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FIELD TRIP TO THE SHAI HILLS RESOURCE RESERVE

The Freshman African Studies class at Palm embarked on a field trip to the Shai Hills Resource Reserve on 27^th April, 2023. The trip was aimed at exposing the African Studies students to unfamiliar sights and scenes. Furthermore, the trip was designed to instill in the students pride for the African continent, and inspire them to strive to contribute their best in making Africa great. The students and faculty members explored the Seyu cave, Mogo Hills, the fauna-rich savanna grasslands, and the cultural museum, all located at the Resource Reserve. 

PALM VISITS OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY

Palm Institute represented by the Founder and President, visited Oklahoma State University, to strengthen the Memorandum of Understanding between the two institutions. The President visited the College of Education and Human Sciences, Spears School of Business, the College of Computer Science and the OSU Library during his visit.

  CAREER SEMINARS

DRESS FOR SUCCESS

 As part of the career seminars for the semester, the Registrar took her turn to share her knowledge on the topic, “Dress for Success.” The purpose of the seminar was to get students to appreciate the need to dress appropriately for all occasions, especially official occasions.

Her co-facilitator was the President of the University College. He shared his insights on the topic and used the opportunity to teach the male students how to tie the knot a tie. He walked them through shirt, tie, shoe, trouser, and sock etiquette. He stated, “It is better to overdress than underdress.”

HAVING A WINNING PERSONA

 In preparation for their internships during the summer break, the sophomores were taken through a seminar on how to “Have a Winning Persona.”

The virtual session was facilitated by a strategic communication and public relations professional. The session focused on appropriate behavior in the corporate world, email and telephone etiquette, and how to be assertive without being arrogant and rude.

SIGNING OF HONOUR CODE

Congratulations to the Class of 2026 for voting to adopt the Honour System and the Palm Examination Honour Code. Throughout the academic year, the freshmen class of students had several conversations, sessions, seminars, and a debate on Palm Honour System and Examinations Honour Code facilitated by the leadership of the University College, staff, and faculty. During those sessions, the students were given various opportunities and platforms to discuss it in detail. Every class of students that join Palm is given the opportunity to vote whether they want to adopt the Honour System and the Examination Honour Code or not. To adopt the Palm Honour System and the Examination Honour Code, a two-thirds majority of the Class of students must vote YES in order for the Class of Students to adopt the Honour System and Examination Honour Code at Palm.

A class of students who vote to adopt the Honour System and Examination Honour Code in essence pledges to do the right thing when no one is watching. In essence, that class of students is taking ownership of their own journey to ethical leadership in any given situation and leading the way in our quest to fulfill our mission of producing educated ethical leaders in Africa.

Palm Institute is the second university in Ghana and Africa to adopt the Honour System and the Examination Honour Code. Read more about the Palm Honour System and Examination Honour Code at: https://palm.edu.gh/about-us/honour-system/

ADMISSIONS

During the month of April, the Admission Drive for the 2023/2024 academic year was launched. The admissions team reached out to students, teachers, parents, and community members through a church outreach and a career fair at Emef Assemblies of God and Aburi Girls’ Senior High School respectively to create awareness of what Palm has to offer and to find potentially qualified students.

GREENLAB HACKATON SERIES

 On 29^th April 2023, Palm Institute organized the 3^rd Hackathon that introduced students to solving complex problems. Students learned to write problem briefs, ideate, produce prototypes and present a complete Solution Brief in the end. They also learned how to connect the problem statement, Point of View (POV) statement, and the How Might We (HMW) statement, which are crucial to the design thinking process.

IMPACT STORY

I am in my sophomore year pursuing a degree in Business Information Technology. Before enrolling at Palm Institute, I was very shy and my self-esteem was very low.  I was the first to hide behind everyone regardless of my intellectual abilities.

I remember when I was approached by the Career Counselor to consider applying to become a peer mentor, my immediate reaction was “No” because I felt I had nothing to offer the freshmen. I later decided to apply to give back as a peer mentor and indeed it has been a great experience serving the freshman class. As I interacted with my mentees regularly, I noticed significant growth in confidence, leadership, team participation, and my ability to communicate effectively.

As a result of my discovery of this new version of myself, I was able to take that bold step to teach Mathematics at the Doryumu Pentecost International School (a primary school in a neighboring community) for my Community Service in my quest to give back to my community.  My ability to speak publicly has improved significantly.

Through my experiences at Palm, I have become a confident young woman today. I am positive that at the end of my four-year journey at Palm Institute, I will be a first-choice candidate for employers in various industries because of the hard and soft skills I have acquired.

Palm Institute continues to be dedicated toward offering quality higher education to young Ghanaians with a focus on critical and practical thinking and ethical leadership. We are so grateful for your support because without your help, we couldn’t do the work that we do. 

The Year 2022 has been a fruitful and progressive year for Palm Institute. It was packed with a lot of activities and momentous achievements amidst all the challenges and difficulties we encountered. We consider it very paramount to share our successes and challenges with you because of your continued support in ensuring that we keep providing quality education to all Ghanaians and other Africans. The following are synopsis of our achievements and successes. Thank you so much your continued support.

