“For the first time in my life I feel satisfied. I don’t want to put my headphones on because I don’t want to miss anything,” says Abdullah Rabea from Egypt excitedly as he talks about his first few days at African Leadership College (ALC), ALU’s inaugural campus in Mauritius. Rabea’s statement aptly reflects the sentiments of students as ALC began welcoming its second cohort of inaugural students on Monday, January 11, 2016.
The community is abuzz with excitement as our students meet each other in person for the first time after months of online interaction. Hailing from 30 countries, the group of 110 students completes the inaugural class which is made up of 180 young changemakers. This founding class of students come from every region of the continent. Students are excited to learn about each other’s cultures and begin their journeys at ALC. They are excited for the coming years of laughter, learning and leadership.
“We’re here because of our passion for the continent and our desire to see change. We’re a diverse group of students with so many opportunities to build a quality network,” said Alex Mativo from Kenya. Mativo recently won the Queen’s Young Leaders Award for leading change and working to solve pertinent problems in his community.
This second cohort of students officially begin a three-week orientation this week which includes a variety of activities that will help them to settle into their new home, get to know each other, share their visions for their time at ALC and learn about our unique approach to learning. They will end off the week with a hike up Le Pouce mountain.
In the spirit of ALC’s student ownership culture, students from the October cohort planned and coordinated the entire orientation schedule from airport pick ups to creating welcome bags for students and parents to ensuring that their co-founders feel welcomed.
