GSA Success Stories { #gsassaalumni13 }

Hey guys,

Words alone can’t describe what being a Google Student Ambassador has done for me. But I will try! Being involved in this program is by far one of the finest experiences I have had. It came to me at a point in my life when I really needed something to uplift me, something to distract me. And to be honest, I think it did more than that.

I expressed some of it in this post here and every time I read it or think about it, it’s as if a giant chopped onion is tossed in my eye! LOL! But they are definitely tears of joy. I have had fun as a GSA. And most importantly, I have learnt a lot. More than I ever expected. One of our most memorable events on campus was the Going Google Awareness Campaign. And my journey as a GSA became better and better since then! To pass on what I learnt through the numerous events we held and attended will always gave me great pleasure. And the fact that I am now an alumni will not stop me from continuing to do the same.

Doodle 4 Google Art Gallery

By a show of hands, how many of you have been to the Nairobi National Museum in the recent past? And no, I’m not talking about the primary school trip when you were in class five. See, I thought so. Very few!

It’s unbelievable how much we, as Kenyans, rarely tour our own land as much as tourists from other countries. I am also guilty of this! Just the other day, a good friend of mine went on a nature walk in Karura Forest and when she got back she couldn’t stop singing praises about the place. After seeing the pictures she took, I understood why. The land is so peaceful and tranquil and undisturbed. It is a place I would definitely like to visit.

AdCamp {Google Opportunities}

Those ‘Aaargh’ moments when you come across an amazing opportunity that you know (deep down in your gut) you would have sailed through but for one reason or another you fall short of a requirement! Anyone ever experienced such? Kinda like how I would make an awesome runway model but apparently my being 5 ft. 2 won’t let me prosper? No? LOL!

Well, the Google AdCamp is one such opportunity for me. As much as I would have loved to take part in it, currently serving as a GSA automatically makes me illegible to participate. Bummer! Would have really loved to go to Dublin or Poland! And the fact that it would have landed on my birthday only makes my pouting worse! Darn.

Google Student Ambassador Program Application {Now Open}

Well…This post is so long overdue I’m even getting embarrassed putting it out here at this particular moment! But I did some soul searching this morning to find out why I was slacking off in writing this particular one and I think it finally hit me! You see this is a kind of bitter sweet post for me and you are going to find out why in the next couple of minutes.

I am glad to announce that the Google Student Ambassador Program application is now open! Ok, it has been open for a couple of weeks now and I apologize for not telling ya’ll about it sooner. Part of this delay is caused by my tremendous workload but apart from that I can attribute the delay to the fact that this application going live only means that my tenure as GSA is almost coming to an end! And that, my good people, makes me a bit sad :(

Africa Connected: Success Stories Powered By The Web

Hey there! I hope your past week and weekend were good. However, I can’t possibly use that adjective to describe mine as that would be the understatement of the century!! This past week was the illest, it was happening, it was on point and it was out of this world…extra-terrestrial!! LOL, okay you get the point!

I had told you about the Africa Connected Web Summit and Africa Connected Youth Forum that were to take place last Tuesday and Wednesday but if you didn’t catch that post you can check it out here. Well, they did happen and there was no way I was not turning up. I promised to share with you what went down and I’m going to do just that. I can’t possible put everything into words so I will leave a lot of it to the photos. But they say a picture is worth a thousand words anyway so.…  Anyway, stick around, won’t you?

Africa Connected Youth Forum

Hello folks! The last day of the month is finally here with us. Excited, No? Yes? Well, I am! Of course my excitement has something to do with a number of reasons but I will only share a couple with you...at least just for now.

Hehe! For starters, I had been looking forward to 1^st April, 2014 for quite some time now and if my memory serves me right that should be tomorrow! Yeey! This is because the tomorrow marks the day when the Africa Connected winners will be announced and non-other than yours truly will be in attendance :)

Map Your World {Part II}

Hey people! You good? Hehe, I was having a bit of a writers' block earlier this morning (I have been getting too many of those recently!!) but seeing that you are already reading this post, it means I managed to overcome it...Or at least I think I did!

This past Saturday was very eventful for me. I had the Google Mapping event and still had to attend to my girls in Mary Hill Girls' High School in the afternoon for the Technovation Challenge (See here, here and here). I really had to manage my time well so as to deliver on both ends.

G|Days Kenya {Plus Branding Competition}

I come bearing good news today! Hehe, but first a hello would do…right? I hope you had a lovely weekend. Mine was fabulous and I will tell you what I was up to during the course of this week…hopefully.

Other than that, I believe we have a reason to be happy! Ok, we always have to be happy but here’s my reason for today. G|Days Kenya is almost coming to town!! For those who do not know what this is about, I am going to briefly explain to you and hopefully, you will get the drift!

