This past Wednesday, students gathered on campus to host a guest on campus: Simon Kinyanjui. Kinyanjui is a teacher and career counselor at a high school in nearby Nanyuki, and came to Daraja to talk to students about career planning. With end of term exams starting the following day, girls were excited to take a short study break to think about their futures.

To start the lecture, girls discussed how to define the word “career.” Faustine, a second year student, raised her hand and explained, “a career is something that someone has a passion for.” With nods of agreement from her fellow students, Kinyanjui pointed out how important Faustine’s point is.

“If you are not passionate, you will be bored, unproductive, and you will not be able to make an impact,” continued Kinyanjui.

Students learned about 6 major areas that careers can fall into: practical, investigative, artistic, social, enterprising, and conventional. Each of these areas has it’s merits, Kinyanjui pointed out. Each of these areas corresponded with personality attributes of the best aspirants for careers that fall into them. For example, aspirants in the social area are successful when they are conversationalists and kind-hearted.

Maggie, another second year student, offered, “A teacher is a good example of a social career. They must be friendly and generous.”

The girls learned that their goals and career aspirations are things that must be decided individually. Kinyanjui explained, “Your goals should come from you, not your friends, not your parents, just you. That’s where passion comes in, you are the only one understands your passions.”

Students also learned and discussed different factors to consider when thinking about their career choice such as personal interests, available opportunities, academic performance, and more. Students took the opportunity to ask questions about the different requirements for University acceptance with intentions to pursue specific careers. Mesret asked about factors to consider when contemplating a future in medicine, while Bilha asked about careers in electrical engineering.

Because they’ve each got such incredible aspirations, Kinyanjui advised Daraja girls, “Right now, become focused. Study hard for your exams and keep your eyes on your goals. Daraja is a golden opportunity, take advantage of it.”

After the talk concluded, girls left the patio chatting about their dreams and feeling rejuvenated in their pursuit to achieving them. Some students, especially second year students, even stayed to talk with Kanyanjui and ask him more questions about their career interests.

During WISH (Women of Integrity Strength and Hope) class this term, second year students learned and discussed their futures. As third year students, they will only take 8 classes, as opposed to 11. The curriculum for WISH was designed to help them choose which classes to drop and which to take, based on their future goals. This talk came at a crucial time for second year students, at the end of their career and goal centered WISH curriculum, but before they made their final decisions on classes.