The vision for the Queen of Peace Jr. Academy began with a meeting between Bill Grenney and Judy Nalube at Byana Mary Hill where she was a young orphan. Bill remembers seeing Judy leaning on a crutch and beating on plants to release the dried beans. His first thought was that she was the hardest working young child he had ever seen. Little did he realize that this was just the beginning of a long-term mentorship.
Judy was chosen to be a translator for the engineering team because she had the best English language skills. She was also the brightest student at the school. Since she was an orphan she had no means of attending secondary school. Thus Bill and Sally Grenney sponsored her through secondary school where again she graduated at the top of her class. Upon completion of secondary school Judy came back to Byana Mary Hill to be a teacher. While she discovered that she loved teaching, she had a strong desire to obtain further education.
First Presbyterian Church of Logan, Utah set up a scholarship fund for Judy to attend college and she graduated with a degree in Business Finance in 2014. Being an orphan, and a woman who had a disability, Judy found it impossible to find a job in her area of expertise. So she returned to Byana Mary Hill to substitute teach and continue learning the teaching trade. By 2015 Judy had decided that she wanted to return to the village of her birth, Mbale, to set up a school. To set this plan in motion, SEEEME provided the funds and support for Judy to return to school to obtain a degree in Teaching and Administration. By the summer of 2017 she had both certificates and SEEEME was ready to start on the physical school building.
The SEEEME team worked throughout 2015-2017 to raise funds for the school in Mbale. Individuals and companies donated generously for materials and in July 2017 a team travelled to Mbale to break grounds for the school. The land was purchased in 2016. It was a long, narrow strip of land right in the heart of the village in which Judy had been born. Within a day of the team’s arrival ground was broken for a 4-room school house, a 4-seater latrine, a large outdoor kitchen, a playground, and a shade structure for eating lunch and outdoor education
The school opened on September 18, 2017 with 18 students ranging over several early elementary grades. The goal for the 2017-2018 school year is to focus on preschool and kindergarten and then add one grade each year along with additional teachers. There is room for other school houses which will serve children in upper elementary and secondary grades.
The school was dedicated to Bill and Sally Grenney on September 29, 2017 at a celebration at the First Presbyterian Church of Logan, Utah.