Kigali: Ambassador Peter H. Vrooman honored 200 students who completed the U.S. Embassy’s English Access Micro scholarship Program at a graduation ceremony in Nyanza.
The English Access Program is a two-year program funded by the U.S. Embassy that provides students with 400 hours of supplementary English courses and educational activities. The program helps students acquire the English language skills they need to achieve their academic and professional goals.
“Today, you join a global community of more than 1.5 billion people who speak English, either as a native language or through study,” U.S. Ambassador Peter Vrooman told students from Nyanza, Save, Kibeho, and Rulindo at the graduation ceremony.
“Being part of this community will broaden your professional and personal horizons,” the Ambassador added.“It will make you able to communicate with the widest audience in the world.”
Ambassador Vrooman presented certificates to the highest-achieving students. School officials and students’ families were also in attendance.
The graduation ceremony was the culmination of a three-day capstone camp during which students from all four English Access locations met in Nyanza for cultural enrichment and language learning.
The English Access Micro scholarship Program is the largest and most successful outreach program of the U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Section for engaging and developing the capacities of rural Rwandan youth through English teaching and educational, cultural, and personal development activities. The program provides a foundation of English language skills to talented youth between the ages of 13 and 20.
Since its inception in 2004, over 110,000 students in more than 80 countries have participated in the English Access Program. In Rwanda, the Access Program stated in 2010. Since then, more than 800 Rwandan students have participated in the program.
The U.S. Embassy partners with the Congrégation des Soeurs Benebikira to implement the program.(End)