Education Matters: Meet Rebecca Zeigler Mano of the USAP Community School in Zimbabwe & HALI Access Network
Welcome back to Episode 10 of PilotEd. Series one is drawing to a close, but this week’s guest was something of a surprise appearance. She’s an education heroine of mine. Rebecca Zeigler Mano is the founder of EdMatters Africa, the USAP Community School in Zimbabwe, and she co-founded the HALI Access Network. HALI stands for High Acheiving Low Income, and its 20+ organizations work in more than 30 countries across Africa, supporting thousands of students on their journeys to find post-secondary options with funding.
Rebecca’s own teaching career spans over two decades and has seen her in classrooms in Coastal Kenya, Northern California and Zimbabwe. Rebecca has devoted her professional life to college equity and access for talented, low-income students. She founded the United States Achievers Program, or USAP in 2000 whilst working as the Country Coordinator for EducationUSA in Zimbabwe. Primarily, the program's goal was to encourage and assist highly talented but economically disadvantaged high school graduates access scholarships and full-funding at top US colleges and universities. Starting off with 13 students, USAP has since grown into an international program. Rebecca's vision of educating the underprivileged has broken borders and through a dedicated network of Educational Advisors in countries like Mongolia, Brazil, Ecuador and the UK, USAP has significantly impacted the lives of its young people.
Rebecca is active as a presenter, trainer and leader in international education organisations such as NAFSA, IACAC, and CIS where I saw a moving keynote from her on USAP’s work last November. That speech led me to reach out directly to Rebecca. I was, as you can imagine, delighted to discover that she listens to PilotED on her morning walks, and that she could make time to be a guest.
Speaking to Rebecca was an inspiring experience in so many ways. She understands that she cannot be a voice for the whole continent, nor even for the direct experience of her Zimbabwean students, but as with any great champion or ally, she is intentional about how and where she uses her influence. She is a powerful advocate for access and inclusion in her communities in Zimbabwe, the USA and across international higher education. The HALI network’s goals are to share ideas, resources and experiences to improve their work with high-achieving, low-income students, to provide relevant and insightful information to the wider college admissions and international education community, to advocate on issues affecting high-achieving low-income international students and to increase scholarship opportunities and support for high-achieving low-income students.
If you are listening and you work for a university that strives for diversity and inclusion, there is a clear call to action here if you’re not already seeking out opportunities to work alongside organisations like HALI and USAP. There are so many others out there. To any other educator who has been profoundly moved, as I am, by what Rebecca and her team of alumni, supporters, and friends do: then you can support their work directly.
Donations for the USAP community school are gratefully received at https://usapschool.org/donate/ and http://goto.gg/47507
Education Matters - www.edmattersafrica.org
Facebook Pages - Education Matters Africa, USAP Community School
Instagram - edmatters_africa
Twitter - @edmattersafrica
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