David Angwenyi

Position: Science TeacherSchool: Hopewell Valley Central High SchoolSchool District: Hopewell Valley Regional School DistrictCity, State: Pennington, New Jersey
About the Nominee: Dr. David Angwenyi was nominated by a friend, Vincent Mongare.Dr. Angwenyi is an inspiration, motivator and builder. Through his work, he has shown a great passion for helping and encouraging both the fortunate and less fortunate in his community. He has helped develop and mold young people into leaders in their communities. From organizing service and charitable events to helping the needy, his ability to connect different cultures and his service to the greater humanity reflects a calling of high purpose. He develops, encourages, builds and connects as shown in all his positions and places of work. Dr. Angwenyi is a true role model of doing good and bringing about a great change and difference in people's lives.Dr. Angwenyi is a well-known and respected teacher who has immense experience working with young people in Kenya and the United States. He is the founder of two successful NGOs: Global Connections Kenya Foundation and Hopewell-Keroka Alliance, both of which promote partnerships between the people of Kenya and the United States in order to improve the living conditions of the people in Kenya.Hopewell-Keroka Alliance (HKA) is a charitable organization based in Pennington, NJ. Its sister organization, HKA-Keroka, is based in Nyanchonori Village in Kenya. Both organizations help to manage community-desired health, education and infrastructure-improvement projects on the ground in Kenya. HKA-New Jersey has raised over $170,000 over the past eight years in support of these projects, which have significantly improved the living conditions of people in Kenya.As a global educator, Dr. Angwenyi is always eager to bring students into the twenty-first century using a unique combination of learning experiences that takes students beyond the classroom in order to create and nurture a life-long love of knowledge with a global perspective.Committed to the concept of educational diplomacy, Dr. Angwenyi led the first group of 15 students from Hopewell Valley to Kenya in 2007. Inspired by the often-harsh realities of life they had witnessed in rural Kenya, Hopewell Valley residents collaborated the following year to launch the HKA, a non-profit, all-volunteer, charitable organization as a cultural bridge between the US and Kenya. The number of students from the US participating in this unique Global Connections Kenya Experience Program grows every year, and it has evolved into a two-way youth exchange program.In 2010, Dr. Angwenyi was awarded the Best Practice Educator Award by the Committee on the Teaching about the United Nations (CTAUN).Dr. Angwenyi is among the pioneering leaders of Kenya United Diaspora Organization (KUDO), a Kenyan diaspora network whose mission is to enhance the rights of Kenyans in the diaspora by providing a forum for Kenyans to utilize their knowledge, skills and abilities to develop prosperity as they pursue the American dream.He is currently working with a team of Kenyan educators in both the USA and Kenya to develop a program linking children of Kenyan descent to their native country. The goal of this program is to help these children maintain their interest in Kenya in perpetuity. In this regard, a two-way youth exchange program is in the works.[nominee_videos nominee_email="angwenyidm@gmail.com"]