It was all excitement in the week of August 17, 2009 when the Ashesi community welcomed the class of 2013 to campus. The 145 students who showed up for orientation were selected from an applicant pool of 503. This class represents 29% of applicants and is Ashesi’s largest intake to date. With an almost equal ratio of men to women, this class embodies Ashesi’s ideal of gender balance on campus. “I know it’s going to be a rigorous 4 years, but I’m ready for the challenge”, Selase Dela-Brown says of her expectations.

Freshman orientation is an important event on the school’s calendar. It provides a medium to introduce new students to Ashesi’s culture in a low pressure setting. The different activities are designed to get new students to engage with each other, continuing students, faculty and staff and alumni.

Freshmen engaged in ice-breakers that had them working in teams; attending interactive workshops on skills for success; engaging the concept of mindsets; and listening to presentations about extracurricular life at Ashesi.

President Awuah in his welcome emphasized Ashesi’s commitment to turning out ethical leaders of industry and government. He said, “by choosing to come to Ashesi University, you’ve chosen to be nothing but excellent. Your time here will teach you how uninteresting mediocrity is. By the time you are ready to graduate, you will expect nothing but excellence of yourself and your friends.”

“I’ve never been in a place where excellence has been so emphasized. I’m excited about Ashesi and about all the different possibilities being here will afford me,” Audrey Ayamgha adds.

Approximately 37% of the freshman class qualified for Ashesi’s generous financial aid program. Ashesi is passionate about providing quality education for some of Africa’s brightest youth regardless of background. The class of 2013 was awarded $120,000 in financial aid grants, bringing the university’s total financial aid contributions to approximately $440,000 per year.

Forty-eight schools are represented in this class, including Aburi Girls’, Achimota, Bishop Herman, Faith Montessori, Tamale Senior High, Winneba, Tema International, and Wesley Girls’. International students come from Syria, Lebanon, Britain, India, Ivory Coast, South Africa and Nigeria.