Harvard at MaP

the keeping you on the MaP

From left: Lerato Takana, Ayana Gray, Nia Meadows, Anna Mazur and Char Deslandes

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Every year, MaP students receive tu-toring and mentorship from a group of extraordinary Harvard University undergraduates for eight weeks. They advise on students’ written work, help senior students prepare compelling college essays, teach classes and clinics, and provide SAT instruction. Their impact on our students is won-derful to see. This year, the MaP com-munity welcomes Lerato Takana, Aya-na Gray, Nia Meadows, Anna Mazur and Char Deslandes.Meet the 2018 Harvard Scholars:

Lerato Takana is a rising sophomore at Harvard, who intends to do a double major in Physics and Mathematics, with

a minor in Computer Sci-ence. Born and raised in Le-

sotho, he is deeply involved in African Entrepreneurial Initiatives on campus. He recently established the Lesotho Innovation Expo, a non-governmen-tal organisation which offers grants and mentorship to young innovators for their creative ideas. At MaP, Lera-to intends to participate in our sports programme and assist with college mentoring.

Ayana Gray is a rising sophomore at Harvard. She plans to study Bio-medical Engineering

and Economics and pur-sue a citation in French.

Outside classes, Ayana spends most of her time rowing on the Radcliffe Varsity Lightweight Crew team and volunteering with the Small Claims Advisory Service, an organization that gives free legal information to Massa-chusetts residents. Ayana is interested in sports and music at MaP.

Nia Meadows is a native of Harlem, New York and a freshman at Harvard. She will major in Social Studies with a citation

in Spanish. She hosts a weekly jazz radio show, per-

forms in a music duo and provides free music lessons through the Phil-lips Brooks House. She also works at the Harvard Film Studies Library. She hopes to spend her time at MaP be-ing an ally to any student who needs

support.Anna Mazur is a rising

senior at Harvard, con-centrating on Human Evolutionary Biology

with a secondary in the

Studies of Women, Gender and Sexu-ality. She is a Polish-American student from Brooklyn, NY, where she was heavily involved in youth initiatives at the Red Cross. She is a Drug & Alcohol Peer Advisor (DAPA), senior manager of a student-run café, and a member of several global health organizations. She’s interested in helping MaP stu-dents with SAT-prep, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) and arts & crafts.

Char Deslandes is a rising junior at Harvard, who is pursuing a concentra-tion in History and Liter-ature, with a secondary

field in Economics and a language citation in Span-

ish. She is the incoming President of the Harvard Caribbean Club for the 2019/20 academic year. Char, who is of British-Jamaican descent, takes Jamaican Patois courses facilitated by Harvard’s Center of African Studies as part of her plan of study for History and Literature. She hopes to pursue research in Jamaica for the project that will become her eventual thesis. Char is the Peer Research Fellow for Leverett House. She’s interested in college mentorship and youth confi-dence building at MaP.

the compasshalf-term, term two

brought to you by the MaP Journalists & Photographers

team of:

Morongoa Mosetlhi (Editor)Mariza Klingenberg (1J)

Bosa Pheko (1J)Juanita Kilonda (1K)

Mandipa Matshameko (1K)Shamira Ntuara (1K)

Amantle Mokone (1L)Sania Chittipally (1M)

Nazia Petkar (1M)Setho Tau (1M)

Nayantara Vijay (1M)Karen Wang (1M)

Olerato Leburu (2J)Letona Mtonga (2M)

Arivumathi Muthuraja (2M)Theo Radimo (2M)Wezi Mtonga (3J)

Marcus Botha (3K)Apele Butale (3K)

Iris Evans (3K)Moatlhodi Galekhutle (3K)

Nthepa Kitso (3K)Naomi Matale (3K)Eng Moonwa (3K)Katso Moseki (3K)

Kao Reetsang (3K)Rebafenyi Moroka (3L)

Batho Sento (3L)Moses Ocitti (3M)

Samuel Sarkozi (4J)Louis Magana (4L)Yongbo Zhang (4L)

and to everyone who submitted additional content to this edition,

or helped with fact-checkingand the labelling of photographs

Got a story? Contact us!www.maruapula.orgTel: 391 2953 ext. 259

Email:morongoa.mosetlhi@maruapula.org

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“I am Jake Tanzer, on exchange from St John’s College in Johan-nesburg, South Africa. I enjoy debating and drama, represent-ing St John’s for both. I play chess as well as hockey and bas-ketball. I decided to go on exchange to meet new people and discover a new schooling style, as well as see a different culture. I hope that at MaP I can find out what is important in a

school as well as broader society. I hope that I can learn about everything that MaP has to offer.”

