HAIL SOPHIA QUASHIGAH: FROM FRIED YAM SELLER TO VALEDICTORIAN
“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” – Winston Churchill
The story of Sophia Selali Quashigah, the Valedictorian of the Class of 2024 Graduation Ceremony of Accra Metropolitan University held on July 19, 2025, reflects the belief that failure is not fatal, as the epigraph suggests. It is a narrative of perseverance, resilience, tenacity, and purpose.
After completing Keta Senior High School in 2008, Sophia became pregnant and subsequently got married to the father of her son. However, the marriage was fraught with challenges, as her husband disapproved of any steps she wanted to take to improve her life, including furthering her education.
Despite these challenges, Sophia secured a teaching appointment at a private school and sold fried yams by the roadside to support herself and her three children. She knew she had to continue her education, but her husband’s attitude sowed seeds of fear in her.
On one occasion, a friend sent her a scholarship advert from the NDB Foundation, the brainchild of Naa Dedei Botchwey, 2020 TV3 Ghana’s Most Beautiful Queen. The scholarship was to support the beneficiary for a bachelor’s programme at Accra Metropolitan University. Initially, Sophia ignored the advert, knowing that pursuing it would further strain her relationship with her husband.
However, her friend did not give up on her and re-sent the advert. Sophia eventually damned the consequences of her husband’s disapproval and applied for the scholarship. She was called for an interview, which she passed, and was admitted to pursue a Bachelor of Business Administration with a specialisation in Human Resources Management in 2021.
When Sophia commenced the programme, the relationship with her husband worsened, just as she had expected. Nevertheless, she resolved not to give up. Besides her academic work, Sophia became a key member of Accra Metropolitan University’s quiz team, which participated in the 2024 Tertiary Business Sense Challenge, organised annually by Graphic Business of Graphic Communication Group Limited.
Sophia admits that juggling academic work, teaching, frying and selling yams, and raising three children was no mean task. However, at the end of her four-year programme, she emerged as the Overall Best Student with a Cumulative Grade Point Average of 3.73.
She attributes her phenomenal performance to the grace of the Almighty God, the massive support from Naa Dedei Botchwey, her church, the Living Way Christian Centre at Kasoa White Cross, the exceptional instructional delivery skills of her lecturers, and the flexible nature of Accra Metropolitan University’s programmes.
Sophia’s ultimate dream is to become a lawyer.
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