As a student leader, Kenneth Brown Jr. ’19 built meaningful connections with mentors who invested in his success. Today, as assistant director of first-generation student support services, he provides that same guidance to the next generation of students.
What book is on your nightstand?
“Everything Sad Is Untrue” by Daniel Nayeri. It’s a family history novel rooted in the folktales of “One Thousand and One Nights” and explains how his family became refugees. It’s a really engaging novel with tales of heartbreak and resilience.
What is your favorite phone app?
Threads. I enjoy never knowing what you’ll find and getting to read people’s stories. One recent Thread was about a family group chat that exploded over wedding invitations — a cousin didn’t invite one relative’s partner of eight years but did invite another’s partner of six months. The Thread chronicled the tense family meeting that followed, and the eventual group chat meltdown. The most jaw-dropping fact: It was all a promotional moment for the author’s book. You never know.
If you could invite someone from history to dinner, who would it be?
I would invite two people — Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. They were friends but had a messy friendship breakup, chronicled in the podcast “Our Ancestors Were Messy.” I would like to have dinner, just to see or get the gist of what happened and why their friendship ended.
What is your favorite place on campus?
The bench outside of Powell that looks straight across the fountain in front of Alamance. I’ve sat there on stressful days and sunny days, and in shared moments with students to talk about some hard things related to academics. It’s also a peaceful spot where you can sit, see the trees and listen to the water in the fountain.
When first-gen students leave Elon, what do you hope they carry with them — not just professionally, but personally?
I hope they leave with a sense of community. It might be two people; it might be one. But I want them to understand what community looks like and how to build it as they move through life. A job, diploma, paycheck or whatever material things we use to measure “status” won’t keep you grounded when life gets hard or offer a warm meal or a hug when you need it. Community will. Yes, I want them to graduate and accomplish amazing things, but more than anything, I hope they value building and sustaining community.