Zimbabwe Student Profiles
Since it's inception in 1999, Usap has helped tens of Zimbabwean students get accepted to top notch colleges in the United States. Some have since graduated and are working in various fields in the United States and elsewhere around the world and some have chosen to remain in academia at various instituations in the United States. There are over a hundred Usap students from Zimbabwe alone and each one of them has an amazing story to tell. Below are brief profiles of some of our students just to give you a glimpse of our diversity as a people as well as the diversity of their career paths and futures.
| Class of 2009 | Class of 2010 | Class of 2011 | Class of 2012 | Class of 2013 |
Wendy Vimbai Magoronga
Williams College 12'
Wendy did her O-levels at Marondera High School and A-levels at the prestigious St. Ignatius College were she was the Head Girl for the 2006-7 term of office. A Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry student, Wendy managed to balance the leadership responsibility and challenging academics, being outstanding in both fields.
The cheerful and helpful young lady spent most of her gap year interning at the United States Education Advising Center in Harare and was among the people responsible for selecting the Usap 2008-9 cohort. One for adventure and diversity, she also worked in the HIFA Box Office during the festival. She absolutely loved the experience! Currently enrolled at Williams College, she plans to double-major in Chemistry and Economics. Wendy is passionate about helping people because "to know that even one life has breathed easier because you lived, this is to have succeeded."... Ralph Waldo Emerson.
Mazvitashe Mellissa Mangisi
Connecticut College 12'
Born in a family of four as the last born and only girl, Mazvitashe is a young lady of strong moral values and principles. She grew up in the small town of Kadoma. In spite of hardships Mazvitashe's determined disposition and faith have seen her get to the top in all her endeavors. As the Vice Headgirl at Thornhill High School and the Head of Halton House, she emerged as nothing but an exceptional leader with people at heart. She was an all-rounder in terms of academic and extra-curricular activities and will forever be one of Thornhill's most distinguished students. She owes her success to God and her very supportive family. She is currently enrolled as a freshman at Connecticut College, one of the top liberal arts colleges in America and hopes to be the change she wants to see in the lives of the widows and orphans and to be a global citizen with a difference.
Philani Mpofu
Vassar College 12'
Philani Brian Mpofu hails from Magwegwe, a humble suburb on the western side of the city of kings (Bulawayo). He did his Ordinary level at Marist Brothers Secondary School, and his Advanced Levels at Kutama College. He is currently waiting to take Vassar College by storm this fall. He plans to major in Biochemistry and Mathematics, and hopes to influence the Zimbabwean pharmaceutical industry in the future.
Philani believes in Zimbabwe and will do what it takes to uplift his beloved country. He has already begun this noble mandate by working as a temporary teacher; he is of a strong conviction that education can emancipate Zimbabwe. Philani relishes spending time with his family, he says that his family gives him the reason to wake up each morning and be a better person. Philani is truly grateful to the Usap for giving him all the inspiration and support; he is now ready to explore new horizons and be the shining light for all to see.
Precious Tsododo
Ithaca College 12'
With much potential and talent but somehow no platform to maximize on it, is how Precious describes her life before Usap. She was born in Chitungwiza and spent the most part of her life there and this in itself is her motive to work hard because she has always wanted to travel the greater part of the world. She went to Seke 1 High School for her Advanced Levels and Seke 6 High School for her Ordinary Levels. She is the last born in a family of four.
Her goal is to contribute significantly to the business world which is probably why Precious hopes to major in Business Administration. She dreams to establish her own internationally recognized business organizations and fulfill her life objective, as she calls it. She hopes to learn all the secrets to success in business which is probably why she found herself at Ithaca College. With a versatile mind she found no other way to diversify her learning experience but to minor in Humanities and Sciences. Now that she has the platform she lacked before, she says she going to make the best use of it. Dedicated, determined and adept are three words to describe Precious. Precious is interested in sport, especially basketball and tennis.
