That College Application Process is Murder, But...

Phoebe Returns!

The author of two previous posts: 

Spirit of Unity from Ghana

and

They Have Left HomeThey are Going, 

Phoebe comes back to us with news about her future, thoughts about taking a "gap year", and a reflective glance at the strenuous process of applying to college.  

As anyone who has lived through the experience can attest, writing essays, taking standardized exams, and spending gobs of money all in hopes of acceptance can be overwhelming.

  

I received Phoebe's newest entry this morning - just as I my colleagues and I were preparing "How to Write Your College Essay" packets for our 11th grade students.  All of those wide-eyed Juniors on the cusp of anxiety and hope are about to begin the journey that Phoebe has just completed.

Congratulations, Miss Phoebe!  We look forward to having your passion and your intellect here in the United States!

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Phoebe:
You don’t expect to saddle your dear parents, who have tirelessly contributed their very best to your education through nursery, primary and secondary school, with the news that you’ve suddenly decided to take a year off from school. Not in a Ghanaian home. There is a certain order that only makes sense in their ears, and there is almost no room for “gaps” and “year offs” in their single-minded lingo. That said, it is almost always safe to assume where there is a gap, something unthinkable, even terrible must have gone wrong, somewhere somehow.

Last year I found myself in, let’s just say, a situation I didn’t think I had the heart or the time or the clarity of mind (mpo) to make a decision on. I would either settle on the only school that made me a partial offer or do nothing (at the time, “taking a gap year” wasn’t part of my lingo either) I could figure out just then. As time or maybe fate would have it, I took a year off and the only regrets I have? Having to go through that murderous college application process all over again (Well that’s not a regret per se. To my credit, I am quite an expert at the process now ;))

Yes, you heard it. 

That college application process is murder, but 
it simultaneously finds a way to get the best out of you. Don’t ever mistaken the undue stress, the drooping eyes, the constant all-nighters and the like on IB2’s faces. It’s a grueling time of hard thinking and deep questioning of what you really want, finding a great fit, making decisions that make most sense etc. - but it is not a ‘life and death’ situation. Just like any other process, things can turn out unexpectedly and differently as planned, even to the best of us. Part of the maturity is taking it up in your stride and moving onward. 

Part of it is accepting that what really counts is not the ‘glory’ in the name of the school you end up in, but what you are able to take and make out of it. Where you end up really doesn’t matter so much as how much you make out of it Now, I’m repeating myself. There are so many misconceptions that we must dispel and realities we must face and maybe you are only fully able to understand these things after having gone through the entire process, especially when you had it ‘the hard way’. But there’s room for hope, prayer and faith to believe that things WILL work out fine, even if it takes more time than we budgeted for.

I wish we would just allow things to run its course, and welcome every “gap” in the process in warm embrace. It is almost often ALWAYS (3 words?) worth the wait. It took me a whole year’s wait to land over 5 guaranteed offers and 2 ‘wait lists’ but I got into the school of my first choice (Tufts), and I can hardly explain how overwhelmed I feel.

Terminology:

IB2: This is the title given to 12th Grade students at Hermann Gmeiner International College.  "IB" = International Baccalaureate "2" = Second Year

Spirit of Unity - from Ghana

Phoebe, the poet who is taking a gap year before leaving Ghana for university, returns to us with a poem inspired by the death of her nation's president.

This poem is timely, not because of John Atta Mills' passing (which occurred in July of 2012), but because Ghana has just completed a peaceful election and named John Dramani Mahama as its new leader.

Ghana holds a lauded place in post-colonial African history.  One of the few countries to find political stability after imperial powers released their grip, the country is very proud to be free and self-governed.  Each election since 1957 has served to establish a stabilizing democracy.

The journey has not been trouble-free, and John Dramani Mahama's recently published memoir "My First Coup d'Etat: And Other True Stories from the Lost Decades of Africa" speaks to challenging times.

But Phoebe's poem, which has shades of Walt Whitman's "Oh Captain, My Captain" is a lovely elegy for a leader she admired.

