A Positive Quote for Now

"We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty."— Maya Angelou


How a Former Schoolmate Helped Me

A True Story
by
Copyright ©
Picture related to the title of the story
In the centre is Peter Kariuki during his days at Deerfield Academy.

Three years my senior, Kariuki was a schoolmate of mine at Starehe Boys' Centre. He served as the school captain in 2003/04, and then flew to Deerfield Academy in the U.S.

At Deerfield, he applied to several American colleges and got accepted by Stanford where Bill Clinton's daughter, Chelsea, obtained a history degree in 2001. Kariuki enrolled there in 2005.

In 2006 when I was applying to four American colleges, including Stanford, I contacted him. He replied to my emails but I can't remember a thing he said. As it happened, the colleges rejected me.

I again contacted him when I was applying to four American colleges during my freshman year at JKUAT in 2007. This time, I remember him advising me to be grateful that I was in JKUAT where I was pursuing an engineering degree.

After the colleges rejected me in 2008, I reapplied in 2009. As I worked on my applications, I requested Kariuki to review my essays. He went through them and suggested how I could make them better.

He also advised me to apply to less competitive colleges as well because Stanford's standards were, and still are, high. But I went ahead and dropped my applications at only Yale, Harvard and Stanford. They all rejected me, again!

Grateful for the way Kariuki helped me in the years I applied to American colleges, I kept in touch with him before he cut me off when I offended him in 2011. I hope he'll forgive me one day.

********************
RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story, you might also enjoy "The Brotherhood in Starehe".
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Spread the Love

Facebook icon X icon LinkedIn icon

Celebrating JKUAT: Kenya's MIT

A True Story
by Thuita J. Maina
on Jul 5, 2017
Copyright ©
Picture related to the title of the story
These were my engineering classmates in their final year at JKUAT. I would have been in this photo had I not dropped out in my second year.

During my first semester at JKUAT in 2007, I taught a girl piano over the weekends. One evening when I was done teaching, her mother said this of me, "This young man is an engineering student at JKUAT."

She was speaking to a friend of hers who said JKUAT is for brilliant guys, something I now agree with given the following grades I scored in that first semester:

UnitGrade
Workshop Processes and Practice IB
Chemistry ID
Workshop Practice IIC
Communication SkillsA
AlgebraB
GeometryA
Calculus IB
Physics IC

Perhaps because I scored an 'A' in KCSE exams, those grades disturbed me. And I deserved the 'D' in chemistry because I didn't understand the atomic structure that a lecturer called Oyaro taught us.

My second semester grades were even worse, for I flunked a unit called Material Science, possibly because I hadn't understood the atomic structure that Oyaro taught us; it wasn't the simplified version we learnt in high school.

Though I dropped out of JKUAT in 2009 when the engineering course became too hot for me to handle, I cherish my JKUAT years. For one, I schooled with seven former students of Alliance High School before I repeated class in 2009.

I had gathered that Alliance sent a larger number of students to top American colleges than any other Kenyan high school did, which I still think is the case. That's why I felt honoured to school with those seven former Alliance students.

Then, JKUAT was close to Thika Town and Nairobi City but still offered a rural environment that made me feel at one with nature. I spent quite some time in the university's bucolic meadows, reading and reflecting.

JKUAT also had an excellent hospital where I was well taken care of twice, first in 2008 after I went bonkers and then in 2009 before I dropped out. I came to like the hospital so much that I wished I could get sick and be readmitted.

********************
RECOMMENDATION: If you've enjoyed this story, you might also enjoy "JKUAT: A Splendid University".
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Spread the Love

Facebook icon X icon LinkedIn icon
← Newer Stories  ||   Older Stories →

Connect With Me

Do you want to get regular updates of new stories and videos on this blog? Then connect with me on:
Facebook iconFacebook
X iconX
LinkedIn iconLinkedIn
Goodreads iconGoodreads
RSS Feed iconRSS Feed
WhatsApp iconWhatsApp


Latest Stories

Dream Come True
on December 24, 2025

Lessons From the White-Supporter Tree
on December 17, 2025

A Joke I Stopped Cracking
on December 11, 2025

Bible Quote

"Always be full of joy in the Lord; I say it again, rejoice! Let everyone see that you are unselfish and considerate in all you do... Don't worry about anything; instead pray about everything; tell God your needs and don't forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God's peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand."

~Phillipians 4:4-7 (TLB)

About the Author

Name: Thuita J. Maina
Marital status: Single
Lives in: Kiserian, Rift Valley, Kenya
Mission: To inspire the world to godly living, one person at a time.

Just for Laughs

There was this drunkard called Azoge who loved drinking at Josiah's Bar. On being told a certain Hon. Nanga was flying to America to be conferred a law degree so that he could be admitted to the bar, Azoge replied, "Why fly all the way to America to be admitted to the bar while you can get into Josiah's Bar any time?"



The 7 Deadly Sins

  1. Pride
  2. Envy
  3. Gluttony
  4. Lust
  5. Anger
  6. Greed
  7. Sloth

Author's Note

I am learning to treat life as a journey, not a destination; I have therefore given up the things that weighed me down and I am now living my life to the fullest because the tomorrow I had always hoped to live my dreams may never be mine.

Fun Facts

  1. The fear of having no cell-phone service, running out of battery, or losing sight of your phone is called Nomophobia, reportedly affecting 66% of people.
  2. A single Google search needs more computing power than it took to send Apollo 11 to the moon. The Apollo computer was less equipped than a modern toaster.
  3. Besides being some of the biggest names in the tech industry, HP, Apple, Google and Microsoft share another commonality. They all started in garages.
~Extracted from Codingforums.com

Health Tips

"So many of us take for granted the wonderful construction of the human body and the workings of its various parts. Some of us even expect it to function efficiently with less than the minimum care and attention. Learn the much you can about your body and how the care of it can help give you that greatest blessing of all - good health."

