A Local Family Gives Back To The Community Through Scholarship

The Kwarteng sisters – Amy, Esther, Lisa and Sandra -- with their mother, Stella, and their father, Dr. Alex Kwarteng during the announcement of scholarship recipients at Southland College Prep Charter High School. Photo provided by Southland College Prep Charter High School.
The Kwarteng sisters – Amy, Esther, Lisa and Sandra -- with their mother, Stella, and their father, Dr. Alex Kwarteng during the announcement of scholarship recipients at Southland College Prep Charter High School. Photo provided by Southland College Prep Charter High School.

A Local Family Gives Back To The Community Through Scholarship

By Tia Carol Jones

Amy, Esther, Sandra and Lisa Kwarteng decided to honor their father Dr. Alex Kwarteng by establishing a foundation and awarding $10,000 in scholarships to students at Southland College Prep Charter High School in Richton Park, Ill.

Amy said the sisters wanted to give their father his flowers while he was still living. Dr. Alex Kwarteng immigrated from Ghana to the United States in the 1980s. He met his wife, Stella, and while working his way through pharmacy school, they started a family.

Amy and Esther graduated from Southland College Prep Charter High School and Lisa and Sandra graduated from Rich Central High School. Amy was the Valedictorian of the second graduating class in 2015, and Esther was ranked No. 3 in the third graduating class of Southland in 2016. Esther said they wanted to give back to the community that raised them.

“We found it important to just give back and pour into the upcoming generation,” Esther said.

Esther said because of her father’s hard work, all the sisters decided to pursue various careers in healthcare. Lisa is an orthodontist, Sandra is a pharmacist, Amy is set to start her psychiatry residency at UCLA in June and Esther is a third-year medical student at Drexel University College of Medicine.

Esther said she had a fervor for mathematics and science. During her time at Southland, she knew that she would pursue a career in healthcare. She said her science and math teachers there prepared her and Southland gave her a really good foundation, not only in science and math, but also in the arts. She knew that with her well-rounded education she would be able to thrive when she attended Duke University, where she studied medicine and participated in dance. She was able to find a good community inside pre-med and outside of it while at Duke. At Drexel, she has also been able to find a good community through study groups and other spaces.

Amy said that Southland really taught her resilience, being able to navigate difficulties and new experiences. It served her well when she went to college at Yale University. She said she was encouraged to pursue the highest level of education possible. So, some of the top universities were put on her radar.

“I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to handle the rigor, but I think Southland prepared me the best that they could with the resources that we had for me to be successful at Yale,” she said.

Amy said that Yale prepared her for her time in medical school. She said she decided on psychiatry because she was always fascinated by people and how they operated and how certain experiences could have lasting effects. After being a psychology major, she was fascinated by the human brain. She had questions, but she also wanted to help people with their struggles.

Esther said that she hopes the students who receive the Kwarteng scholarship use it to enhance their education. She acknowledged that pursuing higher education isn’t cheap and financial barriers can make it even more difficult.

“Ultimately, my sisters and I just hope to make transitioning to higher education a little bit easier for these individuals who will be receiving these scholarships,” she said.

Amy said Southland has given so much, not just to her and her family, but to the South Suburban community. She said she and her sisters are thankful for the opportunity to be able to award the Kwarteng scholarship to some very deserving students.

“I hope that it is instills some peace about being able to afford different aspects of pursuing a college education. I really hope that these students will also give back one day, whether it is within this community or whatever community they find themselves in,” she said.

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