Ecole Alsacienne @ MaP

Irene Souny, Thalia Mouzannar and Salome Peyrache (above) are students visiting MaP on exchange from Ecole Alsacienne in Paris, France. The girls will spend six weeks at MaP, interacting with our community, participating in our SPE programme and learning about Setswana culture

Roxbury Latin @ MaP

Ian Balaguera and Liam O’Connor are spending this month (June) at MaP on exchange from Roxbury Latin School. During their stay, Ian hopes to play for the MaP soccer team in a tournament and Liam looks forward to being part of our diverse, multicultural community.

A Visit from Ms Wendy Davies

St John’s @ MaP

Ms Wendy Davies, American Friends of Maru-a-Pula Vice President, visit-ed MaP on June 5th to gain a better understanding of our how our school works and its needs. Ms Davies was first involved with MaP when she host-ed our Marimba band during their 2012 tour. One of her favourite things about MaP is that the school is rooted in community service. In future, she hopes to see the school continuing to attract, retain and support its faculty members, as well diversify the student body.

From left: Mr Walter C Johnsen, Ms Wendy Davies, Ms Cara Peterson and Mr Walter D Johnsen

On Friday 14th June, the Form 5 Busi-ness Studies students, accompanied by Mr Tswaipe, took a trip to Kgalagadi Plastics Industries (KPI) in order to learn about their production methods and other aspects of their business. At KPI we learnt the process by which they produce plastic bags and discovered that almost every plastic bag we find in our houses in Botswana was made by them!- Francis Tettey 5M

F5 Business Studies Trip to KPI

Mr Basele registered me for the Basketball Officials’ Training Course, which took place from 19 th - 21

st April and was run by Ms Dorothy Okatch

from the Botswana Bas-ketball Association (BBA). The course was open to people from Botswana Integrated Sports Association (BISA), Botswana Tertiary Student Sport Asso-ciation (BOTESSA) and other interest-ed parties. Most of the participants were coaches or past players and ev-eryone was very welcoming. During the course we did theory, practical and fitness tests. The professionalism and intensity of the situation were completely different to the environ-ment at our weekly friendly games. I am excited to now be a licensed offi-cial and to engage with the sport at a higher level. I’d like to thank Mr Basele and the BBA for this opportunity.- Wesi Gaobolelelwe (L6L)

On Friday 17th May, 32 students and two teachers embarked on a short rugby tour to Francistown to partic-ipate in a pre-season tournament at the Old Francistown Stadium. The boys’ and girls’ squads consisted of the Under 17 and Under 19 teams.On the day of the tournament, the Un-der 17 girls, coached by Disa, played one game against Pelaelo JSS, which they lost. The Under 19 girls’ team played two games, the first against Mater Spei College, which they won comfortably and the second against

Selebi Phikwe SSS which they lost, after putting in a great effort to compete against one of the best teams in the country. The Under 17 boys’ team had a very successful tournament. They played three games and won two. The Under 19 boys’ team lost a tightly contested game against Francistown SSS.Overall, the trip to Francistown was a great success and was excellent preparation for the upcoming BISA school tournaments.- Mr Gregory Dube

Rugby Tour to FrancistownOfficials’ Training Course

Open Dance Workshop

On June 4th, MaP students attended a workshop hosted by Marcel Gbeffa (Beninese Choreographer) and Clement Duthoit (French Saxophonist), and organised by MaP’s Music Department. The duo taught the students a contemporary dance routine after showing them the proper way to warm up. The participants left having learned some new moves and feeling revitalised.

