Speak & Soar at St. Patrick's Secondary School, Choma District

Today, the Speak & Soar Project continued its mission of expanding access to career guidance, opportunity awareness, and personal development among young people through a successful engagement at St. Patrick's Secondary School in Choma District.

Speak & Soar, a project under the Chapters program — one of the programs of The Forge — seeks to ensure that young people are not limited by a lack of information, exposure, or access to opportunities.

The engagement brought together 135 learners for an interactive session focusing on career guidance, sponsorship opportunities, personal growth, goal setting, and intentional planning for the future.

The team was warmly welcomed by the school's Headteacher, who encouraged the facilitators to feel at home as they interacted with the learners.

Madam Rhodah Mwanza facilitated discussions on career guidance, self-discovery and informed decision-making. Learners were encouraged to understand themselves better, identify their strengths and interests, and pursue pathways that align with who they are rather than simply following trends or external expectations.

In one of the session's most memorable moments, Madam Mwanza challenged learners to go home and sit down with themselves and ask a deeply important question about identity and purpose.

She emphasised that meaningful career and life decisions begin with self-awareness and that understanding one's strengths, values, passions and aspirations is often the first step towards building a fulfilling and purposeful future.

The sponsorship and opportunity awareness session was facilitated by Mr. Gift Simweene, who introduced learners to educational financing and support opportunities available to young people in Zambia, including opportunities through the Higher Education Loans and Scholarships Board (HELSB), TEVET institutions and CDF Skills Bursaries, among others.

Drawing from both his own educational journey and the experiences of two of his friends, Mr. Simweene demonstrated the importance of not only exploring opportunities but also understanding oneself and making informed career and life decisions.

Through these examples, he encouraged learners to think critically about their futures and to approach educational and professional decisions with intentionality, self-awareness, and purpose.

Mr. Dalitsani Banda, Founder and President of The Forge, facilitated a session on goal setting, personal development and intentional living.

He challenged learners to first develop a clear understanding of who they want to become in life and then begin working backwards from that destination. According to Mr. Banda, once a goal has been clearly defined, it should begin to influence decisions, habits, priorities and behaviour.

He encouraged learners to visualise themselves as the people they aspire to become and to intentionally align their daily actions with that vision.

He explained that if a learner's goal is to obtain six points at Grade 12, then that learner's lifestyle should already reflect the discipline, commitment, consistency and work ethic required to achieve that outcome. A goal of academic excellence, he noted, cannot coexist with habits of laziness, procrastination or lack of preparation.

Drawing from some of his own personal goals and experiences, Mr. Banda encouraged learners to understand that success rarely happens by accident. It is often the result of deliberate decisions, disciplined habits and sustained effort over time. He concluded by encouraging learners to work not only hard but also strategically — reminding them that effort produces greater results when guided by clear goals, proper planning and intentional action.

The response from learners was highly encouraging. Participants demonstrated genuine interest in the opportunities and pathways that were presented to them.

Following the engagement, the Deputy Headteacher expressed appreciation to both the team and The Forge for the initiative, and requested that the organisation considers developing a structured engagement schedule that would allow the project to begin with Form One learners and progressively move upwards through the grades.

Reflecting on his own educational journey, he shared that he himself lacked access to such information during his secondary school years, and expressed his desire that current learners should not have to experience the same uncertainty.

The feedback received from the school further reinforces both the relevance and urgency of the Speak & Soar Project and highlights the growing need for structured career guidance and opportunity exposure initiatives within secondary schools.

Every engagement reminds us of a simple reality: many young people do not lack ambition. They do not lack intelligence. They do not lack potential.

Too often, they simply lack information, exposure and access. That is why Speak & Soar exists.