to travel to the National Archives in London to engage in archival research of colonial documents.

These experiences stayed with me after graduation and drove me to apply for Ph.D. programs in African history. Fortunately I was accepted to one of the nation’s best programs at Michigan State University and have spent the summer of 2016 back in East Africa through Yale University’s Swahili program in Tanzania. Serving as a research assistant and through scholarship support from a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship at MSU, I plan to spend the next several years furthering my interest in Kenyan history and working towards my Ph.D.

While in graduate school, I plan to study Kiswahili and another relevant language so as to best conduct ethnographic field research and to analyze primary source materials. I hope to further my St. Lawrence work on contemporary Kenyan history and add to the historiography of generational conflict and the role of youth in East African societies.

Coming Home: On Campus Research and Internships

Posted on September 2, 2016 by mcaroten

Coming home, many alumni of the KSP wonder how they can integrate this life changing experience into their academic and even professional lives. Often the best way to process your semester abroad, can be through a directed internship or independent research projects where you can put your experience to work. Take a look at the two students below and see how they turned their semester in Kenya into a prestigious summer internships and research fellowship. Hongera (Congratulations) Annie and Megan, as we hope more students follow your example—-Matt Carotenuto (Associate Professor of History and Coordinator of African Studies St. Lawrence.

Annie Wilcox ’17 (KSP Spring 2016)
Government Major, French and African Studies Minor
Summer Intern: Brookings Institution’s African Security Initiative

Annie Wilcox ’17 (KSP Spring 2016)–Summer internship at Brookings

Having just returned from a networking trip to DC, I arrived in Nairobi with internships on my mind. I was looking for summer internships in Washington, DC when Dr. Carotenuto mentioned the Africa Security Initiative internship at the Brookings Institution which was co-sponsored by St. Lawrence. It was an ideal opportunity.

I had never taken in-depth courses on terrorism or security issues facing sub-Saharan Africa while at St. Lawrence, but my liberal arts education gave me important tools to tackle these complex issues while at Brookings. The Kenya Semester Program specifically exposed me to a number of security issues that I researched at Brookings, including corruption, gang violence and the security problems that arise out of poor infrastructure, among others. I was better able to understand how the issues translated into the countries I was researching at Brookings.

The Africa Security Initiative is a two-year old project organized by the Foreign Policy Program at Brookings. While at Brookings, I worked with Senior Fellow Mike O’Hanlon on both research and events for the Initiative. Throughout the summer, I worked on a project that examines innovative security practices in cities around sub-Saharan Africa. I looked at various community policing models most notably in Rwanda. I helped plan a panel on President Obama’s role in African Security and Development. Dr. Carotenuto spoke about his research on Obama’s Luo identity. Sarah Minogue, Washington Director of Human Rights Watch, spoke and Brooking’s Senior Fellow Mike O’Hanlon moderated. The panel expressed concern that Kenya may be slipping back into authoritarianism. Finally, I was able to contribute to a blog post on Brooking’s blog Order from Chaos.

The benefit of working at an institution like Brookings is the constant access to information. Brookings has five research programs that host events on a range of topics: Foreign Policy, Metropolitan Policy, Governance Studies, Economic Studies and Global Economy and Development. Throughout the summer, I went to a number of events hosted both by my program and the other four. Some particularly notable events that I attended were the IMF Regional Outlook on sub-Saharan Africa, Inclusive Growth in Cities with OECD Secretary Ángel Gurría, and The Battle over the Border: Public Opinion on Cultural Change at the forefront of the Election. The Ambassadors from Uganda and Rwanda led a discussion on advancing financial and digital inclusion in their countries. Kenya was ranked first among the twenty-six countries the Financial and Digital Inclusion Project studied because of country-wide availability and access. My experience at Brookings reinforced so much of what I witnessed in Kenya, which was a really positive way for me to reintegrate myself after my semester abroad.

My summer at Brookings helped me understand the interplay between security and development work. The Kenya Semester Program and my internship at Brookings reinforced each other well. I carried out research on issues that I saw in play in Nairobi which added depth to my experiences abroad. One of the most prominent issues was corruption in the police force and how it affects all other aspects of security for citizens because of a lack of accountability for crime.

