KNUST SHS student wins award
A 17-year-old second year visual art student of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Senior High School (SHS), Master Samuel Antwi, has won the Sister Cities International 2016 edition of the Young Artists and Authors Showcase competition.
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For his award, he was presented with $1,000, a certificate and some artwork by the organisers, Sister Cities International, a US-based non-governmental organisation (NGO).
The presentation of the award followed the selection of his artwork on the theme: “Together as one,” which depicted a hanging globe with many people trying to reach it.
The artwork of Master Antwi is to be used as a symbol of peace for the world.
Sister Cities International
The Sister Cities project is the brainchild of the 34th President of the USA, Dwight D. Eisenhower, who in 1956 established it to bring thousands of people across the globe together to promote peace.
Among its aims was to bring people of different cultures to celebrate and appreciate different people.
It helps people connect across national boundaries and get to know each other, their mutual respect and understanding which could transform diplomatic relations and foster peace and posterity.
For almost three decades now, SCI has leveraged the power of art to transform societies and transcend cultural boundaries through the young artists and authors.
This year, more than 100 students from across the world between the ages of 13 and 22 submitted their works to interpret peace through art.
Presentation of awards
Prof. Edward Opoku Dapaah, a researcher at the Winston-Salem State University, North Carolina, USA, who is an Ambassador of the Sister Cities Board for Kumasi, presented the award to Master Antwi, at a ceremony in Kumasi.
He said there was the need for the sister Cities initiatives to be taken seriously by African countries since its benefits were enormous.
Prof. Dapaah stated that the relationship between Kumasi and Winston-Salem had been in existence for over 20 years and said it would be necessary to deepen the ties between the two states.
He hinted of plans by the SCI to support the Ahwiaa wood carvers in the form of training, the provision of basic tools, creating an outlet for selling their products in the US as well as the invitation of sponsors to support their operations.
Advice
He advised the students to keep striving, be motivated to work hard to achieve their dreams and academic laurels in order to make their country and parents proud.
Prof. Dapaah, said although social media had both positive and negative impact, there was the need for the students to take advantage of it and use it productively to enhance their learning in the form of planning and coordinating their studies effectively.
The headmistress of KNUST SHS, Mrs Joyce Owusu-Ansah, commended Master Antwi for bringing honour to the school and urged him and other students to continue working hard to lift the image of the school and the nation.
Achievements
She enumerated some of the achievements of the school as follows: The boys hockey team came first in the region in 2016, Ashanti regional champion in the Mathematics and Science quiz for 2015. The school also emerged winner in the 2016 inter-school cultural competition.
The Board Chairman of KNUST Senior High School, Dr Divine K. Ahadze, pledged the board’s desire to work extra hard to uplift the performance of the school as their contribution to the training of the nation’s manpower resource.
He said the KNUST senior high school was well positioned to strive to attain high laurels in the development of education in the country, especially in the areas of visual art and science.