According to UNESCO, gaining a degree is something that only 7% of the entire human population has done. For this reason, all of the students that have successfully graduated from university have achieved a great accomplishment. Even though this is the case, some graduates deserve more recognition than others. Angela Owusu-Sekyere is one of those graduates.
Angela came to London in the summer of 2008 at just 15 years old being born and bred in the great country of Ghana. She was adopted by her close relatives who were a family consisting of a single mother with two young boys. They all lived in a tiny two bedroom council estate flat in Battersea, south London. Living in London proved to be difficult for her at first, since she was not completely used to the English weather, culture or language. She also had a very strong Ghanaian accent which her two new, and very annoying, younger brothers would never let her forget about. As the summer went on, she became more and more accustomed to her new environment and began to settle in. Angela started secondary school at a school previously known as Southfields Community College (now called Southfields Academy) in September 2008 beginning her GCSEs.
Southfields is racially diverse school so Angela didn’t have a problem making new friends with people from the same background to her own but Southfields was also known as a school that had many disruptive students, so it was hard for most students to put their heads down and work in classes. But Angela wasn’t like most students, she pushed herself to go to the library almost every day and strive for the best despite not having the same level of education as most of the students. Angela came out of Southfields with impressive GCSEs, achieving A grade in most subjects and a couple of A*’s. She then moved to another school called Saint Cecilia’s Wandsworth for sixth form. Here Angela further pushed her limits and became Head Girl of the school during her second year.
Unfortunately, Angela also slacked off a little too meaning she didn’t do as well academically as she should have, resulting in her studying Pharmacology, a course she didn’t want to do, at the University of Portsmouth. Fortunately, Angela isn’t the type of person to let failure kill her drive, so she worked even harder during her first year and managed to be one of the few in her course to be allowed to change course to do Pharmacy.
Angela made a name for herself amongst the African community in Portsmouth by being a smart and independent black woman and becoming the President of PENSA, Pentecost students and associates. PENSA is a group of young people from Pentecostal backgrounds, who are also students at the University of Portsmouth, who come together to worship God. Whilst being President, Angela also studied hard and finished university after 5 years to become a Master of Pharmacy with a First Class Honours.
Angela is an example for everyone but especially young black women. She proves you can do anything if you put your mind to it no matter what your background.
