hello I’m Elvis and economics and
management students at the University of
Oxford today I would like to share with
you the power of storytelling in the
connections we make in our journey of
life we all have a story to tell
if you reminisce about your past you’d
notice that the people you interact with
the decisions you’ve made or have been
made on your behalf and the experiences
you have had make you who you are today
I was born in a small town in Ghana far
from the city and away from most of the
opportunities that are taking for
granted in the developed world having
lived and studied in Harlow I realized
that they are the aspirations of the
youth are not met with an equal degree
of assistance and encouragement from the
community this highlights the social and
economic inequalities in Harlow and many
areas in the UK and also has the added
effect of dampening the potential of the
youth in our society as a society we use
stories to show where we came from and
where we are heading to through
continuous storytelling were able to
make the right connections in our
society with the people and the
opportunities around us and this helps
us to translate our goals and objectives
into structured and concrete actions
like many young people striving to find
a meaning and direction in their lives
it took me some time to actually
determine what I wanted to do with my
life I grew up in the country when a lot
of infrastructure investments had been
postponed and even their existing
infrastructures were not being
maintained properly this had a
significant effect on economic activity
what I observed is a country that seemed
to lack an understanding of the issues
facing the population and the steps to
take to develop and the steps to take to
develop viable solutions to those
problems the connection I made between
my country and some of the problems
largely determined
path I wanted my life to take that is to
develop problem-solving skills for
real-world problems while staking the
interest of many stakeholders into
account thanks to the help I received
from my teachers mentors and my family
I find myself studying at one of the
best universities in the world learning
from experts who listen to my story
discovered my passion and are grooming
me to develop the relevant skills all
these people are part of a unique group
of individuals who have seen the
benefits of studying in university
higher education presents a unique mix
of youth freedom opportunities and
resources that can propel our ideas and
dreams into reality arguably the best
things of our university education are
the people you meet and the connections
you make with them so on the theme of
this event I believe that the University
provides a fair trial platform for
creating influential and life-changing
connections in Harlow the participation
rate of students in higher education is
just above 21 percent which is well
below the national average however it is
an improvement according to past
statistics I happen to be the first
student from st. Mark’s in Harlow to
have gained admission on to Oxford’s
undergraduate program in the past decade
I’m hoping that in the next decade I
won’t still be the only one so while
these statistics may sound quite
unpleasant
I hope they youth will see it as an
opportunity to actually take risk and do
well for themselves thankfully the
University of Oxford in particular is
working with a lot of organisations to
provide access programs to help
applicants from low participation areas
to put in a competitive application I
encourage you all to take some time to
look up the opportunities available if I
have done it so can you our stories may
be different and my perspective on the
world may not be the same as
however what shouldn’t be different is
the passion we use to tell our stories
whether you decide whether you desire to
further your studies or not with a well
articulated story and a good work ethic
you should be able to achieve almost
anything you set your mind to
to conclude I’d like to encourage the
youth in particular to believe in
themselves and develop their unique
stories try to connect the dots in your
experiences and see how the network of
connections can guide you towards what
you want to achieve so my challenge to
you today is to start framing your own
story as Tyrion Lannister said in the
first episode of Game of Thrones never
forget who you are the rest of the world
will not wear it like an armor and it
will never be used to hurt you so
believe in yourself go out there and
how’d you feel good I feel really yeah
you’re gonna prepare it a bit more
advanced next time what you feel I will
because why gives you the energy to the
nerves to make it I like the space and
actually your stories so your story
starts in Ghana yes so when did you what
age were you when you left I was 16
right yes so quite recently just over
four years ago quite four yes thank you
yes we get you young yeah did you did
you as a boy growing up in Ghana did you
know your story would involve on the top
universities in the world
no I never dreamt of it I mean growing
up in Ghana in a very small town where
the university at the attendance rate
was well below one percent you’d never
even imagined going to invest in Ghana
let alone one of the best in the world
so what what changed what went from
that’ll never been me I don’t even think
about it just suddenly year you’re there
what’s what changed I think growing up
and changing a few schools I got a lot
of help from teachers who realized my
potential and also my family realizing
how good we were in terms of economic
potential we moved to the UK and I
realized there’s a whole new world of
opportunities for me to explore so that
was quite an incentive for me to to to
take risk to do to do better and also to
ask for help from my teachers and a few
mentors around right I received quite a
lot of help my family was also quite
helpful so your family helped and also
you were able you you were asked you
asked for help
yes I did own do we actually ask for
help and you receive it up and we’re
back to the power that teachers have to
change lives and it’s your intention to
go back to Ghana in order to make a
difference to help gonna eventually I
would I realized that there is a lack of
an understanding to do problems that the
people are facing and how to approach
those problems that thinking skills
it’s lacking especially in the academic
system so students are not being taught
how to think and how to approach
problems so it’s just a generic
education system I want that to change
and I want the leaders to also be more
well the problems rather than just the
politics that’s going on so if the job
of Education secretary for Ghana is up is Elvis thank you very much
