The National Science and Maths Quiz tests a lot: a person’s speed, accuracy, wit, memory, nerves, and so much more.
And while, for the average Joe/Jane, that is surely a lot to cram into a three-week period during which one suffers such a ruthless battery round by round, a bunch of young people have subjected themselves to it bravely and emerged unscathed — actually, only two have.
At first sight, the pair — Wonder Sarfo-Ansah and Daniel Osei Badu — hardly appear extraordinary. Heck, they don’t even look like they could hurt a fly! Yet, they — or, to be more specific, their brains — have captivated a nation, dissected opponent after opponent, broken the hearts of many affiliated with other second-cycle institutions, and done their own proud. And by their own, I also refer to my own: Prempeh College.
Prempeh, for long a slumbering giant on the NSMQ landscape, holds the distinction of being the first school in Ghana to win the competition, doing so in the maiden edition back in 1994. They’d claim the title once more two years later before missing out on a hat-trick the following season when fierce city rivals Opoku Ware School (OWASS) edged them, never to taste success again. . .
. . . until 2015.
That was when young Ransford Bio and Daniel Aboagye Danso, almost as ‘harmless’ on the surface as Wonder and Daniel, stepped up to attempt ending a drought that began when they were likely unborn or probably were only toddlers; in other words, a lengthy spell of underachievement and pain during which, at one particularly depressing point (when yours truly was still a student at the College, in fact), Prempeh infamously got eliminated via a 50-point margin by OWASS. Sensibly, then, few Amanfour (as Prempeh boys are affectionately known), had their hopes too high; we’d seen all of this before, hadn’t we?
Well, we thought we had, till the boys brought the trophy to Sofoline after beating Adisadel College and University Practice SHS in the final — and then we realized we hadn’t after all. For an entire generation of ‘Seniors’ (another collective description for Prempeh boys), we really hadn’t seen anything of its like before. And so we thoroughly celebrated that conquest and licked every bit of it up, perhaps quietly fearing it would be a while before we’d have such a chance again. When, in the following year, Prempeh got knocked out in the quarter-finals by ‘daddy’ Mfantsipim, it seemed our worst fears were coming true.
Thankfully, they weren’t — and how wrong we were! Someone should have tossed us a chill pill and asked us to wait just a year.
Half-hopeful and half-anxious, the College gave glory another shot in 2017. Prempeh progressed after entering the contest as a seeded school in the 1/8th round, yet every step taken closer to the trophy only seemed to increase both hope and anxiety in equal measure. With the competition now involving an unprecedented 135 schools and a few heavyweights suffering giant-killing feats, let’s just say we had begun to grow a bit more anxious than hopeful.
And then we hit the golden number: 80.
In the history of the three-school format of the NSMQ, no school had accumulated that many points till Prempeh did en route to the ultimate in 2015, and none had since matched such a feat until, well, Prempeh did this year. Actually, we bettered ourselves and clocked 82, a tally that could have been even higher had indiscipline in ringing the bell not cost us a couple of points in that quarter-final. Nerves then began to settle and, thereafter, there was only ever one favourite as the competition hurtled towards its climax. Sweet, six-point revenge was exacted in the semis on Mfantsipim who, along with Mawuli SHS, were swept aside with minimum fuss just like St. Louis, Toase SHS, Ghana Secondary Technical School, and Aduman SHS before them. The final threatened to stick to said script as Prempeh dominated for long spells, and, even though 2013 kings St. Thomas Aquinas run the College close in the end (the third finalist, defending champions Adisadel, settled for a front-row seat early in the race as a heated two-school battle quickly unraveled), Prempeh did just enough to ease their march to victory: cue unbridled ecstacy among the many members of the Prempeh clan earthwide, especially the hundreds that had thronged the National Theatre (venue of the final) in what could well be described as a ‘Green Invasion’. It really was a performance that put the ‘FOUR’ in ‘AMANFOUR’.
For all those involved in the contest, this was about more than just the gleaming trophy or the accompanying prizes. It was, to put it modestly, a show of dominance, of might, and of bloody-minded will on Prempeh’s part. For the power duo of Wonder and co-tormentor Daniel — one of whom would almost certainly run away with the six-year scholarship offered by NSMQ platinum sponsors Accra College of Medicine, if so inclined — there would be pride in adding their names to a honor roll of green-clad NSMQ victorious cerebral warriors of yore: the likes of Jonny Sobotie, Osei Agyemang Jr, Yaw Adu Boakye, and Kofi Oteng Boateng.
For everyone else, this was a statement intended to send chills down their spines. From never winning the NSMQ for so long, Prempeh have now picked it twice in three years and are flexing muscles that appeared to have shrunk over time. It’s a spine-tingling warning for all those schools who failed to take advantage of Prempeh’s prolonged fall from NSMQ grace to overtake the College’s early double, and just as worrying a prospect for even PRESEC (the Legon version), the only school to have actually beaten Prempeh’s mark but who are now only a title ahead.
We’re back for good and, like it or not, we’re taking over.