App Review {Track Your Shares}

Hey guys! I trust you are doing well. I am just trying to keep up with all that's on my plate but hopefully because of the recent boycott by lecturers in campus, I may be able to get all my work done. However, this is bitter sweet because it only means more workload when they get back and a longer semester! Aaargh, you just can't win with this!

Hehe, let me leave that discussion for now though and start on the main agenda of today's post. Whenever I come across something cool, I always take it upon myself to share it with my peeps (And in this case, that is you!) Some friends of mine, who also happen to be my classmates came up with a very awesome application. Which I will be telling you about in a few...

Int’l Women’s Day: Technovation Challenge

I have even lost count of the Technovation Challenge day we are on!! But if my memory serves me right, it should be the third one. Coincidentally, that Saturday also happened to be International Women’s Day. So, that I got to spend it with the lovely ladies of Mary Hill Girls’ High School.

Btw, there were so many other activities slotted for that day and as much as I would have loved to take part in all of them, there is only one of me. Darnit! There was the GDG Women’s meet up at +iHub which I was invited to. There was also an +Akili Dada walk in Karura Forest. Apart from that, there was the Intel Galileo fest on campus and I was super psyched for it (Hehe, the promise of free food might have had something to do with that!)

Google Code In

Hello folks. How you doin’? December is finally here with us, yipeeee! And for more than one reason, I couldn’t be any happier about that! I should have written this post a bit earlier than this, but just bear with me. It’s better late than never, ey? I am also going to be very straight to the point on this one as there is already a variety of information and videos online to elaborate. So, how about we get started then? If you are or know of any 13 – 17 year old pre-university student, then read along because this is one of those wonderful opportunities that you just can’t pass on :)

What is the Google Code In?

It is a global online open source development and outreach contest for pre-college students ages 13 – 17. 

Map Your World {Google Map Maker Event}

Hello my good people. It is a beautiful day and I hope you are well and happy. I am also just peachy! Well that is apart from this aching back and shoulders that I have. Oh boy, I could kill for a massage right about now. It has been a long week. But the fact that it has been fruitful makes all the pain worth it. And before I continue any further, I would just like to thank you once again for finding your way to this blog. It is always a pleasure to have you on board!

Yesterday we had our edition of Google Map Maker, map your world. It is the second one I have attended. The first time, which was last year, I was there as an attendee. But who knew the second time around I would be there as the GSA. It was really awesome for me to get to have a feel of both sides. Come to think of it, the same can be said for Jeremy :)

Going Google Awareness Campaign

So this is a very big week for Kenyatta University because guess what people, we are finally going Google!! Oh so sorry, I even forgot to say hello! How mean of me. How are you? I trust you are awesome! I am swell as well…uhhh, I rhymed (score one for me)

I am going to make this as brief as I can so that you do not get bored along the way and sleep and miss your bus and get stuck where you are and be forced to spend the night there hence get late for where you are supposed to be tomorrow and long story short, it’s just going to be really hectic for you.

The Event {Part Two}

Howdy my good people. How’s the going? As promised in this post, I told you that there would be a follow up event. Well, it came to pass this previous Friday! I am sorry it did not go down on the day I has said it would this is due to some challenges we got while trying to secure a venue. However, thanks to my hardworking colleague +njihia jeremy we managed to secure the Computer Lab in the Communication and Information Technology Department in the school.

The poster

I wasn't as nervous going into this second event as I was in the first. So I suppose what they usually say about experience and practice is really true hehe. This second event started at about 9:00am. It was mainly for class representatives and club leaders although anyone who was interested in attending was gladly welcomed. The agenda was taking the attendees through the usage of Google apps that would make their roles in leadership positions a bit easier.

The Event {Part One}

Hey guys! How you doin’? Men, don’t I have a story to tell you! So up until this Monday, my being a GSA (see this post to get a background of what I am talking about) was just a theory. This is because me and +njihia jeremy, my colleague, had not held our first event yet. This had to do with the fact that our school was not in session and had only resumed last week. All this time we kept witnessing our other comrades from the other universities and countries have their events and be successful while at it.

The venue

So as you can imagine, the pressure kept mounting as our day grew closer. Were we gonna rise up to the occasion? Will people turn up? Will they be willing to hear us out? Will the schwag be enough? Will I remember all that I was taught? All these questions plus many others kept running through my mind in a complex web of confusion that previous night before our first event. And I would be lying if I told you I had a good night’s rest. The anxiety was unbearable.

#gsummit2013

The Google Student Ambassador Summit is an event that took place here in Nairobi during the first week of July. As much as I was glad to be a part of the host country I must say I really wanted it to be in another country! This could have given me a chance to experience a different setting and environment, but anyway, it was all good though. 

The main purpose of this summit was to introduce the new class of Google Student Ambassadors (GSAs) in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA).  This class constituted of about 150 students from over 80 universities around Africa. I was part of them representing team Kenya. Apart from the GSAs, in attendance were also the GBGs and GDGs, Google Business Groups and Google Developer Groups respectively.