When Naadirah Wunitia Abdullahi Tanko ’29 first visited campus through the Ashesi Innovation Experience (AIX) in 2023, she caught a glimpse of what her future could look like. The intensive two-week program introduced her to design, leadership, and engineering—and left her inspired.

“During the last week of AIX, we built a conveyor belt for medicine production. The entire process was fascinating. I had the opportunity to work with different people and various aspects of engineering, which deepened my love for the field. I thought, if my love was nurtured here, why not continue my studies here so it can grow even more?” she recalled.

Her passion for robotics influenced her choice of major, although she admits she had to weigh her options between electrical and computer engineering at one point. “I was stuck between electrical and computer engineering, and then I was informed that Ashesi introduced mechatronic engineering recently. So, I decided, well, why not? It’s the perfect intersection between mechanical, electrical, and computer engineering and will allow me to be diverse within the engineering field,” said Tanko.

A strong believer in the power of small learning communities, Tanko was especially drawn to Ashesi’s intimate classroom environment. She believes it will allow her to thrive. “Hearing that the cohort number is usually smaller than that of other Ghanaian universities made me realize that I’ll be able to learn from and interact with different people more intimately and develop stronger connections,” she said. “It would also allow me to interact with my lecturers more frequently because the teacher-to-student ratio is smaller.”