Al-Waasiu Abubakari, a former NSMQ star, has been crowned Valedictorian at the University of Ghana after graduating top of his class He graduated with First Class Honours in Computer Engineering and an impressive FGPA of 3.97.
The young man, a native of the Upper West Region, had his secondary education at Lassia-Tuolu SHS, where he excelled in the WASSCE.
Profile of Al-Waasiu Abubakari
Al-Waasiu Abubakari attended Lassia-Tuolu Senior High igh School where he enrolled in the General Science Programme; joining from Year 2 of his Junior HighSchool, which was African Child International School.
His dedication and passion earned him a spot on the National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ) team in Year 1, eventually representing his school in the NMSQ 2020 edition.
He graduated as the Best WASSCE student in his school and one of the top performers in the Upper West Region.
On January 9, 2021, Al-Waasiu gained admission into the Computer Engineering programme at the University of Ghana, the same day he received the Muslim Intellectuals Network (MIN) Award for Best Graduating Muslim Male Student in the Upper West Region.
Initially aspiring to a medical career, he overcame limited computer experience by leveraging on his strong background in Mathematics and Physics.
Al-Wassiu’s academic journey at Legon was also marked with excellence. He won the Alumni Prize for Best Level 200 Student in Sciences in 2022, the Sadhu T.L. Vaswani Award in Level 300 and is graduating with First Class Honours in Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering with a Final Grade Point Average of 3.97.
Al-Wassiu also benefitted from internship opportunities with the System Networks Department of the University’s Information Technology Directorate, Trestle Academy and Africa to Silicon Valley (A2SV), enhancing his skills in network configuration, machine learning, problem solving and competitive programming. He also co-led A2SV’s Mobile Development Team and participated in the Google Machine Learning Programme.
Al-Waasiu is passionate about community service and mentoring young learners. He served as a Facilitator with the Elsie Effah Kaufmann Foundation, and as Vice President of the Arm(E3)ngage (arm-ngage) Students Club where he organized student empowerment activities.
He was also Head of Education at A2SV, ensuring the growth and development of future cohorts, as well as editorial Assistant for the College of Basic and Applied Sciences (CBAS) Science and Development Journal, reflecting his commitment to knowledge-sharing and academic excellence.
Al-Waasiu Abubakari, who is currently undertaking his National Service assignment with the Department of Computer Engineering, believes that his journey from uncertainty to excellence in Computer Engineering reflects his resilience and adaptability.
He plans to enhance his knowledge and expertise in machine learning and cloud computing to solve complex real-world problems.
