Ten years after receiving the Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship while at Schoolcraft College, Dr. Efua Crentsil earned a doctorate degree from Georgetown University. She now works as lead faculty member and clinical coordinator for a health school in Virginia.
It’s been a long journey for Dr. Efua Crentsil over the last 10 years.
Starting out as a student at Schoolcraft College, Crentsil discovered she had a passion for helping people. After a decade of schooling, Crentsil has found her way into an incredible career path: she earned her Doctor of Nursing Practice earlier this year from Georgetown University.
It was a journey, she said, that was incredibly difficult.
“I used to ask myself, why am I torturing myself? Why am I doing this to myself?” she said. “But at the end of the day, I realized that there are a lot of people that are dependent on me, and I cannot fail.”
A native of Ghana, Crentsil came to the United States when she was just a teenager. Living with a host family in South Lyon, she eventually enrolled at Schoolcraft College, getting involved in campus as a student employee, member of Phi Theta Kappa and plenty more.
Then, one fateful morning in 2015, her whole world changed.
While working in the Operations, Curriculum and Assessment office, Crentsil was summoned to what she believed was a standard work meeting. But once she walked in, she began to tear up: the meeting was a surprise celebration, announcing she was the recipient of the Jack Kent Cooke Transfer Scholarship.
That scholarship – only awarded to 85 people in the country that year – enabled Crentsil to pay for continuing her undergraduate education, which she pursued at Penn State University.
“It reduced the financial burden on me so I could just focus on my studies,” she said.
While there, she showed interest in research and pursuing additional education. Crentsil ended up working with a faculty member, became familiar with Georgetown University and was encouraged to apply. She was accepted and she spent four years studying to earn her doctorate, as well as doing research on Medicare.
Today, Crentsil works as the lead faculty member and clinical coordinator at Ultimate Health School in Virginia. In her role, she provides instruction and mentorship to students and faculty in academic and clinical environments, in addition to other roles.
“I never knew that I was going to be working or developing curriculum, but here I am,” Crentsil said. “I’m actually working on curriculum and it’s all from the experience that I had in school.”
Dr. Cindy Cicchelli, Associate Dean of Operations, Curriculum and Assessment, said she felt incredibly proud hearing a former student employee had accomplished so much since her time in Livonia.
“While at Schoolcraft, Dr. Crenstil demonstrated such tenacity and dedication that it would leave us all in awe as she overcame multiple barriers, took charge of her own destiny, and made this dream come true,” she said. “She has true grit.”
Even though she now lives on the East Coast, Crentsil said she still looks back with fondness at her time at Schoolcraft College. Her time here set the stage for her academic career, and she said she is proud to be a Schoolcraft alumna.
“The school really passed through me. I really came out refined,” she said. “All the institutions I went to influenced me one way or another.”