Yamoah Frimpong Attafuah was an exemplary Ashesi student. He was the action-oriented scholar, gracious servant leader, and optimistic citizen that we dream of when we cheer our students. Thankfully, this stellar performer does not just exist in our imagination, he walks among his peers – alive, always cheerful, constantly learning, dutifully applying what he knows. He generously shares his talent, energy and knowledge.
Yamoah volunteered on the Academic Committee of the Ashesi Student Council in his second year. While many were still adjusting to a changed academic calendar and the unpredictability it occasioned, he decided to step up and help create the community we desired. That committee monitored courseloads and implemented programs to help students better cope with our rigorous program during a period of uncertainties.
Yamoah went further than that. As a talented and diligent student who thrived academically, he could have chosen to look out for himself only. Rather, he made time to serve at our Math Resource Center, tutoring many students in hours of one-on-one sessions. Even during exams season, he made time to take his mates through problem sets.
Ultimately, it was no surprise when as vice presidential candidate, he and his presidential candidate got elected to lead the Ashesi Student Council in early 2023. And what an awesome job he did as vice president of our student council. He was an able right-hand man, facilitating development of new activities; helping to invigorate clubs and societies; energizing students’ participation in events; and being a classy envoy for his team. Any student council program was more likely to be smooth, exciting, and successful because Yamoah was involved.
Beyond Ashesi, he was an able ambassador of the institution on the Applied Methods and Research Experience (AMRE) program at the College of Wooster in Ohio, the United States. He developed, with three others, “a best practices guide to improve Schneider Electric’s use of Large Language Models” after conducting several experiments. Before that, he was on a team of Ashesi students who developed a device that enables the blind and visually impaired to plot and interpret bar graphs and perform simple mathematical computations. His peers had a sense of what he would contribute to Ashesi when they voted for him as for the “Star Image Award” during the Ubora Awards in 2021.
He is never flustered, never out-of-ideas, and never missing in action; always composed, always learning, always serving. For personifying the Ashesi ideals of scholarship, leadership, and citizenship, we present this award to the young man with an unusually avuncular disposition; an “uncle” to all in this Ashesi family: (Wofa) Yamoah Frimpong Attafuah.
