Lareba Habiba Zakari

My name is Lareba Habiba Zakari, I am a scholarship student at Wisconsin International University College in Accra, Ghana.

I am in level 400 studying BBs Accounting.  

I’m also the Vice President of the SRC (Student Representative Council). It is the mouthpiece of the students, it is the between the students and the management of the school. We speak on behalf of the students, and we take their issues and channel them to the management. 

We also bring information from the management to the students we help to solve their problems in our best capacity. 

What is your experience as a student and a student leader? 

Before I became a leader, I was just passing through, learning, and having fun with friends sometimes. I took the opportunity to meet friends and other people. 

But becoming a student leader I feel at I am looked at, or people expect better or much more from me in terms of attitude, even in my grades and how I link the students with the management or other faculties. I try to do better than I used to and listen more, so that I will know students’ grievances. 

What challenges do students face at Wisconsin International University? 

Getting students partake in a programme or an activity, or be part of something is a bit difficult, but being a student leader you have to be able to coordinate everybody, you have to make sure that they are available for a programme or activity that involves students. 

Are scholarships an effective way of supporting students? 

What I believe is that scholarships encourage those that are benefiting and even those that are yet to benefit. If you are a good student but you can’t afford the fees or the tuition, or anything that has to do with education, but someone is helping you, it means they believe in you and they want you to achieve better. Even if you don’t have the money, they are hoping that you are going to take that opportunity and make the best out of it. 

I feel that there should be more scholarships for needy, brilliant and intelligent students, so that everyone of us who are good and are not able to access all those financial resources to get education can also benefit from scholarships. 

How did you get a scholarship? 

I used to finance my education with the help of my family, but I competed with three other participants from this school at a national level in a quiz called the Graphic Business Sense Challenge, and my school was second, that’s Wisconsin, were second overall in the whole Ghana. So it encouraged the school management to give us scholarships, the four of us. Currently, I’m on a full scholarship in the school. 

What has been your experience of studying on a scholarship vs personal financing?  

What has been your experience of studying on a scholarship versus personal financing? 

I feel it’s the same because, whether you are paying for it, or someone is paying for you, you are expected to give out your best. 

Even as I was paying for myself, I was learning and now that they are paying for me, I’m still learning. I’m trying to put out my best, so that at the end of the day, the best will be attained, so that the person that gave me the scholarship will not regret or be discouraged to give it to another person.  

I would encourage all students or young people who are aiming at becoming bearer of scholarships to learn more and better and have a goal that they are going to achieve something better in future because the more you do well, the more you are encouraging someone who can afford your fees to help you. 

There are so many scholarships lying down somewhere that some of us don’t even know about it. 

What are your aspirations for the future? 

A few years from now I want to see myself in a very reputable auditing firm doing what I love to do.