Tanzaniahighschool students visit Fairfield to learn and empower peers back home

Aug. 4—Their visit came with the support of a $90,000 grant Fairfield University's Center for Social Impact received earlier this year from the Benina Foundation — a Switzerland-based humanitarian, educational and medical aid organization. The grant allowed 10 students and four teachers from the high school to visit the university's campus for nearly two weeks in late July and early August.

Benedicta Deogratias Mnyamani and Aidan Kamugisha Shamte, two Loyola students on the Fairfield trip, said the campus workshops exposed them to a more interactive style of learning and empowering lessons to share with their peers back in Tanzania.

"I'm always inspired by the fact that I (learned) something not only for myself but also for the community that is surrounding me," Kamugisha Shamte said.

The trip marks Loyola's first visit to Fairfield University during a nearly 11-year partnership that has connected students and faculty from the two institutions via Zoom calls and online messaging, as well as Fairfield's study abroad trips there. Fairfield has also led faculty trainings at the high school.

The recent grant has also helped add laptops, internet, air conditioning and solar panels at Loyola, which, like Fairfield, is also Jesuit-affiliated, according to news release from the university.

Since arriving on campus late last month, the students have participated in computer science, math, educational technology and writing workshops on campus while the teachers get to talk professional development and academic partnerships with Fairfield faculty, the release states.

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The sessions have included lessons with cybersecurity and computer science professors and a two-hour math workshop on probability, graph theory and counting techniques that apply to combinatorics, a sector of math pertaining to the combination and relation of values, according to Fairfield's release.

The students who participated in Wednesday's career workshop shared some of their dream fields of occupation, spanning detective work, international relations and cardiac surgery. Morrison fielded questions from the table of high schoolers, who asked how academics and community support could translate to successful careers among Tanzania's rising students.

"Are grades necessary for one to be successful?" one student asked.

Another pointed to the social barriers and distractions students or families might face.

"So many people tend to be losing their focus," he said. "They don't know what to do. How can we as a community help these people and give them hope that they can do it and guide their careers?"

A third student said Tanzania invests little in the talents students might discover outside the classroom, like athletics, dance, braiding and sewing.

"Since we are ambassadors and leaders of tomorrow's world, how would we innovate or give more attention to the people that would be more talented?" he asked.

Morrison and Joseph Albert, a Loyola High School business studies teacher, stressed grades as an imperative for students who might lack the same resources, wealth and privilege as other individuals who found their path to success after dropping out of school.

"Those who are coming from lower income, the only comparative advantage is to have good grades because we don't have resources to make another alternative plan," he said.

Morrison told the students they can advocate as "ambassadors and leaders of tomorrow" for systemic change, organize plans that empower students and involve parents as sources of support. Albert chimed in during Morrison's lesson, reminding the students of the difference between "what are you thinking, what are you doing and what do you want to do."

"It's our job now to bridge that gap," Albert said.

Albert said the high school selected students to attend Fairfield based on their involvement in projects, academic merit and representation of the school's values.

The Loyola students participated in the Ubuntu Writing Academy, which Fairfield conducts for refugee and immigrant youth with the Connecticut Writing Project, affiliated with the National Writing Project, according to the university's release. Albert said writing does not serve as strong of a focus in Tanzania schools, so the skills students pick up from the workshop can apply across school curriculum.

Jocelyn Boryczka, a former Fairfield vice provost and professor, was one of the staffers who helped kickstart the partnership between Fairfield and Loyola in 2012, when the high school welcomed students on a study abroad trip while the university offered faculty training on the pedagogy for Jesuit education. She said that model of education links the two institutions through a shared mission to act as a "global citizen."

"We are committed to reciprocal and sustainable partnerships, and we've been able to maintain that across some wide geographic and cultural gaps," Boryczka said. "And our goal has been to bridge those gaps and to show the power of cross-cultural engagement and building and bridging community that is meaningful."

Edward Mwandu, Loyola's academic dean, said the high school's global connections have helped secure support, including funding for a girls dormitory through the United States Agency for International Development's American Schools and Hospitals Abroad initiative.

Morrison left the students with an encouraging sendoff as she wrapped up her lesson Wednesday, reflecting on their passions and and aspirations to make a difference as they chase their dreams.

"You don't know how proud I am of you and how excited I feel for what you can be and will be in the future," she said.