Ampong Has Arrived: CGP Welcomes Ghanaian Museum Guide
By WRILEY NELSON
COOPERSTOWN
SUNY Oneonta’s Cooperstown Graduate Pro-gram recently welcomed a new class of museum studies students, including Ghanaian museum guide and historian Enoch Bright Ampong. Ampong, 29, hails from the Central Region of the vibrant West African nation and graduated with honors from Takoradi Technical University’s Tourism Management program.
He has significant experience leading tours at World Heritage Sites in Ghana and the neighboring nations of Togo and Benin, including more than half a decade at Elmina Castle, the oldest European building south of the Sahara. Elmina was built as a slave-trading depot in the 1480s and remains a stark reminder of the brutal transatlantic slave trade.
CGP Professor Peter Rutkoff attended one of Ampong’s castle tours in August 2022 and was struck by Ampong’s deep knowledge and inspiring teaching style. He gave Ampong his e-mail address and urged him to continue his education in museum studies. Although CGP accepted his application in 2023, Ampong had to defer his admission and seek financial aid. A GoFundMe page coordinated by Rutkoff, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Springfield Center and the First Baptist Church of Cooperstown raised more than $15,000.00 to support his education last year.
