Briana McNeil
Professor Leith
First Year Connection Seminar
10/4/13
Mission Statement Essay
A School for My Village is a novel that tells the journey that Twesigye Jackson went through to build the Nyaka School for HIV/AIDS orphans in Uganda, Africa. Twesigye’s goal was to give the impoverished children in his village the opportunities that they would most likely never have if the Nyaka School did not exist. On the other hand, Rosemont College’s mission is to develop student’s character in all ways possible. A School for My Village connects to Rosemont College’s mission statement through its emphasis on community and character building.
Rosemont College’s mission statement is, that the college “seeks to develop in all members of the community open and critical minds and the ability to make reasoned moral decisions” (“Mission Statement”). The college’s mission is to develop every student in ways that will build their character so that they are ready to be productive members of society. Similar to the Rosemont College’s mission statement, Twesigye Jackson in A School for My Village did everything in his power to ensure that the students have the opportunity to get the education that will give them the skills to make better lives for themselves. In the novel, Twesigye offered to pay for Eva and Finoa, two orphaned young female students too old to attend the Nyaka School, to go to high school if they are able to get good scores on their exams (Jackson 110-117). Twesigye advised the girls on how to succeed in school by telling them to stay away from boys, to carry you around their reading books if it is hard for them to find the time to study, and what to do about teasing (Jackson 110-117). For these two girls and several others, Twesigye worked to help the children build a life that is better than what they have.
At Rosemont College and the Nyaka School, community is at the base of everything. Rosemont College’s mission statement states, “Rosemont College...