The Circle of Life
Emmanuel ngung TD class of 2009 Alum
The clock slipped beyond 11:00 am this past Saturday, and Emmanuel Ngung rang as he said he would. He apologized for calling somewhat later than a designated hour, but his four-year-old son, Jackson, was all action as his dad was dialing T-D. It didn’t detract from our warm and fuzzy phone conversation.
Actually, our conversation began one Saturday before at T-D’s Open House. Not only did Manny come, but also so did his son Jackson and Manny’s dad, now very much a grandpa papa. It was a trifecta!!!
Now, let’s go back to the future. In August 2004, I had an appointment with Sylvain Ngung to discuss a better future for his two sons, Pierre and Manny. It took only seconds for Sylvain and me to become friends. He kept ogling all my Lions Club banners, and ironically, he, too, was a member of the world’s largest service club.
From August 2004 to 2024, we have been friends—or roaring Lions, if you indulge me. Pierre, his oldest son, graduated between those years and is now living on the West Coast after attending Portland State.
Unlike his brother, who dances almost as well as I do, Manny’s preparatory work at T-D led to instant employment, and Manny became a serious entrepreneur.
“It was T-D that helped launch my career as a sound engineer. Actually, it was Mr. Baum, T-D’s Digital Music teacher, who made sound my most essential and critical heartbeat.
Manny is producing sound at the Union Music Studio in White Plains today. Both Manny and another T-D alumnus from ’09, Yuri Merezhko, were the founding fathers of this Dare to be Wise ( Sapere Aude)sonic enterprise, and the Baum’s beats still can be heard there today.
“I’m still making beats, adding background music, and doing all things digital in my music studio, just like I was taught by Baum at T-D years ago.” Bear in mind that both Yuri and Manny took Baum’s Digital Music Class in ’07-’08 school years.“Baum got me lost in the sauce, sights, and the sounds, in looking through my lens in the recording studio.”
Coming from Mount Vernon public schools with thousands of kids to T-D, with less than 200, was a real kick. “T-D was just so special, just like family, and the school became my community, and I couldn’t stop loving it. T-D’s energy got me going. Everything was so positive and no longer did I have to worry about my own safety or security.
“My teachers were like family members. Mrs. Bubesi was extraordinary in her care and became more than a teacher at times, almost like a concierge at times. Mrs. Vasendin made every school day easier, never got tired of helping and I owe her immense gratitude.”
Manny, whose smile is wider than Ethiopia's, still keeps in touch with Yuri Vasendin, who lives in Reno, Nevada, with his Ukrainian family.
Manny also has many contact with So Young Chang”09, who lived with the Johnsons in Tarrytown. So Young now resides in South Korea, and when she returns to New York from Busan, touches base with her former classmate and favorite friend.
In closing, Manny said: “ To describe T-D, it has to be felt. My dad and I are still feeling today. Should there be one word to represent T-D, it would be Unique; maybe as unique as a Russian, Ethiopian, Ukrainian, and South Korean were in dressing up the T-D campus in 2009.
Ironically, in T-D’s 2009 Yearbook “Aspiration,” Yuri and Manny appear on pages side by side, looking So Young. Then Yuri's note to Manny has to be read:
“ Manny, What can I say? This is only the beginning for us! ”
There must be another word beyond Unique. Only at T-D, kids, only at T-D.