Juilliard @ MaP

Ms Kylie James and Mr Myles Hunter

This term, Myles Hunter and Kylie James, graduates from the Juilliard School of Perfoming Arts, are visiting MaP to facilitate dance workshops for students and local artists. The work-shops will run from June 10th - 19th, and culminate in a performance on June 20th in Maitisong. The exchange began in 2010 and is an extension of MaP’s 47 year tradition of community outreach. It provides students and art-ists in Botswana with the opportunity to gain experience as performers. Meet the Dancers:Myles Langston Hunter is a native of Los Angeles, California. He has per-formed at the Guggenheim Museum, showcasing the works of choreogra-pher Helen Simoneau. He spent timedancing at several programmes in-cluding Perry-Mansfield, Bodytraffic, NDT and Arts Umbrella.

In his spare time, Myles builds his skills as a clothing, costume and dance wear designer. He is the creator, founder and seamster of a clothing line called Luxury Langston. Kylie James, born in Miami, Florida, began dancing at age 3. She has worked with world-renowned chore-ographers such as Helen Simoneau, Katarzyna Skarpetowska, Roy Assaf and Stefanie Batten Bland. She has also performed works by Bill T. Jones, Twyla Tharp and Mark Morris. Kylie’s background in dance has given her diverse experience in ballet, pointe, contemporary, jazz, hip hop, tap and lyrical. Over the years, she has trained at prestigious programmes such as The Joffrey Ballet, IbStage in Barce-lona, and Alonzo King LINES Ballet to name a few.

Barclays Build Family Fun DayOn May 25th, MaP’s Barclays Build ser-vice group hosted a Family Fun Day and raised P50, 000.00 for the Cancer Association of Botswana, specifically for children living with cancer. Throughout the day, the school fields were filled with laughter, chatter and fun activities. Parents, students and staff members spent their day indulg-ing in delicious snacks, playing sports and competing in races. At the end of the day, raffle winners walked away with generous prizes including cake, car batteries, vouchers, meals out and movie tickets!Special thanks to Exclusive Books (10 x P300 book vouchers), Aquarian Tide Hotel (Bed & Breakfast for 2), Adega (10 x P100 meal tickets), Taurus Batter-ies (3 x P500 vouchers), Chelsea Spa, Rodizio (P500 meal voucher), China Restaurant (P300 meal voucher), Life Cycle (6 Bicycles for fund-raising), BC & LM Gas (6kg Gas Canister), Nosa (P500 donation) and the Barclays Build parents for their generous support.

UM6 Leavers’ DinnerOn May 26th, we bid farewell to our UM6 class of 2019. They capped off their A-Level studies with a Leavers’ Dinner at The Blue Tree, a fun photoshoot and a chance to try their hand at golf. Mr Taylor spoke inspiringly about the importance of education, and what they could do to contribute when they return from their studies abroad. The students also shared highlights of their time at MaP. We wish them all the best!

The UM6 went on a cultural history trip on May 23rd to learn more about Botswana’s past before they head overseas to some of the world’s top universities. They visited Old Shoshong and Old Palapye, where they were treated to a trea-sure-trove of information by National Museum guides. Laone Ramogerita (UM6): “The trip proved to be both pleasurable and informative. We learned to appreciate the history and beauty of our country. Thank you to Mr Laverick for organizing this outing.”

UM6 Trip to Old Palapye

BIHL Trust Donates P250,000 to Orphan’s & Vulnerable Children (OVC) Fund

On Tuesday June 18th, BIHL Trust donated P 250,000 to MaP’s OVC Fund. This annual donation began in 2010 and to date, BIHL Trust has donated over P1,500,000 Pula. Bo-tswana Life CEO, Mr Ronald Samu-els graced the morning assembly along with trustees Major General Bakwena Oitsile (Chairman of the BIHL Trust), Tebogo Sefhemo (BIHL Trust Administrator) and Tebogo Keepetsoe (BIHL PR, Communica-tions and Marketing Manager). Mr Ronald Samuels: “The BIHL Trust has remained a proud partner of the MaP OVC Scholarship pro-gramme over the years. Through our partnership, we are able to play our part in offering this prestigious opportunity to students who exhibit remarkable scholarly brilliance.”

