George Kamungu, a Black member of the student body at Salt Lake Community College, has been enrolled for four semesters with emphasis on education studies. Kamungu values education and wants to further his own in order to spread knowledge and inspiration to others.
Most would agree that the goal of receiving an education and pursuing a career is to provide for themselves and their families. While Kamungu feels the need to care for himself, he also sees the value in caring for others. He moved to Utah from Africa in 2011 with the desire to return and give kids something that he never got: an education.
“It’s something that I would like to learn about and hopefully, one day, go back home to provide what I learned,” Kamungu said.
Kamungu understands what it’s like to grow up without a formal education. He believes that providing kids with that experience will help them grow and keep them out of trouble and that good teachers make a difference.
While Kamungu desires to educate those in his home country, he also has some insights on current events here in the states.
Black Lives Matter has been vocal in our communities and Kamungu is contributing to that conversation. He suggests that in order to understand today’s circumstances and get along, we need to be open minded and refrain from being judgmental.
“At the end of the day, not everyone is racist,” said Kamungu. “And there is good and bad through everything.”
Kamungu had some advice to share with the SLCC student body: Rather than going crazy and pointing fingers, we should work to sit down and solve problems together.
Kamungu believes that, despite our differences, people can get along. Those beliefs come from the decade spent in a home with a white family that he loves dearly.
Kamungu participates in the Black Student Union at SLCC which offers academic support for its members. He loves it because it is diverse and includes students of other ethnic backgrounds.
SLCC offers resources like BSU and many others for those who belong to underrepresented communities or want to learn more about diversity.
For additional information about these resources, visit the Office of Diversity and Multicultural Affairs.
An earlier version of this story originally appeared in the 2020 back to school issue.
