Henry Mensah and Adjei Francis win Essay Competition
Friday, July 21, 2006
Adjei Francis Kennedy, Form 1Science2,
Aggrey house,
winner of the form 1 category
The following are Adjei FK's 2 winning essays for the form 1 category:
Essay Number 1:
Write a story ending with the words "...Thank God this did not happen to her."
"Ama Tiwaa, you know how I have suffered to take care of you up to this
stage. Please, you know I love you, don't disgrace me where you are going.
You are going to study so please try and make me happy and proud of
you." That was Auntie Serwaa, Ama Tiwaa's mother, advising her only daughter
before her departure for secondary school.
Ama's father died when she was
only two months old and it was her mother who single-handedly toiled to look
after her.
Her mother sold smoked fish and Ama helped her in selling it. The proceeds
from the sale of fish were what Auntie Serwaa used to take care of her only
child.
Ama was a very obedient and respectful girl. She successfully passed her
final exams and gained admission to a very good secondary
school. Her mother, from the little she had, bought her everything she
would need in the
boarding house so she would not lack anything.
Ama went to secondary school with high hopes of making her mother
proud. With her mother's advice always ringing in her mind, she was able
to live up to
expectation and had good grades in the first year.
She tried very hard to withstand all the bad influence from her friends at
school. Her mother was very proud of her and advised her to keep up her
performance so that she would complete her education with flying colours.
But the second year was different, as she fell prey to bad influence at
school and joined bad company. Some of her friends noticed the change in her
and advised her to turn over a new leaf but all fell on deaf ears.
Ama started sneaking out to town to have fun with boys. That affected her
studies very much because she did not have time to study.
Soon, Ama fell sick and the medical test proved that she was two months
pregnant. Unfortunately, she could not tell who impregnated her because she
had been sleeping with more than one boy.
The school authorities dismissed her and you can imagine how disappointed
her mother was in her. She lost all hope and said she had toiled in vain.
As the days moved on into months, Ama realised how difficult life could
be. Being pregnant and not knowing the father of the baby was another thing
she had to contend with. Ama then decided to end her life. On her way to hang
herself in the forest, she met a man who advised her on the need to persevere
and never lose hope. She was aastounded as she had never met the man before
neither had she told the man of her problems. She then turned and headed back
to the house.
She pleaded with her mother to give her a second chance to go back to school
when she gave birth, with the promise not to make that mistake again.
She resolved to work hard to regain every opportunity that she had
lost. Her mother agreed because all she wanted was for her only child to
be successful
in life.
Ama Tiwaa gave birth to a bouncing baby boy and a year later she went back
to school a changed person. Her mother, who was struggling in her fish
business, took on another job in order to cater for Ama and her baby.
This time around, Ama successfully completed her secondary school education
and went to the university and became a medical doctor. She has now made her
mother a very happy and proud person. Had Ama committed suicide, she would
not have been a doctor. Thank God this did not happen to her.
Essay Number 2:
In the development of Prempeh College, what is the role of the internet (i.e., prempeh.org)?
Prempeh College has undergone so many changes since its institution in 1949.
Some of these changes have been social, religious, economical and
even political.
The times of Mr. R.T Sackey, Mr. Atiemo, Mr. E .A Sekyere and many
others brought
many forelights and glimming moments to the college.
In this era of the 21st century the advent of the computer and the
internet has
brought maximal contribution to the college.
One could just sit in the comfort of his home and contribute to the
growth and
success of the college.
Prempeh.org, the website of the college has been the sole initiator of
this move. By now we all may have known what is due to talk about (ie technology).
The diverse ways of contribution to the growth of Prempeh college are
enormous but the internet scope and the college's website has been
very significant.
The Internet is a large computer network linking smaller networks to one
another. Tim Berners-Lee, founder of the WWW Consortium, has a simple
description of the Internet: "it's a bit like a postcard with a simple
address on it. If you put the right address on a packet, and gave it to any
computer which is connected as part of the Net, each computer would figure
out which cable to send it down next so that it would get to its
destination. That's what the Internet does. It delivers packets—anywhere in
the world, normally well under a second."
Today around the globe, there are schools where learning is happening
differently
than in most other schools and classrooms. There are instances where
students and
their teachers are using networking technologies to find what few learners are
capable of imagining. From receiving e-mail from the President of the Ghana to
talking to classmates on the computer via the internet, today students have
no limit to their access of learning. Those students and teachers are exploring
new frontiers of knowledge and challenging traditional notions of
school. In this
process, they are sowing the seeds for global learning in school.
Prempeh.org has evolved from a computer science research experiment
in the early
1990's to a primary means for academic, and civic discourse. Through a computer
with a network connection, one can access thousands of resources on
the college --
library catalogs, campus directories, terminologies, and the college archives.
Students can share information with one another electronically via
e-mail, discussion groups, and bulletin boards.
With now developed links with other sites, Prempeh.org provides
opportunities for
researchers to browse through articles and publications of other
authors by just a click on the "Resources" button. Questions and
tutorials on most senior secondary school subjects such
as Chemistry, Biology, Mathematics, History etc. can be printed from the
colleges web
pages.
Masters using the Internet provide opportunities for frequent success, as
well as an environment in which students receive personal attention, enhance
student's sense of self-esteem, competence, and foster a positive attachment for
the college. Teachers using resources from the prempeh.org are better informed,
and are more accessible to students and parents.
Traditionally, teachers are the "keepers of knowledge" and they transmit this
knowledge to students. For teachers, the traditional methods of teaching have
meant tedious preparation of lesson plans, copying from manuals in grant
magnitude, the pressures from the administrators to increase the level
of students
achievement, and the pressures associated with needing to teach a roomful of
students with varying degrees of knowledge and experience. Creativity gets more
and more remote as the access of resources declines.
The National Science and Maths Quiz contestants benefited a lot from the
college's website via sponsorship, sponsorship appeals and inspiring
messages as well as reportage. I really think the contestants
high performance in the competition was not only as a result of their
hardworking
and that of the teachers but also credit must be given to the college's website.
Another ernomous contribution to the college's recent improvement in
facilities
and infrastructure as well as good administration of the college is as
a result of
the message board and opinion polls on the website.
With this facility in place, all Amanfoo share in the running of the
school.The
students are also express themselves on matters affecting them.