Jefta Jawi
University of Pennsylvania 12'
Jefta is in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences where he majors in Electrical Engineering and
minors in Mathematics. He is the first child in a family of three boys. Jefta grew up in Kadoma and later moved to Gweru where he did his high school at Thornhill High.
Jefta actively participates in the university's social organizations. He serves as the Chair of Academic Excellence in the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) Penn Chapter. He is also a member of the Penn African Students Association (PASA) where he served as a freshman committee member. Intramural hockey and soccer are also a part of his interests.
He says that his best interest probably lies in chess. In high school, he captained the Thornhill chess team to its first undefeated streak. He was also in the elite three at the prestigious National Scholars Chess Tournament and was subsequently nicknamed "Grandmaster". Jefta aspires to be a great engineer and is determined to give back to the community that has given him so much. Though a man of big dreams, Jefta is quick to point out, "Life is like chess, without a plan you lose".
Shalom Chausarira
Lander University 12'
Life has taught her to count her joys and not her tears, to count her blessings and not her misfortunes and above all, to live life to the fullest. She believes there is no insurmountable mountain and no river too wide to cross. Her two brothers as well as her mom have been pillars of strength through the difficult times. Inspite of the so many challenges, they worked hard to ensure she got the basic Zimbabwean education: first at Marlborough Primary then at Howard High Schools.
At school, she excelled in almost anything that she put her mind to; on the sport field, on the social scene and most importantly in class. One of her greatest achievements so far is her acceptance into the US Achievers Program. Through the program, more opportunities have come her way. She is currently the seventh and only female beneficiary of the Mufuka Foundation Scholarship. Shalom intends to study Nursing, Spanish and Computer Science.
Chiedza Christine Mufunde
Mount Holyoke College 12'
Born and bred in the high-density of Seke, Chitungwiza, passion and potential drive the world around this devoted young lady. Chiedza has proved her leadership qualities Murewa High and through her involvement as a member of the Children's Parliament in 2007. Representing the rural constituency in Murewa North, Chiedza grew to realize how she can be a powerful weapon in making a positive difference in the lives of the less fortunate members of Zimbabwean society. After her Advanced Levels, Chiedza interned with Camfed (Campaign for Female Education) prior to commencing studies at Mt. Holyoke College, a Zimbabwean organization that works with girls, young women and mothers in rural areas to combat poverty and fight existing challenges. In 2008 she represented Zimbabwean youth at the 2nd Afro-Arab Youth Festival in Kampala , Uganda .
Her unforgettable Usap experience is a lifetime achievement that still drives Chiedza to realize her potential in all aspects of her life. Chiedza intends to take diverse courses in the Social Sciences and Humanities at Mount Holyoke, as she pursues her passion in working with people and learning how we can touch each other's soul by every move that we make. She also has interests in business studies and computer science.
Tawanda Tasikani
Amherst College 12'
With a taste for art, science and fun, there are certainly few dull moments in Tawanda's life. Born and bred in Harare, the "ghetto boy" always had a vision of his own. He went to Visitation and Goromonzi High schools were he excelled in his studies and extra –curricular activities. Student government, sports and chess were some of his main concentrations during high school. With the help of Usap, he enrolled at Amherst College in Massachusetts
"I don't know where I will land, but I'm definitely flying."
Tawanda has always loved to travel. He dreams of one day visiting another planet after his studies in the natural sciences. Diabetes and HIV are also some issues he hopes to address during his education. In the future, he hopes to form his own organization, which helps people living with diabetes.
Nancy Tinoza
College of Wooster 12'
The fourth born in a family of five, Nancy was born in the Sunshine City of Harare. She grew up in the high density suburb of Glen View 3 and attended Glen View 7 Primary School where she was active in athletics, drama, and public speaking. She first displayed her academic excellence when she came up as the only student with four units at her primary school. Nancy attended a local secondary school, Glen View 1 High where again she was active in athletics, a senior prefect, as well as being a member of the Youth Aids Network and the Zimbabwe United Nations Association.
