Graduate looks to continue education with foreign affairs grant

Recent IU graduate Isak Osagyefo Nti Asare can speak five languages and has studied around the world, and despite winning a majorly competitive fellowship, he is more concerned about his upcoming wedding.

“She’s beautiful. She’s my best friend,” Nti Asare said of fiancée Mariah Moore. “She is the only person I really want to spend my time with.”

Last week, he was awarded the Thomas R. Pickering Graduate Foreign Affairs Fellowship, which grants him $40,000 for each of the two years of whatever graduate program he chooses. Nti Asare considers his greatest accomplishment to be the winning of Moore’s heart, which he said with a bright smile.

He speaks of IU with almost the same kind of passion he does of his bride-to-be.

Nti Asare recently graduated from IU with a double major in political science and linguistics, a certificate in African Studies and a minor in African languages.

His success at IU could not have happened without the dedication of the professors, Nti Asare said. It’s the educators who take on the same ambitions as the students and do everything within their power to help students achieve, he said.

Professor Akwasi Assensoh of the African American and African Diaspora Studies department had the chance to work closely with Nti Asare through the McNair Scholars Program.

“We also appreciate his humility at all times,” Assensoh said. “I have had the privilege of mentoring him as a superior classroom student of mine and also as a serious budding scholar.”

The word “accomplishment” is one that Nti Asare said makes him uncomfortable. Speaking on a more personal level, he said he has no interest in fixating on the awards he has won. Instead, he explores what lies ahead.

He believes his generation is at the cusp of so many global events and he is looking forward to being a part of it.

“We need to be globally engaged and contributing to our surroundings,” he said, instead of being “passive participants of our own society.”

Nti Asare says he has three goals in his lifetime. First is to make a difference in any way that he can. Born in Sweden, raised throughout New Mexico, United Arab Emirates, Estonia, Mexico, Azerbaijan, Wyoming and finally Bloomington, Nti Asare jokes that he may have some international gene that helps give way to his success.

Standing somewhere between 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-5, Nti Asare, 22, enjoys traveling because there is so much to experience.

“It’s a beautiful world. It’s a big world,” Nti Asare said, “and there’s so much to see.”

Second is to create a happy family. Currently, his mother is working in Afghanistan for the U.S. Department of State, while his father is working in Ghana. Nti Asare also has two sisters, one of whom is attending Stanford University and another who is working in Sweden. With the help of Skype, Nti Asare is able to keep in contact with his family across the globe.

His third and final goal is to fulfill a purpose, which may take a lifetime to achieve.

“Everything we do is a reflection of the people around us,” Nti Asare said.

Despite his successes, Nti Asare said credit is due to those that surround him with support and opportunity.

Nti Asare drove his point home by quoting Hebrews 3, verse 3. “The builder of the house has more honor than the house,” he said.