Adil Baguirov in Dayton

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 ranging from education policy to the annals of the Ahiska Turkish community in Dayton, where he's among the rising leaders. He's also a teacher at several universities, including University of Dayton. Adil Baguirov

The well-traveled educator says the freedoms he's enjoyed in America have continued to amaze him, even once the mountainous terrain of his native Caucasus region occasionally make him consider home. Born in a part of the Soviet Union today known 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 get yourself ready for the entrance exams, and the outcomes came that I was accepted into among the schools in the United States. I jumped for joy and told my parents I wanted to come here, though it was a smaller university in Michigan and I'd planned for one of the finest universities in Moscow.

Which was early ‘90s, and I didn't would like to study law, I wanted to learn about business and I believed the curriculum here could be better.

Since, a very important factor resulted in another, I utilized in a college in Los Angeles, lived in Washington D.C., and I had a good experience coast-to-coast and traveling round the country. I got to know more of America and different experiences here, different accents, expressions and I like it. Whenever you visit European countries, I always bring examples 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 will be enshrined here. It's hard to sue an individual simply because he expressed his thought, and that's completely different even for advanced companies in Europe. You can be easily sued for something. It's the little things I find. The stores open 24 hours, that's so awesome. In Europe and in the big cities, if you want to have lunch after 2:30, you're out of luck. They shut things down until dinner. Here you are able to go like a meal at just about any time. Everything from something high around something very practical. I, as an immigrant and naturalized American, find plenty of little things such as that are better, although I already knew Europe really well and I knew the culture.

Q: How's the culture different?

A: Parents are happy for the successes of these children. They cut them plenty of slack, they desire them to savor life. Our grandparents had harsh lives and bad conditions and they want to make certain their children can enjoy life and get things they certainly were not able to get, such as for example education, and the capacity to enjoy freedoms and make money like they certainly were not able to do when they certainly were persecuted.

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

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

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

I really like the culture and history of that part of the 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 kind of a beginner historian, too. I really like history. It's why I teach that program at UD and I get it done at some other schools including George Washington University in D.C. and some others. Adil Baguirov in Dayton

I love the annals, 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, most of them in Washington, so I put my passion into use and action. I'm very proud to own introduced some pretty big items that way.