It’s a long way from the coastal savannahs and tropical rainforests of West Africa to the manicured lawns of the Georgia Gwinnett College campus. Still, it’s a journey that Diana Bamfo was determined to take. Bamfo’s family immigrated from Ghana to the U.S. when she was 12. Her father, Evans Kwakye, a truck driver, and her adopted mother, Lulu Pearl, a nurse, taught her to be self-sufficient and resilient.
After graduating from Mountain View High School in Lawrenceville, Georgia, in 2015, Bamfo worked as a grocery store cashier for a year to save enough money to put herself through college.
She’d been fascinated with math from an early age, so she always knew she would be doing something in that field.
“I’ve always been a numbers girl,” she said. “I believed I would do really well in accounting, so that’s what I set my sights on.”
When choosing a college, she turned to her best friend, Harsha Vinoy, who had been attending GGC and studying business management. Vinoy introduced Bamfo to other GGC students, and that made the decision easy.
Bamfo enrolled in 2017 and threw herself into getting to know her fellow students and professors, overcoming her usual tendency to be shy and introverted. Two of the things she did were join the International Student Admissions (ISA) group and the School of Business (SBA) Torch Team Ambassadors Program, which forced her to work with fellow international and business students outside her comfort zone.
“The ISA opened the doors for me to get to know other students from outside the country and open my networking,” said Bamfo. “And from day one, the Torch Team helped me get to know professors, students and local business owners. I would recommend any new student get involved like that. I know professors whom I never thought I would get to know personally. Sometimes, I’ll be walking across campus and hear one of them call my name, ‘Hey, how are you? How is school going? How is life? Is there anything I can do for you?’ It’s very encouraging.”
She said the Torch Team, particularly, helped her get to where she is today, about to walk across the stage to receive a diploma for a Bachelor of Business Administration with a concentration in accounting.
“My most cherished memory at GGC is being part of the SBA Torch Team,” she said. “We have such great team members. Everybody was so encouraging and welcoming, and whenever I was having a hard time, there was always somebody I could talk to. It’s the best group I’ve ever been a part of in my life.”
Bamfo recalled how her adviser, Dr. Benjamin Akins, associate professor of legal studies and taxation, and Ben Hines, program engagement specialist, would consistently check in with her to see how her studies were going and how she was feeling.
“They made me feel like they care about me as a person, not just a student who comes to the class and leaves,” she said. “I was made to feel like I belong at GGC, and I will never forget what this college has done for me.”
Bamfo will be the first child in her family to earn a college degree. After graduation, she plans to work as an accountant for a few years and save money for graduate school, where she plans to earn a master’s degree in accounting.
