Chudah Yakung ’24 feels he has a tough act to follow. As the class speaker for Ashesi’s 2024 Commencement, he has been studying speakers from previous years for inspiration. His peers, who nominated and voted for him to represent them at the ceremony, have no doubt that he is perfect for the occasion.
Despite the understandable nerves, Chudah is honored that his classmates believe in him and his ability to give them a lively send off. He believes that being engaged with peers beyond his circle of Computer Science classmates will enable him to share a relatable address with and on behalf of his class.
A graduate of Mfantsipim School from Lawra, in Ghana’s Upper West Region, Chudah first learned about Ashesi from two Engineering majors who spoke highly of their alma mater. This led him to apply, and he was accepted into the Computer Science programme. While on campus, Chudah was most likely to be spotted studying on the couches of the Warren library’s first floor. He also worked as a student tutor for math and programming and served as the web development lead for the Google Developer Student Club. Away from studying and teaching, he also played for Elite FC in Ashesi’s Football League and drums for an on-campus Christian fellowship.
A highlight of the Ashesi experience for Chudah was participating in the Applied Methods and Research Experience in 2023. The programme pairs Ashesi students with peers at the College of Wooster for an eight-week internship with business partners in Ohio. He saw clearly how his time at the University readied him for the internship and for the professional world; from the “five-minute rule” that many classes at Ashesi use to encourage punctuality, to the challenging workload, to the emphasis on integrity.
“I wanted to be an ‘A’ student, but I also wanted more,” he explains. “I want to be involved in work that will have an impact on an international scale. My Ashesi experience has helped me understand what it will require and how to do such work.”
Chudah is not done pushing himself. He is looking forward to continuing work on and refining his capstone project: a tool intended to streamline the process of requesting and producing student recommendation letters. He has also been working with his faculty supervisor on a project, which they hope to launch soon, that aims to teach students to learn the basics of web development via recorded video lessons.
For now, he is revelling in the excitement of being “done with everything,” and cannot wait to celebrate with his classmates and the larger community. “Everywhere I go, my friends are saying ‘Chudah, Chudah, make us proud,’ and I’m hoping I can put something together that reflects our collective experiences and what we have to look forward to.”