With senior year only two weeks away, I feel that my back-to-back experiences in Kenya and at Brookings have given me a better vision of where I would like to go after graduation. I am hoping the knowledge I gained and the people I met at Brookings and in Kenya will lead me back to working in Nairobi. I look forward to seeing where the experiences take me.

Megan Kloeckner ’17 (KSP Spring 2015)
Anthro/African Studies Combined Major

Megan on her rural homestay in Nyeri

After I completed my semester in Kenya on St. Lawrence’s Kenya Semester Program (KSP), I found I still had so many questions, and was still very intrigued both by the country and its people. Though I know that traveling to Kenya was the ultimate learning experience, and that I have access to many engaging courses on SLU’s campus, I wanted to supplement my study abroad experience with a more personal study that focused on the issues I found interesting. St. Lawrence is wonderful in that it offers a few ways to go about independent research: students can complete a semester or yearlong independent project under the guidance of a professor, or there are a few research-focused fellowships for which students can apply.

The shores of Lake Victoria in Kisumu

I chose to apply to the St. Lawrence University Fellowship for the summer of 2016, and fortunately my project, Human Security in Luoland: Political Bias and Development Progress in Kisumu, Kenya, was selected. Under the guidance of Professor Matt Carotenuto, I spent nine weeks on campus conducting my research. This involved traveling to Syracuse University to collect primary data from their collection of Kenya National Archive documents, reading countless academic articles and other scholarly sources, assembling all the data and trying to formulate an argument out of it, and finally collecting my thoughts and composing a final research paper. The Fellowship also requires that each recipient construct a poster presentation that will be given to visitors on SLU’s Family Weekend each fall. While this is a great way to share one’s findings, Professor Carotenuto encouraged me to apply to Carleton University’s Institute of African Studies Undergraduate Research Conference as a way to further develop highlight my work, and also so that I may experience what it is like to attend and present at an academic conference.

The Fellowship project was the largest research project I’ve ever done, and while at times it was a bit overwhelming, I thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated my experience. I would definitely recommend completing an independent research project or University Fellowship to build upon one’s KSP experience, as it enabled me to delve further into an issue that had intrigued me when I was in Kenya. In addition to the Fellowship, I plan on using some of the information I gathered during my summer fellowship to inform my Anthropology and African Studies SYE project this year. So not only was I able to grow as a student from my KSP experience, but I have also been able to apply my experience to other academic pursuits as well, ones that will enable me to (hopefully!) have two polished academic research papers by the time I graduate. Looking more into the future, I plan to include my research in my Grad School application, as having research experience under one’s belt typically helps in application acceptance. Of course I will always appreciate my Kenyan experience through photographs and memories, but now I’ll also be able to see it as a stepping stone in my academic—and hopefully professional—career.

Coming Home: Recent Alumni Stay Connected to East Africa

Posted on October 7, 2015 by mcaroten

Spending a semester in Kenya has been a transformative experience for many of our 2,000 plus alumni. Returning home after a semester abroad can be challenging and many alumni have maintained their connection to East Africa in meaningful personal and professional ways. Below is a profile of six recent alumni who came back with a desire to connect their KSP experience with their personal and professional goals after graduation. In some way they were determined to stay connected to East Africa and this is how they did it!

Kelly Sampier, KSP Fall ’13, SLU, ‘15
African Studies-Government Combined Major
Post Grad: Intern Brookings Institution (African Security Initiative) and ESL Instructor with the Rwanda National Cycling Team

Kelly Sampier ESL Teacher Rwanda National Cycling Team

I recently graduated from St. Lawrence in May 2015 with a combined major in Government-Africa Studies. Following graduation, I interned over the summer with the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C., conducting research for the recently launched Africa Security Initiative. After my internship, I moved to Rwanda to become an ESL instructor for the Rwandan National Cycling Team.

(Editor’s note)—See Kelly’s co-authored article “The State of African Security” about African Security” published during her internship

I applied for the Kenya program in the fall of 2013 because I have always had a passion for all things Africa. As a high school student I was captivated by the scope of poverty handicapping many Sub-Saharan African countries, but also by the rich culture and vibrancy of African people. I knew I didn’t want to do a traditional semester abroad in Europe, but rather I wanted to be pushed outside of my comfort zone and to have a once in a lifetime experience that I would not have been able to achieve without the support of the KSP program.

