On Monday, September 11th, history was made as ALU Rwanda opened its doors to its first ever class made up of over 300 students from 23 different African countries. After a long angsty wait, well for some of us, the day was finally here!
To this, Malik Gerald, a Kenyan member of the inaugural class expressed his elation:
“Undoubtedly I feel excited to be here. I’ve learned a lot about waiting in the last year. I can’t say I’m a fan of waiting for what I want, but I’ve learned to harness waiting periods in a new way. I took the waiting period as an opportunity to clean out my closet and took solace in the fact that I did all that I could do.Quite frankly, ALU is such a gratifying place to be in and I am grateful that I am finally here!”
ALU Rwanda, a non-residential campus is located at Kigali heights and spans the entire second floor of the building. It is notable that Kigali Heights Development won the award for “Africa Property of the Year” at the Africa Property Investment (API) Summit and Expo 2017.
The day kicked off with registration at the North Wing of the campus. This saw students and parents pouring in from all over the continent. Mr. Veda Sunassee, ALU Rwanda’s Head of College, later pointed this out as a first as no other institution in Rwanda had ever gathered such a diverse student and staff body under one roof.
While students were registered themselves, a few student volunteers took parents who had accompanied their children on a tour of the campus. The parents then later had sessions led by various staff members who explained to them ALU’s mission, vision and learning model.
After 2 hours of registration, the sessions kicked off with interning ALU founder students from Mauritius hyping the crowd to various African hits as students held a dance-off. From inspiring speeches from staff members to icebreakers and critical thinking sessions, the students were kept entertained and engaged. Students also got to watch videos and TED Talks about and by ALU Mauritius students who are making great strides in, well, of course, unleashing their potential.
The day ended with a scavenger hunt, that was organised by student volunteers Gerald Malik and Erastus Kirui, at the campus. The hunt saw students rack their brains over various questions about African cities and perform tasks all while trying to beat a set time limit. While it was exciting, the scavenger hunt was also an opportunity for new students to explore the campus and familiarize themselves with everything.
The launch will be followed by a three-week long orientation session.
