Last week I had the honour of being invited back to ASA to talk to this year’s cohort. As I am neither a teacher or a scientist, I have been keen to interact with the students informally and to use their own experiences (as well as my own) to find areas where we could relate to each other and hopefully, where I could find points of motivation for them.
Thankfully, my visit last year was a great success, however so much to the extent that I was a little nervous as I didn’t want to simply repeat the format of last year’s discussion. This was slightly exacerbated when on arrival at the school, I was greeted by Ibukun, a young woman that looked familiar and when she reminded me that she had been an ASA student last year and had returned to school to be a progression tutor, I knew a fresh approach was definitely needed.
Seeing the dining room walls pasted with motivational slogans, comments and statements written by the girls reminding them of the great opportunity they have been given by being at ASA, put paid to half of what I had planned for the talk!
Once I introduced myself and had heard from each of the 22 students, I knew then that I needn’t have worried! Like last year’s students, the 2018 group are every bit as lively, engaged and energetic. However, from the successes of their predecessors, this year’s group have an amazing sense of self-assuredness, that I have never seen in women so young! The wonderful thing about that is there wasn’t a hint of arrogance in the way they demonstrated their confidence.
The students are hungry for learning not just academically, but socially and emotionally too. We talked about a wide range of subjects. Such as, what it is like to live in a country as a minority, what it’s been like for me as a working mother, how I respond to critical and sometimes negative feedback, how do I manage to effect change in my working life. Phew! I really was kept on my toes!
We discussed what it was like for the students from other African countries, now attending school in Ghana (they make up 40% of this year’s ASA cohort) and what it was like for the Ghanaian students, encountering fellow students from other parts of the continent for the first time. We concluded that the differences they encountered only served to enrich them as a group rather than to divide them.
Without the opportunity offered by being at ASA, most of the students would have significantly fewer chances to pursue a high-quality A ‘level course, let alone, get to study subjects they all seem so passionate about.
To be honest, I learnt so much from the session and from their follow up comments after my visit, it seems the discussion was every bit as inspiring for them as it was for me.
It’s amazing how 90 minutes with a group of young, focussed individuals and a mutual love for the Black Panther movie, can bring people together the way in which it did for us that day. I’m convinced that the inventor of one of the next great finds for humankind, probably akin to Wakanda’s vibranium, was in the room that morning!
I went to ASA with the hope of being able to motivate and reassure these young women, instead I left inspired to make a difference to the lives of many more young people like them.
Please help me bridge a gap!