She came up as the best student at Ordinary Level in the whole Glen View - Mufakose District and was awarded the inagural Joshua Nkomo Scholarship which helped finance her Advanced Level education at Highfield High. Due to her exceptional academic and leadership qualities Nancy gained entrance into Usap which helped her get a place at the College of Wooster, Ohio. At Advanced Level she scooped the National Merit Award for Best Advanced Level Results for Harare Region. She owes her achievement in life to the Almighty and the most important thing in her life is her family. Her source of insipiration is her mother and elder sister, Nyarai. Nancy looks forward to study Business Economics which she hopes will help to promote youth development and women emancipation in her country and also to participate in women's football.
Dominic Mhiripiri
Brown University 12'
"Always be a leader, not a follower"
This is the powerful statement that drives Dominic Mhiripiri, a curious and inspiring Usap student from Chitungwiza, who is also proudly from Wedza. Dominic excelled at Zengeza 4 High School despite a complicated home background in his Adventist family and a powerful survival story during the 2005 Zimbabwean atrocity, Murambatsvina.
Dominic was a district champion in debate, quiz and public speaking – among other things shining on national television high school debates and winning a gold medal at the 2005 Chitungwiza High Schools Public Speaking Olympiad. He got an exclusive Advanced Level bursary to attend ILSA College in Harare from where he was chosen into Usap.
In Usap, Dominic has distinguished himself as an interesting character, a great thinker and active participant who together with another Usap student Ike Gapara are behind an innovative 'company', Dominic & Ike Inc. Dominic, who is a deacon at church, spent time in his gap year teaching English Language and Mathematics at Seke 5 High School in Chitungwiza and also worked at the Harare Festival of the Arts (HIFA). In the past two years, several of Dominic's academic and political writings have been published in Zimbabwean newspapers.
Dominic is a freshman at Brown University – where he is the sole recipient of the prestigious Advancing Africa Scholarship that was launched at the World Economic Forum in Davos , Switzerland in early 2008 - and the first one chosen for the distinct honor in the innauguration year. "I have come to America with an open mind", he says to explain why he is undecided on his academic major. "But I have strong bias for natural sciences, engineering and the arts. And I know Brown will help me discover myself and chart my own academic and life course".
When Dominic is not singing accapella music, working with computers or writing poetry, he will definitely be busy supporting "the team for which soccer was made" – Manchester United.
Linda Chiwara
St. Lawrence University 12'
Linda from Chitungwiza did her O-Levels at Monte Cassino Girls High and A-Levels at St. Ignatius College. She took part in most activities at school such as sports, choir and journalism because she believed that well rounded people will always emerge as prominent figures in all spheres of life. Linda was a proud member of the JAZ - Junior St. Ignatius Company and the Year Book Writers Club.
"When life throws you lemon,make lemonade"
Though a former Maths-Biology-Chemistry student, Linda plans to divert from the science field and major in Economics and International Relations. She found pleasure in being part of the Usap selection committee and interning at the Embassy a few weeks before she left for St. Lawrence University. She believes in the grace of God and in fighting for her own destiny. "We should build capacity so that God finds us ready to receive his blessings."
Ike Gapara
University of Pennsylvania 12'
Ike, the first of two children, was born in Harare but grew up in the small Midlands town of Redcliff. He attended primary school in nearby Kwekwe before enrolling at Kutama College near Norton for both his Ordinary and Advanced Level studies. He worked at Spar Redcliff (Jan-Feb 2008) and Cargill Zimbabwe (Mar-June 2008) after completing his high school studies.
Ike has a passion for mathematics and represented Zimbabwe in mathematics competitions in South Africa in September 2006, and Nigeria in April 2007 where he earned Honorable mentions on both occasions. Ike claims the best time of his life came on the Nigerian trip when his passport was stolen, and together with the rest of the Zimbabwean contingent, had to stay in Ethiopia for an extra week and a half. He has also represented his province in provincial cricket tournaments. He was also very active in school as head of several clubs but loved being CEO of the Company of Kutama (a student investment arm for the school) the most.
