The first beneficiary of the Citi Opportunity Project on Education (COPE) has successfully graduated from the University of Ghana, Legon.
Mary Mensah was awarded a full scholarship by COPE, an initiative of the Citi FM Foundation, and had the cost of her four-year training at the nation’s premier university absorbed by COPE.
[contextly_sidebar id=”h91V3X575yn2bFALP1e5rJ9jQ6jbuFwW”]Speaking about how her COPE experience, she said “my father died when I was a young girl. I had to struggle through primary school, JSS and SHS because my mother was not around and I had no help. Some kindhearted people helped me along the way but at a point some of them were asking me to sleep with them before they could give me money for school. When I refused to give in, the help stopped coming. It was very difficult until a friend told me about COPE. I applied to COPE and to my surprise they gave me a full scholarship and now I have completed my university education.”
According to Mary, she hopes to be a Financial Analyst and intends to further her education after her national service.
Elinam Adadevoh Teinor, COPE Coordinator, explained that the project seeks to finance the education of as many qualified students as possible through the Senior High and University levels of education.
“There are a lot of needy students who need our support to continue their education. Most of these students have the potential to be change leaders in the society but are not getting the financial support they need. The idea of COPE is to be a part of the success stories of these students. We have all here by the help of others. It’s our turn to give back,” she said.
By: Kojo Akoto Boateng/citifmonline.com/Ghana