By Rebecca Zeigler Mano | Director, Education Matters
It's that time of year again where we are looking for the best and brightest A level students from all over Zimbabwe. With the USAP 2018 application deadline as February 26, selection is fully under way! The Education Matters office currently has a volunteer group of 12 USAP students from last year's cohort who have constituted our USAP Selection Committee, and similar to admissions committees at universities, are reading applications in pairs to select the finalists. They spend long days at the office, relying on donations we get for tea, bread and peanut butter, maputi, bananas and enjoying lots of personal growth, laughter and joy of being able to be part of the process that selected them into the program only one year ago.
We believe USAP is unique in the trust and power it gives to its students to select those who come after them. Of course, students are not allowed to read and review applications from their high schools, neighborhoods or regions. Education Matters staff will start traveling the country to interview the finalists before chosing this year's cohort.
We select USAP students for those who best embody all four USAP Criteria:
Academic Excellence
Demonstrated Leadership Potential
An Ethos of Giving
Economic Disadvantage
The over 700 USAP applications we have received are all from bright students who come from all 10 of Zimbabwe's Provinces and a wide diversity of experience and school type. All share a fierce determination to improve their lives and that of their families and communities through the transformative power that is education.
By the end of March, we will have made very tough decisions and will have our new cohort who we will meet in April. Your support makes their journeys possible. Thank you!
By Rebecca Zeigler Mano | Director, Education Matters
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