Adil Baguirov County Recorder

Education runs in Adil Baguirov's blood.

Baguirov, who this past year was elected to the Dayton Board of Education, is a veritable open book on subjects which range from education policy to the real history of the Ahiska Turkish community in Dayton, where he's one of many rising leaders. He's also a teacher at several universities, including University of Dayton. Adil Baguirov Dayton

The well-traveled educator says the freedoms he's enjoyed in America have continued to amaze him, even when the mountainous terrain of his native Caucasus region occasionally make him consider home. Born in a the main Soviet Union today referred to as Azerbaijan, Baguirov loves the little things in Dayton, from the open hours of restaurants to his favorite local spots like Press Coffee, where he met me for drinks and cake.

Q: The thing that was it like visiting America?

A: I was supposed to attend law school in Moscow when I graduated from high school. I was 15, and I already was preparing for the entrance exams, and the results came that I was accepted into one of many schools in the United States. I jumped for joy and told my parents I needed in the future here, although it was a smaller university in Michigan and I'd planned for starters of the finest universities in Moscow.

Which was the early ‘90s, and I didn't only want to study law, I needed to learn about business and I thought the curriculum here could be better.

Since, something generated another, I transferred to a college in Los Angeles, lived in Washington D.C., and I'd a good experience coast-to-coast and traveling across the country. I acquired to learn more of America and the different experiences here, the different accents, expressions and I like it. When you head to European countries, I usually bring samples of how exactly we do things in America, typically either in business aspects.

Q: What do you prefer best about living here?

A: Freedom of speech that is enshrined here. It's hard to sue a person just because he expressed his thought, and that's different even for advanced companies in Europe. You may be easily sued for something. Oahu is the little things I find. The stores open 24 hours, that's so awesome. In Europe and in the big cities, if you intend to have lunch after 2:30, you're out of luck. They shut things down until dinner. Here you are able to go have a meal at almost any time. Everything from something high up to something very practical. I, being an immigrant and naturalized American, find lots of little things such as which are better, although I already knew Europe effectively and I knew the culture.

Q: How's the culture different?

A: Parents are happy for the successes of these children. They cut them lots of slack, they need them to enjoy life. Our grandparents had harsh lives and bad conditions and they want to make sure their children have the ability to enjoy life and get things these were incapable of get, such as for example education, and the ability to enjoy freedoms and make money like these were incapable of do when these were persecuted. Adil Baguirov County Recorder

We've proven it, with eight years in America and the impact we've had here.

Q: Do you keep anything that reminds you of home?

A: Definitely. I'm a mountaineer myself, entering mountains, skiing, flying. I enjoy snapping pictures and post them. They're just mountains, but I enjoy them, they're so beautiful.

I enjoy the culture and history of the the main world. I studied it, even if I studied business and political science and international relations. I've published several historical articles in peer-reviewed journals so I'm sort of a novice historian, too. I enjoy history. It's why I teach that program at UD and I do it at various other schools including George Washington University in D.C. and some others.

I like the real history, and the culture, I have great appreciation for them and I find them interesting, from the cuisine the dances the costumes, and so on. I've been active in the nonprofit sector, many of them in Washington, so I put my passion into use and action. I'm very proud to possess brought in some pretty big issues that way.