We asked some of the brightest folks from within the community to reflect back on their days in school and to share with us a story of when they learned a particularly important or impactful lesson. We’ve shared highlights below.

Katia Gounou

The most impactful lesson I learned in school was the importance of discipline in everything we do in life. I am originally from the Ivory Coast, West Africa where the school system is different from that of the US, and the first language is French. I went to a “Collège” which is a mix of Middle School and High School that strictly followed our country’s motto “Union – Discipline – Travail” meaning “Union – Discipline – Work” Read more>>

Millicent Olasanoye

My educational journey has been eventful and rewarding. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned was to do what you truly love. I know you hear it all the time but do we really search to do that? Sometimes other factors can get involved or your circumstances change. For me, I had a high school teacher, Mr. Benoit, who taught Marketing 101 and he was the reason I decided to do business during my undergrad years. Can you believe in the beginning business was my first love and then came makeup? Read more>>

Leondre Lattimore

While studying art in undergrad, I remember going through a phase of rediscovering myself as an artist. When you’re in an art program, it can be very rigorous and fast paced at times. At this time, I’m also simultaneously learning how to integrate into the professional art world as a person who was self taught up to this point. Over time, I began to over criticize my art, primarily because I started to measure its worth based on its popularity and public reception. Viewing my work this way led to me losing so much confidence that I told myself I would stop doing art completely after I graduated. It took months self-reflection for me to rediscover the initial purpose of why I started creating in the first place. Read more>>

Premimathieu Sterlin

Personally, I think around the age of 15-16 (Sophomore/Junior) yeah of high school I realized school is not always needed. I spent the majority of my life in school learning and pushing myself because I thought it was the only way to be successful in life. I dropped out of high school in my senior year, because I felt that if I wasn’t going to play pro basketball that there was no point in continuing my education mostly because I didn’t feel like I was being taught anything I needed to know. My generation was the first to be introduced to the internet and it is one of the greatest tools ever created. Read more>>

Lisa Roark

After becoming certified in Holistic Nutrition and Permaculture, I decided to attend culinary school at Dallas College’s El Centro campus. At 40 years old, it was a bit tough to attend school with a group of 20-somethings who had attended their culinary program in high school. Here I was, a home cook with knowledge of vegetables and fruits in her repertoire, learning from an 18-year-old (who was a fellow culinary student) how to prepare a demi-glace! Read more>>