The leadership of the Hulede Foundation Scholarship based in Maryland, United States of America, has met the one hundred and twenty (120) beneficiaries of the Foundation from the 糖心Vlog and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi at the Amonoo Neizer Conference Centre.
Addressing the gathering, the Deputy Director in charge of听 Housing and Welfare at听the Directorate of Student鈥檚 Affairs (DoSA), Professor Marian Asantewaa Nkansah, said the Directorate is responsible for creating the right milieu for students to thrive throughout their studentship. She said they do this through several channels of creating the right channel for learning, caring for the sick or distressed, responding to basic needs such as feeding the hungry through the KNUST Food Bank project and providing financial support through the Work and Study Programme, where students work at different spaces on campus to earn an allowance, as well as provision of tuition and accommodation scholarships for some students.
Professor Asantewaa Nkansah continued that there is also the Vice-Chancellor鈥檚 initiative of Support One Needy Student with One Laptop (SONSOL), which offers free laptops to needy but deserving students, among others, through collaboration with government and private organisations.
She stated that the support from the Hulede Foundation is a great addition to our resources and timely response to our many needs as a University and particularly as a Directorate since the University now has over eighty-five thousand (85,000) students in enrolment.
She, therefore, expressed management鈥檚 appreciation to the Foundation for their benevolence and investments in brilliant but needy students. She also used the occasion to advise the beneficiaries to show gratitude to their benefactors by studying hard to make the scholarship worthwhile.
Giving a background to the Foundation, Co-Founder and Director of the Hulede Foundation, Patrick Hulede, said the Foundation was set up in honour of Mr. Patrick Hulede of blessed memory, founder and first manager of the University Printing Press by his two sons Patrick and John. The Foundation鈥檚 mission is to create opportunities for the less privileged in society to better their lives.
He noted that in recent past, some selected primary and elementary schools in the Kumasi Metropolis have been supported with desks, chairs, and mechanised boreholes. In addition, some physically challenged students in selected senior high schools have benefitted from mobility aids and laptops from the Foundation.
According to Mr. Patrick Hulede, the Foundation鈥檚 scholarship at KNUST is its flagship endeavour to replicate its activities at the tertiary level and has commenced at KNUST and Kumasi where the founders grew up. He indicated that, at KNUST they seek to identify brilliant students who are genuinely underprivileged to assist them in their pursuit of higher education. 鈥淲e are not just interested in giving out financial support but with recipients in the view of assisting through mentorship, career development and other life opportunities. Our ultimate desire is to encourage recipients to develop and maintain the culture of giving back to society鈥 he added.
He revealed that the maiden Hulede Foundation Scholarships at KNUST have awarded scholarships to over a hundred needy undergraduate students at all levels. He said they are meeting with awardees in person to familiarise themselves and encourage them to learn hard to become useful citizens. He also encouraged them to give back to society and to volunteer forty hours annually of their time for community service, which will be endorsed by an overseeing authority.
