Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
UNLV student takes full advantage of blessings available to him in US
UNLV senior Hoffman Madzou sits under a faded red parasol at a table in the student union at UNLV. ¶ It’s the week of spring break, and while the marketing major has plans to eventually relax, he still checks his phone repeatedly — possibly in expectation for his next venture. ¶ Madzou certainly likes to stay busy.
He plays soccer on UNLV’S club team and enjoys analyzing the statistics of sports matches, which he squeezes in between completing business classes, leading two on-campus organizations and working three jobs — as a campus tour guide, manager at one of the local H&R Block locations and as a judiciary member of CSUN, UNLV’S student government organization.
A native of the Republic of Congo who moved to the United States in 2008, Madzou said he wouldn’t change his college experience because it’s one he could only gain by being here in America.
“My mom moved us to the U.S., where she would view it as where we can get the best financial opportunities,” Madzou said. “Rather than being very, very poor in Congo, now it’s way better than what we were over there.”
Madzou was born in Brazzaville, the capital of the Republic of Congo, only a few years after political and civil unrest that “destroyed or damaged much of Brazzaville and caused tens of thousands of civilian deaths,” according to the New World Encyclopedia. For as long as Madzou remembers, his family had been living in poverty.
Madzou’s life was changed forever when his family was selected for a refugee program that would bring them to the United States when he was just 7.
Madzou said he and his brother grew up watching movies about the U.S., but had no idea what to expect when they were told they’d be moving to Las Vegas. They were expecting the sunny beaches and palm trees of Los Angeles, or the sight of the towering Empire State Building in New York City.
What they got was the glitz and glam of the Strip, where they had heard stories of Michael Jackson performing and grew excited. Madzou was immediately enrolled into Dean Petersen RISE Academy off Cambridge Street, while his mother got a job as a utility porter on the Strip.
Years later, Madzou has now established himself on UNLV’S campus and become one of the first in his family to earn both a high school and college degree. After falling in love with the
“I’m honored to have Hoffman as my guest to the State of the Union address because he exemplifies the hard work it takes to achieve the American dream and the selflessness needed to make our students, businesses, and communities stronger.”
Rep. Susie Lee, R-nev., in a statement
come.”
Vegas Chamber President and CEO Mary Beth Sewald followed up with the Board at its March 6 meeting by saying the CCSD superintendent is one of the most important leaders in Nevada because that person has a profound impact on every aspect of the community and economy.
She said Board members need to ask incisive questions of the next would-be leader’s qualifications: about their districts’ math and reading proficiency and high school graduation rates, their reputations when it comes to building trust and partnerships, and how they inspire employees to do their best.
“Current levels of student achievement at CCSD are simply not measuring up. Student achievement should be the core focus of the superintendent conversation,” Sewald said. “Currently, insufficient numbers of our students are graduating careeror college-ready. This is harming students and putting them at academic and economic disadvantages. K-12 is the main workforce development pipeline in Nevada. If the pipeline is broken, it will hold us back as a community.”
Amber Stidham, chief strategy officer for the Las Vegas Global Economic Alliance, told the Board that the regional development authority’s mission is to attract diverse businesses and job opportunities.
Public education is important to the organization. The superintendent is at the top of one of the nation’s largest school districts, which has a budget of more than $3 billion.
“This is an executive position,” she said. “This is really important to our community.”
The Board voted that night to hire a search firm to help gather community feedback on the next superintendent – stopping short of committing to a national versus local search, but agreeing to select a firm to help the Board determine how far and wide to advertise the position.
Guzman, the Latin Chamber’s president and CEO, said a national search that also considers candidates close to home can recognize local talent that might be overlooked, and, if the School Board does decide to hire from within, gives that promoted leader credibility — proof that they were competitive, and that the job wasn’t handed to them.
He thinks the ideal superintendent is “someone who understands diversity. Someone who can think outside the box, can think creatively, because I don’t think every kid learns the same way, tests the same way.”
Clarke said the Vegas Chamber has also long enjoyed a good working relationship with the superintendent and been active in shaping and supporting education policy.
She said the chamber has backed the state’s per-pupil funding model that legislators put in place in 2019, supported new taxes to fund K-12 schools, spoke in favor of creating a teachers college at what is now Nevada State University, and joined task forces on how to improve education delivery and district business operations. Most recently, the chamber supported the introduction of nonvoting appointed members on CCSD’S School Board.
“We need a leader that teachers and support staff are inspired by. We need somebody who parents can trust, somebody who can work collaboratively throughout the community, somebody with a vision and the leadership skills to implement that vision — not to mention manage the tremendous operational side of the school district,” Clarke said. “That’s somebody with a lot of different skill sets.”
That person, she said, should be an “extraordinary leader.”