Kenyan Wits

I know you have heard about this orientation event for first ‘years’. While some have wondered what it concerns, other don’t know its importance. This gives me the opportunity to clear the confusion. To begin with, orientation is an event meant to introduce newcomers into an institution. In college, first years are grouped into departments and their supervisors take them around the institution. You remember in Form 1 when your guardian or godparent showed you around the school so that you became familiar with the school? Now, this is the college version, though here, you are in groups and instead of a guardian, it’s a supervisor. You will later assemble for meetings probably on the second day and here the department staff will take you through the rules of the institution. These meetings are very crucial if you plan to graduate. I say this because some information from these meetings might never be mentioned again until when you go to pick you degree and get dismissed for not adhering ...

You are done with high school and want to progress to campus. You scored good grades or you meet whatever other qualifications your campus of choice dictates as the benchmark. You know your general area of interest but there are so many fields under it becomes overwhelming to select one. And everyone’s waiting for you to make the big decision. Can be a bit terrifying, I’ll give you that. But here’s the thing. You should, for starters, be proud of yourself for knowing where to begin. There are more people than one can imagine who actually have no idea what career path they want to follow. Sure, there’s knowing what you cannot possibly do. I am afraid of blood and cannot to this day bring myself to touch raw meat when I am cooking. So I definitely know I cannot have a successful career in the field of medicine. But why not law? Or Physics? Maybe a Chemistry related course. Expose yourself in several short courses This is one of the reasons I advocate for a short stint in several fields b...

Online hostel booking of rooms is finally in JKUAT after a long wait especially since other top universities had already integrated it in their system. The JKUAT fraternity received the news from the Accommodation Secretary Cynthia Toel late last week. This comes at a time when allocation of hostels is very hectic due to the limited number of rooms available compared to the increasing number of undergraduates. Precisely, she sent this brief memo which circulated through Whatsapp   From: Accommodation Secretary To: All students RE: BOOKING OF HOSTELS Everyone including continuing students will book rooms online. Students are supposed to log in their students portal and they will see the option for hostel booking. They are allowed to select the hostel, floor, room, and bed they want. First years will be sent their login details. Mode of payment will be via Mpesa, where one is expected to pay the full accommodation fee, that is; 6500, after successfully reserving a room . The option of bo...

Stop thinking of big ideas, think of small ideas in a great way, these are the words that blew my mind as Peter Muthee told me his journey as a young and fresh entrepreneur. Peter Muthee is the founder of Saikle Bikes; a bike renting company currently operating in Juja. Through the amazing outpour of customers for his service, Peter has made tremendous progress but all these did not come on a silver platter. Peter was a Geomatics Engineering student at JKUAT, Kenya’s premier institute for engineers. As a young man who wanted to enjoy his college life, he chose biking as a pass time activity and soon he was benefiting from the sport; more so, his breathing difficulties healed. In the second year, he came up with the idea of renting bikes to earn some cash as every comrade strives to do. But he did not want to benefit alone, so he decided to present his idea to the Association of Geomatics in JKUAT so that the club would raise funds for their activities. The officials at that time turned...