10^th August 2012: 

Tunes of the Atentebbe*

the whole of Ghana mourns to the tunes of the atentebbe,

 hear the dirge that wafts through the air,

the mood is somber; there is mourning everywhere,

the nation is at a standstill; our president is dead,

even the trees are clad in black and red,

in the spirit of grieving the dead,

chief mourners are over-playing melodrama in their show,

even your rivals have lowered their heads,

for your sake, we have joined our hands in grief,

for a while, we have put our dirty politics to sleep,

together, with one heart, we will weep,

hot, and heavy tears for the cherished memories we keep,

Even in death, we are possessed with your spirit of unity, Damirifa due*, until we meet in eternity.

                                                                             

* Atentebbe- A wind instrument of cultural significance, often played on the occasion of one’s death.

*Damirifa due- An expression of one’s condolences in the Twi, an Akan dialect

Election Tuesday with Abena

“I love going to vote. The low tech chaos reminds me that this process is really all about people.” Desiree Byker Abiri

This morning my polling site in Brooklyn was crowded and a bit shambolic, but among the hundreds of people who stood in line, there was an attitude of patient enthusiasm.  At one point a young man complained about the mayhem and the well-appointed businessman standing behind him looked up from his Blackberry and calmly said,  “This is a privilege.  People have sacrificed a lot so we could do this today.”

The advantages of a participatory government are easy to get used to, but coming together with neighbors in a school gymnasium, a firehouse, or a community center is a great reminder of how lucky we are to have a voice.  And while this communal act feels sort of intimate, we all know that the world watches American presidential elections with enormous interest.  It is to our detriment that we don’t look beyond our own borders with the same intensity others often study us.

Abena Owusua, a clever young woman from Accra, Ghana is a first year student at the University of Virginia who may not be able to vote today, but she has contributed to the conversation in her own way.  Curious and sophisticated, she has leapt into college and civic life in the United States.

Abena (whose name actually means "Tuesday") was my student at the SOS-Herman Gmeiner International College in Ghana. The following comments are part of a series of questions I recently asked her to answer:

What were your first thoughts/impressions upon your arrival in Virginia?  Had you ever visited the United States before your arrival for university?

Yes, I had visited the US before but driving to Charlottesville was nerve-wracking. It’s two hours from DC and is in the center of Virginia. All I saw while we drove were cornfields and for a minute my heart sank. But as it turns out, Charlottesville isn’t rural; rather, it has a really rich history and this is evident in the architecture and traditions.

At first I was sure I wouldn’t like it but now I absolutely enjoy walking through the pedestrian mall on Friday nights! J

Have you been following the Presidential campaign?  Do you have any opinions about the upcoming election?

Yes, I have been following the election and have even helped Environment America Action Fund by canvassing for votes for Obama and Tim Kaine. While Obama is not perfect, he does stand for some very important issues such as education, civil rights and the environment which shouldn’t be ignored.

While I think that Romney has good intentions, I think that his thoughts are a bit misguided sometimes.

Were you always motivated to succeed as a student?  If not, who/what inspired you?

I wasn’t always motivated to be successful; my parents used to say that the one thing about me that hadn’t changed from childhood to the age of 18 was that I LOATHED school. That changed when I started college but what really motivates me didn’t occur until this week when I was in a nearby county canvassing for voters pledges for Barack Obama and Tim Kaine; I was in some really rough neighborhoods and it really made me think that I didn’t have all this education at my disposal so I could waste it and resort to the lifestyle of barely getting by.

 How does the American political process compare to Ghana’s system of campaigns and elections?

Well in Ghana, the competition pretty much lies between the liberal democrats and the social democrats. In the US it’s broader- Republicans versus the democrats.

It’s certainly more smooth and peaceful a process in the US; in Ghana we’re just so used to politicians reigning insults on one another or citizens taking up arms in the political party’s defense.

In both cases though I think that political leaders are trying their best to be constructive and build their countries in the ways that they see fit.

What do you (or would you) tell Americans about Ghana that they don’t seem to understand?

Not just Ghanaians but Africans in general: we’ve made it our business to learn as much about each other and about other countries like the US, the UK etc. that it surprises some of my friends when I have even the slightest inkling about another country’s history or some other fact. I think it surprises them that I’d go out of my way to educate myself so much about something that, ideally, shouldn’t matter to me,

Why did you choose to come to the US for your university studies? 

I chose the US because of the benefits of the liberal arts program and because I wanted to be far away from home. I also wanted to be in an environment where it was okay to be unsure as to what I want to do and where I’m encouraged to explore every possibility and every urge.

What do you miss most about Ghana?

The food, the communal life and most importantly my mother.