Francesca Manyonyi

18 years old, attending Imperial College London, UK. Francesca was awarded a Beacon Scholarship in June 2022.

Francesca is studying towards a BEng in Materials Science and Engineering. Prior to that, she was at the Aga Khan Academy, Nairobi, where she achieved a total of 41 points in her IB Diploma Programme.

Francesca is a talented ballerina, performing in many shows, and at school she was the prefect responsible for the arts, as well as leading the choir. She has Grade 3 piano, Grade 5 ballet and is also trained in jazz and contemporary dance. A keen designer, she was involved in visualising and creating the set for the school production.

She was Head Girl and also President of the school MUN, which grew significantly under her leadership. She was Junior Chair at East Africa MUN in 2019 and has addressed 2000 delegates in conference halls, as well as writing handbooks to guide MUN students. She started a school mentor system to support students who were struggling during the pandemic. She also successfully lobbied the school to change its IB boundaries to make them fairer.

She has demonstrated that she is someone who gets projects done, for example, founding the group Rooting for the Planet to tackle reforestation, selling seeds and raising money to adopt trees. She also ran an art workshop for children with Downs syndrome, to explore their interest and potential in recreational activities. 

Beacon Workshop Participation

 As a new Beacon Scholar, Francesca spoke about her current service activities and her environmental work with 'Rooting for the Planet'.