Past Programs

Home » Programs » Past Programs

This section contains cases studies of some of the programs that have taken place between 1997-2011. Case studies have been selected to illustrate the variety of courses available at Kokrobitey:

PROGRAMS FOR INTERNATIONAL STUDENTS

 

 

HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAMS

 

Urban Scholars Institute

Programs in 2009, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004, 2001, 2000

 

Lake Forest Academy (LFA) Gender Program

Mar 14 – 26, 2010

 

African Literature Institute

New England Schools June 20- July 5 2002 and Jul 1 – 18, 2001

A 2-week program attended by American students from New England Schools in the USA and Ghanaian students. Alongside lectures and forums on African literature, students took part in field trips to Accra, Aburi and Cape Coast, produced a campus newspaper, and held a festival on Ghana Republic Day for the Kokrobitey community.

Urban Scholars Institute

Chicago Target Hope, Young Chicago Authors, Young Men’s Educational Network and Saturday Scholars 5-21 April 2001

A priority of the Institute is to introduce students to the ‘Old World’ of Africa and to build self-esteem through self-discovery and academic excellence. Fifteen High School students from Chicago joined the Urban Scholars Institute in 2001. The two week ‘Enrichment and Leadership Development’ Institute was designed to immerse students in Africa, with the schedule including classes on history, African arts and African literature. Each student designed and completed an individual project on their experience, with finished work including poetry and short stories.

 

Creative Writing Institute
New England Schools March 2001

The curriculum for this program was developed by Kokrobitey faculty in conjunction with renowned Ghanaian poets and authors, including Ama Ata-Aidoo. The emphasis was to developing skills for the ‘business’ of writing, from research planning to the techniques of creative writing. Field trips were integrated to provide students with direct contact and experience of Africa. Destinations included Accra (the Du Bois center), Cape Coast Castle, Kakum National Park, Ada and the Volta Region. Each student completed a journal during the program as a means of verbalizing their experience and perceptions, presenting extracts from their journal at the finale.

 

 

Culture and Nature
Lawrence Academy 7-19 March 1997

The theme of the course was ‘observation and curiosity’, a focus on understanding how different peoples lived on the land through an interdisciplinary learning model integrating practical field sessions with the study of historical documents. Students were tasked to seek patterns in nature and begin the process of thinking about how those patterns were generated. This process allowed students to ‘re-discover’ how to understand science, alongside learning about the culture and unique ecology of Ghana. The program schedule was focused on practical sessions, including field trips to Aburi Botanical Gardens, Mole National Park, Fiema Monkey Reserve, Kumasi and Accra.

 

High School Cultural Sojourn

Jun 22 – Jul 9, 1999

 

 

UNDERGRADUATE AND GRADUATE STUDENTS

 

American University of Rome (AUR): Governance and Democracy

Programs in 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007, 2006, 2005

 

EF Tours: College Groups

Programs in 2011, 2010, 2009, 2007

 

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)

Programs in 2010, 2008, 2002, 2001

 

University of Washington The Sankofa Experience

Jul25 – Aug 22 2011

 

University of Washington: Cultural Day Program

Aug 27, 20112

 

Hong Kong University

Jul 25 – 27, 2010

 

Princeton University: Sustainable Design

Jun 14 – Jul 11, 2009

 

New York University (NYU): Arts & Culture

Mar 10 – 12, 2006 and Oct 7 – 10, 2005

 

New York University (NYU): Orientation

Jan 22-23, 2005

 

New York University (NYU): Tisch Program

Jun 3 – 5, 2005

 

 

Governance and Politics in West Africa

American University of Rome 10-22 January 2003

An intensive two-week program tailored to integrate a focus on West African politics, historical and contemporary with an introduction to Ghanaian culture, language and history. Highlights included a reception at the USAID residence, forum with speakers including Hon. Freddie Blay, First Speaker of Parliament, and a briefing with the Women of Liberia Peace Network (WOLPNET) at the Bodumboro Liberian Refugee Camp. For their community service project, students completed the re-painting of Kokrobitey Junior Secondary School and made a presentation of stationary and pens to each student.

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) 3-24 January 2002

The theme of the program was “Community Service through the Arts’ with students tasked during their time at Kokrobitey to design and complete a renovation of a local school, contributing to the extended community in which they were living. Alongside practical community service, academic sessions were focused to exploring culture and critical thinking, with lectures and forums led by contemporary Ghanaian artists and designers.

 

The Scholars of the Diaspora Institute
Students from Universities across USA and Europe 6-22 August 2001

A two-week program organized with Yale University students for students from Universities across America and Europe. The Institute considered the themes of ‘What Africa is today’, ‘What Africa meant to the individual’ and ‘What Africa would become in relation to the individual’. Scholars prepared individual books on their experience at Kokrobitey: completed a group project and presentation exploring the question of ‘What Africa is to be’, and gave informal individual presentations on the relevance of the cultural perspective they were discovering to their personal and professional development. Field trips to Accra, Takoradi, Kakum National Park, cape Coast, White Sands Beach resort, Volta River, and Aburi were integrated with the academic sessions on campus.

 

Cambridge College

Aug 8 – 21, 1999 and August 13-25, 2000

Entitled “Revisiting the Old World” this two-week program was focused to giving students opportunity to reconsider their role as educators in the culturally diverse world of the 21st century, and to use this information to look inward to re-access existing beliefs in light of new discoveries. The program included field trips to Accra, Ada, the Volta Region, and Cape Coast with lectures, classes, cultural arts activities and a literacy program for village children.

 

PROGRAMS FOR GHANAIAN STUDENTS

 

HIGH SCHOOL PROGRAMS

Creative Writing and Theatre Workshops ¹Case Study: Achimota School and Presbyterian Secondary School, March and June 2001

Two programs were organized in 2001 for students aged between 17-19 years old from Achimota and Presbyterian Secondary Schools. The programs were intensive two-week residential courses in separately Creative Writing and Theatre. Both schedules included cultural arts workshops, small group teaching and performance.

 

UNDEGRADUATE AND GRADUATE PROGRAMS

Kiddie’ Camp: Creative Arts Camp and Teen Leadership Program

March 29-5 April 2003 and Apr 5 – 7, 2005

A week long program for students aged 8-12 years old, run alongside a leadership development program for students aged 13-15 years. 22 younger students took part in activities including theater arts, costume design, set design, arts, traditional crafts, journal writing (and editing the daily newspaper “Kokrobit”), nature studies and local village excursions. Six qualified camp counselors were on hand to supervise the Institute and act as mentors to the six students aged between 13-15 years who were selected prior to the camp for the leadership-training program.

 

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) College of Art

 4-8 March 2002

A 5-day retreat for students from the KNUST College of Art, integrating workshops and forums on contemporary art with practical work in the design centre. Formal learning was interspersed with activities including dance, drumming and film screenings.