By Emmanuel Wamalwa & Agnetta Shilasi
Culture is often regarded as one of the most domineering means through which students nurture and exhibit their talents and skills. The cultural and career week has constantly been vibrant and lively. It is a week where talent is nurtured through different activities and events such as drama, music, dancing, search for Mr. and Mrs. KIBU and preparation and exhibition of cultural foods. With the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s culture and careers week was quite different albeit outstanding. It was marred with loud quietness and fewer activities than usual due to government regulations to curb the spread of COVID-19. Surprisingly, the cultural part of the ceremony was missing with its place dominated by career talks.The event took place between 2nd and 4th June, 2021 and was opened by the Vice Chancellor, Prof. Isaac Ipara Odeo.In his address, the Vice-Chancellor recognized the students who were in Dakar-Senegal representing the Kenya and Kibabii University in Taekwondo Championship. He encouraged students to fight, be determined and resilient despite the COVID-19 pandemic and to seize the opportunities created by the pandemic. He noted that as a result of restriction of movement, families got time to meet and have more time together hence sharing a lot of developmental ideas.
It was also during this period that some people utilized their entrepreneurship skills and nurtured talents as a source of income. The Ag. DVC (Academic and Student Affairs), Prof. Stanley Mutsotso started by defining as well as elaborating on the value of the event at the University. “Being in the University’s calendar activities, Careers Week is a moment of reflection, since we are training and preparing our students for the job market and beyond. During this occasion, we expect students to get knowledge from the invited experts to reflect and think critically about what will happen tomorrow. It helps students to think about what to do with the skills acquired from the University. This week, we appreciate that a college degree alone is not enough. It helps our graduates to gain soft skills that will make them job creators and relevant to the job market,” he said. The Chief Guest, who is the Manager, KCB Bungoma Branch, Mr. Eliud Siganga, encouraged and advised students to utilize the opportunity and the skills they acquire and to embrace innovation. He consequently opined the students not to fix their minds on securing employment after college. They should instead be innovative and entrepreneurial to create jobs hence creating employment for other people. Mr. Siganga also took students through CV writing skills, interview skills and job etiquette.