At Penn, Ike was selected as a member of the Entrepreneurs' Program, and this is the first step to his dream of founding his own company by the time he graduates, impossible as it may seem. At the Wharton School, he hopes to major in Finance and Actuarial Science and then venture into the investments and banking businesses. The young man is ambitious and hopes to build schools of excellence, world-class hospitals and other infrastructure throughout Africa with the hope of giving opportunity to the amazing talent in Africa, just as he was given opportunity through Usap and a scholarship from Penn. Ike believes that: "Things come to those who wait, but only the things left by those who hustle", (Abraham Lincoln), and so looks forward to grabbing all the opportunities that will come his way at Penn, and afterwards. His sense of adventure makes him want to go to space, and do many daredevil acts in the near future, because life is too short, really.
Sibongile Mandy Malunga
Reed College 12'
"The important thing is to give happiness to people and to go to bed each day feeling that you have done some service to the community" --- Nelson Mandela
This easy-going and ever-smiling young lady was born and grew up in Warren Park, Harare . She's the only girl in a family of four kids. Sibongile adores her three brothers who she thinks are the funniest characters she's ever met. She did her high school at Moleli in Selous where she excelled both in and out of class. She got academic awards every year. She had the best Ordinary Level results among all the girls at her school.
As she starts college at one of the most intellectual colleges in the United States , Sibongile is eager and willing to be among the very best in all areas of her endeavor. She intends on majoring in Chemistry and minor in Psychology. She wants to be involved in a lot of community service projects and explore the outdoor paradise that is Oregon through sports like skiing and rock-climbing. She also wants to learn to tango and be fluent in Spanish, Chinese and French by the time she ends her college career.
Sibongile tried her hand at poetry a few years ago and was one of the winners in the PTUZ national schools poetry competition. This encouraged her passion for poetry and she continues to read, write and recite poetry as a hobby. Her experience teaching at an Indian school during her gap year made her realize she wants to make a difference in the lives of other young people. She dreams of initiating community support groups for teens that have HIV/AIDS, who are pregnant, runaways, school dropouts or drug addicts so that the youth can be educated. Besides her intended career in pharmaceutical research, she also wants to establish a non-profit organization whose primary activity will be to create new businesses and jobs by nurturing an entrepreneurial culture within the Zimbabwean local community.
Mark Kulube
York University, Canada 12'
"Success is not final, failure is not fatal, it's the courage to continue that counts." - Winston Churchill
The fourth born in a family of five boys and a loving mother, Mark is characteristic of modesty and philosophy. He has always believed that life is analogous to a journey, a journey which can be traveled in a number of different ways. For years and years, Mark has done his best to fly the path of his destiny and to date; he continues to seek the leverage which will see him accomplishing his dreams. He pursued his entire secondary education at St John's High based in Harare, and it was there were it all began for Mark.
His life time ambition has been to pursue a career in medicine but he is also passionate about is teaching. What may have been one of the most memorable times in his life gave rise to this secondary aspiration. This was in the third term of the 2007 school year in Zimbabwe. He was still an Upper Six student at St John's High School where he had an array of leadership responsibilities and activities. There was a nationwide teacher's strike which resulted in a mass exodus of teaching staff from schools and St John's High was no exception. This left the Advanced Level Science department severely under staffed and that being the case; Mark voluntarily took up the responsibility of teaching his classmates in Upper Six and Lower Six Biology and Chemistry. He learnt a lot about himself during that "teacher-student" experience. The most pertinent lesson was that he had people at heart.
On his inception into Usap, Mark could have never imagined the future that lay ahead of him. It is through this program that he finds himself studying Biology at York University in Canada. He still has the ambition to treat and teach and so as he pursues his undergraduate studies, he will explore ways in which he can merge the two arts. One of the firm ideals of Usap is to giving back to your home community and this is what Mark intends to do. He wants to bring back home his ideas and play a role in the continued development of the health and educational systems so that these can be accessible to everyone and anyone.