While I experienced culture shock when I first arrived in Kenya, the true culture shock occurred when I returned to the U.S. After having traveled throughout Kenya, lived with the Hadzabe in Tanzania, and interned with an NGO in the slums of Kampala, I found it difficult to easily adjust back to my life in small town Northern New York. My experience during the KSP enabled me to approach situations differently than I normally would have and once back at St. Lawrence I had a broader perspective of the material I was learning in the classroom.

Currently as an ESL instructor, I teach the Rwandan National Cycling Team in the beautiful landscape of Musanze, Rwanda. It is Team Africa Rising’s philosophy that learning English is just as important as training as a cyclist, as the ability to speak English is the only way a Rwandan cyclist can be able to race professionally and on an international level. While on the KSP I learned the value of cultural sensitivity and to have an open and positive mind when entering new situations. This has been invaluable to me during my time in Rwanda because it has allowed me to connect on a deeper level with the cyclists in order to foster a relationship of trust and respect that enables a comfortable and easy learning environment. My experience on the KSP solidified my desire to work and live in East Africa. When I am in Africa I truly feel like I am home.

Sean Kelly (KSP Spring 2014, SLU ’15)
African Studies-Economics Major, Global Studies minor
Post Grad: Internship at The World Bank

Sean Kelly on his summer 2015 internship at the World Bank

My journey to Kenya started long before my time at St. Lawrence. Growing up with both my parents having graduated from St. Lawrence, I always heard great stories from the four years at school that they both cherished. The tales that fascinated me the most didn’t exactly happen in Canton, New York but were from my mother’s adventures during the St. Lawrence Kenya Semester Program.

I graduated this past May with a combined Economics and African Studies major, along with a Global Studies minor. I participated on the Kenya Summer Program for six weeks after my freshman year and had such an amazing time that I decided to go back for the semester during my junior spring. Not a day goes by without thinking of my experience on the semester program. To be able to read about current issues in Kenya in the morning, and to hold discussions and conversations with those directly effected in the afternoon provided us with an incredible learning opportunities. Also, being able to live the Kenyan lifestyle allowed us to blend in to Nairobi as just another Kenyan. Between the rural homestay without power and electricity, to hunting with the Hadzabe tribe in Tanzania, spending the night in a Maasai mud-hut and having class in Amboseli National Park, we were all a part of some really incredible experiences that I would not have been able to get; not only anywhere else in the world, but on any other St. Lawrence study abroad program.

My biggest takeaway was that I learned to be more confident in myself and my abilities, and that I genuinely enjoyed building relationships with people coming from different experiences and backgrounds. I used this new confidence and identified passion at St. Lawrence to maximize the time I had left to be a leader inside the classroom and in clubs that I cared about.

Giraffe Center, Nairobi

The St. Lawrence alumni network in Kenya allowed me to explore current and future opportunities in the broad topic of economic development. For my independent study on the Kenya Semester Program, I spent four weeks with GE Africa at their headquarters in Nairobi and worked on a potential alternative energy project for sub-Saharan Africa. Post-semester, I was able to contribute to the BOMA Project – founded by a Kathleen Colson, ’79 – as a monitoring and evaluations leader in rural northern Kenya. Following graduation, I traveled to Washington, D.C. to intern at the World Bank to learn about their role in the development of Kenya’s growing financial system. These three experiences have given me a great understanding of what there is to offer as a post-graduate within my interest of economic development in East Africa. I will forever be thankful for my liberal arts background and my time on the Kenya Semester Program. Just as those have helped me, I look forward to helping other future St. Lawrence and KSP alums on their journey after their four years in Canton, New York.

Lacey Burns, KSP Spring ’14, SLU, ‘15
African Studies and Government, Economics minor
Post Grad: Research Intern at The BOMA Project (Note: Boma’s CEO and founder is fellow KSP and SLU Alumna Kathleen Colson).

Lacey Burns and the Spring 2014 ground—top left

I have been to Kenya twice with St. Lawrence. The first was during the summer before my sophomore year in 2012. After my first return I found that my interests in my studies had shifted. I wanted to know more about Kenya as a country and Africa as a continent. I wanted to be able to answer the countless questions I had asked myself during my first visit. I took classes concerning Africa and development and fell in love with the complexity and history of such a foreign place. I applied for the Kenya Semester Program in the fall of 2013, because I knew I had to go back. With everything that I had been learning, I wanted to put my knowledge to the test. I wanted to expand my academic goals and I wanted to see, hear, feel, and learn everything I had been learning first hand.

