Alumni

1. What is your fondest memory of Community? My fondest memory would have to be when we visited New York City for a week in my sophomore year. I was a sixteen year old in NYC with all of my best friends. We were given freedom to explore within reason, saw the ballet, a play, the Metropolitan Art Museum, 9/11 memorial, Statue of Liberty, and Ellis Island.

2. What was the most valuable lesson you took away from Community? You do not have to finish first, as long as you finish and know that you gave it your best. I graduated #5 out of my class of 57 and we were very competitive. After a while, I realized my friends’ success did not mean I was lacking success. We could all win together in our own respective ways and styles. It is very important to celebrate the achievements of others and not get so caught up in being the best. I let my work speak for itself, strive to always treat people with respect no matter their title, and prioritize enjoying what I do. I know that as long as I am true to myself, I’ll land where I am meant to be.

3. Can you tell us about your current career and about the path you took to get where you are? I am currently a Project Engineer with Southland Industries at our office in Philadelphia, PA. Southland is one of the leading specialty mechanical contractors in the nation. I graduated from Virginia Tech with a degree in Building Construction in 2021. When I started at VT in 2016 I had the goal of becoming a civil engineer and building bridges. Through a series of events, I switched majors in my third year to Building Construction and found the perfect career that I did not realize even existed. I wanted to focus on building systems, the more complex side of building, but my major did not offer that as a track. I took extra classes, purchased textbooks, joined clubs, and competed in competitions to make me a strong candidate for companies like the one I work for today.

4. What specific advice can you offer a Pharaoh who is interested in pursuing a career in your field? My advice to those interested in a career similar to mine is to first make sure you are getting into a career you will love doing. And second, what you put in it is what you will get out of it. I love my job more than the average person. I am constantly learning and feeling challenged so I never grow bored. Plus, there is so much satisfaction is seeing something go from a pile of dirt to a multi-story building that will stand and serve for decades to come. My last note would be not to let what you look like or what you have been through stop you from chasing your dreams. I had very humble beginnings and suffered a lot through my childhood, but in school I found my safe haven. I am a first generation college student and had to learn everything the hard way, but I made it out and I am very proud of where I am.

5. What would you most want Community's students to keep in mind as they consider the relationship between their personal and professional lives? I was raised by my grandparents, so my siblings and I default to, “Yes sir, No sir, Yes ma’am and No ma’am.” You would think we were robots with wiring as such. For an adult to ask us to drop the sir or ma’am is like sticking a knife into the heart of our server. I advise you to be that way. Always remain humble no matter the accolades or achievements. I would say I am the same person at home that I am at work. I respect my boss the way I respect my grandmother. When you respect others, it shows a respect for yourself.

6. What book—fiction or non-fiction—would you recommend to Community's students as they approach adulthood? Why this book?  This one is a little hard for me since I everything I read is Christian. My first thought would be the Bible. When an individual comes into a place where they have humbled themself and seek to live a life of service, things change. You have joy even when life seems upside down; you have faith even when it seems everything is against you.

1. What is your fondest memory of Community? Offsite, minimesters, teachers (see my response to #3 below).

2. What was the most valuable lesson you took away from Community? Having Black teachers that really cared helped me to believe anything was possible. I also learned so much about the possibility of studying and education from my classmates. I hate to name drop but I will. I remember being in the 10th grade struggling to find my way in school and life. I was in the second semester German class with a Junior named Lenora Robinson. I remember how organized and studious she was. It was not just her organization that really moved me; it was her kindness. I never had my homework done and was rarely prepared. She never made fun of me and only encouraged me. I remember thinking to myself, If I am ever going to become what I know I can be, I will have to do things differently. I learned so many skills from my classmates like Lenora Robinson.

3. Can you tell us about your current career and about the path you took to get where you are? I have taken a very circuitous path to arrive as a professor and creative producer. [Here is an interview with Professor Harris about his documentary "In Our Words."] I started off majoring in history at 18 years old thinking that I wanted to become a lawyer. However, I soon realized I had no desire to practice law. I spent the next 18 years learning everything I could about the art of storytelling. I studied abroad in Germany, Taiwan, and Austria. I lived overseas in Thailand and Singapore for a few years. I traveled to Ukraine, Poland, South Africa, and South Korea! I met my RCHS classmate Alex Brown in Tokyo during a tsunami. We were both members of the 2004 graduating class of RCHS and then again of the 2008 Hampton University class. I learned that I would have to create my own path to have the life I wanted to live. The more I learned about the world and humanity, the better I was able to create meaningful characters. I became comfortable being uncomfortable. I learned that time takes time and when I take my time and move slowly, I make fewer mistakes. When the inevitable setbacks of life happen they become easier to navigate when I am taking my time and moving slowly. My AP history teacher, Mrs. Westbrook, told me in June of 2003, “I see a young man struggling with who he is and what he is destined to become." It took me 18 years to understand how true that statement was. Ms. Barbara Gray, my biology and family teacher, looked after me as if I were a child of her own and showed me grace when I didn't deserve it. I have been able to push on because of these extraordinary teachers and in spite of myself! I now instill these same lessons in my students and in the art I seek to create. This long circuitous path in my career has taught me to enjoy where I am, to be grateful for what I have, and to remember what I think didn’t work out, actually worked out for me! (READ THAT AGAIN!!!!) I am now on the path of living the life I could have never dreamed of! 

4. What specific advice can you offer a Pharaoh who is interested in pursuing a career in your field? The creative industry requires a level of tenacity and humility that can test the strongest willed person. Learn to motivate yourself and find your North Star! [Here is Professor Harris's YouTube page, where he interviews older students abut their career paths.]

5. What would you most want Community's students to keep in mind as they consider the relationship between their personal and professional lives? The concept of balance is very important. It is important to find out what you want for your life and not what someone else wants for your life. The second question to consider is, What is this going to cost me to have what I think I want?

