Mercy Nandutu: Future Nuclear Engineer

March 3, 2020

March is Women’s History Month, and this month REACH will be focusing on the rising stars who will certainly be making history for us in the future.

Mercy Nandutu has been offered a scholarship at KEPCO International Nuclear Graduate School, South Korea to study master of science in Nuclear Power Plant Engineering.

Originally from Buputo, Mercy received her first scholarship from REACH after excelling in P7. It was exciting for her go to Kampala for s1 – she had heard good things about the quality of education when she left for Makerere. She felt very prepared because she already had good results academically in S1 – S4 and scored in the top 5 her first year. This continued although high school (that is out of 80 students). At St. Jillian HS she studied physics, economics, and mathematics and excelled with 15 points on UACE examination.

When she came home for school break during secondary school, she did volunteer work at the Beatrice Tierney Health Clinic in Matuwa. If Mercy hadn’t gotten an AHH scholarship she would have probably gone to the local Secondary Schools in Bupoto – but the quality of education would have been greatly inferior. In her graduating class at Bupoto, there were only two scholarships (one male and one female).

Her current hopes for the future after studying in South Korea to come back to Uganda and find employment in the nuclear energy field. Specific areas of concentration available in South Korea are radioactive waste management, radiation protection, and project management. These could lead to a number of future career options in Uganda or elsewhere in the world.

Mercy shared that the REACH scholarship program for outreach students is a big motivator. She feels strongly that her scholarship from REACH and her further successes has been an inspiration to students back at Bupoto Primary – it says they can do it, too.

We can’t wait to see what you do in the future, Mercy!