School of St Jude

The School of St Jude / St Jude's
Location
Arusha Tanzania
Coordinates	3°22′S 36°4′E / 3.367°S 36.067°E / -3.367; 36.067Coordinates: 3°22′S 36°4′E / 3.367°S 36.067°E / -3.367; 36.067
Information
Type	Independent, Boarding school, NGO
Motto	"Challenge Yourself"
Denomination	Non-denominational
Established	2002
Employees	~400
Key people	Gemma Sisia (Founder and Director); Kim Saville (Director of International Relations); Jon Ford (School Director)
Enrolment	~1,800
Colour(s)	Navy Blue and Yellow

The School of St Jude is a charity funded school that provides a free, high-quality primary and secondary education to the poorest and brightest children of Arusha region, Tanzania, East Africa. The school, located across three campuses, also provides boarding for 1,000 students, and employs over 400 Tanzanians. It was founded by Australian Gemma Sisia in 2002, based on the belief that education is the best way to fight poverty.^[1]

Summary

The School of St Jude is a nonprofit primary and secondary school in the Arusha district of Northern Tanzania. It provides a free and high-quality education to over 1,800 girls and boys from the poorest families in the area. Each year the school opens its gates to the community to select 150 new students who show academic promise combined with genuine and demonstrable financial need. These girls and boys are then given everything they need to be successful; from an international-standard education to safe accommodation and three nutritious meals a day. The school is funded primarily by sponsorhips and donations from individuals, families, foundations, service clubs and schools from around the world. St Jude's oldest students are expected to graduate from secondary school in 2015, the school's first graduating class. The school was founded in 2002 by young Australian idealist Gemma Sisia, who dreamed of helping end poverty in Africa. She proved to be a talented fundraiser, by engaging people and organizations such as Rotary.

Mission

The mission of The School of St Jude is to educate disadvantaged, bright students from the Arusha district to become moral and intellectual leaders. The school's ultimate goal is (c)Fighting Poverty Through Education, thereby demonstrating educational leadership in Tanzania.

Infrastructure

The School of St Jude occupies three campuses. The lower and upper primary campuses stand together in the Moshono area of Arusha, with boarding facilities a 15-minute walk away, in the Moivaro neighborhood. The secondary school campus, including its own boarding facilities, is located in the area known as Usa River, a twenty-minute drive from Moshono. Boarding facilities are offered only to older students, starting in upper primary level. St Jude's operates 23 school buses. Its three libraries house over 30 thousand books, CDs and DVDs. Students have access to science labs, sports fields, and computer and art rooms. All students eat hot lunches and a snack every day. The boarding students (over 1,200) also receive breakfast and dinner. The school provides an estimated one million meals a year. The school employs over 400 local Tanzanians, with an international staff of over 50 volunteers.

Girls' Education

Girls make up 58% of The School of St Jude's student body. This percentage was reached without the use of quotas. The school follows only two criteria in its recruitment: academic talent and a genuine financial need. What explains the higher number of girls is the fact that the school recruits most of its students at the early years of primary school, when girls are more developed intellectually than boys. In Tanzania it is customary for school children, regardless of gender, to have their hairs shaved or closely cropped. Looking at photos of the younger St Jude's students, it is hard to tell their gender. In 2013, Gemma Sisia explained her gender policy in a blog post^[2] on the school's website. Her view is that injecting quality in education systems, especially in Sub Saharan Africa, where she lives, is an essential element missing from the girls' education debate.

Teacher Support and Quality Education

St Jude's Form 4 students (roughly equivalent to 11th grade in the US,) ranked 3rd in the Arusha region and 20th nationwide in the 2013 mandatory national exams. The school's infrastructure is not the only explanation for its academic success so far. Teacher support and professional development also play a big role. Eight volunteer teacher mentors from Australia, New Zealand, the US and the U.K. work directly with teachers. Mentors sort the resources donated to the school into grades and work alongside the teachers to create classroom activities. They help teachers integrate the curriculum across different subjects; work directly with the school's leaders; help science teachers create and execute experiments in the labs; and show teachers and staff how to improve their research skills. A career mentor and counselor works with a Tanzanian colleague to help students broaden their professional horizons. The mentors program allows St Jude's to work around the dearth of teacher training resources in Tanzania.

Rotary Australia

Gemma Sisia knew she would have to pull off a major fundraising feat in order to obtain the money necessary to build the school of her dreams. It was her dad who had the brilliant idea. On his advice, she contacted local Rotary clubs close to where her family lived. Gemma and a family friend, David Steller, worked the phones and in no time engaged members of local Rotary clubs in Australia, who, in turn, brought local schools on board. They put up a table in a shopping mall where volunteers took turns selling $2 paper bricks representing the building works that needed financing. In a few months, they managed to raise the necessary funds. Thus began the long-term partnership between The School of St Jude and Rotary. Gemma’s inspiring story and her reputation as a passionate and engaging speaker led to many invitations to speak at Rotary Clubs. From then on, the number of people,Rotary clubs, schools, institutions, churches and businesses interested in supporting the cause snowballed. In 2000, when it was time to actually build the school, Armidale Central Rotary Club organized a group of 13 volunteers to travel to Tanzania and build the first block of classrooms . This was the first of many volunteer teams of Rotarians to get personally involved with the school. Rotarians who remained in Australia helped with the collection and transportation of computers, library and school books, teaching aids, classroom equipment, sports equipment, sewing machines, clothes and an endless list of goods. Many Rotarians visit St Jude's each year.

