The Home Run: How One Track Athlete is Uplifting His Kenyan Village
THE STUDENT WHO BUILT A SCHOOL 7,500 MILES AWAY
By Mae Velasco, HeroFuel® Reporter
Check out the gallery of Kelvin’s dream coming true below!
Life is all about taking things one step at a time, and no one knows that better than 21-year-old track and field athlete Kelvin Serem.
Like every college athlete, Serem wears every ache of his muscles like a badge of pride and every drop of sweat like a crown of honor. But unlike what you might expect of a college athlete, his dreams don’t include visions of Olympic gold medals or crowds cheering his name. He dreams of bigger — and it all began with his dream to fund and build a school for his home village in Kenya.
Walk a mile in Serem’s shoes and get to know the young man who jumped over hurdles to build the Blair-Serem School, all while competing and getting a United States education 7,500 miles away.
“I grew up in a small village and attended a local public elementary called Kibargoiyet Primary. I am the oldest in a family of seven,” Serem said, his village of Kibargoiyet just outside the Iten region, famed as the capital of the world’s greatest marathoners.
His one-story home, although bare of running water or electricity, was full of love and family. They worked as farmers, trying to live off their land of corn, kale and wheat. But the days were tough. Each morning, he would walk three miles to school, walk back home for lunch, only to return to school for afternoon classes and back home again.
The days seemed to blur together, and the hardship of the “sameness” and being crammed in a classroom of 40-something kids made it challenging for him to focus on his lessons, especially when he spent long hours afterward to work in his family’s fields.
But through sheer determination, he scored high on a national exam, earning him a spot to St. Patrick’s, an all-boys school in Iten, revered around the world for for its academic and athletic program. He didn’t dare hope to set foot through its doors, until his grandmother made a huge sacrifice.
“My grandma has been very supportive, and she sold a cow after I got [my] admission letter from the famous St. Patrick’s,” Serem said to HeroFuel®, recalling that emotional moment — his father even shed a few tears.
“St. Patrick’s was my dream school, even when I was in grade 6. It’s a very competitive school and when I got my acceptance letter from the school, I knew my dream of changing the lives of [my] siblings and the community was simply inches away.”
At the school, this dependable, disciplined and hardworking young man continued to prove himself, being named the school bell ringer.
“My favorite memory was when I was elected as the school bell ringer. …Most of them [his peers] had even asked me to contest for the post even before the beginning of the school year,” Serem said. “Being a bell ringer is a huge honor since you have to go through rigorous selection, then nominations from the class teachers, and the most challenging part — elections! Upper classes and lower classes all participate in elections. I won by a landslide.”
The task was demanding and challenging, each day starting at 5:30 A.M., but it spoke volumes on his leadership. Soon, this role would lead him to another opportunity.
In the United States, Blair Academy, a boarding school in New Jersey which was active in doing community service trips in Kenyan schools and orphanages, set out to give a scholarship to one St. Patrick’s student and bring him to the U.S. Blair Academy asked the faculty of St. Patrick’s to choose one boy.
“Our number one criteria was someone who had the personality and integrity to make it in America. Must be a great student, a positive person and possess a brave and tough character,” Quint Clarke, a teacher and coach at Blair Academy who founded the nonprofit called Blair in Kenya, said. “The teachers and administration of St. Patrick’s selected Kelvin.”
Serem was shocked when he was told the news.
He wondered why. His grades were decent, but not perfect. He was a runner, but was far from the best. He did not come from wealth, as his family’s meager and modest plot of land could attest. So, why was Serem chosen?
“Not an easy question! …It’s something beyond my understanding, but I hope one day I will get a chance to answer that question perfectly,” Serem said. “Up to this day, I can’t actually narrate exactly about that special day. I think it was God’s plan, as my mum would say it, but I guess [the] staff at St. Patrick’s saw something inside me that was impeccable.”
“It didn’t seem real at all and I have always wanted to go back and humbly ask them: What, Serem?! I remember I forgot to even say thank you to them for choosing me!”
Serem was 17 years old when he flew to the United States.
“I am the one who picked him up at JFK [Airport]. I can’t imagine how scared he was. This was a kid who had never been on a plane, had virtually never traveled beyond his home village, and now he was solo on a plane flying to America,” Clarke said.
