Williston helped Kevin Mwangi ’24 discover new talents and connections
When Kevin Mwangi ’24 and his mother, Jennifer Njuki, were weighing his options for secondary school, Jennifer initially had concerns about Williston Northampton. Born in Kenya and educated at an all-girls’ boarding school in Nairobi, she wanted to make sure her son would feel included in the school community. “I was quite concerned about the fact that Williston didn’t have a lot of kids coming from different minority groups,” recalls Jennifer, a nurse who lives in Wilbraham. “I just didn’t want him to go there and be the one kid that stood out.”
Four years later, Kevin has indeed stood out—but not in the way that Jennifer imagined. With his easy approachability and engaging personality, he was elected president of his senior class. In that role, he addressed the school community at convocation last spring and spoke of his appreciation for Williston, urging his classmates to make the most of an experience that clearly has had a powerful impact on him. “No matter which grade you’re in, I encourage you to show up, embrace each moment and cherish it, because it doesn’t last forever.”
Today Jennifer has no doubts about Kevin’s decision to attend Williston, a choice the family could make thanks to the school’s generous financial aid offer. “Kevin has actually made more friends from minority groups than he had ever made his entire life,” she notes. “He has been more at home there than at any school that he’s ever been to.”
Indeed, from his first tour of the school, Kevin says Williston felt “like a good community.” He had just graduated from a local charter middle school and was enrolled in A Better Chance, an academic support program that connects students of color with independent schools. Even then, says his mother, Kevin would often put his popularity to good use, making a point of reaching out to kids who he saw as needing a friend. But she was still surprised by his decision to run for class president four years later, an indication of the new maturity instilled by his time at Williston. “He normally just loves being around, not being at the top,” she says with a laugh. But now, she adds, “He initiates things. He takes the lead. He has really grown up.”
His mother has noticed another change that Williston—or more specifically, its international student body—has brought out in her son. “For him to meet kids coming from different places, and to see how proud they are of their culture, has given him pride in his culture,” says Jennifer, who still has parents and other family living in Kenya. “He appreciates his culture more. He wants to go to Kenya, and when he does, he wants to be involved in what is happening. Before he went as a visitor. Now he goes to Kenya and says I want to learn this culture. And that Williston has given him.”
For his part, Kevin is also appreciative of something that Williston did not give him. “The thing that I like most about the financial aid here is that it didn’t have an impact on me at all. At times, I was actually able to forget that I was on it,” he says. “It’s not like there was like a big marker on my head saying, this kid is on financial aid. So, while there’s different socioeconomic statuses in the school, the financial aid allowed me to forget about it and focus more on my own character.”
Next fall Kevin plans to attend the University of Massachusetts Amherst to study molecular and cellular biology, starting a pre-med track with a goal of a career in oncology (he has family who have been impacted by cancer). He’ll be joining a long line of relatives in the health care profession, beginning with his great-grandfather, who was a doctor in Kenya. In addition to his mother, who studied nursing at Penn State, his father is an educator and nurse with a master’s in public health (he divides his time between Kenya and the U.S.). His uncle and aunt are also nurses, as is his older sister; his cousin just graduated with a degree in pharmacology. “There are a lot of medical degrees around him,” notes his mother.
But for now, Kevin is taking his own convocation advice and trying to appreciate his remaining time in Easthampton. “There’s a cycle at Williston,” he explains. “As a kid, you don’t really see it until you’re almost out. But when you step back and look at it, there’s opportunity and hopefulness that the new kids don’t even realize.
“I guess I’m trying to say,” he adds. “I’ve just been really nostalgic as I’m preparing to leave.”