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Creating history one GSU alum at a time

Leslie Washington is a GSU alum who is affecting change and leaving a mark on the world.

With his bachelor’s degree in history and his enormous family, Washington’s path to becoming an educator was nearer than he understood.

Washington is the oldest of 10. His siblings range in age between 2 to 24-years-old. The obligation that accompanies being the oldest can in some cases be tiring. Washington takes his order in the family seriously.

“After being displaced by Hurricane Katrina, I settled on a cognizant choice to focus on my schooling and make it significant,” Washington said. “I need to set the model for my younger siblings and stress the significance of education as a way of survival.”

While attending Ferriday High School, Washington played in the band under the direction of a Grambling alum Kendell Damond. It was here that he chose to become part of the Tiger family.

“I actually came to Grambling because of Mr. Damond who is now the assistant band director here at the university,” Washington said. “Mr. Damond expressed great pride about how Grambling catapulted his life so much that it impacted me to want the same experience; which now I can share in as an alum.”

While going to GSU, Washington was afforded the chance to compose his research paper entitled; The Ebonics Controversy,: Superiority Vs Inferiority. This paper landed him to share his exploration discoveries at Mississippi State University Symposium.

“My paper in a nut shell investigate Ebonics as a feeling of character for African American kids learning,” Washington said. “I at that point took my research and apply my theories to my own kin as a test and my decision was right, in this manner rousing me to begin my own school.”

Education among the African American community is essential for a few reasons with HBCUs.

“I needed to take my schooling and show scholastics from an African American point of view. History is regularly taught from an Eurocentric point of view which makes a distinction to the crowd, I can change that.”

Many alums give back to the college in an unexpected way. It is quite possibly the main advertising structures that help HBCUs flourish. Without commitments from the individuals who have preceded us, the future wouldn’t look so splendid.

“As a GSU Alum, I accept there are numerous ways you can offer in return; advertising Gram to future understudies, supporting grounds occasions, gifts, and profession openings.” Washington said. “I have a great deal of future Gramblinites in my own family that I am pushing to go to Gram on the grounds that at any rate I can believe the schooling is justified, despite any trouble.”

Leslie fills in as a pioneer in his family. He is as of now obtaining his master of arts in education at GSU while raising his younger siblings. He eventually plans to open his own school.

“Coronavirus has permitted me to utilize my degree and research to self-teach my kin,” Washington said. “Although it has its difficulties, I am hopeful about what’s to come. I trust in education in light of the fact that without it as history shows we as a people will parish.”