Ghana – April 21, 2023 – The third time was a charm for Grambling State University (GSU) Associate Professor and Graduate Coordinator of Sports Administration Dr. Aaron Livingston, along with a group of GSU students, who recently spent time in Ghana working to strengthen partnerships between GSU and universities located in the West African country.
It’s all part of a partnership between GSU and Healthy Life Global, a company that works to help groom future leaders to become able to impact local communities regionally, nationally, and globally.
The company, which first partnered with GSU in 2018, states that it sees its mission serving as an international catalyst for the personal and professional development of future leaders who transform culture through progressive actions and healthy lifestyles.
“On our first trip to Ghana in February of 2020, we took a team of six, which included four interns and the Healthy Life Global team,” Livingston said. “The student interns were available to attend because of our already established partnership with the Grambling State University Sports Administration Program and Healthy Life Global.
“But this recent trip was the third group of students we’ve taken to Ghana. We’ve been building the platform up as we go along. The ultimate goal is to have students from Ghana come to GSU to learn skills to take back to their native Ghana.”
Part of the most recent trip included GSU students presenting at two conferences – one at the University of Ghana and another at the University of Education, Winneba.
“Those were two-day conferences where our students made presentations,” Livingston said. “There was an awesome turnout for those. So, our ultimate goal is to make that strong footprint in Ghana.”
“We’re in the final stages of completing an MOU where we’ll have a certain number of Ghanaian students that after earning their undergraduate degrees at premier universities in Ghana will come to Grambling [State] for graduate studies in Sports Administration. This is our footprint. We want to start it in Sports Administration but ultimately expand it to all of our graduate programs.”
Livingston said the reward for the GSU students attending the trips can’t truly be measured.
“What this has done for our students is mind-blowing,” Livingston said. “Some of the terms I’ve heard used are things like ‘life-changing’ and ‘once in a lifetime experience.’ Our students are really embracing the challenges in exploring a new culture and getting immersed in the food and the culture, and all the history like learning about the slave trade has been a fantastic experience for our students who have really engaged themselves.”
And as Livingston works on completing the MOUs with Ghanaian universities, he hopes the program will continue expanding as it has over the past couple of years.
“We had an awesome group of students on this trip, and I really enjoyed working with them, so much that we’re looking at a lot of other things now,” Livingston said. “We’re looking at expanding the group. It’s not just limited to our Sports Administration program. The first year we had a medical team where some of our students worked in a clinic.”
“There are so many people in need in Ghana, and on each trip we try to use our interns to fill those needs,” Livingston said. “So, we’ve taken biology students, we’ve taken business students – it’s not just limited to our Sports Administration students, who we started the program with. We’re looking to expand this all across campus.”