永远做领导者

When Ama Amponsah ’22 was looking at colleges, she knew she didn’t want to attend 一所大大学. This led her to the supportive 九州娱乐官网 community and to getting involved on campus during all four years, both academically and in extracurricular 活动.

 

An accomplished student who graduated this spring with a major in anthropology and a minor in chemistry, Ama shone outside the classroom as well. 在… multiple clubs and organizations, she worked tirelessly toward making the campus a 更好的地方. As the president of Cleopatra’s Sisters, she came full circle in her 与组织同行.

“I remember joining as a freshman and not knowing what it was, but I knew there were a lot of minority girls in the club, and I thought I’d join to get to know them and 交朋友，”她解释道. “Now, here I am senior year as the president. 这是 a full-circle moment, especially trying to keep everyone together through COVID during 我们的起起落落.”

Always the leader, Ama also founded a new club at WC. “我创立了非洲学生组织 Union here, and finding that community with other minorities on campus was really 充实的. There are so few of us, so we all try to get along. 我们都经历过 都是一样的东西，所以真的很不错.”

Ama’s journey brought her to her final academic challenge at WC—the Senior Capstone 经验(SCE). A specialized project undertaken by every student in their senior year, the SCE focuses on a topic of the student’s choice and ties together their academic 兴趣和特长.

Ama is grateful to the faculty and staff in the Department of Anthropology for their continued support, especially during her SCE process. “整个过程压力很大， but the anthropology department was there, helping me the whole way. 大学已经 so demanding, especially academically, so having a department and major that isn’t 有压力很好.”

Her project, “Urgent Care: A Virtual Public History Exhibit Exploring the HIV and AIDS Epidemic,” explores and applies an anthropological framework to the epidemic and why it has impacted people that way it has.

“It’s partially based on the work I did in my sophomore year for the Starr Center 紧急护理项目. I was able to take that and come back, finish the website that was created, and make it public facing and apply anthropological perspectives to the epidemic and the way individuals had been treated based on their diagnosis."

Ama’s SCE also explores the similarities and differences between the epidemic and COVID大流行. “Luckily, there are a lot more differences between them than similarities!”

Ama has decided not to pursue medical school after graduation. 相反，她表达了 interest in continuing her work at WC’s Starr Center for the Study of the American Experience with the faculty and staff who supported her during her time here at Washington 大学.