The USAP family is celebrating another amazing success as USAP alumni Ngoni Mugwisi and Lilian Dube have won this year’s two Zimbabwean Rhodes Scholarships. Ngoni, who studied O levels at Mkoba High and A levels at Thornhill High in Gweru, is currently a final year student at Arizona State University, where he is part of the …

Education Matters has launched a USAP Access Fund on Global Giving US and Global Giving UK online giving platforms.  We are part of #GivingTuesday on 29 November and are aiming to reach our goal of a $20,000 fund in donations on that day. There are numerous hidden costs when applying and enrolling an international universities, costs which can be …

As our current cohort of U6 students are applying to begin their studies in the United States in 2017, Education Matters is currently seeking L6 students who will apply for 2018 admission.  The Student Athlete Cohort assists highly motivated high school student athletes, who want to continue both their academics and sport at a high level, …

The annual USAP Forum was held under the theme “Building the USAP Network, Empowering Communities”  July 15-17 at Smith and Amherst Colleges. The conference aimed to foster strong connections within USAP and to expand the network to benefit our communities. We envisioned that at the end of the forum, USAP would be leveraged into a more robust …

As a rising sophomore from Zimbabwe at Bates College, a small, liberal arts American college, currently majoring in Women and Gender Studies, I began my internship with a burning question: “Is there a women’s movement in Zimbabwe?” Furthermore, what shape and form does it take in the current crumbling, patriarchal, and economically-depressed context? My Zimbabwe Career Connect Internship with the Women’s Coalition …

I got to Junior year in college with very high morale. Classes were going great. I had made a lot of friends; it really helped that Amherst is a small liberal arts college with one dining hall. Everything did look pretty put together, but something was off. The feelings of guilt and general unease about the situation …

Fifteen Zimbabwean student athletes who worked with the Student Athlete Cohort leave for the United States in July and August to start their university studies and pursue their sports at higher levels.   The Student Athlete Cohort worked with these students who have reached Provincial and national levels in their various sporting disciplines, and may have also …

Photo Credit: Alonso Nichols/Tufts University For me, application season was not a summer breeze, it was a terrible monsoon. Put simply, mixing Critical Reading and A level Physics can have explosive results –literally. I remember short-circuiting a capacitor in the Physics lab trying to set it up (the capacitor not the lab) and simultaneously understand Napoleon’s letters …

How does the fish know their competition if they have always lived in a tiny pond? No doubt, Zimbabwean students harbor a lot of talent, and we see that here at Education Matters.  We work with students who have long strings or A’s at O and A Level, those who are trying to break records with …

I remember the first time I heard about USAP- a dedicated family of high achievers.  A strong ethos of giving back, financial need, leadership qualities, and high academic excellence are what brought this family to its conception in 1999. With the aim of providing access to world class education to low-income students, the network continues …

Today we celebrate a remarkable feat that can be summarized in a simple headline: Harvard Medical School graduates three Zimbabwean USAP students.  Dr. Fallon Chipidza.  Dr. Portia Chipendo. Dr. Emmanuel Magara. Fallon attended Vainona High before getting a scholarship to complete A level at Regina Mundi in Gweru where she became the Headgirl.  Portia was at …

Last month on a warm Tuesday morning, I introduced myself to 41 students from 33 schools all over the country. I was there to teach them how to pass the SAT English — that daunting hurdle a student must jump in the process that is US college admissions. I was the teacher, the expert in all things English …