Heritage and Home

When Ndeh was young, his father would frequently ask him what he wanted to be when he grew up, and even though his answer would change from firefighter to architect to physician, he knew for sure that he wanted a profession that helped others.

At the age of ten, Ndeh Tadzong’s parents sent him to Cameroon Protestant College (C.P.C.) Bali, a boarding school in Cameroon, West Africa. It was a drastic change from his life in the US. But living with his schoolmates away from home allowed him to have deeper exposure to his cultural heritage, therefore helping him to understand himself better and thus the impact he wanted to have on the world.

In his fourth year of boarding school, Ndeh campaigned and was elected to the position of Assistant Health Prefect. He was a student assistant to the school nurse. If the nurse was not available, ailing students sought out Ndeh’s help for an array of health issues. He ran a basic health assessment, took students to the hospital if they needed to go, and brought them food.

“Cameroon Protestant College Bali taught me to be disciplined, independent, and responsible,” Tadzong said, “Discharging my duties as a Health Prefect confirmed to me that I wanted to become a physician. It was quite a privilege to help students get better.”

In 2017, Ndeh moved back to The States and finished out his junior and senior years at Randallstown High School. He knew he wanted to pursue engineering and medicine in college, so his guidance counselor told him about Central Scholarship.

We were so impressed with Ndeh’s application and story, we awarded him the Kevin Kamenetz Scholarship in August 2019. He entered UMBC in the fall and is expected to graduate in May 2023 with a degree in chemical engineering. We look forward to the positive impact he will make on the world!