Finding His Voice Through Dialogue
When Elijah Florence ’22 transferred to Siena, he was looking for more than a place to continue his education. He was looking for a community where he could connect with others, share his experiences, and feel that he belonged. Through Damietta, Elijah found that community—and discovered the transformative power of dialogue.
“Transferring into Siena, Damietta was where I found people like myself and started to feel like I belonged on campus,” Elijah reflects. “It helped me grow both as an individual and as a leader.”
For Elijah, dialogue was not simply about talking. It was about learning how to listen, understand perspectives different from his own, and create space for others to be heard.
His involvement with BAMS gave him a sense of brotherhood he had not experienced elsewhere, while his participation in campus conversations about race and identity challenged him to engage thoughtfully with difficult topics. These experiences taught him how to facilitate conversations, navigate differences, and guide others toward respectful and productive dialogue.
One experience that particularly shaped his understanding of dialogue was co-creating and facilitating a campus-wide microaggression training. The experience showed Elijah that meaningful change begins with the willingness to have honest conversations—and that dialogue can connect diversity, accountability, and personal growth.
Although Elijah graduated before Café Damietta was formally established, his experiences in the Damietta Lounge and its affinity programs provided many of the same foundational skills that Café Damietta seeks to cultivate. He learned to express his concerns clearly while also listening carefully to people whose opinions and experiences differed from his own.
“Being immersed in so many different walks of life showed me how much we can all learn from one another when we approach conversations with curiosity instead of judgment,” he says.
That spirit of curiosity also carried into Elijah’s academic experience as a Social Work major. He valued the rigor of the program, but equally appreciated the diversity, acceptance, and openness that characterized his classes and relationships with professors.
His course Race and Identities with his mentor, Dr. Christa Grant, was especially influential. The course created space for students to examine their own identities and experiences while listening to classmates with different perspectives. Through those conversations, Elijah developed a deeper understanding of how identity shapes the way we see the world—and how listening to others can expand our own understanding.
The class also helped him recognize the important distinction between equality and equity and consider how dialogue can move beyond conversation toward meaningful action and change within the campus community.
For Elijah, this is ultimately what makes dialogue so powerful: it creates opportunities for people to learn from one another, challenge assumptions, build understanding, and work together toward change.
Today, Elijah works as a Medicare Case Manager, carrying with him the communication, leadership, resilience, and perspective he developed at Siena. He credits much of that growth to the relationships and conversations that shaped his college experience, particularly his work with Dr. Grant and Br. George, Damietta’s former director.
Elijah’s experience demonstrates that dialogue is more than a conversation. It is a practice of listening, learning, and engaging across differences and it can be a powerful catalyst for belonging, leadership, and change.
For Elijah, that is the power of dialogue—and it is a lesson he continues to carry with him beyond Siena.