28-year-old Purity Ngina has made history as the youngest Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) graduate at the recent graduation ceremony at Strathmore University. With so much achievement to her name, her story is one of triumphant and inspiration.
The last born in a family of two was born and bred in a small village in Kieni East, Nyeri County called Mbiriri. Purity was brought up by a single mother who unfortunately passed on in 2017. According to edaily, Purity was heartbroken by her mother’s demise and she wished she was there to see her graduate “My mother’s death broke my heart. She supported me throughout my studies; and I really wished she was there to see me graduate with a PhD. Nonetheless, even in absentia, I had vowed to make her proud. And I did exactly that,” she reportedly said.
Dr. Ngina is also an Alumni of Egerton University where she studied a Bachelor of Education Degree (Sciences: Mathematics and Chemistry) between 2009 and 2013. She was then awarded a scholarship after graduating with a first class of 75 points. She pursued a Master’s Degree in Applied Mathematics in Egerton University between 2013 and 2015. She graduated when she was only 25 years old.
Dr. Ngina then enrolled for a PhD programme at Strathmore University in 2016 after landing scholarships with the German Government and the National Research Fund. Her PhD thesis was titled “Mathematical modelling of in-vivo HIV optimal therapy and management”.
The young scholar is currently lecturing Calculus to students pursuing Actuarial Science, Financial Engineering, and Financial Economics at the Strathmore University.
The young academician’s chant is “shatter the glass ceiling if you can; nothing is impossible; nothing should stop you.” She indeed has shattered the glass ceiling seeing that she came from scoring 235 marks when she sat for her Kenya Certificate of Primary Education for the first time to become a Doctor of Philosophy at 28 years. She repeated her KCPE exam where scored 369 out of the possible 500 marks to join Tumutumu Girls High school in Nyeri County.
https://edaily.co.ke/entertainment/from-235-kcpe-marks-to-phd-at-28-triumphant-story-of-dr-purity-ngina-131986/elife/ecareers/