{"id":6819,"date":"2025-04-09T21:02:45","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T01:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/?p=6819"},"modified":"2025-04-09T21:02:46","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T01:02:46","slug":"bridging-divides","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.colby.edu\/global-elites\/2025\/04\/09\/bridging-divides\/","title":{"rendered":"Bridging Divides"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Sankofa International College creates a community that challenges traditional roles of class in education, fostering a unique culture of unity and social consciousness. Sankofa International College is a school in Ghana where half of the students come from at least some degree of privilege, and the other half are orphans who are native to different countries across Africa. The school\u2019s culturally and socioeconomically diverse makeup fosters a clear sense of cultural and social awareness in its students.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

At many elite academic institutions, students are often somewhat ignorant of their privilege. Social class is frequently seen as a taboo topic, and there is a discomfort around conversations about economic disparity and class differences. Students at Sankofa, though, deviate from this norm, approaching conversations with interviewers about class openly and comfortably. But what is it about Sankofa that encourages students to engage in such dialect? This openness reflects a distinctive culture at Sankofa, where students are encouraged to embrace those different from them. When interviewed about themselves, students welcomed questions about not only their own class standing but also class dynamics within the school, especially as a result of the orphan integration program.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At Sankofa, all students receive the same education, regardless of their background. The school follows an IB curriculum that prioritizes global-mindedness, collaborative and creative thinking, and academic excellence. There is a strong emphasis placed on global citizenship, with a specific focus on Pan-Africanism. As Sankofa hosts students from 23 different countries across Africa, African unity and pride are a cornerstone of the school.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sankofa takes significant steps to integrate orphaned students with the rest of the student body, providing every student with the same devices, uniforms, housing, and food to minimize the factors that may distinguish students based on their backgrounds. The school discourages conversations\u2014specifically negative conversations\u2014about class but encourages students to educate themselves on different backgrounds. A prime example of this is Sankofa\u2019s bonding orientation program before the school year begins, which helps Ghanaian students to learn about orphaned peers, encouraging students to move beyond preconceived biases to build meaningful relationships and bridge the gap between them.<\/span><\/p>\n


<\/span> One Sankofa student talked about how the orphan integration program influences students\u2019 relationships with class. She referred to the program as a \u201cleveler,\u201d creating a sense of unity between students from both impoverished and affluent backgrounds. She explained that building close relationships with peers from disadvantaged backgrounds changes the way that wealthier students think about money and privilege. She discussed how this exposure to different experiences helps students to see beyond their differences, stating that \u201c[they] become so close that [they] sort of forget that there is this difference between the two of [them].\u201d Instead of flaunting their wealth or using it as a social clutch, many well-off students feel a desire to support their less fortunate peers by bringing them home for holidays.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This culture of social responsibility is further cultivated through the school\u2019s mandatory community service requirements. Though service requirements are common at private institutions, Sankofa\u2019s compulsory two-year fundraising project takes this further by encouraging students to truly immerse themselves with underprivileged communities. Unlike most traditional service requirements that are often seen as a box to check, students at Sankofa build intimate and long-lasting relationships with the communities they serve. These relationships provide them with a complex and intricate understanding of diverse cultural and economic backgrounds, helping them to develop an understanding of the world beyond their own environment. Students expressed that the service work they did through this program helped them to gain a greater cultural awareness as well as a recognition of their own privilege and societal standing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Students credited the orphan integration program, the emphasis on Pan-Africanism, and the school\u2019s foundation of community service for helping them to develop a sense of cultural consciousness and social responsibility, reflecting the school\u2019s goals of Pan-Africanism and global citizenship education. An overarching theme amongst the students interviewed was a desire to use the skills they obtained at Sankofa to pursue higher education in the United States with the intention of returning to Ghana to contribute to the development of the country as well as the continent of Africa as a whole. Sankofa shapes students to look at social class from a new lens, empowering them to actively contribute to the growth and development of African society.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p><\/div>More <\/a> <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \t <\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sankofa International College creates a community that challenges traditional roles of class in education, fostering a unique culture of unity and social consciousness. Sankofa International College is a school in Ghana where half of the students come from at least some degree of privilege, and the other half are orphans who are native to different […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18411,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"builder_content":"

