12/30/2005
Woode Foundation Spurs Science & Math Careers
College professor and high-school teacher Harold Afiriyie created the Sarah
Woode Foundation 12 years ago to guide and mentor students pursuing degrees
in the sciences and math.
If you agree the lack of science majors in US schools is a problem, then
certainly Harold Afiriyie is part of the solution. A college professor and
high school teacher, Afiriyie created the Sarah Woode Foundation 12 years
ago with one purpose in mind—to guide and mentor students pursuing
degrees in the sciences and math.
“Science, Math: and Computer Sciences,” said Afiriyie. “Anything that has to do with those disciplines.” These majors have been in decline since the mid-1970s and now competition from abroad threatens the US role as world-innovator. The Sarah Woode Foundation, with money from donations, sales of cosmetics and Afiriyie’s own pocket has helped to reverse this trend by nurturing a generation of thinkers and creators.
Students from every borough apply to the foundation with winners getting grants prior to the beginning of the academic year. Over 400 students have gotten assistance since 1993 but Afiryie wants more, “to broaden the scope of the foundation in the sense of giving more scholarships,” he said. “To do something comparable to the Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation—on that level—where PhDs can go abroad for their Post-Docs. And all that.”
Originally from the Ashanti region of Ghana, Afiriyie grew up in an area with several good colleges nearby. His mother was an educator and women’s advocate, and the namesake of the foundation. “She struggled a lot to take care of us six boys,” he said. “My father wasn’t helping much so she was actually in charge of everything.”
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Afiriyie wanted to somehow repay his mother for the struggle she went through during her sons’ educations but never got a chance. “I had promised to retire her when I graduated from college but then she passed away. At that time I decided to do something in her memory,” he said.
It wasn’t until many years later when he was teaching at Nazareth High School in Brooklyn, that he found a chance. “I was passing on the first floor and I saw a mother and a daughter. The daughter wanted to come to school here very, very badly,” he said. “Somehow the mother couldn’t afford it and I could hear her [the mother] pleading with her to go to some other school—one she could afford.” The mother finally relented.
Afiriyie was disturbed that the girl couldn’t attend the school just because of money. “At one point I thought ‘wow! I’ve been through that before!’ So why don’t I start a scholarship for students in that predicament?”
Now, years later he has helped hundreds of students just like her. Afiriyie shrugs off any praise for his works. “As long as they can achieve their maximum potential. That is the ultimate goal,” he said.
The results of the foundation’s support are real and tangible when young people are changed forever—for the better. “I didn’t just learn about science, I learned about life,” said recipient Nadine Ulloa. “Without SWF, the last seven years of my life could not have been so successful. I have graduated from high school, college, and now I am currently in graduate school pursuing a Ph.D. in Genetics.”
Ironically, it isn’t money that hampers the growth of the foundation but qualified students. “It has been a growing,” said Afiriyie. “That’s been the goal…to grow, not to shrink—it’s just that the number of qualified students has rather shrunk. You know, you want to give ten, but after all those interviews, only three, four, five, qualify. So the numbers go down not because we couldn’t support them but because of the qualifications.”
The foundation attracts applicants with outreach to public schools, word of mouth, and public relations. But Afiriyie has mostly sustained the scholarship through personal indefatigable strength. “Keep your eye on the goal,” he said. “You know, don’t let anything distract you. You will encounter obstacles, but remember obstacles can always be overcome. I am an optimist. Where everyone else see darkness—I always see light.”
Students seeking grants and those interested in donating can contact the Sarah Woode Foundation online, at http://www.sarahwoodefoundation.org.