From left: Mr Ronald Samuels, Ms Tebogo Keepetsoe, Major General Bakwena Oitsile, Ms Neo Mokgwathi (Director of Development at MaP), Principal Andy Taylor and Mr Tebogo Sefhemo

This term, the MaP community welcomes Mr Gregory Dube as a teacher in our History and Career Counselling Departments. Born and raised in Zimbabwe, Mr Dube’s career spans well over a decade. He originally planned to be a lawyer, but instead discovered a passion for teaching as a sports coach while studying History in Canada. He returned to Africa in 2003, teaching at Livingstone Kolobeng Col-

lege and Legae Academy.Mr Dube knew of MaP’s reputation through his work with staff members such as Mr Laverick and Ms Job-

son. When he saw our vacancy advert, he “took the opportunity to move to a world-class school”. In his time so far, Mr Dube has enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and feels the resources available to students and teachers at MaP are impressive.He believes that “you only get somewhere by working hard” and “you should always treat others how you want to be treated”. He hopes to one day watch a Liverpool game at Anfield Stadium, to see a Rugby World Cup Final and to take his mom on a trip to Israel! His advice to students interested in teaching as a career is that they are not going to make money, but it will be truly satisfying to see their students grow.

Mr Greg Dube, History Teacher

Form 1 Parents have Coffee with Mr Taylor

Our Form 1 parents visited the campus on May 24th for Coffee with Principal Taylor. During the session, parents and teach-ers mingled and got to know each other better. Parents also had an opportunity to sit with Principal Taylor to learn more about MaP and ask any questions they had about the school.

Using Social Media ResponsiblyFrom May 20th - 21st, Ms Emma Sadleir, one of South Africa’s experts on Social Media Law, visited MaP to talk to par-ents and students about the use of social media and the risks of misuse.

With various examples related to how social media misuse ruined reputa-tions, Ms Sadleir stressed how digital content is dangerous content. She noted that by joining most of these sites, you give them a perpetual licence to use any of your content. She added that, because phones can be stolen or hacked into, any-thing saved on these devices can be easily accessed. She advised her audience that they should post nothing they would not be prepared to see printed on a bill-board, with their full names and pho-tos, for their parents to see. She also suggested that they avoid keeping private content on their phones.

Ms Emma Sadleir is the founder of the Digital Law Co, which specialises in educating the public on the legal, disciplinary and reputational risks of social media. She is the co-author of Don’t Film Yourself Having Sex... And Other Legal Advice for Social Me-dia (Penguin Random House, 2014) and Selfies, Sexts and Smartphones: A Teenager’s Online Survival Guide (Penguin Random House, 2017). She also co-wrote the social media sec-tion of the legal textbook, Communi-cations Law (Lexis Nexus, 2015).

Students reflect on Ms Sadleir’s Talk:“I learned to be aware of what I post on social media and how to use it wisely.”- Karen Wang (1M)

“It was surprising to find out that, in Botswana, once you are eight years old, you can legally be arrested. Ms Sadleir’s talk helped us understand the consequences of our actions.”- Nayantara Vijay (1M)

Ms Sadleir covered a lot of top-ics, from not so harmless pranks to people getting into trouble for things they posted. Her talk made me more aware and careful of what I post on social media and I hope that others will do the same.”- Bosa Pheko (1J)

Ms Sadleir’s talk was amazing and I really enjoyed it. She taught us the difference between hate speech and free speech, reminding us that, even though free speech is our right, it has limitations.”- Arivumathi Muthuraja (2M)

Ms Sadleir taught us about the dangers of social media, including cyberbullying and revenge pornogra-phy. Using examples, she showed us how important it is that we be careful whenever we publish anything online.- Amantle Mokone (1L)

