I am CP Baryamwisaki Felix. I joined senior one at St. Kagwa Bushenyi High School in 1993 during the reign of Mr. Karekyezi as the headmaster. I was from a village primary school and at St.Kagwa, I met students from all over the country. The multicultural society with students from well-to-do families, rural schools like mine and well-established primary schools was a new experience. The number of students was also high and overwhelmed the resources.

The environment was a bit scary at the time with some unruly students but this was later harmonised under the new leadership of Mr. Tibanyendera Basil who joined in second term. I got a chance to study with ‘kadogos’ who were in NRA. They showed charisma of consistence and usually told us stories of nationalism which later made me realise that an educated soldier is an asset to the country. The new administration started on reduction of numbers by introduction of cut-off promotion points and zero-tolerance to indiscipline.

I got a chance to have the best teachers especially Mr. Karyamarwaki Africano who taught Biology and Chemistry. He was fantastic and occasionally reminded us of the need to concentrate on studies because it was our future. He detested students who engaged in relationships with girls because he considered it a diversion from the major goal and reasoned that our minds were not yet mature to handle such relationships.

When we joined, the morale of students to win was low and Mr. Tibanyendera Basil, changed the whole setting and introduced the culture of winning among the students especially in academics. Any indiscipline student had no place in the school. The culture of winning spread to sports, and other co-curricular activities. The years we followed started excelling and that motivated us. The teachers from St. Kagwa would part-time out though we didn’t have some coming to part-time.

Every student at O-Level yearned to perform well and leave. The administration at that time had not made achievement in retention of the best students at O-Level and this affected the performance at A-Level. Schools that perform well at A-Level have invested in the retention procedures of their best students at O-Level.

I appreciate the winning culture that was started by Mr. Tibanyendera Basil. It was my motivation to perform well at O-Level and shaped my outlook to the future. I got a lot of exposure from St. Kagwa through interactions with students from different backgrounds, other good schools’ students and study trips. The Motto of the school itself reflects hope. It reads “*WE LABOUR FOR OUR FUTURE*”. It’s achievable through a strong winning culture. We labour for our future.