When Union College senior Nancy Borowick began studying the city’s Guyanese community, she didn’t expect to be invited to a wedding, covered in colorful powder or given bags of home-cooked meals.
“It was so unexpected. Every time I left an interview, I’d walk away thinking, ‘I can’t believe I experienced that,’ ” she said.
Her experiences formed the basis of her senior thesis, “Maintaining Traditions in America: The Guyanese of Schenectady.” In addition to the written work, she created a photo exhibition, which opens at the Union College Social Sciences Building at 2 p.m. today.
Borowick, 21, who has created her own major — made up of anthropology, visual art and modern languages — had envisioned a far more dismal picture of Schenectady, even though she’s lived here four years.
“I only knew about the big murders and the boarded-up houses that acted like crack dens,” the Chappaqua native said. “It’s so great that my impressions of Schenectady were so far from true.”
She was nervous before she headed off campus for her first interviews, but the Guyanese didn’t just welcome her, they invited her into their lives.
“I’ve already been invited to a sweet 16 and a wedding,” she said. “Over the course of one 10-minute conversation, I was invited to a bunch of parties and offered a Guyanese boyfriend and a Guyanese bodyguard.”
She declined the boyfriend and can’t make it to the birthday party, but she’s planning on going to the wedding.
“I desperately want to go,” she said. “The mother of the bride said she would send me a sari to wear, which is the traditional dress, which would be such a cool experience.”
Women also kept giving her bags of food when she’d finish an interview or a photo shoot.
“I thought it was great. I’m a college student; I make my own food,” she said.
The conservative Jew also found herself attending services at a Hindu temple and a Pentecostal church, even spending Easter Sunday with Christians.
Some of her interview subjects are helping her cook Guyanese food for the opening reception of her photo exhibit, and she has invited former Mayor Al Jurczynski to speak. As mayor, Jurczynski traveled regularly to Queens to convince Guyanese immigrants to move to Schenectady.
The event is free and open to the public. It’s part of the college’s annual Steinmetz Symposium, named for the most widely known professor of the Union College faculty, Charles Proteus Steinmetz, the electrical pioneer of Thomas Edison’s generation.
The symposium runs today and Saturday and includes oral presentations, dance and music performances and art exhibits. Last year, more than 350 students participated.