It takes 19 years for a Ugandan student to graduate with a university degree. Nineteen years is a long time to wait for an uncertain future, and during those 19 years, dropping out of school to work looms as a very real option. Most students from poor families don’t have the role models and mentors to encourage them to stick it out and finish a degree. Many give up on their aspirations.

To give students vision for their future, to decrease their uncertainty and to motivate them to stay in school, Invisible Children’s Schools for Schools (S4S) team, with the help of local experts, has organized routine career guidance for its 11 partner schools.

Sister Margaret Aceng, dean of students at Gulu University, was one of the three facilitators at the career guidance and counseling session attended by roughly 260 students at St. Mary’s College Lacor.

Aceng shared her story, how despite being unable to afford high school, she was determined enough to pursue education through alternative certificate programs. In that way, she was able to earn her master’s degree and is currently pursuing a PhD. Her message to students was to be self-driven learners who know their goals, abilities and interests, and have competent knowledge of the subjects that pertain to their future careers. She encouraged students to plan for the future and take the initiative to use libraries without being told.

“You should want to study with all your heart,” she said.

Aceng’s narrative provided the inspiration that many students of St. Mary’s College Lacor weren’t hearing anywhere else. She helped them see that education is worth pursuing, even if circumstances make it feel impossible. Through workshops like this one, the S4S team hopes to plant a career vision in the minds of students that will carry them through all 19 years of school.

-Eric