management students at the University of
Oxford today I would like to share with
you the power of storytelling in the
connections we make in our journey of
life we all have a story to tell
if you reminisce about your past you’d
notice that the people you interact with
the decisions you’ve made or have been
made on your behalf and the experiences
you have had make you who you are today
I was born in a small town in Ghana far
from the city and away from most of the
opportunities that are taking for
granted in the developed world having
lived and studied in Harlow I realized
that they are the aspirations of the
youth are not met with an equal degree
of assistance and encouragement from the
community this highlights the social and
economic inequalities in Harlow and many
areas in the UK and also has the added
effect of dampening the potential of the
youth in our society as a society we use
stories to show where we came from and
where we are heading to through
continuous storytelling were able to
make the right connections in our
society with the people and the
opportunities around us and this helps
us to translate our goals and objectives
into structured and concrete actions
like many young people striving to find
a meaning and direction in their lives
it took me some time to actually
determine what I wanted to do with my
life I grew up in the country when a lot
of infrastructure investments had been
postponed and even their existing
infrastructures were not being
maintained properly this had a
significant effect on economic activity
what I observed is a country that seemed
to lack an understanding of the issues
facing the population and the steps to
take to develop and the steps to take to
develop viable solutions to those
problems the connection I made between
my country and some of the problems
largely determined
path I wanted my life to take that is to
develop problem-solving skills for
real-world problems while staking the
interest of many stakeholders into
account thanks to the help I received
from my teachers mentors and my family
I find myself studying at one of the
best universities in the world learning
from experts who listen to my story
discovered my passion and are grooming
me to develop the relevant skills all
these people are part of a unique group
of individuals who have seen the
benefits of studying in university
higher education presents a unique mix
of youth freedom opportunities and
resources that can propel our ideas and
dreams into reality arguably the best
things of our university education are
the people you meet and the connections
you make with them so on the theme of
this event I believe that the University
provides a fair trial platform for
creating influential and life-changing
connections in Harlow the participation
rate of students in higher education is
just above 21 percent which is well
below the national average however it is
an improvement according to past
statistics I happen to be the first
student from st. Mark’s in Harlow to
have gained admission on to Oxford’s
undergraduate program in the past decade
I’m hoping that in the next decade I
won’t still be the only one so while
these statistics may sound quite
unpleasant
I hope they youth will see it as an
opportunity to actually take risk and do
well for themselves thankfully the
University of Oxford in particular is
working with a lot of organisations to
provide access programs to help
applicants from low participation areas
to put in a competitive application I
encourage you all to take some time to
look up the opportunities available if I
have done it so can you our stories may
be different and my perspective on the
world may not be the same as
however what shouldn’t be different is
the passion we use to tell our stories
whether you decide whether you desire to
further your studies or not with a well
articulated story and a good work ethic
you should be able to achieve almost
anything you set your mind to
to conclude I’d like to encourage the
youth in particular to believe in
themselves and develop their unique
stories try to connect the dots in your
experiences and see how the network of
connections can guide you towards what
you want to achieve so my challenge to
you today is to start framing your own
story as Tyrion Lannister said in the
first episode of Game of Thrones never
forget who you are the rest of the world
will not wear it like an armor and it
will never be used to hurt you so
believe in yourself go out there and
how’d you feel good I feel really yeah
you’re gonna prepare it a bit more
advanced next time what you feel I will
because why gives you the energy to the
nerves to make it I like the space and
actually your stories so your story
starts in Ghana yes so when did you what
age were you when you left I was 16
right yes so quite recently just over
four years ago quite four yes thank you
yes we get you young yeah did you did
you as a boy growing up in Ghana did you
know your story would involve on the top
universities in the world
no I never dreamt of it I mean growing
up in Ghana in a very small town where
the university at the attendance rate
was well below one percent you’d never
even imagined going to invest in Ghana
let alone one of the best in the world
so what what changed what went from
that’ll never been me I don’t even think
about it just suddenly year you’re there
what’s what changed I think growing up
and changing a few schools I got a lot
of help from teachers who realized my
potential and also my family realizing
how good we were in terms of economic
potential we moved to the UK and I
realized there’s a whole new world of
opportunities for me to explore so that
was quite an incentive for me to to to
take risk to do to do better and also to
ask for help from my teachers and a few
mentors around right I received quite a
lot of help my family was also quite
helpful so your family helped and also
you were able you you were asked you
asked for help
yes I did own do we actually ask for
help and you receive it up and we’re
back to the power that teachers have to
change lives and it’s your intention to
go back to Ghana in order to make a
difference to help gonna eventually I
would I realized that there is a lack of
an understanding to do problems that the
people are facing and how to approach
those problems that thinking skills
it’s lacking especially in the academic
system so students are not being taught
how to think and how to approach
problems so it’s just a generic
education system I want that to change
and I want the leaders to also be more
well the problems rather than just the
politics that’s going on so if the job
of Education secretary for Ghana is up is Elvis thank you very much
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