When Gladys Ngetich scored 218 marks out of the possible 500 in her KCPE, many could not see her scaling the success ladder.14 years later, Ngetich is a top PhD holder in Aerospace Engineering, benefiting from various scholarships to achieve her academic success.
In a post that has been shared widely on social media, Ngetich narrates how her background affected her learning, but she kept her head to make it in life.
“I had 45% and 56% in English and Kiswahili respectively. Proceeding to a good high school was nearly impossible with these paltry marks (in stark contrast, the leading KCPE candidate nationally that year had 472 marks!),” she recalls.
She finally managed to join Mercy Girls Secondary school, where she finished her high school from as a top student.
“Long story short, I graduated from Mercy Girls' Secondary school not only top of my class but also as the top student in the whole Kipkelion District. I went on to pursue a Bsc. in Mechanical Engineering at JKUAT. I was determined to graduate with distinction from the first day I stepped foot at JKUAT. 5 years later, I did graduate with distinction”
“I had ambitious dreams but getting an admission to the University of Oxford, and winning the Rhodes Trust Scholarship was not in the list of my dreams. Last week, I was named amongst this year’s incredibly amazing Top 10 UK’s Rare Rising Stars. I have not even processed this news yet”
She encourages other students not to give up when things seem not to work, and instead maintain their eyes on the bigger price.
“I hope my academic journey resonates with someone. Keep going, give your all (even if your all gives you 218/500 marks!), keep stretching beyond the comfort zone, keep dreaming because no one knows what the future holds. And how I wish more schools would do the unusual and often look beyond the grades in transcripts especially during admission,”