Ramona Smith
  • public relations
  • Class of 2017
  • Richmond Heights, OH

Ramona Smith embarks on Baldwin Wallace University's 'Ghana Beat' program

2017 Nov 15

Ramona Smith of Lakewood was among 19 students who participated in BW's "Ghana Beat: The Drums of Tradition and Change" study abroad program, a transformative three-week learning experience in multiple cities in Ghana, West Africa, including Accra, Kumasi, Kopeyia, Ho, Akosombo and Cape Coast, during the spring 2017 semester.

Smith, a graduate of Collinwood High School majoring in public relations, completed courses providing an in-depth understanding of Ghana's politics and society as well as West African traditional music before going on the three-week experience led by business professor Dr. Christian Nsiah and music professor Josh Ryan.

The program provided opportunities for students to experience intensive traditional drumming sessions at the Dagbe Cultural Institute & Arts Centre in the village of Kopeyia and to study the political and legal systems of Ghana. They also toured several key areas, including the Ghana Parliament House, Central Business District, Cape Coast Castle and the W.E.B. Dubois Memorial Centre for Pan African Culture.

While abroad, the group also visited historical sites and major landmarks such as the Volta River, Wli waterfalls, markets, beaches, a monkey sanctuary, traditional villages, former slave castles at Cape Coast and Elmina, and West Africa's highest rain forest canopy walkway at Kakum National Park.

Smith had this to say about the trip, "Going to Ghana significantly enhanced my self-actualization. This trip gave me something to belong to, and something authentic to identify with. It changed my life."

The BW Study Abroad Center engages students through global exploration and off-campus study that enhances personal growth, educational enrichment and career development as part of the university's liberal arts effort to cultivate contributing and compassionate citizens. Through faculty-led and independent study abroad opportunities, students can build strong communication skills, enhanced critical thinking and personal confidence from trekking the unknown.