This month, a handful of scholars were flown to San Francisco to participate in a world-renowned leadership and public speaking program from Stand and Deliver. Below, the young women give us insight into their feelings during the experience:Sharon“The Stand and Deliver seminar was tremendously enlightening and liberating. The team illustrated how a person’s voices can deliver […]
Read More… from Scholars Reflect on Their 2-day Leadership Training Program in San Fracisco
Mentor Debra’s StoryBarb asked me to be a mentor in 2011. I took a month to decide but soon realized my excitement to make a new friend and connect with another culture was greater than my concern that I didn’t have previous experience supporting a scholar navigating the college application process.Charlotte and I began corresponding […]
Read More… from Scholar Charlotte Mugisha & Mentor Debra Lamfers
Jocelyn, an incoming first year at Lafayette College, was selected to be a summer student at Babson Entrepreneurial Leadership Academy during her final days in Rwanda. Below she reflects on the experience and what she learned from the innovation-focused program.Babson Entrepreneurial Leadership Academy (BELA) was very efficient. As participants, it increased our motivation and eagerness […]
Influential women leaders in corporations and philanthropy have joined forces to expand skills for sponsorship and mentoring to empower the next generation of women leaders. The Bay Area Women Leaders Network recently hosted a special session to learn from innovative leaders across the globe and to build mentoring and sponsorship skills. 150 women attended the […]
What was your reaction when Bennington College accepted Sharon?I was overwhelmed, proud, grateful and fully freaking out. I was speechless, shaking and in shock.My husband and I were in the process of relocating from the San Francisco Bay Area to NY. It was March 21, 2012 and I was actually in New York City, on […]
Sheilla: When we started this journey, we didn’t know what to expect from living in a totally different place. Pursing a dream is one thing but having the support and comfort from each other has been the icing to the cake. We are so thankful for how far we have gone and looking forward to […]
Read More… from Sheilla and Flavia Reflect on Their Journeys, Together and Apart
We’re continuing to grow. Barb and Ann left for Kigali this morning to find the next class of applicants. In June and July we’ll have our own ESL teacher, Kathleen Ruffle, in Rwanda preparing the candidates for the SAT and TOEFL exams. Simultaneously, our dedicated, all-volunteer team of mentors in the U.S. is building on […]
We are extremely pleased to announce that Lehigh University awarded Sheilla Rukundo a full scholarship for this fall!Sheilla is one of seven children and grew up in a refugee camp in Uganda. She ultimately returned to Rwanda with her family, as they began rebuilding their lives after the genocide. She was elected Head Girl of the […]
We have great news! Four of our seven candidates have been offered full scholarships from top liberal arts colleges and universities!We were able to leverage a small pool of money into almost $1M in scholarship funds. Each scholarship is worth approximately $225,000. Open A Door was able to leverage a small pool of money donated […]
We have completed the college application process for the 2012 school year and have to wait until April to hear if our candidates won scholarships. This is the hardest part!The application process was harder than any of us imagined. Transcripts, letters of recommendation, and tax records are not as easily accessed in Rwanda as in […]