Growing up in Ghana, Michael Kofi Badu had only one mind set towards students in education- study, study and more study.
Two months into his ALC journey, the Year 2 student created ALC’s first Student App. He combined his passion for technology with his desire to make an impact. The Student App currently serves as a central location for students to access to our learning platforms and other customized tools.
Michael’s story, however, started long before ALC. “I was admitted as a Science student to Labone Senior High School in Ghana but found myself struggling with some basic concepts in Physics. My school had a policy where the student with the best grades in the sciences got to keep the laboratory keys. To my surprise, I was awarded this privilege in my second year of high school. This honour automatically qualified me to join the Robotics Club.”
In the Robotics Club Michael met Samuel Opoku Agyemang. Shortly after he discovered that Agyemang would be leaving Ghana to attend ALC’s sister organisation, a pan-African secondary school in South Africa called African Leadership Academy (ALA). At the time, Michael had no idea what ALA was or why Agyemang felt compelled to leave Ghana.
Michael later went on to achieve great things with the Robotics Club. He created a prototype that allowed lights to switch on when it got dark outside and louvres that automatically shut when it rained. The Robotics Club went on to compete at the national level with other top schools in the country.
One summer, Agyemang came back from South Africa. Michael’s friend was unrecognisable. “Together we reunited to start a community project filling neighbourhood potholes. I could tell that something about him had changed. He saw problems as opportunities and thought outside of the box. When Agyemang wasn’t designing plans to help his community, he was teaching himself how to code. When I asked him what inspired this change he gave credit to his time at ALA. His transformation inspired me.”
Michael sought a similar transformation, but at a tertiary level. He wanted to meet many aspiring young leaders like myself. Michel became more passionate about Africa and sought the kind of personal and professional development he saw in his friend. “I was just about to enrol in the University of Ghana when I heard about ALC. It was hard to go back to the traditional learning model. I was a good student but I wasn’t satisfied. Every day I found myself studying for examinations without learning or growing. I didn’t feel like I was accomplishing anything.”
“I didn’t understand the concept of learning until I got here. Education is not just about passing examinations, but about developing yourself and your passion.”
Fast forward to February 2017 where Michael has completed his first year at ALC and is now studying Electrical Power Systems Engineering.
