Engineers Without Borders – Ghana Telecom University Chapter in collaboration with  Columbia University chapter of Engineers Without Borders in New York USA, organized  a four - week summer educational program for Ghanaian secondary school students during the summer at Nsawam the Municipal capital of Akuapim South Municipality in the Eastern Region, Ghana.

The program, called Piece It Together (PIT) followed a science and engineering curriculum framed around practical, grass-roots technology. Students attended classes and workshops from about 9AM to 4PM every weekday for four weeks in August (August 3 – 28). A portion of the day was dedicated to sustainable technology overviews (example, the practical science behind solar panels) as well as lectures in basic mathematics and scientific principles to supplement the students’ formal education.  During the second half of the day, students worked with instructors and student mentors to design their own engineering project. This schedule was interspersed with creative design challenges related to biology, math, physics, and engineering. Students designed and constructed projects such as towers, bridges and agricultural based projects such as a drip-irrigation system, which required calculations to determine flow-rate, ground saturation, hydraulic pressure and crop consideration.

 EWB-GTUC and Columbia University managed the general operations of the program and organized the curriculum for the program. Piece it Together (PIT) also recruited one student intern from Accra Polytechnic chapter of Engineers Without Borders to assist in the teaching, and agricultural experts (the Headmaster of Nsawam Senior High School) to assist with the design project. The program admitted 70 Senior High School students and 10 Junior High School students (ages 13-17). Project objective was for 60 students and achieved over 120% success in student turn-out.

Lunch was provided for each day for the four weeks and had the privilege to attend field trips to Ghana Water Company Head works, Nsawam, Akwamu Farms  and  Bomarts Farms Limited,  Nsawam – Dobro. Piece it Together (PIT) Columbia University provided the instructional materials, design project materials, funding for student transportation, tuition and lunch for each of the students for the entire four weeks. Students were issued certificate of participation at the end of the program.