Recently I had the privilege of being able to take two alumni tours. One at Lafayette High School and another at Canisius College, a Jesuit college in Buffalo, New York. Being able to meet the undergraduate class was incredible. I was able to share my best stories with them as they led me around my own stomping grounds. Being able to share key historical facts with the younger generation made my day and it made their day as well. I haven't been back to my schools since I graduated almost thirty years ago, but after my amazing experience I will have to do so, more often from time to time. I was able to share relevant stories with them and see the blown away expressions on their faces as they make sense of what they learned in digital and nondigital history books with an actual person who experienced it first hand.
I was able to share where I was when I experienced an earthquake at Lafayette High School a historic high school in Buffalo, New York. I also got to tour my favorite place the library an amazing place where I spent many hours studying, working, and reading novels. At Canisius I toured the library where I spent a lot of time sleeping and studying. I also got to share the story of how I was in the Student Center when the OJ Simpson verdict was pronounced and the mix reaction of a diverse population of up and coming young leaders. How some students were dumbfounded by the news while a host of other students were elated. You see OJ was considered to be a hometown hero.
I also got to tell the story of when I went on a college trip to take a tour of Washington D.C. with my Canisius College commuter club. This experience revolutionized my life and set me on a path of leadership within my field of study of art history and elementary education. I was able to share a few of my stories like how I toured the White House, Washington Monument, and U.S. Capital during the trip. I was also able to visit the Supreme Courthouse and see a Supreme Court case with Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Sandra O'Connor and the boy squad presiding over a JAG case and how that has great meaning for me today. I also shared the story of how I was apart of an all male rife team for a short time, but when they wouldn't allow a me a female to travel overnight with them I left and went and got a real job as I worked, volunteered, and studied my way through college.
We only had a short time and I wished I would have been able to share the other incredible stories from my Canisius College Cherry Blossom tour that I taken over thirty years ago. When a group of us went and visited the Holocaust Museum and Arlington National Park to visit J.F. Kennedy's gravesite and see the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Solider. Maybe next time. I now have plenty of reasons to return.
I did encourage the young leaders of tomorrow to keep following their dreams and keep a look out for great opportunities in school and then grab hold of them. These opportunities will set them up as leaders in their communities. Being able to go back and tour my alma maters after the pandemic was like music to a weary soul. I learned that Canisius College Lyon's Hall suffered significant damaged during the blizzard last season and many offices are currently displaced and have moved temporary to other locations. I also learned that my college just got accepted by the NY Regency board to become a University which is great news.
I also learned that my high school Lafayette High is a school for ESOL students. I was able to have two tour guides one was from Asia and the other from Kenya and Ethiopia. My father's homeland is Kenya and it was fantastic to see how my African village on the west side of Buffalo has grown so much. My favorite part was seeing the parade of flags on the ceiling and taking pictures of my favorite places which was the library, my homeroom, and the auditorium. I also enjoyed having my daughters find our Kenyan flag and enjoying their excitement about it. We were adopted back into our high school community and it was a beautiful experience to be surrounded by so much love and well wishes and see so many improvements. Being able to enjoy the original architecture was a delight and seeing the improvements was the best of both artistic worlds, the old and the new.
These tours helped me see how important it is to support various programs and alumni endeavors as an alumni. I was able to see how important it is to participate in my own alumni events. I was able to as one of my tour guides put it, "make sure that my alumni were upholding up their end and I was keeping them accountable." I am proud to say that both schools did exactly that they are both keeping Rev. Dr. Martin Luther's King dream alive. As a recipient of the Dr. King scholarship at Canisius and a recipient of Presidential Award at Lafayette High School this is important to me, as I look to the future. I am so happy I remained steadfast and was able to meet some incredible new rising superstars. I'm looking forward to seeing them excel in their chosen fields of study accomplishing some amazing things like I did before, during, and after they graduate.
From the desk of Esther Kamoche Robinson 05/11/23 EST 1:45 pm
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