~From Your Body (A Ladybird Book)

Wonders of the Modern World

  1. The Simplon Tunnel
  2. The Sky-scrapers of New York
  3. The Boulder Dam of Colorado
  4. The Panama Canal
  5. The Golden Gate Bridge
  6. The Taj Mahal at Agra in India
  7. The North Sea Oil Drilling Rigs

The Kind of Leaders We Need

"My life in politics was a joy. I loved campaigns and I loved governing. I always tried to keep things moving in the right direction, to give more people a chance to live their dreams, to lift people's spirits, and to bring them together. That's the way I kept score."

~Bill Clinton

Scientific Marvels

  1. Space travel
  2. Heart surgery
  3. Fibre-optics communication
  4. Concorde
  5. Radios
  6. Computers
  7. Anesthetics

My Supreme Desire

To borrow the words of Elbert Hubbard, my supreme desire is to radiate health, cheerfulness, calm courage and goodwill. I wish to live without fear, hate, guilt, worry and jealousy; to be honest, natural, confident, clean in mind and body - ready to say "I do not know" if it be so; to treat all men with kindness; and to meet any loss, failure, criticism and rejection unabashed and unafraid.



Greatest American Presidents

  1. Abraham Lincoln
  2. George Washington
  3. Thomas Jefferson
  4. Franklin Roosevelt
  5. Theodore Roosevelt
  6. Woodrow Wilson
  7. Andrew Jackson

Making Peace With the Past

"Dwell not on your past. Use it to illustrate a point, then leave it behind. Nothing really matters except what you do now in this instant of time. From this moment onwards you can be an entirely different person, filled with love and understanding, ready with an outstretched hand, uplifted and positive in every thought and deed."

~Eileen Caddy

Toughest Colleges to Get Into

  1. MIT
  2. Princeton
  3. Harvard
  4. Yale
  5. Stanford
  6. Brown
  7. Columbia

Why You Should Trust God

"Men and women who turn their lives over to God will find out that He can make a lot more out of their lives than they can. He will deepen their joys, expand their vision, quicken their minds, strengthen their muscles, lift their spirits, multiply their blessings, increase their opportunities and pour out peace."

~Ezra Taft Benson

The 7 Greatest Scientists

  1. Albert Einstein
  2. Isaac Newton
  3. Galileo Galilei
  4. Nikola Tesla
  5. Aristotle
  6. Archimedes
  7. Charles Darwin

You Matter

"Always be yourself. Never try to hide who you are. The only shame is to have shame. Always stand up for what you believe in. Always question what other people tell you. Never regret the past; it's a waste of time. There's a reason for everything. Every mistake, every moment of weakness, every terrible thing that has happened to you, grow from it. The only way you can ever get the respect of others is when you show them that you respect yourself and most importantly, do your thing and never apologize for being you."

~Unknown

The Most Industrialized Nations

  1. United States
  2. Japan
  3. Germany
  4. France
  5. United Kingdom
  6. Italy
  7. Canada

Keys to Success

"...in his effort to withstand temptation, to economize, to exercise thrift, to disregard the superficial for the real - the shadow for the substance; to be great yet small, in his effort to be patient in the laying of a firm foundation; to so grow in skill and knowledge that he shall place his services in demand by reason of his intrinsic and superior worth. This is the key that unlocks every door of opportunity, and all others fail."

~Booker T. Washington

The 7 Social Sins

  1. Politics without principle
  2. Wealth without work
  3. Pleasure without conscience
  4. Knowledge without character
  5. Commerce without morality
  6. Worship without sacrifice
  7. Science without humanity

Cherish What You Love

"Cherish your visions, cherish your ideals, cherish the music that stirs in your heart, the beauty that forms in your mind, the loveliness that drapes your purest thoughts - for out of them will grow all heavenly environment, of these if you but remain true to them, your world will at last be built."~James Allen

The World's Largest Cities

  1. London in England
  2. New York in the United States
  3. Tokyo in Japan
  4. Berlin in Germany
  5. Chicago in the United States
  6. Shanghai in China
  7. Paris in France

Benefits of Optimism

"In terms of success, optimistic people out perform their pessimistic colleagues. Research shows that they are consistently promoted higher and make more money while working fewer hours than those who think pessimistically. Optimists also contribute more significantly to social progress. It is the optimists who start and run successful companies, who win elections and carry out reforms, and who make breakthroughs in the realms of science and technology."

~Pepe Minambo

The World's Greatest Lakes

  1. Caspian Sea in the Commonwealth of Independent States, C.I.S. (formerly U.S.S.R)
  2. Lake Superior in North America
  3. Victoria Nyanza in Central Africa
  4. Aral Sea in C.I.S.
  5. Lake Huron in North America
  6. Lake Michigan in North America

Demonstrating His Love

"Take your communication for instance - the way you address others. It ought to be with loving, gracious and edifying words. Never talk people down. Never use words that hurt and demean people. Communicate excellently with others without destroying their self-image or making them feel sorry for themselves. Talk to people in a way that they never forget the excellence of your words, the love and grace of Christ that you communicated. It's how God wants us to love."

~Dr. Chris Oyakhilome

World's Longest Rivers

  1. Missouri-Mississipi (U.S.)
  2. Amazon (Brazil)
  3. Nile (Egypt)
  4. Yangtse (China)
  5. Lena (Russia)
  6. Zaire (Central Africa)
  7. Niger (West Africa)