Growth Week at ALU Rwanda!
Garnett reports on ALU Rwanda’s Growth Week .
Last week, ALU Rwanda marked the end of a gruelling Unit 1 with our first ever Growth Week!
Growth Week is a period at the ALU community where students have a chance to reflect on their time at ALU. We take this opportunity to mull over our aspirations, goals, passion projects, accomplishments and, of course, our progress so far at ALU.The week was one full of exciting activities that included student facilitated sessions and exhibitions.
The week kicked off with a two-day break which was quite necessary as summatives left students drained. In line with the ALU spirit of fellowship, students had Growth Week buddies. A Growth Week buddy is a partner with whom one would check in with throughout the week. Our partners helped us stay on track with our goals for the week and motivated us whenever we needed it.
The next three days were filled with diverse student-led sessions. They ranged from artistic ones like ‘Mobile Photography’ led by Samantha Osanjo to tech-related topics like ‘An Introduction to Artificial Intelligence’ by Mwiza Simbeye. Others were quite out of the box like ‘How to Spread Love through Comedy’ by Osee Nkurikiyimana while others were about student clubs, for instance ‘Participating in the Model United Nations’ which was facilitated by Nnadozie Ebere. Others like ‘ An Exploration of African Feminism’ led by Sibane Nxumalo and yours truly aimed at sparking necessary conversations about societal norms.
These sessions were a chance for students to talk about what they were interested in and introduce them to other students. They were also an opportunity for students to get out of their comfort zone, step into facilitators’ shoes and understand what it takes to be one. In agreement to this, Tomiwa Odebode who hosted ‘The Girls’ Hangout’ said, “I was under pressure to prepare adequately… I felt like I was put on the spot because I was going to give information to people who likely had more information than and I knew that I had to research and know what I was doing.”
“I was under pressure to prepare adequately… I felt like I was put on the spot because I was going to give information to people who likely had more information than and I knew that I had to research and know what I was doing.”
Growth Week concluded with an exhibition, and a Secret Pal reveal party at the campus’ open space. The exhibition was a showcase of projects such as drawings that students had labored on the entire week.The Secret Pal activity was organised by the Career Development Team. The activity saw students get names of their secret pals for whom they were supposed to perform an act of kindness. At the reveal party, students got to know who their secret pal was and thank them in person for their act or gift.
While Growth Week has already passed, it has left students inspired and excited for the next one and the activities it will come with. It has also taught an indelible lesson to the students on the need for constant growth.
“The only way that we can live, is if we grow. The only way that we can grow is if we change. The only way that we can change is if we learn. The only way we can learn is if we are exposed. And the only way that we can become exposed is if we throw ourselves out into the open. Do it. Throw yourself.”
― C. JoyBell C.
