Hellooo, Access Bank Scholars!! Welcome and congratulations on making it to Phase 1 of the Advance Africa Scholarship Program powered by Access Bank!!!

We are truly so proud of each of you and very excited to greet you all as you begin your Udacity Scholarship journey here! My fellow Community Manager, @david.udacity, and I are thrilled to get to welcome you and support you in this special 5 week Scholarship Program!

First off, a few notes to help you get started with the program:

• Join Slack Channels!

• Jump into the #03_welcome channel and say hello to your fellow Scholars!

• Next, hop into the discussion channels for your specific track:

• [#track_product_manager | #track_digital_marketing | #track_digital_marketing | #track_business_analytics | #track_data_science]

• Bookmark the Google Site

• Familiarize yourself with the calendar, community events, & the updated pages on our Scholarship Google Site!

• Explore your Udacity classroom!

• Start to explore your Course syllabus, familiarize yourself with the lessons and modules, and get ready to rock all the way to completing your course!

• Save the Date: Program Orientation

• Join us for a live orientation to help you start Phase 1 successfully! We will include a special appearance from a Scholarship Alum to share their advice to best succeed in this program as well as time for Q&A.

• Wednesday, January 12th @ 10:00 – 11:00am PT | 8:00pm - 9:00pm CAT (time zone converter)

• Zoom Link ( Meeting ID: 261 810 6809 | Passcode: udacity )

Once again, we are so psyched to have all of you here & to kick-off this amazing journey to completing your Scholarship Course in Phase 1 of the Advance Africa Scholarship! Please do not hesitate to reach out in #ama_sessions if you have any questions before Wednesday's Orientation. I don't know about you, but I am excited to connect with everyone in this stellar community!! Welcome, Everybody!

Hello, Access Bank Scholars! @channel Today is the day! It's our.....Phase 1 Orientation!!

Join us in just 30 minutes for our live orientation to help you start Phase 1 successfully! We will include a Classroom Overview, Community Tips, as well as time for Q&A. We will record this meeting & share slides afterwards for anyone who cannot make it!

• Wednesday, January 12th @ 10:00 – 11:00am PT | 8:00pm - 9:00pm CAT (time zone converter)

• Zoom Link ( Meeting ID: 261 810 6809 | Passcode: udacity )

See you soon!

Hello, lovely Scholars! @channel Thanks to all of you who joined us for the Kick-Off Program Orientation yesterday! It was wonderful to virtually meet all of you and to feel your infectious joy and energy!!

Orientation Recording & Slides:

• For anyone who was not able to attend or would like another look, please check out the slides and recording - also on our Google Site Home Page!

• Zoom Video Recording

• Slideshow

Class Photo Gallery Wall!

• Thanks to all who were able to turn their camera's on at the end of yesterday's orientation, we have uploaded the stunning screenshots of your beautiful faces to the Google Site Community Page! We tried to capture as many of you as possible, but know there are many more of you also who make up this special cohort! Please continue connect with all your fellow scholars by diving into this wonderful Slack Community!

Keep making stellar progress in your Course work, Scholars! We will be releasing Milestones very soon.... stay tuned!! Rooting for each of you!

Hi hi, Scholars!! @channel The time has arrived...we have officially released the Milestones & Course Timelines!

Milestones & Course Timelines!

• How do I stay on target to complete this course by the deadline? What is a good pace to follow? Great questions. We are excited to release Recommended Course Timelines & Milestones for every track!

• Study your track's Timeline on the Google Site

• Pace yourself accordingly to finish 100% of your coursework by Feb. 16th!

• Earn a Milestone Badge for every course milestone you successfully achieve!!

Everyone should be diving in and making progress towards their Week #1 lessons! Let's rock this program, Scholars! We believe in you!!

Hello, Scholars! @channel A reminder that in just 30 minutes, @david.udacity and I will host our Welcome Week AMA Session ! Feel free to join us in the #02_ama_sessions channel in just a half hour from now to ask us your non-technical, administrative questions and to receive our answers live! We will begin at the start of the next hour:

• Friday, January 14th @ 10:00 – 10:45am PT | 8:00 - 8:45pm CAT

See you soon!

Happy Friday, Scholars! @channel ....A few updates for you before we send you into the weekend!

Assessment Test FAQs Open!

• We have officially released our Assessment Test FAQ page on the Google Site!

• Take a close look at the page to ensure you are well prepared for the assessment test that becomes available on Feb 14th.

Friday Forecast

• Reach Milestone #1!

• Milestones and Course Timelines have been added to our Google site & the 1st Milestone week is next week!

• Work towards your 1st milestone in the classroom to earn your 1st badge!!

• 21 Days of Udacity launches next week!

• Stay tuned in #01_announcements!

• Join your Track Channels!

• Be sure to join the Slack channel for your specific track — it’s a great resource for help! (

• Community Managers: Out of Office Monday January 17th

• This coming Monday, January 17th, @david.udacity and I will be offline to honor the Martin Luther King Jr. Day Holiday in the U.S. Please reach out to each other if you need support during that day! We look forward to returning on Tuesday, the 18th.

Happy learning, Scholars! We hop this first week of the Scholarship Program journey is going well for you so far! We are rooting for you!! (edited)