6. What book—fiction or non-fiction—would you recommend to Community's students as they approach adulthood? James Baldwin's The Fire Next Time

1. What is your fondest memory of Community? Perhaps going to Tennessee to a World’s Fair, or the senior class’s beach trip at graduation.  There were many!

2. What was the most valuable lesson you took away from Community? My years at RCHS were formative for me.  There is not one lesson that stands out, but altogether I learned so much not just academically but in terms of how you can accomplish things if you focus and work hard.

3. Can you tell us about your current career and about the path you took to get where you are? I am a professor of history at Ithaca College, and I just published my second book, The End of Public Execution. (For more, see the UNC Press website for the book!)  I went from RCHS to Hampshire College in Massachusetts and loved it, but also, I did not know what I was doing.  I took a leave of absence for a year to figure stuff out, went back, dropped out, finally figured stuff out, and finished my career at VCU, earning a history BA with an English minor.  After some more twists and turns – life is full of these – I went to graduate school at UNC, Chapel Hill, where I earned my Masters and my PhD (go Heels!).  I have been teaching at Ithaca College since 1999.

4. What specific advice can you offer a Pharaoh who is interested in pursuing a career in your field? Being a teacher is wonderful.  It is lots of work, but also very rewarding.  Teaching at the college level means getting at PhD in most fields, and that takes something like 8 more years of schooling past college: a real sacrifice, although grad school is a tremendous amount of fun (if you are a nerd who likes the subject!).  It is like a calling: it requires commitment to make it through the years of schooling and then a troublesome job market, but if you have that commitment, it can be terrific.  Much more in demand (jobs are open throughout the nation) and more accessible (requires a MA degree rather than a PhD) would be teaching high school or middle school social studies.

5. What would you most want Community's students to keep in mind as they consider the relationship between their personal and professional lives? You need balance.  I’ve spent much of my life trying to find it: I am one of the millions of us who suffer from anxiety and depression, and that has affected me from my years at RCHS to now.  Balance is key.  There is not one path we’re supposed to be on – we each find our own way, and we can make it work out for us.  A professional life is not something that is given us or that just appears; it is built.  It takes lots and lots of hard work to be not just marginally OK in your work, but the sort of excellent that means you’re the one who gets that nice shiny promotion and finally you get the job you wanted.  Real life takes effort.  But while doing that building, we have to stay sane!  The people around you – your community – are something that will feed you, but they are also something to invest in.  At some point in your personal or professional life, the proverbial poop is going to hit the fan in some way.  That’s just a part of what life is.  And that is true for all those around you who you care about as well.  We get through this thing not as individuals, but together.  And we’ll mess up along the way: keep learning, keep building.  What’s the saying? “Fail better”. I’m doing well in my career, but, wow, do I ever have stories of failing.

6. What book—fiction or non-fiction—would you recommend to Community's students as they approach adulthood? Can’t do this: one book?  I’m a professor.  I want to mention 40.  Here are a few, briefly, divided by theme.  Feeling like the world/Covid is just pretty dark? Open up Ross Gay’s light and lovely Book of Delights.  It reminds you, page after page, about what is good in the world.  Wanting to be a writer or just enjoy a hilarious (but meaningful) writer making fun of her life? See if Anne Lamott’s Bird By Bird is your thing.  Want to read one of the best novels ever written? See if Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man draws you in.  A defining book for me when I was at RCHS was J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings: such a rich and complex world he created.  If I really had to choose one book, I might have to go with The Autobiography of Malcolm X because it is just so very rich and rewarding: he lived many different lives, and the book raises huge questions that are very worth raising, both in terms of the world, or in terms of identity and what we believe in.  Or what I think of as the best graduation speech ever, published as a little book: Anna Quindlen’s A Short Guide to a Happy Life. Why aren’t we all reading this tiny book – it can be read in 30 minutes or less – every year?

1. What is your fondest memory of Community? My fondest memory of Community has got to be the Chicago Midwest Clinic trip. RCHS has always offered a lot of different experiences to students who otherwise may not have had the option to enjoy them, and I thoroughly enjoyed this one. Exploring a larger world of music with like-minded individuals at a young age contributed to my overall appreciation for the art. My eyes opened when I witnessed students half my age playing with the level of skill I possessed at the time; it made me go shed, haha.

2. What was the most valuable lesson you took away from Community? The most valuable lesson I took from Community was how to breeze through a paper. Whew!

3. Can you tell us about your current career and about the path you took to get where you are? I have been fortunate and blessed to make a living doing what I love: playing drums. Music has been the only career path I have wanted to pursue since I was 12, so I made sure that was the only option. I did not have a plan B; I only had one vision. So, I learned, practiced, participated in activities that would better my craft, and I surrounded myself with people who were better than me. My mindset throughout Community was, "Get good grades, get into Berklee," and I did just that.

4. What specific advice can you offer a Pharaoh who is interested in pursuing a career in your field?
- NETWORK! You won't make it very far if you don't intend on staying in the house.
- BE KIND! I asked Grammy award-winning drummer and musician Robert Sput Searight to name some qualities or attributes that you would say are a must if you want to be a successful professional full-time musician. He responded, "Nobody wants to work with an asshole."
- COMPARISON KILLS! DO YOU BOO!!!

5. What would you most want Community's students to keep in mind as they consider the relationship between their personal and professional lives? Community students should always keep boundaries between the personal and the professional. Don't let a good relationship get in the way of business, especially when it's your boss. Also, speak up for yourself because this here is life, so if you don't, nobody will.

6. What book—fiction or non-fiction—would you recommend to Community's students as they approach adulthood? Why this book? Me? Recommend a book? Come on now.