2 Female students receive support for university education

Two female students of the Ada Senior High School who excelled in the 2019 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) have been offered financial support by the Webb of Excellence Welfare Fund, a non-profit organisation set up by a former Canadian tutor of the school, for their tertiary education at the University of Ghana, Legon.

The students are Juliet Nuerki Annang and Nyemignor Korkor Okai.

They are both studying Biological Science.

Each student will have her academic user fees fully settled for one academic year, and in the subsequent years, they will be supported with graduated sums of money provided they obtain B Average or higher in the course they are pursuing.

Presenting the awards to the two young girls at a brief but impressive ceremony at a packed assembly hall of the school last Friday, the chairman of the Webb of Excellence Fund, Dr Gabriel Ofoe Canacoo, a member of the school’s 1971 Year Group, said:

“Our plan was to honour only one student in line with the criteria set up by the Fund, but the excellent performance of girls in the 2019 WASSCE changed everything.

And we are delighted to bring joy not only to the two students but also their families”.

Presentation

Dr Canacoo was later assisted by the school’s headmaster, Mr Ebenezer Acquaah, to decorate the two girls with a special sash designed for the occasion and to also present them with a cheque for Gh¢2,200 each to cater for their academic facility user fee for one academic year.

Dr Canacoo urged the award winners to study harder and come out with flying colours in the course they are pursuing at the university, and advised the current crop of students at the school to take inspiration from the brilliant performance of Juliet and Nyemignor and keep the flag of the school high in all academic endeavours.

Touching briefly on the history of the awards, he said it was instituted by Ms Eleanor Louise Webb, a Canadian who taught at the school between 1968 and 1970, and was originally meant to support brilliant-but-needy female students to pursue senior high school education.

“For the past six academic years, we supported three female students to successfully pursue their senior high school education — Stella Korlekuor Akpanglo (2015-2017), Charity Asigbey Kpelemeh (2016-2018), and Emelia Korlekuor Addowah (2017-2019).

“But with the introduction of the free senior high school policy by the Government of Ghana (GoG), beginning with SH1 students in September 2017, it became obvious that the Webb of Excellence Welfare Fund could no longer continue to support brilliant-but-needy female students of the Ada Senior High School, with effect from the 2019-2020 academic year hence our decision to shift focus to the most brilliant female student who will gain admission to any of the country’s public universities,” Dr Canacoo explained.

Ambassadors

The headmaster, Mr Acquaah, congratulated the award winners and urged them to be good ambassadors of the school wherever they found themselves.

He also appealed to the Fund to extend the award to the boys, saying “I know you may have very good reasons for making female students the core of your award but I sincerely plead that you expand the horizon to include the boys and I promise that you will not regret doing so”.

The two award winners were both full of praise for the founder of the award, and pledged to study hard to become of immense benefit not only to their country but the world at large.

The occasion was graced by many dignitaries, including the Board chairman, Mr Bernard Busumprah, as well as the parents of the award winners.