BSE Opening Bell CeremonyOn Friday 7th June, Leungo, Lame, Muhammed, Bogosi and I had the honour of attending the Botswana Stock Exchange opening ceremo-ny, “the Ringing of the Bell”, where the Minister of Tertiary Education, Research, Science and Technology, Honourable Thapelo Olopeng, offi-ciated. This involved ringing the bell, which indicates the commencement of trading for the day. They also an-nounced that they will be holding the annual BSE Senior Secondary Schools Finance and Investment competition, in which we will be participating. We are looking forward to competing and attempting to beat the current champions, Lobatse Senior Second-ary School. Attending this prestigious event was an enriching experience and we are all looking forward to the competition in August. - Elena Babu (5K)

On Friday 31st May, the U6 History class visited the Johannesburg Holocaust and Genocide Centre. We hoped that this trip would deepen our knowledge of the Holocaust, transforming the topic into something more than pages in a textbook. Our session involved a guided tour through the different exhibitions, short films and discussions, where we examined the role of the perpetrators, victims and bystanders.As we face growing intolerance, political extremism, and indifference, these lessons for humanity are as relevant as ever. We left the Centre with the words “Never Again” ingrained in our minds. On the bus ride back to Gaborone, the words became more of a question - one that we will continue to ask ourselves. Never Again. Never Again?- Nancy Liu (U6)

U6 History Trip to Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre

MaP SportsBISA SportsU17 Rugby vs Livingstone Kolobeng College and Bokamoso JSS (8th - 9th June)The U17 boys’ Rugby team lost in a close match to LKC on Saturday; the score was 15 - 7. The team then beat Bokamoso CJSS (20 - 5), with some strong rugby.U17 Rugby vs Gaborone West and Bakgatla CJSS (15th - 16th June)The U17 boys’ team won both match-es with scores of 12 - 7 and 38 - 0 re-spectively. The U17 girls’ team lost both their games.Soccer, Netball & Basketball (15th - 16th June)Coming from a previous loss of 20 - 0, the U17 boys’ Soccer team beat Ma-oka CJSS (4 - 3) in a very interesting home game. The U19 Netball team played three games, losing one and winning the other two.The U19 boys’ Basketball team played and won four matches, while the U19 girls’ Basketball team played and won three matches.

ISSSA Netball & Soccer U14, U16 & U19 vs GIS (22nd May)Our teams played friendly matches with the following results:Netball: U14 - won (4 - 2); U16 - won (21 - 10); U19 - won (31 - 1).Soccer: U14 - won (4 - 3); U16 - lost (1 - 4); U19 - won (3 - 0).U14, U16 & U19 vs Rainbow (5th June)Our Netball teams won all their match-es as follows: U14 6 - 1, U16 26 - 10, and U19 35 - 10. In Soccer, the U14 and U16 teams lost (3 - 2 and 1 - 0 respectively), while the U19 team won (4 - 3).U14, U16 & U19 vs Westwood (12th June)The Netball teams won all their match-es as follows:U14: 5 - 2; U16: 8 - 0 and U19: 19 - 8 The U16 Soccer team lost (1 - 0) and the U19 team won (8 - 0).

TennisISSSA Tennis Tournament (8th June)This year’s ISSSA Singles Tournament saw MaP play against Westwood In-ternational School, Legae Academy, and Gaborone International. Sheran Edirisinghe (2J) came in 1st place, win-ning a gold medal in the U16 Single Male categorary, and Pragya Maini (4J) won a silver medal in the U16 Sin-gle Female category. Well done to the team!

ISSSA BadmintonMaP entered two players, Gautam Dinesh (U6) and Saikrishna Achalla (U6). In a knock-out tournament, they played a total of five games, losing one and winning four.

Cycling:Congratulations to Sekao

Ntau (2J), who came in 2nd Place in the Wom-en Youth Category at this year’s National Cy-

cling Championships. Since the beginning of

t h e year, Sekao has entered nu-merous races, earning podium finish-es and monetary prizes. These include the Orapa Classic Cyling Challenge (55km - 1st Place), the Airport Junc-tion Race for Cancer (60km - 2nd Place) and the First Capital Bank Cy-cling Challenge (60km - 1st Place).

Sheran Edirisinghe (2J)

BISA Rugby (8th - 9th June)