Remember Your Story

In the beginning, a high school deputy principal imparted the importance of remembering our stories. These stories represented our purpose for joining high school, striving for academic success, and shaping our futures. Recently, the writer has been prompted to recall their own purpose for community building. They pondered their reasons for submitting applications and embarking on their journey.

The AWS University of Eldoret Student Builders Group (SBG) was eventually launched, and while the event was a success, the writer recalled their conversations with their co-lead, feeling behind. Despite being only two months into the program, they hadn't hosted any events yet, while others had already hosted their third or fourth. However, other SBGs may have had different academic schedules.

During the first two months of the SBG program, the writer's SBG had no grand events. In fact, they had no event at all, as they were on a long holiday, and recruiting students was challenging. Though virtual options were available, the writer realized that university students on break rarely checked school channels unless for transcripts or opening dates.

During the initial silence, the writer's co-lead and they focused on recruiting the core team. The writer's advice was to call for volunteers instead of relying on friendship, a suggestion that proved valuable. The writer spent the first month learning from other community builders and the second month aligning with the core team on their values, mission, and planned events. Looking back, these two months were not wasted but rather part of their timeline.

Understanding the community was crucial for the writer's journey. Founding committees taught them to learn from mistakes. They learned the importance of core-team alignment meetings, postponing the launch until school resumed, and building a community without flashy announcement posters. They understood that their community consisted of students in various stages of their tech journey and that sometimes, resisting the urge to appear as if they were building a community was necessary.

As a first-time lead, the writer learned to give grace to themselves and others. They acknowledged that they were still learning and that their community is a family. They emphasized that while they were still growing, sharing these lessons could resonate with others who have been on their community-building journey. Ultimately, the writer reminded the reader to "remember your story."