When I returned to SLU from my semester in Kenya, I had changed. My outlooks on life, school, and my future were now all shaped around the passion and drive I had found through living abroad. I was more confident in myself, in what I wanted to accomplish, and in how I wanted to live life. My time in Kenya opened my mind, eyes, and heart to myself. It was as if a switch had been turned on and that I had finally discovered whom I really was. The impact of four months allowed me to grow as an individual academically as well as structurally. Once back at SLU I find myself constantly looking back on my time there and recalling the friendships, the happiness, and the discovery of exploring an unknown place. The SLU community felt more like a haven than I had ever felt in my three years. SLU truly had become my home. It was the place that had influenced my academic path, fostered my insatiable drive to travel and clarified the focus for my career goals.

While in Kenya, I learned a few lessons; stay open-minded, that there is no such thing as being late, and that when it rains on your arrival it’s a blessing. However odd these lessons may sound, they have helped me in pursuing my current career goals. After my internship ends in a few weeks, I will be unemployed and looking for the next opportunity. Usually that would bring me stress because I like organization and planning in my life. However, I’ve found that I’m more open-minded to the idea of being lost in the right direction. I have learned that although I may not have my next path laid out, life is going to be okay. That life will happen but it may take time for things to fall into place. I’ve also become comfortable with letting time pass, without feeling like I constantly need to be busy. Lastly, I’ve realized that like the rain, the storm comes and goes. Our first night in Kenya the skies opened up and the rain came down. Wairimu and Sinnary spoke of rain as a blessing to our arrival and I loved that. I loved the thought of water falling from the sky bringing life to the earth and leaving the air smelling fresh. I loved that the rain signified a new chapter for all of us students, a fresh beginning to what we could discover about the country and ourselves. Rain comes and goes and so do the years of our lives and the choices we decide to make with them. In all, the lessons I gained from KSP remain as a constant reminder that there is always more to learn and plenty of time to do so.

Allison Paludi (KSP Spring ’12, SLU ’14)
Global Studies Major, African Studies Minor
Post SLU: Fulbright Fellow–English Teaching Assistant (Senegal)

Allison Paludi–Teaching in Senegal

During my first semester at SLU, I took Swahili as one of my electives to fulfill the Math/Foreign Language requirement and after that semester, I knew I wanted to travel to Kenya. So, sophomore spring, I made the journey along with 20 other SLU students and 1 non SLU student. Little did I know my experience would eventually bring me back to East Africa and now, West Africa.

I remember returning from my semester abroad thinking: How can I get back to Kenya? Clearly, 5 months plus a Travel Enrichment Grant to extend my stay by 2 weeks was not enough. I began my junior year, trying to find my groove on campus as being in the classroom was not very self-satisfying after spending a semester living and learning through experience and ended up becoming involved in several extra curricular activities…one of which led to the creation of the Global Dialogue Center on campus and the other gave me countless new friendships with students from all over the world, SLU African Student Union. I became much more interested in my outside-of-the-classroom learning experience (similar to my experiential learning in Kenya) than the structured classroom setting. I continued to take African Studies courses and started to weave my experiences into my Global Studies classes especially in terms of power theories and constructing identities. In addition, I was a Peer Advisor with the CIIE Offices where I got paid to talk about KSP and recruit SLU students to study abroad—something I loved doing!

The summer after junior year, I received a grant through the Global Studies Department to return to Uganda, where my IDS placement was, and conduct observational research with an NGO located near the Nile River, also a hotspot for tourists, which would benefit my Senior Year Experience research paper.

Then, after seeking guidance from the African Studies department, I applied for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship for Kenya. I remember spending countless hours on personal statements and statements of grant purposes, trying to create something worth reading. After weeks of writing, I submitted my application and began to wait. And wait. And wait.

