“The goal of the program is for educators to engage in experiential learning by traveling to a new country and developing a curriculum project based on the information, perspectives and materials that are gathered, intertwining African culture with the educator’s subject area and classroom,” according to school officials.
Participants in this transnational African and African Diaspora Identities program will travel for a month to learn about Ghana’s culture, language, history, politics and society “through the lens of the transatlantic slave trade,” according to OU CIS, and focus on the connections between Ghana and Ohio.
“We hope the participants will gain insight and new perspectives on the historical and contemporary relationship between Ghana and the United States,” said Cat Cutcher, CIS associate director, who is leading the program with Assan Sarr, associate professor of history in the College of Arts and Sciences at Ohio University.
Program leaders will lead daily experiential learning engagements in Accra, Kumasi, and Cape Coast, plus 10 hours of Akan language training, according to CIS. The goal of the program is to provide ways for educators to infuse West African perspectives into U.S. classrooms and curricula.
“The OHIO Ghana program will strengthen understanding of the historical and contemporary relationships between West Africa and Appalachian Ohio established through the transatlantic slave trade and shaped by global connections across time,” according to CIS.
Along with developing curriculum materials and lesson plans for their classrooms, participants will also learn the Akan/Twi language through online learning leading up to the trip.
Negash participated in the program last summer in Thailand. She said the experience was “so rich professionally and personally” and inspired to her to apply for next year’s program.
“Based on my time in Thailand, I developed a curriculum project that I then submitted to the U.S. Department of Education and Fulbright Commission as a resource for other educators to use. I will teach this unit about informative writing related to Thailand’s sustainability efforts this spring,” she said. “I am looking forward to developing a new and engaging unit tied to my experiences in Ghana.”
Teevan, biology teacher at SOI, is excited to learn how Ghanians are mitigating the effects of climate change.
“We have meetings scheduled with local environmental justice NGOs and national youth development NGOs,” she said. “I look forward to hearing from a multitude of voices on this topic.”
Fifteen eligible participants were chosen for program. Participants will arrive in Ghana on June 16 and return on July 14, 2025, according to the OU CIS.
For more information on the program and who is eligible to apply, visit www.ed.gov/grants-and-programs/grants-higher-education/ifle/fulbright-hays-group-projects-abroad-program.
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