What a treat it was today to welcome a very special visitor back to Union High School, Graaff-Reinet.
In 1982, a young American named 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗻𝗲𝗿 arrived in Graaff-Reinet as an exchange student and spent his matric year at Union. 𝘋𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦, 𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘵-𝘊𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘨 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺, 𝘸𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘔𝘪𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘦𝘭 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘴, 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦.
Fast forward more than four decades and Steven has gone on to become a distinguished Professor in the Departments of Communication and Psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where his research explores topics such as social cognition, stereotyping, prejudice and even how people interact with robots and other non-human entities. 𝗛𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗿𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗦𝗼𝘂𝘁𝗵 𝗔𝗳𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗽𝗮𝗽𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝘁 𝗮 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗮𝗽𝗲 𝗧𝗼𝘄𝗻.
Joining him was his wife, Kerri Johnson, who is also a Professor at UCLA. 𝗜𝘁 𝘄𝗮𝘀 𝗮 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗯𝗼𝘁𝗵 𝗮𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗨𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻, sharing stories of what has changed over the years and what has remained reassuringly familiar.
There is something wonderfully special about seeing former Unionites return to the school after so many years. 𝘚𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯’𝘴 𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘜𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘢𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘤𝘳𝘰𝘴𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴.
