2008 Woodie Awards
Interesting person of the week: Kwabena Bempah Tandoh
Leah Lavelle
Issue date: 9/14/07 Section: News
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Kwabena Bempah Tandoh has dreams, and he is making them happen. Among K.B.'s biggest aspirations?
"I want to start an inner-city boarding school," Tandoh said. He said that the school would provide college preparatory education for males ages 12 to 18.
Tandoh, who "wanted to stay in higher education" after earning his college degrees in urban and community studies at the University of Connecticut, has started this year as a residence hall coordinator at Saint Louis University's Marguerite Hall and is taking his first classes toward a doctorate in educational leadership and higher education at SLU. With a bachelor's degree in urban studies and a master's degree in social work, Tandoh has been cultivating his plan to help educate urban students for years.
Tandoh said that he has written a 25-page proposal for the school program and is "in the process of writing the proposal to set up a foundation to fund the program."
Though he once lived in Ghana, he has spent time in 28 states, mostly East of the Mississippi, and London, and said that he hopes his proposal for a boarding school could be put to use in "any city in the world."
Tandoh operates from the principle that "prevention is better than cure." He attended a boarding school in Ghana and "learned discipline and honor," he said.
He wants to offer a boarding school to young urban males because "most problems [concerning urban youth] happen between 3 p.m. and 3 a.m.." The school, he said, would provide a "totally free, safe learning environment to bring [the students] up to speed" before college.
Tandoh is also interested in diversity training. Along with SLU's Campus Ministry, he hopes to run a "Diversity Spring Break Bus" to tour different places in the northeastern United States.
It will be "like a diversity classroom but on the road," Tandoh said. "[We will study] the different fabrics that make together what we call America."
"I want to start an inner-city boarding school," Tandoh said. He said that the school would provide college preparatory education for males ages 12 to 18.
Tandoh, who "wanted to stay in higher education" after earning his college degrees in urban and community studies at the University of Connecticut, has started this year as a residence hall coordinator at Saint Louis University's Marguerite Hall and is taking his first classes toward a doctorate in educational leadership and higher education at SLU. With a bachelor's degree in urban studies and a master's degree in social work, Tandoh has been cultivating his plan to help educate urban students for years.
Tandoh said that he has written a 25-page proposal for the school program and is "in the process of writing the proposal to set up a foundation to fund the program."
Though he once lived in Ghana, he has spent time in 28 states, mostly East of the Mississippi, and London, and said that he hopes his proposal for a boarding school could be put to use in "any city in the world."
Tandoh operates from the principle that "prevention is better than cure." He attended a boarding school in Ghana and "learned discipline and honor," he said.
He wants to offer a boarding school to young urban males because "most problems [concerning urban youth] happen between 3 p.m. and 3 a.m.." The school, he said, would provide a "totally free, safe learning environment to bring [the students] up to speed" before college.
Tandoh is also interested in diversity training. Along with SLU's Campus Ministry, he hopes to run a "Diversity Spring Break Bus" to tour different places in the northeastern United States.
It will be "like a diversity classroom but on the road," Tandoh said. "[We will study] the different fabrics that make together what we call America."
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