Henry Prempeh, a member of Church Farm School’s Class of 1999, eagerly returned to his alma mater last fall for Convocation.
Prempeh said he was most impressed by the use and optimization of space at CFS since he graduated, as well as the diversity of the faculty and staff. And he was happy that a strong sense of faith continues to permeate campus.
“While I was a student, I didn’t realize how the chapel experience was contributing to my relationship with Christ,” he said.
The alumnus of Ghanaian descent raised in Newark, N.J. revealed that about 10-15 of his extended family members attended the school at one point, including his two older brothers and first cousin.
“Our father was a strong believer in education, and our local educational systems weren’t meeting our needs,” said Prempeh. “This led my father to seek out a more appropriate educational placement that would not only challenge us academically, but also place us in an environment away from home that would allow us to solely focus on learning without the potential risks that can come with growing up in a low-income, inner-city environment.”
Prempeh’s recollections of his six years at CFS mirror those of so many alumni — there are not a lot of specifics that he reflects on, just an overwhelming sense of community.
“You’re doing life with people,” he said. “In school, after school, extracurriculars. We would play, study, fight, make up. You’re always spending time with your brothers.”
He also recalled the strength of relationships with faculty and staff.
“They taught us work ethic, how to come back from failure, and how to keep working at things,” Prempeh said.
At CFS, he was interested in mathematics and attended Georgetown University as a computer science major. After transitioning to an undecided major, he recalled a news story that changed his trajectory: that of Andrea Yates, the Texas mother who drowned her children.
“I remember being really intrigued by human behavior,” said Prempeh. “I remember sitting there reflecting on the question of, what are the factors that would lead a mother to drown her own children?”
He eventually decided to change his major to psychology and would spend hours after class talking to his professors about psychological topics. In addition to his curiosity, Prempeh’s natural empathy and ability to listen have served him well.
After Georgetown, he spent a year at the Child and Family Research Program in Philadelphia, received his master’s degree in clinical psychology with emphasis on marriage and family therapy from Pepperdine University, and then went back to Georgetown for his Ph.D. Initially, he worked at the Children’s National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., but the hours became untenable once he became a new father — “safeguarding my family is important to me,” he said — and he joined a private practice.
Now, he is four years into his own practice in Arlington, Va., where he focuses on individual therapy with adults and doing some couples therapy with an emphasis on integrating faith into the process. His approach is to meet his clients with grace and compassion.
“It is a journey that we walk through together,” said Prempeh.
Learn more about how Church Farm School prepares a diverse group of boys with academic ability and good character to lead productive and fulfilling lives by making a college preparatory education financially accessible.