During the spring semester senior year, as I was still waiting to hear from Fulbright, I reached out to the NGO where I did my IDS to see if any job openings would be available, as I would be graduating the following May and all I wanted to do was get back to East Africa. That same week, the CEO called me and said they needed someone ASAP to fulfill their Project Manager position. Amidst all of this, I was working on my Global Studies Honors Thesis where I critiqued these NGOs and the power and influence they have on particular communities. Needless to say, I knew if I committed, I might be living my SYE. I said yes and a few days later, I found out I was accepted to become a Fulbright ETA during the 2014-2015 school year. It all felt like a dream.

I departed for Uganda a week after graduation and at the end of May, received an email saying my Fulbright placement was not possible because of security threats in Kenya. My heart sank. In my mind, I planned on spending the next 18+ months in East Africa. After so many hours of preparing and the feeling of finally being accepted, I felt like it was all for nothing. A few weeks went by when I received a follow up email. This time, a new offer: An opening in Dakar, Senegal.

My initial thoughts: Senegal is not Kenya. My French is not up to par. I know nothing about West Africa. All the more reason to accept. In January 2015, I left my Ugandan home and made my way over to Dakar. After almost 7 months in this city, I can say I have discovered a new home, learned a new language (Wolof), improved my French, and experienced more than I can put into writing.

Each one of us KSPers has our own unique experience that shapes our mindset and maybe even our career path. I never thought I would be able to experience all that I have—in East and West Africa—and thanks to the Kenya Program as well as my time at SLU (especially through Global Studies and African Studies) I have been able to dabble in a little bit of everything. Now, as my grant comes to a close, I have a clearer idea of what’s next: grad school and more time spent on this continent. Kenya may have been where my experience started, but it has taken me quite far from our home in Karen.

Scott Robinson (KSP Spring ’11, SLU ’12)
Global Studies Major, African Studies Minor
Post Grad: AmeriCorps, Peace Corps Volunteer (Togo and Rwanda 2013-present)

Director of NGO Education in Togo and Scott Robinson during a workshop to promote gender equitable practices.

My name is Scott Robinson and I graduated from St. Lawrence University in 2012 with a major in Global Studies and a minor in African Studies. After graduation, I worked in St. Petersburg, Florida as an AmeriCorps teacher at Academy Prep Center for Education. Directly following, I joined the Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa as an English and Gender Education volunteer where I served for 27 months. On August 7^th I closed my service in Togo and accepted a short term assignment with Peace Corps Response in Rwanda teaching English at a rural secondary school. I will be closing my service in Rwanda in November of 2015. It cannot be stressed enough that my experiences in the Kenya Semester Program have guided my life aspirations along with my desire to work on the African continent.

Before beginning my academic career at St. Lawrence I applied to a summer study abroad program in Uganda and Kenya. This was my first time leaving North America and I had no idea what to expect. I first imagined landing into Nairobi, Kenya in a 5 passenger airplane, possibly hitting a giraffe or zebra on a compacted dirt runway. I was very ignorant. Nairobi is a metropolis. Everything that I saw on that first adventure sparked an interest in me that to this day has not gone away. When I began studying at St. Lawrence I enrolled in classes that were relevant to my first trip to Uganda and Kenya. Classes during my first year continued to push my interest in returning to East Africa. By the end of my first semester I knew that I was going to apply to the Kenya Semester Program.

John Curle, SLU ’12 and Scott Robinson during a homestay in Kenya

During the abroad program I became immersed into Kenyan culture through various rural and urban home-stays, Swahili language classes, and university courses taught by scholars from the University of Nairobi. I was given the opportunity to explore new cultures and learn more about the United States than I ever thought possible. Looking back on the KSP I realize how much the experience has influenced the decisions I have made since the program. In the spring of 2011 I completed the Kenya Semester, but I did not want to immediately return home to Upstate New York. I canceled my plane ticket and began backpacking across eastern and southern Africa until classes resumed in the fall. During this adventure I saw many beautiful sites and caught small glimpses of many countries, but at the end of this journey I still wanted something more. Luckily, when I returned to St. Lawrence for my senior year I was able to begin processing what had happened during the last several months. I used my KSP experience to write my senior year thesis on Education Policy in East Africa. I felt connected to what I was writing about because of my experiences abroad. It was at this time I began applying for the Peace Corps in order to continue learning on the African continent.

