Joshua Kilonzo who was No 11 countrywide in the KCSE exams
Brian Gachigwa who was position six countrywide told Capital News that the school managed to improve from position 11 in 2010 to position 4 due to hard work and commitment by the students and staff.
“I am happy for Starehe because we are back. It was through commitment by everybody. 2011 was such a big wake up call to us, and that is why today we are happy,” joyful Gachigwa asserted.
The 18 year old who was at his home in Gilgil when the results were announced, received the news of his commendable performance from his father.
“I had taken a break. I was so anxious, I could not manage to sit and watch the results being read, I had just gone out with my bike when my dad called me and told me I was number six in the country, so I rushed home,” Gachigwa who hopes to study medicine in university explained.
His recipe for the success was hard work, commitment and prayer which have been his norm and strategy even in his primary education.
Four years ago, Gachigwa a former student at Gilgil Hill Academy scored 449 marks. He was number eight in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education exams.
Joshua Kilonzo was the second best student in Starehe Boys Centre and emerged number 11 countrywide.
After hearing the exciting news, he immediately boarded a matatu from his home in Athi River to Starehe to confirm what he had heard.
“I was with my friend whom I study with at home when I received the news. I called my dad, and then I left and came here,” Kilonzo recounted.
Kilonzo who wants to become a pilot appreciated the coverage of the media last year which captioned him as a boy who was mourning Starehe Boys’ backdrop after being positioned number 11 in the country.
“There is a caption the media took when I was in the dining hall. I think it read; a dejected boy mourns over dismal performance,” he recalled of the coverage in 2011 when the results were read and Starehe Boys Centre had dropped.
Kilonzo attributed his success to the media coverage which he said gave him the morale to up his game and play his part of reclaiming Starehe’s long standing record of being among the top performing schools in the country.
“Media made a lot of fun of me with that caption, so I wanted to make that story a success. I wanted to change that, a lot of thanks to the media,” he acknowledged.
Kilonzo who comes from a family of five and has been raised by his dad was also a prefect at his school. A combination of being an all round student both in class and extra curricula activities was also a commitment that Kilonzo observed during his times at Starehe.
Starehe’s Director Matthew Kithyaka echoed their comments as he explained that the school learnt a big lesson after the backdrop in 2010.
He said they were not discouraged, but instead got re-energised to reclaim their position in the country.
“We identified the needy areas of our students. We also encouraged the students to do extra reading. Our teachers worked very hard, they scarified their time during the weekends and evenings, which was quite good input,” he asserted.
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