My journey in LIME

Lafayette Initiative for Malagasy Education (LIME) is a peer-to-peer mentoring program between Lafayette College students and Malagasy high school students. The goal of the program is to prepare those high school students for US application process. I was part of this program.

I officially attended the program in 2013. The members were selected based on their school performance. At the time, I had a poor English speaking knowledge. For me, it was a big culture shock when I first met our mentors at that time. They did not speak our own language and they did not speak French too! It was a big challenge for both of us to understand each other. But as long as time passed, we were able to understand each other. The main focus of our training was about the Test Of English as Foreign Language (TOEFL), Scholastic Assesment Test (SAT) and college admission process. In addition to that, we also had the opportunity to learn about American culture and way of life. Personally, this program helped me to develop a lot not only about English and academics but about networking and leadership. I found most of my closest friends during that program too. 

                                             

This year I was accepted at Lafayette College, I am very excited about that because it is a chance for me to have one of the best education in the world. Furthermore, I want to discover new world and new opportunities. This new journey will be a bit challenging for me because compared to where I come from, the education system is different. I will do all my possible to make my four years in Lafayette worth it. 

Fun fact: In the class of 2022, I have the record as the students who have the longest first name. TAFITASOANIAINA CHRISTIANY.  It has 25 letters in total.  Tafita Rakoto is just a short version of my name.