“A liberal arts education is not as valued as it should be.”
That’s how William Okrafo-Smart, 2019 global and international studies student marshal feels. The value Okrafo-Smart puts on his own liberal arts education is what has helped him succeed in his time at Penn State.
On May 4, the Paterno Fellow and Schreyer Scholar will be graduating with bachelor of science degrees in global and international studies and psychology, with minors in economics and sociology.
As an undergraduate, Okrafo-Smart took his liberal arts education and values with him to communities far outside State College, Pennsylvania. During an internship in Cape Town, South Africa, he and his employer realized that his skill set would fit nicely with the work of addressing the effects of apartheid. Okrafo-Smart’s educational background allowed him to help with long-standing trauma and socioeconomic issues, and this is why his employer gave him such trust and important tasks.
In this experience, Okrafo-Smart was able to design youth workshops to empower the community he served in. Back in the United States, he will translate these skills to a very well-known program – Teach for America.
Okrafo-Smart believes that his recruiters also recognized the value of his education, or at least its results. “My interviewers were impressed with my education and thought my skills in critical thinking, innovative problem solving, and communication were necessary to join the fight against educational inequity,” he said.
Work in the humanities and social sciences provided the frameworks with which to address larger societal issues, something that Okrafo-Smart is very proud of. Though there are often specific ways to approach these larger issues academically, Okrafo-Smart was not afraid of learning and applying larger concepts from all angles.
When asked what advice he would give to undergraduate students, he echoed the same breadth of thinking that he exemplified in his studies. Specifically, Okrafo-Smart encouraged students not to succumb to the pressure to choose a career as soon as possible.
As his own experiences have shown him, the world is constantly changing. However, the experience of a college student also involves significant personal change.
Okrafo-Smart summed this up in saying, “I have learned that college is 50% discovering who you are and 50% defining who you want to be.”
Though this is something he is still working on in his own life, Okrafo-Smart is excited to educate in underserved communities after graduation. After his commitment with Teach for America, he is considering careers in policy work, advocacy work, professorship, and/or social entrepreneurship. As Okrafo-Smart encourages his students’ growth and self-development, he will also be discovering his own.
This is the seventh in a series of stories on the 22 student marshals representing the College of the Liberal Arts at the spring 2019 commencement ceremony.