Since May 2011, Bridge2Rwanda, an American NGO, in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Rwanda Development Board, has successfully prepared more than 80 secondary school graduates to earn university scholarships to the U.S. and Europe. The Bridge2Rwanda Scholars Program is currently seeking A’ Level leavers to apply to the 2015 university preparation program.
Applications are now open for the best students in the country who completed secondary school in November 2014. All combinations are welcome, with the exception of technical school combinations, because the U.S. university system does not give scholarships in technical subjects. Applications are available here and will remain open until the end of January, 2015: http://www.b2rtrainingcenter.com/Scholars-Application.html
The international scholarships come as the result of the NGO's intensive Bridge2Rwanda Scholars preparatory program, which gives top secondary school leavers an additional year of English reading and writing classes, alongside spirituality, leadership development and service activities. Once students are prepared to earn admission as highly qualified students, the program helps students connect to international universities which offer scholarships.
The Bridge2Rwanda Scholars project began at the initiative of Rwanda’s Ministry of Education, which was seeking technical assistance to help Rwandan students access the best universities they are qualified to attend. The current Scholars class began in April 2014 with 32 high school graduates from Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and DR Congo. Eight months later, 20 students have now earned full scholarships from some of the world’s most prestigious universities including Yale University, Columbia University, University of Chicago, Dartmouth College, Babson College, University of Rochester, Texas Christian University and Brown University.
Driven by the need to contribute to Rwanda’s development, Bridge2Rwanda set out to design a program that would take in Rwanda’s brightest high school graduates and train them to compete for international scholarship opportunities.
“Rwandan students have tremendous potential. Many students just need an extra year of focused prep classes to show international universities what they are capable of,” said Bridge2Rwanda Executive Director Blayne Sharpe.
Bridge2Rwanda’s Director further said that the difficulties which arise are particularly because the process is different from what African students go through in their academic careers.
“These tests are not easy,” Sharpe said. “They are designed to be difficult for native English speakers, which creates an additional challenge for non-native speakers of English. Rwanda's educational system has produced candidates with a strong foundation to build upon, and by participating in this intensive preparation program, the Scholars were able to gain admission and scholarships to some of the world's best universities. His Excellency's office, the RDB and Mineduc had the foresight to encourage the development of this program, and we trust it will bear some of the necessary human capital to further Rwanda's development.”
What makes these tests so difficult, Sharpe said, is that American standardized tests like the SAT, GMAT and the GRE are designed to challenge even native English speakers in advanced reading, writing and reasoning. This level of English is by default more than non-native English students can comprehend without sufficient language practice and quality training.
Students report being pleased and humbled by their results, both academic and in terms of personal development.
“I took my first SAT test before I joined the scholars program. My score was not anything close to earning a scholarship,” said Diana Musoni, a Bridge2Rwanda Scholars graduate who currently got awarded a scholarship by Columbia University. “But when I took the SAT again after 5 months' prep, I went up 300 points. There is no doubt that the Bridge2Rwanda program prepared me fully to make such an improvement. A year ago, this was only a dream.”
The ultimate goal of the Bridge2Rwanda Scholars Program is to help produce future leaders of the country in sectors ranging from medicine to engineering to gender equality. The program, therefore, also combines leadership and entrepreneurship classes. In addition, students participate in community service projects, in most case created by themselves. Through this, students are taught to learn to “think for themselves and not memorize.” This creates the aspect of critical thinking, another capability that American schools look for in their applicants.
“Responses for early decision applicants started coming in around mid December, and we were all a bit nervous,” said Chaste Niwe, now preparing to attend Yale University. “But due to the time invested and the great preparation, we are getting into schools with enough scholarships to attend. I would encourage every student who wants to do well in the international university process to read a great deal, to have their school contact B2R for more support on their English, to seek great grades and national exam results, and to focus on pursuing the activities they are passionate about in and out of school.”
“The students are outstanding and we are optimistic for what they are going to accomplish,” Mr. Sharpe said. “The results of our previous years have confirmed to us and our partners that this is possible. This is a transformative process for African students and schools. We’re honored to help students who already have the capacity to succeed to bring it out, and we look forward to sharing this process with as many students and schools as we can. The students' potential was always there; we just needed to help them develop their abilities at the right time so that they could earn scholarships.”
To date, the first four Scholars’ bursaries carry a total value over four years of more than $18 million USD, at no cost to Government.
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