More than any classroom or barroom, the spot that defined Tristan Elmore’s UI experience is the Bruce D. Nesbitt African American Cultural Center.
“While the free printing they offered was great, what I remember most is the family-like atmosphere I experienced.," says the 2013 grad, now guest services coordinator for the Chicago White Sox.
“My freshman year, I could walk in for a brief break between classes and witness classmates teaching staff the latest dance craze. Or when I interned there my fifth year and saw students comforting another student who lost his grandfather and was struggling to deal with it.
“That place was an old, run-down building, but man, did it feel like home for me. From the election night watch party of ’08 to the end-of-the-year BBQ of ’13, my fondest memories usually had the ‘Black House’ — as we students called it — somewhere in the storyline.”