The teacher had originally met Serem a few months back, where he and his team got to know him at St. Patrick’s. (They went for a run with Serem’s cross country team, where “fortunately they ran slowly so that we could all keep up!”)
“He [Serem] had no electricity or running water, and lived nearly five miles from a paved road. It was incredible to think that he could adjust to life at an elite boarding school in America. However…it was clear he had a warm personality and was a great kid. He smiled a lot, his peers loved him and he quickly connected with the Blair kids there,” Clarke said.
“I remember driving through this bridge — I think it’s Brooklyn Bridge and it was majestic! My first impressions confirmed to me that, indeed, United States didn’t earn ‘Superpower’ status simply,” Serem said with excitement. “Everything looked meticulously done. Culture shock was real, too.”
Serem began his new life at Lafayette College in Easton, Penn., as a student and track athlete. While he trained every day and was active in plenty of clubs, he also got to stretch his main muscle, his brain, with his favorite subjects: math and biology.
Clarke watched the social butterfly unfold from his cocoon. He watched as Serem worked “much harder than the other kids” to keep up with his academics, “but he just kept grinding and it was really impressive.”
But as Serem was going through the motions, excelling in the classroom and on the track, he never forgot the dream he carried with him.
“I had always wanted to do something in my village, and having interacted with Quint closely, it occurred to me that Q was the right person to work with since he had done a lot of community services in Kenya, even in the slums of Nairobi,” Serem said. “I remember approaching him one day during lunch time asking him if he will help me build a school in my village. To my surprise, he wholly agreed, going even [the] extra mile telling me that he will make sure that my dream will come true. I will never forget that.”
Clarke, who was already building a school in Kisumu, was moved by Serem’s selfless wish.
“He said to me, ‘Do you think we could build a school in my village, too?’ This sparked a long conversation. I knew it would be challenging, but said that as long as he was willing to do a lot of the work, I would do what I could to help. He was super excited and took the reins from there,” Clarke said.
Serem is fast.
Blink and you’ll miss him, the only signs of him being there the wind through your hair and a blur. (Seriously, this guy can run half a mile in under two minutes.) So it’s no surprise that he wasted no time with this new endeavor.
He formed a committee of elders in his village who would oversee the day-to-day operations of the school. He chose teachers, principals and community leaders who were invested in the same vision. He and Clarke worked together to kick-start the fundraising.
“I…[contacted] my friends in Kenya to get a piece of land. My parents wanted to donate the land, but I didn’t want the school to seem like a ‘family thing,’” Serem said, and soon a committee member donated a space for the school. “Everything went pretty fast and I am very grateful for the Blair Community for their generous donations, which made it possible to buy building materials. My villagers in Kenya have been very supportive, too, and they have made it possible for the school to strive.”
Construction began in July 2013, and doors opened in January the following year.
The Blair-Serem Academy now has 121 students and counting — two of them even being Serem’s younger siblings — and the community is transforming into something greater.
“We have faced a myriad of challenges, but they are worth the struggle since the future of our students is very promising,” he said.
This 21-year-old is only months away from graduation. What does his future hold?
“Kelvin faces some tough decisions down the road,” Clarke said.
“How can he balance his own life journey with the literally hundreds, or thousands, of people who are counting on him back home? …He’s just a kid, who like all of us, is trying to figure out his life journey. So, I am not sure where his life will take him, but I know that he will always be looking to help the community back home, and we at Blair in Kenya will also be doing that.”
Serem looks back to the shy village boy he used to be. Now, without trying to, he has become a hometown hero and has even bigger goals for the future.
“I think I am more grateful than proud. Everyone has been so supportive and helpful that I don’t even want to give credit to myself,” Serem said.
There is one thing that Serem would like to get across:
“We can all help change our communities positively. There is so much going on in this world that we forget that doing good doesn’t cost us anything. I normally ask myself: Why not impact? Don’t postpone or change your dreams. Just adjust the steps and play your part,” he said.
“Special thanks to everyone who has been supportive of me. It takes a village to raise a child, and my close friends, mentors and advisors have all done so much for me,” Serem said. “Let’s grow together and keep impacting the lives of others.”
Serem continues to dream. He dreams of building schools and filling them with desks, books, and more importantly, opportunities for children. He dreams of a new life for his home village in Kenya. And while he runs in the United States, his passion for helping his people runs through him.
To learn more about Serem and how you can help the Blair-Serem School, click here.
