When Felix Quacoe Baidoo walked onto the KNUST campus as a Mastercard Foundation Scholar, he carried more than dreams; he carried the weight of a story that almost ended before it started.
For a moment, he thought his dream to pursue higher education was over. Financial constraints had pushed him out of school once, and the future looked uncertain. When the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at KNUST stepped in, everything changed. That opportunity did not just revive his academic ambitions; it set him on a path that led him to become the Valedictorian from BSc Land Economy, graduating with a Cumulative Weighted Average (CWA) of 83.07.
Felix’s early academic journey was promising but overshadowed by financial limitations. After completing Jukwa Senior High Tech School in 2019, his dream to am of pursuing tertiary education was halted by financial challenges.
“I managed to enrol to study law at a university in 2021, but halfway through the first semester, I had to defer because I couldn’t pay my fees. I didn’t know if I would ever be able to go to school again,” he recalled.
Just as the path seemed to close an opportunity emerged. A friend introduced him to the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program at KNUST. He applied and was accepted. That opportunity became the turning point.
“Thanks to the Mastercard Foundation, I was void of any financial challenge. I was treated like a rich kid; all I had to do was study and focus on my academics. It felt like a dream. If they hadn’t come through, higher education wouldn’t have been possible.”
Although the scholarship opened the door, the journey wasn’t easy. Felix chose Land Economy mainly because of its law component, but he soon realised the programme was more complex than he imagined.
“I didn’t know much about the programme, I came for it because of my love for law. But I realised there was surveying, construction, building and areas I had no background in,” he admitted.
The unfamiliar modules became a challenge, but with determination and support from lecturers and colleagues he adapted. One course, Advanced Valuation, challenged his individual study methods and pushed him to rethink how he learned.
“It was a difficult course taught by two lecturers with different teaching approaches. At first, I tried to tackle it alone, as I always did, but I realised I needed people. Some people understood areas I struggled with, so we formed a study group and that changed everything.”
What he gained from this experience went far beyond the classroom; it became a personal lesson in teamwork, humility, and the power of collaboration. Felix never set out to collect academic titles. he simply wanted to learn, work hard, and honour the opportunity he had been given. Yet for students who wish to attain such feet, he offers lessons shaped by his own experience.
“Don’t fixate on being a valedictorian. Focus on your courses now. Work on what is before you. If you excel each year, it will all add up. Even if you are brilliant, there will be a course that challenges you. You will need to collaborate with people to succeed,” he advised.