You should think that a keen learner is able to honour the philosophy in the motto to prepare for the more demanding life as a parent, a professional, and an adult.
STRONG to Serve is Alliance High School’s motto. At Starehe Boys Centre, founders, in the school motto or philosophy, challenged students who are built to last as good men that they ought to aim higher (Na Tulenge Juu, in Kiswahili, it reads).
According to the acting Starehe Boys Centre director Josphat Mwaura, those who pass through the school founded by Geoffrey Griffin in 1959 should be able to withstand the environment and just do good.
“The hallmark of The Starehe Way is to maintain an independent mind and remain unadulterated by any corruption around you,” Mwaura said at the centre’s 60th anniversary celebrations end of July.
How many people take time to reflect on the school motto that appears on school communication and documents? Or, is there a need to recognise the school’s philosophy?
You should think that a keen learner is able to honour the philosophy in the motto to prepare for the more demanding life as a parent, a professional, and an adult.
One of Nyanza’s top schools Agoro Sare had another gem for a motto: Labour to Success. How many alumni of the school are applying that philosophy in their lives by putting in honest work as a teacher, engineer, nurse, doctor, farmer or journalist? Could you still labour to succeed even when everyone around you seems to have their fingers in the cookie jar?
Getting a philosophy right is able to turn around a learner who may have landed at a school with nothing but the examination marks.
And in 1902 when Nairobi School was getting off the starting blocks, their motto was To The Uttermost. The uttermost means the farthest point, probably being the springboard for beginners and the much needed fuel for any student who may feel overwhelmed to keep aiming higher.
Indeed, it is possible that through these mottos, Kenyans could end up with an unassailable synergy.
At university and at the office, people from Agoro Sare would be labouring to succeed, always aiming higher, pushed by their Starehe colleagues to hit the peak, shown the way by those who passed exams at Nairobi School.
Kenya High’s Servire est Regnare is Latin for “to serve is to reign”. Indeed, those whose goal is serving others would be the people to reduce and ultimately kill corruption, hate, and laziness, some of the ills that hurt progress and human dignity.
What was your school motto? Did it influence your studies or career choice? Has it given you the vantage point anywhere in life?
