A Long Road: 50 Years of Experience from Five African American K-State Alumni Chapter 5

David Griffin: First of all, I think in my own opinion, to say to young people that you can be anything that you want to be and leave it at that. I'm not on board with that. I'm on board with you can be anything that you aspire to be if you work hard enough and dedicate yourself to that endeavor. Always tell students at any grade level that you understand it that there are ten, ten tiny words of power that I subscribe to and those ten tiny words of power is if it is to be, it is up to me. What that simply means is that don't rely on anyone for your success but you, because you're the major entity in your success. Am I saying don't rely on someone to help you? Absolutely not, I didn't get here without help, I had a whole lot of help, but I had to believe that it was my responsibility to step forward and do whatever it took, the sacrifice, the time, the energy to get to where I am today. It did not come without a lot of sacrifices, it did not come without a lot of guidance, a lot of counseling, a lot of love, I believe in challenges, if someone say I can do something, I would be the determinant factor whether I can do it or not. So I say to young people, aspire to be the best that you can be based on your ability and your ability to understand that you need to put forth the effort to get there. Let no one, no one indicate that you can't do something and you accept that at face value, because I always tell them that nobody high jumps to a low bar it's impossible. So you set the bar high, and you work to jump over it, and if you do that you can.

Juanita McGowan: My advice to any student whether K through 12, first love yourself, love yourself believe in yourself believe that you have a purpose on this world that you are blessed with gifts and when you are blessed with gifts, the darts can come but you are still focused, and always keep your eye on the prize. My mom always raised me she said Juanita, managing your own life is a full-time job you don't have time to manage other people's business. So stay focused on yourself, stay focused on your dreams, get a support system. As you grow older develop the spirit of discernment, who's for you, who's not, but I think just stay focused, and even through any difficult trial that I've ever experienced I've always just kept walking, I just always kept walking. I think my husband used to say he says Juanita, you'll just walk through a storm. I'm just going to walk through it. I'm just going to walk through it.

Veryl Switzer: We've got a long way to go yet, we said this here fifteen to twenty years ago, we shouldn't have to be emphasizing where we're going from here, we ought to know the effort must come about to get more people involved in the whole process. Faculty, the individuals and then community leaders.

Kathy Greene: I would want them to know that to really listen to their teachers, the teachers generally are there because they love teaching and they can learn a lot from their teachers and they could be good role models for them, and to really to focus on their studies and to pay attention to what they're learning and their curriculum and to set goals and to have dreams. My last words would be to follow that dream and to keep your eyes on that dream and your goals.

Charles Rankin: Know yourself, be true to yourself, be honest with yourself, what you don't know seek out, be comfortable in your own skin, like yourself, like your wide nose, your thick lips, your nappy hair, be proud that you are here, you too, the society is ready for you. And I would advise young people, black, white, green or yellow, know yourself.