My KSP experience has greatly impacted my Peace Corps service in Togo and now in Rwanda because it has made me critically think about my role in the world. I strongly believe that the Kenya Semester Program has equipped me with the knowledge and skills to live and work anywhere. Even though my journey in Rwanda will be finishing in a few short months I know that I will continue working on Education Initiatives on the African continent for the rest of my life.

Mark Marchant (KSP Fall ‘08, Vassar College, ‘11)
Political Science Major (Vassar)
Post KSP: Research Officer at the Institute of Economic Affairs (Nairobi, Kenya)

Mark in Nairobi enaging in public policy work

I did SLU KSP Fall ’08. I graduated from Vassar College in 2011 with a B.S. in political science and wrote my senior thesis on the politics of humanitarianism.My initial interest in Kenya was through reading Heart of Darkness and Things Fall Apart in a high school literature class. The different depictions in those novels made me realize I had a lot more to learn, and needed to problematize more of my thoughts and assumptions about places, and East Africa was a reasonable place to do that. My African politics professor, who was later my thesis advisor, recommended SLU KSP because previous students had a far better experience than other programs in the region.

I returned from Kenya with a much better global perspective. I remember being back at Vassar taking classes with African Studies majors who had never been to the continent, and I certainly had a more nuanced and informed perspective to learn new material when I was back on campus. I was also a more effective teaching assistant for a course on foreign policy that focused on America’s role in development in the Global South.

How have you used the lessons learned on the KSP after graduation and in pursuing your current career goals and/or in your current position. Simple: I work at the public policy think tank where I did my independent study with KSP and I have lived with my host family from the urban home stay. The Kenya Semester Program is not an isolated experience in my life: it is the foundation for my continuing professional and academic endeavors. Even as a non-SLU student, I feel embraced by the network of professional and academics with connections to SLU and the program in Nairobi, and it has certainly opened many very important doors in my life.

I work as a Research Officer at the Institute of Economic Affairs, a public policy think tank in Nairobi. I have done work on issues including gender inclusivity in national government, alcohol regulation toward improving public health outcomes, income distribution and the size and characteristics of Kenya’s supposedly burgeoning middle class, fuel prices, data journalism, and gender and attrition rates in Kenya’s education system. I’m taking a bit of a sabbatical this year to study Kiswahili at the State University of Zanzibar on a Cornelison Fellowship from Vassar College.

Meg North (KSP Fall ‘08, SLU ’10)
Major: Environmental Studies/African Studies
Current Position East African Program Officer (Kigali, Rwanda)
The Women’s Bakery

Meg North at Work in Rwanda

One of the reasons that I choose St. Lawrence was because of the Kenya Semester Program! With a strong African Studies department and one of the oldest and most well-established study abroad programs in Africa, St. Lawrence was an easy choice. Motivated by a desire to learn about a new culture, new language, and a different perspective on environmental issues, I was thrilled to be accepted into the program and to study abroad during the fall semester of my junior year.

The semester after I returned to St. Lawrence I focused my course in African studies, anthropological and health. One of my most favorite memories from the end of my college experience was taking my senior year experience with Professor Matt Carotenuto, an influential mentor. His support has been instrumental in encouraging me to pursue my Masters in Public Health at Boston University and to continue my work in East Africa.

SLU reunion in Kigali, Rwanda (Meg North ’10, Adam Kyamatare ’09, Emmanuel Kipronoh ’15, and Kelly Sampier ’15)

The Kenya Semester Program illuminated my passion for public health through an internship with a satellite of the International Planned Parenthood Federation in Nakuru, Kenya. In addition, the Kenya Semester Program helped me to acknowledge the reality and complexity of public health concerns worldwide and helped to me to start critically thinking about sustainable interventions for change. Today, I work with a business called The Women’s Bakery based in Kigali Rwanda. Our team hopes to bring business education and bakery infrastructure to women in East Africa. By providing highly nutritious bread recipes, we are also able to incorporate nutrition and health education into our curriculum and products. Without the lessons I learned from the Kenya Semester Program, I would not have developed the critical thinking skills to allow me to cultivate creative solutions to global challenges.

St. Lawrence Kenya Program

Celebrating Over 40 years of Engagement with East Africa

Category Archives: Alumni

Kenya Program Alumni Head to Graduate School

Coming Home: On Campus Research and Internships

Coming Home: Recent Alumni Stay Connected to East Africa