This summer, Randolph-Macon College alumna Nana Bamfo ’16 traveled to Ghana with a special goal in mind: to bring hands-on, STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) learning to underserved populations. Bamfo’s project, “STEMming for Sustainable Peace,” was made possible by a $10,000 grant that she received from the Davis United World College Scholars program.

Photos: Nana Bamfo ’16 in Ghana

Making Connections
Bamfo, along with Jennifer Shotwell, RMC’s director of tutoring programs and a professor of French, spent nearly a month in Ghana, where they held a STEM camp for 55 students preparing to enter high school. Bamfo taught the STEM-focused lessons, receiving feedback and advice from Shotwell along the way.

“During lessons, I would explain the ‘big picture’ and try to relate concepts to everyday examples,” she says.  “I also gave students the opportunity to ask questions, and I pushed them to explain in their own words what they were learning.”

Challenges and Rewards
“One of the greatest challenges I faced was trying to connect with the students,” says Bamfo, who majored in biology and minored in religious studies and chemistry at RMC. “I grew up in Ghana and have been through its educational system. My outlook on some aspects of the cultures of Ghana and the United States has changed throughout the years. One of my fears was that, having lived outside of Ghana for more than six years, I would not be able to bond with the campers. However, I discovered that curiosity and the desire to learn are common traits among students everywhere. They were excited about my journey and eager to learn about STEM subjects.”

From Icebreakers to Experiments
Each day at camp began with an icebreaker—a fun activity that encouraged students to talk to each other. For example, students were paired up and asked to interview each other for five minutes, and then asked to “introduce” their partner to the entire class. Lectures on and discussions about STEM followed, and experiments and hands-on activities rounded out the day. At the end of the camp, student-teams gave presentations about STEM-centered learning.

Leader and Role Model
“It was touching to watch Nana grow in this process,” says Shotwell. “Not only did she have the ambition to design the grant proposal and program—a huge undertaking during her senior year—but she also developed as a leader and role model to students in her native country. I was glad she had this chance to give back and to thank the Ghanaian teachers who helped shape her own interest in science. We are so proud of who she has become.”

Collaboration
This was the second time that Bamfo was a recipient of a Davis grant.

In 2013, she and three of her RMC classmates, along with Shotwell, received a Davis grant for their project, “A Spark of Hope for Peace,” which stressed the value of education in promoting peace in Haiti. The RMC team used the grant to travel to Haiti, where they sponsored the secondary education of a student. They also donated French books for a new library and organized a four-day arts-and-crafts summer camp.
In summer 2015, Bamfo, collaborating with three of her classmates, spent nine weeks interning at the Science Museum of Virginia. The students designed curricular modules that can be used to bring STEM educational activities to students in grades 3-6.

Grad School and Beyond
This fall, Bamfo, the recipient of RMC’s Dr. and Mrs. Marshall and Alice McCabe Pre-Med Endowed Scholarship, began graduate studies at George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences. Randolph-Macon College has an Early Selection partnership with GWU, which encourages second-year students who have achieved academic distinction and demonstrated medical and community-service experience to pursue provisional acceptance to the medical school at GWU.

“I will pursue a career in either surgery or international medicine,” she says. “I chose GWU because it is in the center of D.C., where I will be around many influential people who can make effective changes in healthcare. I was also attracted to GWU’s strong international medicine program.”

The Projects for Peace Program
Now in its ninth year, the Projects for Peace program is an invitation to undergraduates at the American colleges and universities in the Davis United World College Scholars Program to design grassroots projects that they will implement during the summer of 2016. The projects judged to be the most promising and feasible will be funded at $10,000 each. The objective is to encourage and support today’s motivated youth to create and try out their own ideas for building peace.