Ruth Ama Gyan-Darkwa made headlines in 2017 as she was adjudged the youngest ever to gain admission into the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, to study mathematics at the age of 13.
In December 2021, Ghana celebrated the brilliant Gyan-Darkwa’s graduation from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), where she studied mathematics.
Two years after her first degree, the female prodigy achieved another feat: she became the Youngest Master’ s/PhD Doctoral Student at the University of New Mexico at 18.
She is pursuing a doctoral degree in electrical engineering at a US university and dreams of working with America’s National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) after her program.
Ruth Ama Gyan-Darkwa beat her older sister, Grace, to the age record when she got admitted into the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) at 13 in 2017.
Today, the youngest graduate from any university in Ghana to have completed school at 17 has just graduated after completing her studies in mathematics.
She was born in Kumasi on May 29, 2004, to Kwadwo Gyan-Darkwa, a senior tutor at Prempeh College in Kumasi, and his wife.
She attended primary and junior high school at Christ Our Hope International School in Kumasi and Abraham Lincoln Junior High School, respectively.
She later moved to Justice International School in Kumasi to continue her junior high school education.
Due to her ability to learn quickly, she spent a term or two in various classes and was skipped to the next.
At nine years old, during her first year at Justice International School in Kumasi, she took the Basic Education Certificate Examination and passed.
As a result, she was admitted to St. Louis Senior High School in Kumasi at age ten to study general science.
Before high school, she attended Christ Our Hope International School and Abraham Lincoln Junior High School in Kumasi.
In 2017, she appeared on The Lounge, hosted by Kwaku Sakyi-Addo, along with her sister and their father, Kwadwo Gyan-Darkwa, a mathematics and physics tutor at Prempeh College.
“According to her, she passed her Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) at age 9, while in her first year at Justice International School in Kumasi. As a result, at 10, she was accepted into St. Louis Senior High School to study General Science and successfully graduated in 2017,” a report by knust.edu.gh said.
Speaking with the portal, she also confessed to how not so rosy her journey has been. She added that although she had a brilliant academic history, she experienced some uncertainties with her tertiary education, feeling quite nervous at times.
“I was able to overcome the many challenges because God saw me through, and I looked to him at all times. Also, I had my eyes focused on the end goal. Some of my coursemates felt intimidated because they thought I was too brilliant. Others wondered if I was cut for the journey. All these brought me to the point of questioning my potential, but I found solace in how far I have come, the support I received, and the future that awaits me,” she said.
Ruth plans to pursue a master’s degree and, later, a PhD.
