January 16, 2013

UC Irvine Magazine

Dreaming Big

By: Kathryn Bold

Following is an excerpt from the UC Irvine Magazine cover story featuring Bren School student Nithin Jilla. To read the full article and view additional photos, download the magazine here.

After starting a campus club to assist Kenya schools, UCI undergraduate Nithin Jilla now aims to improve access to education on a global scale

When Nithin Jilla first floated the idea of starting a club at UC Irvine to raise serious money for secondary schools in Kenya, he encountered skepticism — and for good reason. It was the summer of 2010, and he was just a freshman who hadn’t even taken his first class.

“I was at SPOP [UCI’s Student Parent Orientation Program], and we were talking about what goals we wanted to accomplish during college. I said I wanted to help less fortunate students in Kenya get an education,” recalls Jilla, now a third-year computer science major. “People were in disbelief. They didn’t think it would happen.”

They don’t doubt him anymore. Since he came to campus and founded the UCI chapter of Kenya Dream, the group has covered two years’ tuition for 16 students through The School Fund and raised more than $50,000 for renovation projects at three Kenyan schools.

Members are supporting efforts to rebuild a science lab at a secondary school in Nthimbiri that currently has no roof and a few old pieces of equipment; create a library and provide textbooks for students at Nkubu Victory Academy; and fix a dilapidated school in Kachiuru.

Read more at:
http://communications.uci.edu/magazine/2013winter.pdf
Dreaming Big