We are proud to release the latest installment of the "Educating Girls Changes Everything" series. Goldman Sachs captures the story of Gashora Girls Academy of Science and Technology.

St. Thomas, eight grader, Sophie Sharp spent the last year organizing a 5K run to benefit the students at Gashora Girls Academy. In May of 2017 Sophie and her mom spent a week with RGI co-founders in Rwanda where she had the opportunity to meet the student she had been sponsoring. When she returned home she knew what she wanted to do for her eighth grade project. Her passion helped bring together the community and inspired us that we all can advocate for girls' education.

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.

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.

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.