These Are Our Kids
Amber Shevin is Exponential Education’s Co-Executive Director and is currently based in the Volta Region of Ghana.
Two years ago Exponential Education launched its first after school program in the Ashanti Region in the small town of Abenase in the Ejisu-Juaben school district. At that time Abenase was a sleepy town with a newly paved single road and no public senior high school. Regardless we saw enthusiasm and passion in the students there and were eager to set up a program in an place that had so much need. After a few weeks of preparations and arrangements we had our first group of SHS tutors and JHS students, trained, organized, and ready to begin. Over the course of the program our tutors led their small groups in math and English lessons, answered questions, played learning games, and formed relationships that extended well outside of schools hours. By the end of the term we were able to award a university scholarship to our top SHS tutor Williams Opoku Agyemeng who intends to pursue his tertiary education in biology upon completing SHS.
While I am proud of each and every SHS and JHS student that worked together with us to make our first program in the Ashanti Region such a success I am most proud of our SHS tutors who have since moved on from Abenase to excel in high schools outside of the village. For this inaugural program we selected 6 SHS tutors, 3 girls and 3 boys, to lead the way. The girls, pictured here, Florence Priscilla, and Halimatu, have since left Abenase in pursuit of quality education.
Florence and Priscilla now attend the Church of Christ Secondary School outside of Ejisu and are studying Economics. I am beyond proud to announce that after a bit of a rocky start spent on over drive catching up these girls now are 2nd and 3rd in their class of over 50. I have challenged them to next year be number one and two. Halimatu is now attending Ejisuman Senior High School in Ejisu where she is studying General Arts. She is also excelling, sitting in the front of her class. She one day hopes to study Journalism so that she can share her story and the stories of others through her writing.
These girls epitomize the drive, passion, and relentless dedication to education that Exponential Education embodies. They refused to take no for an answer and when the going got tough they buckled down and showed dissenters around them what they were capable of. With these fierce girls leading the way forward I know our future looks bright.
