Timothy Smith Network empowers young people and communities in Boston through technology education. Each summer the Boston Design Academy brings together Laidlaw Scholars and local high school students for a six week programme that introduces real world design and technology through project based learning and mentorship. Scholars have supported tracks such as Digital Design Intensive, Elevating Agricultural Technology and Tech Your Health, and have taught creative tools including game design while helping to bridge the digital divide.
Explore the LSN room for recent posts, videos and materials https://laidlawscholars.network/rooms/timothy-smith-network?
Star Top Community School was founded by Mercy and Isaac Sakala in Ng'ombe, an underserved settlement in Lusaka, after first running as a tuition centre for children struggling at school. Its mission is to provide affordable, high-quality primary education to children who might otherwise fall through the gaps of an overcrowded system. Alongside lessons, the school offers an eight-hour day, a free daily meal and moral as well as academic teaching, and encourages students to go on to secondary school.
Responsibilities & Ideal Background
Scholars teach across a range of subjects and age groups, helping to ease understaffing. Day to day, this involves lesson planning, teaching, marking and pastoral care. Past scholars have also taught music, dance, yoga, storytelling and first aid, prepared students for exams and created grammar resources and promotional videos for the school. Scholars are given a lot of responsibility for a large number of children, and the work is demanding but deeply rewarding.
A good fit is someone patient, positive and service-minded, who is happy to adapt to the school's needs rather than arriving with fixed plans. Teaching experience helps, but any experience with children is valuable. Scholars live with the Sakala family on the school site and are welcomed as part of the family. For safety reasons, there is little opportunity to walk around the compound or sightsee independently, so it helps to plan placement dates alongside other scholars.
LiA Champions
Curious about this project but not sure where to start? Our LiA Champions can share candid insights from teaching at Star Top: what the classroom is like, how to prepare and what life with the Sakala family involves.
Cothney Lasaracina (University of Leeds) Contact via the Laidlaw Scholars Network:
View profile
Rebecca Cole (Cornell University) Email: rmc343@cornell.edu · Phone: +1 512 591 5331 View profile
Grace Stephens-Spada (University of St Andrews) Email: gracestephensspada@icloud.com · Phone: +44 7380 289742 View profile
Henry Farmer (University of St Andrews) Email: hf70@st-andrews.ac.uk · Phone: +44 7577 759955 View profile
Organisation Contact
Mercy Mbewe Sakala, Headteacher Email: mercymsakala@gmail.com
I am a penultimate year MMath Mathematics student at the University of St Andrews and a 2025 Leadership and Research Scholar.
My summer 2025 research project was in Pure Mathematics, specifically Algebraic Graph Theory. I studied pseudo-similar vertices in graphs and digraphs using inverse semigroups.
I completed my LiA in summer 2026 with the Timothy Smith Network, acting as an instructor in web design for the Boston Design Academy in Boston, USA.
Hi, I am Fabio, a Physics student at EPFL, in Switzerland !
I am passionate about discovering how the universe works and how we can use this knowledge to improve our lives.
In my free time, I love playing music, of all kind (jazz, orchestral, brass, ...), and improvising, I also enjoy reading, writing and being in nature.
Feel free to reach out to me, if you want to talk :)