Emmanuel Drabo is from Burkina Faso and currently an investment banker in the USA
“I just want to deal with allocating resources efficiently and designing good policies to combat diseases.”
Emmanuel Drabo
It is quite likely that you already know about the ten United World Colleges (UWC). Spread over five continents, the most popular programme provided by these institutions is a two-year pre-university international educational experience for students aged 16-19 based on the International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum. The colleges aim to turn out responsible graduates who are committed to peace, justice, understanding and cooperation and who lead by their own example. How rewarding is the UWC experience? Emmanuel Drabo, a 2004 graduate of the Armand Hammer UWC of the American West awards a score of 10 on a scale of 1-10. Emmanuel hails from the capital city of Ouagadougou in his West African home, Burkina Faso. Fluent in Diula and Marka (native languages), French (Burkina Faso's official language) and English, he truly represents Africa's finest.
Emmanuel was educated in Burkina Faso up until the secondary level. After this, he followed up on an advertisement he saw in a local newspaper and applied to the UWC and was accepted. The international environment that greeted him at the UWC allowed for easy adjusting and he quickly became involved in campus life. He worked as an environmentalist, taught in elementary schools, served as a 'big brother', farmed and participated in performing arts for little children. He occupied himself in the classroom with physics, English, chemistry and theory of knowledge, among other subjects. His overall outstanding performance landed him at his present school, Bates College.
While he continues to enjoy stellar academic achievements at Bates, Emmanuel has begun to make a mark in New England athletics in the triple jump event. When he is not chomping away at his books or the sand, Emmanuel writes poetry and songs and plays his acoustic guitar. This past academic year he conducted an independent research project on present conflicts in Côte d'Ivoire (the Ivory Coast) and presented his work at the prestigious Mount David Summit, an annual campus-wide celebration of student academic achievement.
A part of the reason Emmanuel enrolled at Bates, was the flexibility of being able to design his own major; this, he wants to be a major in Public health. He is more than capable of becoming a health practitioner but would rather not to. He believes that the public heath system of Burkina Faso does not help the citizens because there is too much focus on medicine instead of policy. Presently Emmanuel studies mathematics, economics and political science and he hopes to work with UNICEF, the WHO or some other NGO. "I just want to deal with allocating resources efficiently and designing good policies to combat diseases."
You can be a quiet one Mr.Drabo, but we know you: publishing as an undergrad and making triple jump records but it's ok...I enjoy the trivia and the conversations about Africa, the UN, B Faso and the UWC. I really really see you as a Mandela in the making. Love you much! :)