L to R: Vilitracia’s mother, Triza, Peris, Villitracia, Peris’s mother, Triza’s step-mother. More pictures

We are honored to introduce the 2013 recipients of the St. Paul’s Academic Achievement Scholarship:

Villitracia, an outgoing, friendly girl who can make anyone laugh and may one day be your cardiologist.

Triza, a reserved, intelligent girl who will surprise you with bursts of insight and will be found someday in a corner office in New York.

Peris, an articulate, confident girl who is already displaying the critical thinking and leadership she will use when she becomes a lawyer.

Read more about them on the Awarded Students page.

These girls were selected based on their outstanding performance on the national primary school completion exam (KCPE) and their financial need.

We invited the three girls and their parents to the school to give them the good news. A teacher let us use her office and translated for the parents who did not speak English. At the meeting, the parents were proud and appreciative while the students themselves were shocked speechless. All three girls had been out of school for two months, doing the housework and odd jobs that might have been their foreseeable future. Now, they had been given a full scholarship to the best secondary school available, opening the possibility of attending university, escaping poverty, and making their lives their own. Truly a big change for these three deserving girls.