A Wonderful Moment to Catch Up With Sandy Bargainnier: Friend, Colleague, Syracusian and Humanitarian

How wonderful to meet up with a friend from Syracuse last night who was visiting Fairfield University with her soon-to-be Jameseville-Dewitt graduating son - a potential 2016 freshmen looking at NCAA swim teams. I met Sandy when she worked at Syracuse University when I was working on my doctorate. She is now leading, proactively, with her work at SUNY Oswego. I often saw her at soccer facilities with the young men I worked with for my doctorate, as she was at the same sports arenas with her athletic, college-bound oldest son (man, those were late nights in the middle of winder, weren't they). It was then Dr. Bargainnier told me she teaches Outcasts United to Physical Education majors. I immediately got the book and began to piece together the story of the young men I was working with. That book was the missing link that helped catapault my thinking to earn my doctoral degree. It was the dynamite that really got me moving.

Since then, Sandy has been working with refugee communities in Syracuse as a surrogate mom, mentor, and college-advocate. She is an inspiration to Congolese, Burundi, Nepalese, Iraqi, and other relocated youth. I've been able to keep up with her via Facebook and when I learned her youngest son was looking at Fairfield, I said, "Well, we'll have to get together for dinner!" (bring on Dao's Fusion for Thai food).

And we did. There have been many stories written about her work - a DeWitt mom who advocates for Syracuse high school students and a woman who changing Central New York . Last winter, too Sandy got several basketball tickets donated so she and I could bring "the boys" to a Syracuse basketball game (We also dined at Varsity pizza). Sandy excudes Ubuntu and has been a wonderful leader willing to help me to understand my own work with adolescent, refugee populations. We are kindred spirit and her wisdom is tremendously appreciated.

I will reflect on last night's conversation at Dao's this morning while I embark on the Yankee Clipper  to my first NY Yankees game.

Yankee Stadium...here I come. Here's to Sandy Bargainer.