COPE beneficiaries share inspiring stories of their pursuit of careers in medicine, architecture

Two beneficiaries of the Citi Opportunity Project on Education (COPE), Philemon Debrah and Alfred Paa Grant, have shared their challenging but inspiring journeys to careers in medicine and architecture respectively.

Philemon was the winner of Citi FM’s Write Away competition, now The Literacy Challenge, back in 2011 and became a COPE beneficiary after completing Winneba Senior High School, in order to further his education at the University of Ghana.

When asked why he chose to pursue two more years in medical school at the University of Cape Coast (UCC) despite having already acquired a Bachelor of Science (BSC) in Medical Laboratory Sciences, Philemon said he relished the prospect of working with people instead of constantly being locked in a lab.

He describes his time in medical school as “interesting and challenging” indicating that there is so much to study in so little time.

Alfred also narrated his struggles to earn a place in medical school despite his impressive grades in the WASSCE (7As and a B) at St

He initially secured a place in UG to study Psychology and then Architecture at the Kwame Nkrumah Science and Technology (KNUST) in his second attempt, but Alfred had set his sights on a career in healthcare.

“I wanted to go into medicine, but I was told by some friends at KNUST that architecture was one of the top courses