PROGRAM ACCREDITATION

Palm Institute received accreditation to run two (2) four-year degree programs in 2022.  The BSc. Computer Science and BSc. Business Administration were accredited by the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) this year giving Palm Institute the opportunity to diversify its program offering for students.

ADMISSIONS DRIVES

Palm Institute explored various admission outreach mediums including radio, house-to-house, church outreach, shop-to-shop, senior high schools, markets and career fairs in various high schools. We admitted the highest number of students; 20 students during the September, 2022 admissions season. For the first time in the history of Palm Institute, the female to male ratio of the student population currently is 11:20. More females were given the opportunity to enroll at Palm Institute as a result of our collaboration with CAMFED. Four (4) female students were admitted to study Information Technology and Computer Science programs at Palm Institute to champion the STEM agenda.

As the world turns towards inclusivity, Palm Institute admitted its first physically challenged student. She is a freshman studying BSc. Business Administration. Mary got to know about Palm Institute from a social media post that was forwarded to her by her teacher She applied for the BSc. Business Administration program and was invited to campus for an interview in May, 2022. On her way to campus she had an accident and lost her left arm. The team reached out to her days later to inquire about her absence during the interview and she informed us about the accident but didn’t give us so much detail. In September 2022, we reached out to her to check up on her and also to inform her admission was still ongoing.

She decided to reapply when she got know about the scholarship packages. She completed her application, made her payment for application fee and submitted her application. While the committee was going through her application, we saw that she lost an arm during the accident. The Admissions Committee visited her at her place of residence in Ada to assess the situation.

TENTH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION

During the year, Palm Institute celebrated its 10^th year of educating ethical and excellent leaders. The events which marked the celebration were Anniversary Lecture, Launch of the Center for Ethical Leadership, Forum on the Role of Women in Ethical Leadership and National Development, launch of the Palm Corporate Mentoring program, students debate on the theme, “Can the Ghanaian youth break the cycle of corruption?” Rep your SHS, Anniversary Technology Seminar Series and a Thanksgiving Service on Sunday. The 10^th Anniversary celebration was a time of reflection for us at Palm Institute. It was a time to take stock of what we have achieved so far and to look into the future as far as what we envision for the next ten (10) years and beyond.

THE PALM CENTER FOR ETHICAL LEADERSHIP

In keeping with our mission to produce educated ethical and excellent leaders in Africa, Palm Institute established the Center for Ethical Leadership (CEL). The Center was launched during the 10^th Anniversary week celebrations, October, 2022 with the help of the Executive Director of the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII). The GII is a local branch of Transparency International. The mission of the Centre is to attract, nurture, grow and produce a community of practicing ethical and excellent leaders in Africa.

APPOINTMENT OF A HEAD OF THE DEPARTMENT FOR COMPUTER SCIENCE AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

During the year, we the Head of the Computer Science and Information Technology Department at Palm Institute. The Head of Department is a professor with over 20 years of experience teaching computer science curriculum that emphasizes active guided-inquiry, project-based learning, and entrepreneurship. He has also spent time working as a consultant for universities and businesses.

THE PALM CORPORATE MENTORING PROGRAM

The Palm Corporate Mentoring Program was also launched during the anniversary week The Center has intentionally been designed to facilitate the process of ensure our students connect with CEOs, business leaders, and professionals in different industries and fields of work and industries in the course of their study and experience at Palm. Nine (9) corporate mentors voluntarily signed up to mentor a sophomore at Palm Institute.

MAIDEN ON CAMPUS RESIDENTIAL FACILITY

The construction of the maiden residential facility on campus, a students’ hall of residence, The Phil & Vickie Rothrock Hall started in February, 2022 and was completed in October, 2022. Along came the construction of the hall of residence were sporting facilities – basketball and volleyball pitches, a football field and two summer-huts for student relaxation, group studies etc.

SOCIAL WORK STUDENTS PRACTICUM

Palm Institute hosted four (4) USA students from the University of Alabama and Colorado State University. The students were here for their social work practicum experience in Ghana. Two of the students lived on campus and the other two opted to live with a host family. The students are placed in Ghanaian non-profit organizations and some public spector organizations for their practicums. During their time here, the students were taken on field trips and other educational activities.

PARTNERSHIPS & COLLABORATIONS

During the year, Palm Institute partnered with Ghana Integrity Initiative towards advocating for ethical leadership and anti-corruption in Ghana. Through the partnership, the Executive Director of Ghana Integrity Initiative delivered the 10^th Anniversary Lecture on the theme, “The Role of Ethical Leadership in National Development; Corruption and its impact.”

Palm Institute also signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Youth Arise Organization towards raising the next generation of ethical leaders.

Palm Institute also collaborated with CAMFED Ghana to provide tuition and accommodation scholarships to seven (7) females who happen to be Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED) Association members (CAMA). The scholarships are from the Naa Amerley Palm Education (NAPE) Foundation. The ladies are freshmen pursuing Business Information Technology, BSc. Computer Science and BSc. Business Administration.

Your continued support in 2022 will allow us to raise ethical and excellent leaders.  Thank you again for generously supporting the mission of providing quality higher education to Ghanaians.  We are so appreciative. 

Sincerely,