Gashora Girls Academy student, Mazimpaka Christelle, defines writing as a tool that can be used by Africans to reach their success. Christelle writes to express herself and believes that science becomes more useful when combined with the reality of life. She appreciates that fact that although she is at a STEM school, GGAST encourages students to find their passions and their voice as part of the whole-girl education. She recently wrote a poem shared below.

Board Member, Kimberly Mecham, and Gashora Girls Academy, Benjamin Kuradusenge, had the privilege of attending the invite only, Microsoft Education Exchange conference in Singapore. The educators invited were chosen from a pool of 8,000 applicants. Singapore was chosen as the host country due to its highly regarded education system.

Our journey to founding Gashora Girls Academy of Science and Technology (GGAST) began in 2008, and along the way there have been partners and champions that have played instrumental roles in the building, shaping, and success of GGAST and Rwanda Girls Initiative (RGI). But no one played a more pivotal role in laying the groundwork and building blocks than our founding Headmaster of the school, Peter Thorp. GGAST would simply not be what it is today without Peter's commitment, heart and expertise to help us create a model all-girls school.

A warm welcome to the 90 new S4 students who joined us this weekend at GGAST for orientation! We also welcome back the 185 returning students who are back in class.

Rusa Divine was recently named as the Regional Advisor for Africa at the International Federation of Medical Student Association (IFMSA). The IFMSA is the largest student led organization in the world where medical students around the world meet to discuss, learn and grow. For the next year, Rusa will be heading the African department, working with internationals from the 5 world regions, in work with Sexual and Reproductive Health including HIV/AIDS (SCORA).

Gashora Girls Academy of Science and Technology were the winners of the 2017 African Debate Championship, held in Uganda this year! This is a competition normally dominated by boys.

The team of three won the championship, with Natasha Teta Semwaga receiving the Best Speaker award, Nikitah Isabella winning the 3rd best speaker award, and Sylvie Mahoro Wairimu took home the best country speaker award.

Gashora alumnae are in the news again! Sarah and Rachel are fighting malaria by creating a soap that acts as a mosquito repellent. Read more:http://bit.ly/2iD7tm1

Gashora Girls Academy graduate, at Columbia University, finds her passion in engineering as she strives to defy's gender norms in Rwanda.

"I loved the fact that every piece of information I received raised more questions, and I wanted to be part of the people who try to find solutions," Tetero says. Read more:

http://engineering.columbia.edu/undergraduate-stud...

Congratulations to the 13 girls who were honored at the Promotion of Girls Education Campaign. The First Lady told community members that we must "ensure girls not only attend school but also find confidence to realize that they are secondary to none, but rather fairly compete with their male counterparts."

Read the full article here

Pictured with the First Lady is Gashora S4 student, Khadidja.

Our girls have brought our "whole girl" education to life, balancing the intense and demanding academic work with our rich co-curricular offerings. They continue to be awarded for their amazing hard work. What follows is a list of just some of the girls' achievements in the past year:

The class of 2016, which graduated in October 2016, had 100% of our girls passing the National Exam;

Class of '14 graduate was selected for publication in Best College Essays 2016 for her essay, "A Girl with No Country;"

1st place in Rwanda Education Board's (REB) science competition that is geared at encouraging secondary school students to study science, technology and innovation;

1st and 2nd place at National Science Fair Competition;

On the evening of November 18, 2016, Angela, Gashora Girls Academy of Science and Technology Class of 2015, and Harvard University freshman, gave the following speech at the Rwanda Girls Initiative annual event.

Good evening,

Earlier this year, I was speaking with one of my Rwandan friends. He had recently learned that I got into college and was curious to know how I got into such a "prestigious" university as Harvard.

The First Lady of Rwanda, Jeanette Kagame (pictured) spoke at the annual Ms Geek 2016 Awards ceremony in Kigali, where only five out of 130 Girls in ICT were awarded for innovative projects providing solutions to the community's challenges. Our Gashora students took second and third place, the only high school students which received awards.

Our girls continue to gain recognition for their "Gashora Gold Peanut Butter." One of our Senior 6 students so impressed Africa Development Bank President Dr Akinwumi Adesina and Prime Minister Anastase Murekezi at an exhibition of Gashora Gold Peanut Butter and the girls' new product, passion juice, at the 7th Africa Agriculture Science Week 7 in Kigali.