During the 2015 fall semester, Majors in Architecture worked in ARCH 401: Advanced Design with Richard Wesley, Adjunct Professor, and Scott Aker, Lecturer, to develop an overall plan for a 50-acre agricultural site - including an eco-pond - as well as architectural designs for a girls' school and women's health clinic in the village of Tarkwa Breman, Ghana. Scott Aker visited the village to assess the land, meet with the with residents of the village and coordinate the translation of the students’ designs into construction.
The Tarkwa Breman Girls’ School is a tuition-free primary school. Parents of the students volunteer their labor on the school's cocoa farm in exchange for access to tuition-free education for their daughters. The school opened with 126 students enrolled in four grade levels. Shadrack Frimpong (Class of '15), the first person from the village of Tarkwa Breman to attend college, was a recipient of a 2015 President’s Engagement Prize, a fiancial award to support civic engagement projects. Frimpong utilized the prize to fund the construction of the girls' school. Learn more