Mark sees his quest as a journey of a thousand miles, he knows he has taken a lot of steps and leaps which have brought him this far, and he has no other intention but to get to the very end. After all: "To be what we are, and to become what we are capable of becoming, is the only end in life." - Robert Louis Stevenson
Jonah Kadoko
Tufts University 12'
Jonah was born in Masvingo and grew up in the asbestos town of Zvishavane. He did his Ordinary levels at Zvishavane High School before moving to Guinea Fowl High School for his advanced level studies. "What can be done should be done, and what cannot be done must be done," he always tells himself. His potential is not set by his poor background. During his high school days he was an active member of the Scripture Union and Magazine Clubs and also played volleyball. He held leadership positions in church as Chairman of the Youth League and at school where he was a timekeeper, monitor and then Head boy. Due to his academic excellence and demonstrated leadership qualities he was accepted into the Joshua Nkomo Scholarship Fund after a highly competitive selection process in 2006.
Jonah will be attending Tufts University where he plans to major in Electrical engineering. After, he hopes to break yet another "impossibility" - to form an international engineering company and to fight poverty in the world.
Michelle Vhudzijena
Harvard College 12'
Born and bred In Gweru, the City of Progress, Michelle is the eldest daughter in a family of three girls. A recipient of the national merit based Joshua Nkomo Scholarship for Ordinary level excellence; she did her Advanced levels at Regina Mundi High School where she studied Math, Physics and Chemistry. She was vice head girl 2006-7 and president of the debate and public speaking society. Her best times were with the LEO's (Leadership Experience Opportunity) club, where she served as Chief Director. She won Best Leo of the year for her dedication and willingness to serve unconditionally. The group was later awarded the best group in a region of four countries for its efforts in helping its community.
To her, the gates to unrealizable success opened when she became part of the Usap family. Without Usap, Harvard would have been a figment of her imagination. She is interested in HIV research and economics (particularly world trade, finance and investment) but is currently uncertain of her future concentration. Michelle enjoys soccer, hockey and tennis and will play intramural hockey once Boston gets a little warmer. Michelle loves reading literature on the history of architecture. She loves art and is one person who can spend hours in a museum. At Harvard she seeks to be a great ambassador of Usap, Zimbabwe and her family, using this opportunity to be molded into someone who can be part of the process of making Zimbabwe a better place.
Tatenda Shoko
Yale University 12'
Tatenda was born and raised in the small town of Gweru where she did her Ordinary and Advanced Levels at Regina Mundi High School. She passed both levels with flying colors. She was also very involved in community service and leadership initiatives. This young lady says she is always in a competition, not against anyone else but against herself-to always strive to be the best that she possibly can be. She gets her satisfaction not from being the best at anything but knowing that she has done the best that she could. Her source of strength has been and will always be her two families – her biological one and her Usap one.
Tatenda b elieves that armed with a good education and the support of those around her, the girl child can do wonders. Her dream is to help girls in Zimbabwe realize their full potential. She plans to embark on this by joining the women's forum at Yale and thus gaining more insight on the subject. She is a firm believer in the ideals of Usap and would one day want to help others get the chance that she has been afforded by Usap. She is currently taking Spanish and physics classes and plans to major in applied physics and engineering.
Constancia Vimbayi Mavodza
Amherst College 12'
Constancia Vimbayi Mavodza is an ever smiling girl. She loves laughing, singing, reading watching movies, baking chocolates. Constancia's intended major is Neurosciences with emphasis on Pre-medicine. She will also be tackling languages (French, Arabic and Japanese), International relations and dancing (samba to be specific). Constancia will definitely be playing volleyball, chess and swimming together with being the first speaker in the debate team! All this will be happening at Amherst College of course. One day Constancia will be a neurosurgeon, the Secretary General of the United Nations and a force in the development of Zimbabwe's Health System!
More Zimbabwe student profiles
| Class of 2009 | Class of 2010 | Class of 2011 | Class of 2012 | Class of 2013 |