Imagine repeating coursework not once, but twice, without knowing whether you will make it to the end. For many students, failing or struggling through an exam can feel deeply discouraging. It can make you question your ability, your place in the programme, and whether you should keep going at all. For Judy Waruhiu, who is now looking forward to graduating with a Master of Applied Philosophy and Ethics, that struggle was very real. Her journey was not smooth. It was demanding, humbling, and at times uncertain. Like many students, Judy admits that coursework and exams stretched her in ways she had not expected. “I also struggled to work through several thinkers and found myself redoing coursework once or twice. I am genuinely surprised I made it to the end, as I had given up several times along the way,” Judy says.

Judy enrolled in the programme with very little prior knowledge of philosophy. What she found was a field far wider, deeper, and more demanding than she had imagined. Encountering many philosophical concepts for the first time at master’s level was both challenging and eye-opening. It also left her wondering why such studies were not introduced much earlier in life, given how foundational they are to the way we think, reason, question, and make decisions. For Judy, philosophy is not abstract. It is not simply about old thinkers, complex texts, or difficult concepts. It is a way of learning how to ask better questions. Her decision to pursue the programme was driven by a deep concern about corruption, governance gaps, and the broader challenges facing Kenya and Africa. She wanted to understand why, despite Kenya’s wealth, youthful population, talent, and demonstrated capacity, the continent continues to struggle with systems that do not always serve people as they should.

She saw the programme as a way to gain tools for identifying where these challenges truly lie. Philosophy, she came to understand, is instrumental in asking the right questions. And asking the right questions is often the first step towards understanding the root of any problem. What began as a desire to better understand Africa’s challenges eventually led Judy to something more personal: the individual human person.By the end of the programme, she may not have found one neat answer to the problem of corruption and vice in Kenya, but she gained a deeper insight into individual responsibility. While these challenges affect society collectively, she came to see that meaningful change also comes down to the moral choices, integrity, and responsibility of each person.

There is still a great deal of work to be done, she believes, in getting to the root of corruption and governance challenges. But that work begins with how we understand the person.

One of the highlights of Judy’s experience was the richness of the classroom. “I enjoyed the class lectures immensely. Not only were the lecturers excellent, but the class composition also provided a very rich experience,” she says. Her classmates came from a wide range of backgrounds, including the Kenya Army, the judiciary, law, the clergy, banking, and economics. This diversity brought the programme to life. Every discussion carried different perspectives, lived experiences, professional insights, and ways of seeing the world. For Judy, whose day-to-day work and life were fairly limited in scope, these classroom conversations were extremely valuable. They gave her a wider lens through which to understand society, leadership, ethics, and the human condition.

The lecturers also played an important role in making the journey meaningful. Judy describes them as approachable both during in-person sessions and when students were away from campus. Their availability, guidance, and willingness to engage made learning easier, especially in a programme that demanded deep reading, reflection, and intellectual discipline. Through the course, Judy gained the ability to interrogate modernity through the lens of the human person — particularly the integrity and dignity of the person. To her, modernity appears to have pushed the person aside, and this may explain many of the challenges society faces today. Despite all the knowledge available to us, there still seems to be a deep struggle to do what is right.

That insight has stayed with her. It has also challenged her to continue on the path of philosophy beyond graduation. Judy believes philosophy should not only be reserved for adults or advanced academic study. She feels that basic philosophical concepts should be introduced from very elementary levels in a way that children can relate to and understand.

This is something she intends to pursue further. She is currently working on tools to teach philosophy to children, using concepts packaged in accessible formats such as card games and trivia. Her hope is to help young people develop the ability to question, reason, reflect, and think ethically from an early age. It is work she hopes to continue developing, testing, and refining. Judy also credits Strathmore’s learning environment for supporting her journey. The library was well-resourced, and the available spaces for group study and discussion were useful throughout the programme. These facilities created room for reflection, reading, collaboration, and the difficult but rewarding work of philosophical inquiry.

Still, balancing school with the rest of life was not easy.Judy had to rely on the support of her extended family as she pursued the programme. The journey required sacrifice, time, and commitment. There were moments when the demands of study had to be weighed against family and personal responsibilities. But because the programme had a defined duration and would eventually come to an end, she considered the sacrifices worthwhile.

Looking back, Judy says she would recommend the course to others, not because it is easy, but because of the academic rigour it demands and the transformation it brings. To her, the programme is life-changing. It shapes the individual in many ways, pushing one to think more deeply, question more honestly, and examine the assumptions that often guide personal and societal choices. Her advice to anyone considering the programme is simple: take time to engage with classmates and lecturers regularly. Do not walk the journey alone. Philosophy grows through dialogue, discussion, questions, and shared reflection.

She also emphasises the importance of starting over. Failure, she says, is not the end as long as a person is willing to pick themselves up and try again. “If you fail, pick it up again and again. Actually, expect to fail and you will do just fine,” she says. For Judy, that lesson is not theoretical. She lived it. She struggled, paused, repeated, doubted herself, and still found her way to the finish line. It also took her a long break between completing coursework and finalising her dissertation. In hindsight, she wishes she had picked up the work earlier and not allowed the gap to grow so wide. But even that became part of the lesson: sometimes progress is delayed, but it is still possible to return, restart, and complete what one began.

Now, as she prepares to graduate, Judy looks back on the journey with honesty and gratitude. “My journey has been demanding, but very fulfilling,” she says. Her story is a reminder that progress is not always dramatic. Sometimes, it is quiet. Sometimes, it looks like repeating coursework, returning after giving up, asking for help, reading one more text, rewriting one more chapter, and choosing to begin again. Small, steady actions can overcome even the hardest barriers over time.

And for Judy Waruhiu, those small, steady actions have carried her all the way to graduation.

Article written by: Barbara Omondi