CEL Exposed

As students we are always exposed to the faculty. They are the ones whose lessons we have to sit through, they are the ones who give us assignments, and they are the ones who we love or hate. It’s great that we love the faculty at ALA but the term coined by ALAians to describe the employees in school is ‘Staffulty’. That is Staff + Faculty but as ALAians we often forget about the Staff. So we investigated the Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership to give ALAians a clear understanding of what the Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership is about.

 

This is the organizational chart to help you out visually.

 

The Centre for Entrepreneurial Leadership is the heart of ALA. They are the body that creates the special curriculum that ALA develops and finds ways in which they can expand this curriculum to the outside world. As you can see the head of the CEL is Mr. Josh Adler. Under him is Mr. O who heads the EL department, which is focused on teaching EL. Mr. O and the rest of the EL department make up the faculty department. However, there is another realm of the CEL, which is the staff.

 

The Staff of the CEL consists of Ms. Melissa, Ms. Ruth, and Ms. Chi. Below is a basic job description of each of the staff members in the CEL.

 

Ms. Melissa

We know Ms. Melissa and it’s because a part of her job involved aiding the EL department and making sure out lessons go as smoothly as possible. However, her other roles are to assist Mr. Adler, design for the CEL department and oversee logistics for external projects such as social innovation camps, Global Scholars Program, and BUILD in Box.

 

Ms. Ruth

Ms. Ruth’s job is to evaluate the value that ALA brings to the rest of the community. Whenever an external project has been held, she assesses the value it brings. She is the one who lets the CEL department know that the work they are doing is useful or useless.

 

Ms. Chi

She is the head of the Anzisha Prize. The Anzisha prize is a subset of the CEL that aims to empower young African Entrepreneurs and leaders who didn’t get the chance to come to ALA. The applicants are we also know Ms. Chi quite well because she advertises the Anzisha prize so we can get our friends and family involved.

 

So hopefully this gave more information about what the CEL department does. Think of EL as the special curriculum that we learn at ALA and then think of CEL as the medium that spreads what we learn at ALA to the rest of the world.

 

Why We Celebrate Unsung Heroes

At ALA, we define an unsung hero as someone who does something for others but isn’t widely recognised for their positive contribution.
We celebrate two unsung heroes each month, a student and a member of staff & faculty (staffulty). The entire community votes (or is supposed to vote) and each nominee receives a small blurb on why they are appreciated.
Now there are many people in our lives that we ought to be thankful for, especially in school. Think about how difficult life would be if everyone had to cook their own breakfast, or vacuum their room, or do their own plumbing. These are all simple everyday tasks that we overlook. Then there’s the little things: that person who always has a smile for you, that person whose room is always available for you to relax in, those who always have a pen available for you because you never have one. Then there are the people who feed you: those whose pizza you always eat. Of course on the few and far between days you actually have food, they never get to share it. But I digress. The point is there are many people without whom life would be a lot less lively. A friend of mine once said that Unsung was an opportunity for people to pat others on the back and commend them for the little things. Too many times, we celebrate larger than life achievements: academic excellence, passion for Africa, entrepreneurial spirit and scientific achievements. But we hardly pause to consider the people whose minute acts make such feats possible. This is what unsung is about, thanking the man who cleans the board on which a revolutionary mathematical proofs are written. A wise man, a.k.a Mr. Findley tells me over and over that, “Success is about the little things”. Unsung is an extension of that idea, that gratitude should be fostered at all levels.
After months of nominating someone for Unsung,  you tend to take less for granted.

Fun fact: There is a 1200 minute North Korean film called Unsung Heroes.

10 Reasons Why EL is Good For You

EL is our best and worst subject but no matter what we say about it we cannot deny that it teaches us valuable skills.

BUILD It

BUILD is a human centred approach to problem solving and entrepreneurship. The BUILD lab is meant to be a six-step approach to creating the best solutions. The steps of BUILD include:

You Must Be Curious

Curiosity as defined by ALA is “we challenge the status quo and take the initiative to pursue new ideas.’ This definition is key to entrepreneurship and problem solving. The ‘Status Quo” in this definition is the problem that exists and how it seems impossible to escape the problem so sticking to the ‘Status Quo would mean simply accepting the issue at hand. However

ALA Compassion: Kakuma Experiential Video

Today, we bring you a video, created by second year student Norah Oteri, exploring just what happened in the ALA Compassion Experiential. Video just after the jump.

LeadWeek 1: Needs, Solutions & Entrepreneurial Leadership

When an ALAian (a student/graduate/teacher) talks about the African Leadership Academy as a school he/she attends, students usually have to explain the things like;

1)      How it is a two year program though some people come for the special gap year program

2)      How it is a pre-college/university program though they do A’ Levels

3)      The admission rate – how it takes only 100 people out of more than  4 000 applications

4)      It’s location in South Africa

5)      The African Studies curriculum that sets it apart from other schools

However, the one thing that students have to explain in depth, which usually leaves guests or relatives confused and excited at the same time, is the Entrepreneurial Leadership (EL) program. 

“The Entrepreneurial Leadership program is designed to build the interpersonal skills that are essential for future agents of positive change in Africa. During the first year, students develop a mindset in units with two parts: (1) classroom and experiential “lab” sessions designed to further each student’s understanding of self and his or her understanding of leadership; and (2) integrative exercise that apply the practice of leadership skills in “real-life” settings. During the second year, students complete their Culminating Project (CP), the capstone to each student’s ALA experience through the unique platform called the Student Enterprise Program. This course integrates a focus on skills and conceptual learning with personal growth and tangible action.”

To read more: http://www.africanleadershipacademy.org/building-foundation/world-class-curriculum/entrepreneurial-leadership

For the next three weeks, ALAians Media will display, appreciate and spark discussion on various topics and assignments that ALAians encounter on a day to day basis, thanks to the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership.