Events, workshops and milestones

Last week Thursday we were launching the IEEE Tharaka student branch.

• Situation: Tharaka University launched its IEEE Student Branch on Thursday 15 Oct 2026, together with IEEE Day.
• What I did: Took part in the launch.

We were in UoN at an IEEE event, an inter-university innovation hackathon which was changed to a summit on arrival.

• Situation: An IEEE inter-university event at the University of Nairobi in April 2026. It was billed as an innovation hackathon but turned into a summit when we arrived.
• What I did: Attended with the Tharaka University group.

It was our last meeting day of ISACA in the January–April semester.

• Situation: The ISACA Tharaka University Student Group's wrap-up meeting at the end of the January–April 2026 semester, held outside the computer lab.
• What I did: Covered and posted it as the group's social media manager.

• Situation: Safaricom Decode 4.0, the "Made of Kenya Edition", ran at the Sarit Expo Centre, Nairobi, from 31 Mar to 2 Apr 2026, marking Safaricom's 25 years. Its themes were AI, fintech, gaming and creative tech, and ecosystem building.
• What I did: Attended all three days.

• Situation: IEEE IES Kenya selected ambassadors for the IEEE IES East Africa Industrial Innovation Summit 2026 (Nairobi, 28–29 May 2026), themed "Collaboration for Africa's Sustainable Future".
• What I did: Was selected as an Ambassador. "This is a meaningful step in my journey."
• Result: IEEE IES Kenya welcomed me to the team.

Think big. Do small. Stay consistent.

• Situation: AWS Student Community Day 2026, run by AWS Student Community Kenya at Meru University of Science and Technology (MUST) on the weekend of 28 Feb 2026.
• What I did: Attended the sessions as a representative of the ISACA Tharaka University Student Group.
• Result: Left with a notebook full of ideas. Kevin Tuei: "Your real competition is your own inconsistency." Murithi Gitonga: be adaptable like water. Veliswa Boya and Tiffany Souterre: AI agents are moving beyond basic chatbots. The panel: build slowly, use the resources you already have, love the process not the outcome, and don't underestimate networking.
• Lesson: Think big. Do small. Stay consistent.

• Situation: A two-day Cybersecurity & AI Hackathon at Tharaka University (19–20 Feb 2026), themed "Innovation for a Secure and Intelligent World". Teams came from several universities, including Machakos, Karatina, Murang'a University of Technology and MUST. The ISACA Tharaka University Student Group entered two teams.
• What I did: Competed in my first hackathon as part of an ISACA team. Our project tackled detecting AI-generated assignments, identifying deepfake content and flagging email spoofing attacks.
• Result: Placed 3rd overall (second runners-up).

During this hack night I was very tired. It was on Friday, the last day of Digital Care Week. I only went home, refreshed and then came back for the hacknight/kesha.

• Situation: HackNight was an overnight event (9 PM–6 AM) run by the ISACA Tharaka University Student Group, with talks followed by a live Capture The Flag. It was the same day Digital Care Week ended.
• What I did: Facilitated the live Linux command-line CTF for 50+ students: ran the session and kept teams moving through challenges on directories, permissions and problem-solving. I didn't author the challenges.
• Result: Students stayed engaged and collaborated through the night, far livelier than I expected.

Feb 9, 2026 was the first day of the Digital Care Week. The Digital Care Week is a week run by the IT team of the Tharaka Women community library, held at Tharaka University. Basically we did computer services: software and antivirus installation and other computer-related services that need minimum or no experience at all. During this week I was the hardware service lead, and I was working with 5 others.

• Situation: Digital Care Week (9–13 Feb 2026, "Tech with Purpose") was a paid laptop-service drive at Tharaka University, run by the Tharaka Women's Welfare Program's community library IT team. The proceeds supported girl-child education.
• What I did: Led the 6-person hardware team. We cleaned and repaired laptops, diagnosed overheating and motherboard faults, and did OS installs, activation, driver updates and antivirus installs. I set the quality standard, coordinated the workflow and guided teammates' troubleshooting.
• Result: Over five days the team serviced multiple laptops, covering both hardware and software jobs. No exact count was recorded.
• Lesson: Leading a tech team comes down to clarity, accountability and staying calm under pressure. Clear standards and professional handling build client trust.