March 12 2025, saw the Optiven Foundation award St. Michael Mukui Secondary School in Kirinyaga as the best school in The Go Green na Optiven 2024. The school that got 56 out of 57 points from 19 participating schools impressed the judges with the seedling survival rate and the ownership of the project by the students proved why they emerged on top. Laburra Secondary School came in 2nd with 53 points while Bishop Ngoru Gathuaini came in 3rd with 52 points.
The Optiven Foundation arrived at the school to fulfil its promises on the competition including awarding of the trophy for St. Michael Mukui and a 10,000-liter water tank. During the ceremony, Ann Nyaga, The Optiven Foundation coordinator underscored the importance of the institution’s environmental club structure that saw a well-organized team while presenting and the presence of a nursey in the school further emphasized the initiative taken by the students.
“The forest cover in Kenya is still below the 10% threshold with the objective of achieving at least 30% by 2050, but the effort we put into growing a sustainable future in the Go Green competition is a move towards the right direction,” James Kamau, Judge of the Go Green commented. I want to stress that now that the competition is over let us continue incorporating sustainability initiatives to achieve SDG 11, 13 and 15 in line with UN, he concluded.
While engaging the students, the environment club captain shared that the achievement would not have been possible without the support of the principal who has been instrumental since he joined the school. The transition between the students completing their high school to the students remaining and the new students joining was carefully factored and that ensured all students were well informed.
At the end of the day, the judges recommended several factors to the school including water conservation, seed restoration especially fruit trees and encouraging the principal and teachers to continue supporting greening activities. Laburra Secondary School and Bishop Ngoru Gathuaini will be receiving their awards as the Top 3 schools in the competition before engagement of a possible Go Green Season 3 begins.
