General Powell
and the School

“I’m not quite sure the year I met Colin Powell, but I know it was when we started having graduation on the South Lawn. I think he was sitting across the street and I was planting flowers on the other street. We were getting ready for graduation that morning, cleaning and sprucing up campus for the families.

I saw a young lady passing by, and she was picking flowers and I said, ‘Listen, I didn’t plant those for you, I planted those for the students and for the parents.’ But you know the feeling when someone is watching you, I had that feeling, so I turned back, and someone was calling me with their finger. So I went over and said ‘Good morning’ and he said ‘You know who I am?’ I replied, ‘No, who are you?’ and he said back, replied, ‘Colin Powell.’ ‘Who? Oh you that guy,’ I said as I finally realized who he was.

We started chatting and I shared that I was born in Kingston, Jamaica and that’s where his family comes from, so we started talking about it more. We talked about the food and how much he loved the food. He told me he was a little badass, and his parents used to send him to Jamaica for the summertime, to spend time with his grandparents and he had to go to the fields early in the morning, and I knew exactly what that was like.

After that, every time he came onto campus we’d look for each other and we’d chit chat about Jamaica, since that’s his heritage and he always wanted to know what was going on. He meant a lot to me, being from our native country and doing wonders for himself, and he will be missed on this campus.”

“For me, it was the little things he did that stood out the most. I recall the first time I met with him in DC as a Partners for Change Fellow. After his talk on important international events, we ran into each other around the food table and started discussing the quality of the cookies. It was a surreal experience for me, because all the previous images of him that I had involved him being on TV and in uniform, speaking about some important international event. Yet, at that moment, there he was, such an accomplished person with immense influence, debating about which types of cookies are the best; he was as humble as they come.

That image of him being grounded in reality never left me after that day. Over the years, I had the privilege to meet him numerous times on the City College campus. During each of these occasions, he took the time to sit by the Quad, with a mug of coffee in his hand, watching students come to campus and saying “hi” or “to keep on going through the struggle” to them. It was as endearing as it gets, and pushed me to reflect upon the type of person and public servant I want to become.

As we struggle to reckon with his loss, I would like to think of him reminding us “to keep on going” with his legacy, with the same dedication to our institution that he had.”

“It was graduation one year and Vince (Boudreau) and Colin Powell were in a meeting before the ceremony, as they always were.

However, this time the meeting had gone on too long and we were going to be late to get into the procession for the ceremony. I saw Vince making his way to the start of the procession, followed by someone else, and I said ‘Hurry up, my sweeties, we’re late!’

Dean Vince (now President of CCNY) gave me a nod and that’s when I looked at who had followed behind him, and it was Colin Powell. I apologized and said ‘Oh, I’m so sorry General Powell,’ and he replied ‘I haven’t been called sweetie in such a long time, but you can call me sweetie’ and he let out a small laugh.”