Nigerian King Visits Heritage Middle

Published October 15, 2009

It's not often that students in Williamson County get the chance to meet face-to-face with royalty. But on October 14, all that changed when King Emmanuel Adebowale Adebayo paid a visit to Heritage Middle School in Thompson's Station. Adebayo is king of Emure, a kingdom in Ekiti, Nigeria. He recently traveled to Middle Tennessee to formally establish Spring Hill as a sister city.

During his visit to Heritage Middle School, King Adebayo spoke with seventh grade geography students about life in Nigeria. He addressed the extreme poverty that has crippled his nation, as well as many of the challenges facing his country's educational system. He also said he hopes to take much of what he has learned in Spring Hill back to his kingdom.

"I want to replicate what I have seen here," said King Adebayo. "By providing students with better classrooms and better study environments, I believe the children in my kingdom will become more interested in knowledge and education."

For most of the students at Heritage Middle School, it was the first time they had ever met anyone from Africa, which is why they were all ears as King Adebayo discussed everything from agriculture to sports. During a brief question and answer session, the students were able to get a better insight into what it's like to be an African king.

"In order to be a king you must be someone who has vision and can provide leadership," said Adebayo. "It is not enough to just sit on the throne. You must have plans for your people."

King Adebayo says he plans to learn as much as he can from the people of Spring Hill. In fact, he hopes to one day bring a group of children from Nigeria to Middle Tennessee so that they can visit Heritage Middle School and learn from their American counterparts.

King Adebayo's visit to Heritage Middle School will be broadcast on WC-TV in the coming weeks.