The Gordon V. and Helen C. Smith Foundation (Maryland, USA)

The secondary campus is named after the Smith family, of the Gordon V. and Helen C. Smith Foundation, based in the Washington, D.C. area of the United States. Their connection to St Jude's came about after the family traveled together to Tanzania for a safari in 2004 and the tour guide took them to visit a local public school. The Smiths have a long history of supporting educational initiatives. After seeing classes with up to 120 students and few resources, they became determined to support a nonprofit initiative providing educational opportunities in Tanzania. A couple of months later, family members returned to Arusha, visited a number of schools and decided to get involved with St Jude's. Their donation and personal involvement made it possible for St Jude's to extend its educational offering to secondary school level.

Visitors and Word of Mouth

As part of its fundraising and marketing activities, St Jude’s receives hundred of visitors each year for day tours of the school grounds. These visitors are an important part of the school’s campaign to encourage word of mouth communication. The school also offers special two- or three-week tours including safaris in the Serengeti and Ngorongoro Crater national parks, excursions to see local tribes and trips to Zanzibar.

Gemma Sisia

Gemma Sisia(née Rice) was born on November 3, 1971. She spent her early years on a wool sheep property just outside Guyra in Northern New South Wales, Australia. She is the only daughter among the eight children of Sue and Basil Rice. Gemma’s mother still lives on the family property in Guyra, and a number of her brothers still live in the area. After completing her secondary studies at St Vincent’s College in Sydney, Gemma decided to pursue a Science Degree (majoring in Genetics and Biochemistry) at Melbourne University, and then an Honours Program (where she was awarded First Class) in the Northern Territory. Gemma concluded her tertiary studies with a Diploma of Education through the University of New England in Armidale. At 22 years old, with a passion and zeal inherited from her ancestor, Edmund Rice (founder of the Christian Brothers movement), Gemma devoted some time to helping the poor in Africa. She travelled to Uganda, East Africa to work for three years as a volunteer teacher. This experience led to a fervent belief that a free, high-quality education should be the right of all children in the world, and that education is the strongest weapon in the fight against poverty, corruption and political instability. Upon returning to Australia, Gemma began fundraising to help underprivileged children in Uganda complete their schooling. Overwhelmed with support and donations, Gemma raised a significant amount of money, enough so that she started an official fund to invest in the education of East Africa’s poorest children. After realising that the funds weren’t being distributed properly, Gemma took matters into her own hands and returned to East Africa to manage the money herself. When working in Uganda, Gemma had gone on holiday to neighbouring Tanzania, where she met Richard Sisia, a safari driver, who would later become her husband. The gift of a small plot of land in Arusha, Tanzania from her father-in-law, Daniel Sisia, the village Chairman, is where The School of St Jude would be built, to help the poorest children receive an education. The couple settled in Moshono village in Arusha so Gemma could run the school. They now have four children: Nathaniel(born October 2001), Jacob (born April 2003), Isabella (born April 2008) and Louisa (born July 2012). In 2000, Gemma was awarded a Sapphire Paul Harris Fellow by Rotary International. Gemma’s autobiography, St Jude’s, was published by Pan Macmillian Australia in 2007 and remained on the Best Sellers List for over two months. Also in 2007, Gemma’s achievements were honoured by an Order of Australia medal. Gemma’s story has been featured twice in the ABC TV documentary program Australian Story, in 2005 and a follow-up in 2009. In 2012 Gemma was named one of The Australian Financial Review and Westpac’s 100 Women of Influence, nominated in the Global category. She was also a finalist in New South Wales for Australian of the Year.

Timeline

2002

• The School of St Jude opens on 29 January with three students
• A school board is formed
• The Parents’ Committee is formed with five parents

2003

• St Jude’s educates 120 students and employs 23 local staff

2004

• St Jude’s educates 423 students and employs over 80 local staff
• The school bus fleet now numbers eight
• Hot lunches are introduced for students and staff
• A bore hole is drilled to get clean water for the school

2005

• Gemma is featured on the ABC Television program Australian Story^[3] for the first time
• The Parents’ Committee now has 20 members
• Richard Pagliaro helps to create the school’s website, connecting the school to the world
• The first Standard 4 students sit Tanzania’s National Exam
• The school is ranked third out of 204 schools in the district, with an average mark of 90.8%

2006

• St Jude’s educates 662 students and employs 114 local staff
• 30 acres of land is purchased at Usa River for a second campus

2007

• St Jude’s educates over 850 students and employs 127 local staff
• Gemma’s book St Jude’s^[4] is launched in Australia
• Gemma receives an Order of Australia award^[5]
• The boarding campus, Moivaro, opens to 300 students

2008

• St Jude’s educates 989 students and employs 330 local staff
• Usa River Primary Campus opens with 500 students^[6]
• The first Standard 7 class sit the Tanzanian National Exams, all are placed in the top 10% of the country
• School buses travel up to 40 km for staff and students every day

2009

• 150 staff and students are invited to dinner with Tanzanian President Kikwete
• A Secondary school opens at Moshono with 51 students in Form 1
• End of year ceremony has 4,000 staff, students and parents attending
• St Jude’s now has three Tanzanian headmasters
• Gemma is featured on the ABC Television program Australian Story^[7] for the second time

2010

• St Jude’s educates over 1,300 students (with 900 in boarding) and employs over 340 local staff
• St Jude’s wins the Arusha inter-school sports competition
• Form 2 students are ranked 1st out of 302 schools in the Tanzanian National Exams North Western zone
• The school now has a fleet of 20 buses

2011

• A worldwide appeal for a new sports ground raises over $115,000
• St Jude’s provides over 850,000 meals this year

2012

• On January 29, St Jude’s celebrates its 10th Year Anniversary and provides a free high-quality education to over 1,500 students

2014

• The school now educates over 1,800 students and is getting ready for its first high school graduation in 2015.
• The 2013 national Form 4 (11th grade) examination results rank St Jude's 4th in the Arusha Region and 20th nationwide.

References

External links

• The School of St Jude