Eight years ago Kennedy Nzekwe ’23 arrived in Greensboro torn between the life ahead of him and the one he was leaving behind.

Kennedy’s family lived in Nigeria, but the lack of college opportunities for Kennedy and his older brother Kingsley, along with mounting fears of violence from their own government, left their parents with few options. They sent their sons to America, where a Greensboro family took them in and supported them.

Both brothers found a new direction and much-needed distraction at New Garden Friends School. Kingsley later attended Gettysburg (Pa.) College. Kennedy stayed closer to home at Guilford. To say Kennedy has come a long way is an understatement. Geographically, sure, but in so many other ways, too.

When he graduates this spring with a degree in Cyber and Network Security, Kennedy’s four years at Guilford will have seen him serve as captain of the Quakers’ men’s soccer team and president of the College’s African Student Association, while also taking part in the Quaker Leadership Scholars Program.

That commitment to leadership – particularly by growing ASA’s membership – recently earned Kennedy the Intercultural Engagement Center’s Martin Luther King Leadership Award.

“It’s an honor,” says Kennedy, but I really just  picked up where others before me left off.”

Steve Mencarini, Guilford’s Dean of Students, nominated Kennedy for the award. “He truly has put ASA on the map with engagement opportunities the past two years and has really been working hard as a student-athlete to be sure ASA has a voice on campus,” says Steve.

Kennedy says the purpose of ASA is to promote the African/Caribbean diaspora in Greensboro. “We want to highlight individual time, talents, skills when it pertains to African students here on campus, and also just creating that sense of home and belonging,” he says.

Home and belonging: for years Kennedy pursued both after arriving in Greensboro. He remembers growing up in Nigeria with 13 close friends. Over the years, four of those friends died at the hands of  the Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), a notorious unit of the Nigerian Police with a long record of abuse of the country’s citizens. 

“I lost a lot of friends to the SARS just for protesting,” says Kennedy. “I was living in Greensboro wondering why I was here, living this life when my friends and family were back home living that life. Thinking that just made it hard for me, a lot of guilt and wondering what I should do.”

Kennedy says he doesn’t want to forget his family and friends in Nigeria. “But for now I need to put those emotions aside or behind me and focus on graduating,” he says. “I feel like it's going to come after I graduate, but a lot of people here and in Nigeria are relying on me to graduate.”
 
Graduation will bring on another emotion for Kennedy, who says he’s going to miss Guilford, his friends and professors. He hopes his success growing ASA will help other students of color find what he found in the College.

“Guilford’s more than a college to me,” he says. “It’s a home. I want others to see that.”