Sankofa International College creates a community that challenges traditional roles of class in education, fostering a unique culture of unity and social consciousness. Sankofa International College is a school in Ghana where half of the students come from at least some degree of privilege, and the other half are orphans who are native to different countries across Africa. The school\u2019s culturally and socioeconomically diverse makeup fosters a clear sense of cultural and social awareness in its students.<\/p>

<\/p>

At many elite academic institutions, students are often somewhat ignorant of their privilege. Social class is frequently seen as a taboo topic, and there is a discomfort around conversations about economic disparity and class differences. Students at Sankofa, though, deviate from this norm, approaching conversations with interviewers about class openly and comfortably. But what is it about Sankofa that encourages students to engage in such dialect? This openness reflects a distinctive culture at Sankofa, where students are encouraged to embrace those different from them. When interviewed about themselves, students welcomed questions about not only their own class standing but also class dynamics within the school, especially as a result of the orphan integration program.\u00a0<\/p>

At Sankofa, all students receive the same education, regardless of their background. The school follows an IB curriculum that prioritizes global-mindedness, collaborative and creative thinking, and academic excellence. There is a strong emphasis placed on global citizenship, with a specific focus on Pan-Africanism. As Sankofa hosts students from 23 different countries across Africa, African unity and pride are a cornerstone of the school.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>

Sankofa takes significant steps to integrate orphaned students with the rest of the student body, providing every student with the same devices, uniforms, housing, and food to minimize the factors that may distinguish students based on their backgrounds. The school discourages conversations\u2014specifically negative conversations\u2014about class but encourages students to educate themselves on different backgrounds. A prime example of this is Sankofa\u2019s bonding orientation program before the school year begins, which helps Ghanaian students to learn about orphaned peers, encouraging students to move beyond preconceived biases to build meaningful relationships and bridge the gap between them.<\/p>


One Sankofa student talked about how the orphan integration program influences students\u2019 relationships with class. She referred to the program as a \u201cleveler,\u201d creating a sense of unity between students from both impoverished and affluent backgrounds. She explained that building close relationships with peers from disadvantaged backgrounds changes the way that wealthier students think about money and privilege. She discussed how this exposure to different experiences helps students to see beyond their differences, stating that \u201c[they] become so close that [they] sort of forget that there is this difference between the two of [them].\u201d Instead of flaunting their wealth or using it as a social clutch, many well-off students feel a desire to support their less fortunate peers by bringing them home for holidays.\u00a0<\/p>

This culture of social responsibility is further cultivated through the school\u2019s mandatory community service requirements. Though service requirements are common at private institutions, Sankofa\u2019s compulsory two-year fundraising project takes this further by encouraging students to truly immerse themselves with underprivileged communities. Unlike most traditional service requirements that are often seen as a box to check, students at Sankofa build intimate and long-lasting relationships with the communities they serve. These relationships provide them with a complex and intricate understanding of diverse cultural and economic backgrounds, helping them to develop an understanding of the world beyond their own environment. Students expressed that the service work they did through this program helped them to gain a greater cultural awareness as well as a recognition of their own privilege and societal standing.\u00a0<\/p>

Students credited the orphan integration program, the emphasis on Pan-Africanism, and the school\u2019s foundation of community service for helping them to develop a sense of cultural consciousness and social responsibility, reflecting the school\u2019s goals of Pan-Africanism and global citizenship education. An overarching theme amongst the students interviewed was a desire to use the skills they obtained at Sankofa to pursue higher education in the United States with the intention of returning to Ghana to contribute to the development of the country as well as the continent of Africa as a whole. Sankofa shapes students to look at social class from a new lens, empowering them to actively contribute to the growth and development of African society.<\/p>

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