Adil Baguirov in Dayton

Education runs in Adil Baguirov's blood.

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

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 think of home. Born in a part of the Soviet Union today called 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: What was it like arriving at America?

A: I was supposed to attend law school in Moscow when I graduated from high school. I was 15, and I already was finding your way through the entrance exams, and the outcome came that I was accepted into one of the schools within the United States. I jumped for joy and told my parents I wanted ahead here, though it was an inferior university in Michigan and I'd planned for just one of the finest universities in Moscow.

That was the early ‘90s, and I didn't just want to study law, I wanted to understand about business and I believed the curriculum here will be better.

From the time, a very important factor generated another, I utilized in a school in Los Angeles, lived in Washington D.C., and I'd a good experience coast-to-coast and traveling round the country. I got to understand more of America and the various experiences here, the various accents, expressions and I like it. Whenever you go to European countries, I usually bring examples of exactly how we do things in America, typically either running a business aspects.

Q: What do you like best about living here?

A: Freedom of speech that will be enshrined here. It's hard to sue a person simply because he expressed his thought, and that's very different even for advanced companies in Europe. You can 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 wish to have lunch after 2:30, you're out of luck. They shut things down until dinner. Here you can go enjoy a meal at almost any time. Everything from something high up to something very practical. I, as an immigrant and naturalized American, find a lot of little things like which can be better, although I already knew Europe very well and I knew the culture.

Q: How's the culture different?

A: Parents are happy for the successes of the children. They cut them a lot of slack, they want them to enjoy life. Our grandparents had harsh lives and bad conditions and they wish to make certain their children can enjoy life and get things they were not able to get, such as education, and the ability to enjoy freedoms and earn money like they were not able to do when they were persecuted.

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

Q: Can you keep something that reminds you of home?

A: Definitely. I'm a mountaineer myself, going into 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 this 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 type of an amateur historian, too. I really like history. It's why I teach that program at UD and I get it done at various other schools including George Washington University in D.C. and some others. Adil Baguirov in Dayton

I like the history, and the culture, I've great appreciation for them and I locate 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 have brought in some pretty big issues that way.