Cody Price talks playing dominoes with Haitians, interning and the happiest place on earth
Photo by Valeria Ramirez
Cody Price, a senior sociology major, took time out of his busy schedule to sit down with me and talk about how his time in and out of Lee has shaped him into the person he is today. Born and raised in a small neighborhood of Cincinnati, Ohio, Cody said he enjoyed growing up in the Buckeye State.
“Pretty much my whole family and extended family grew up there,” Cody said. “It was so safe that my buddies and I could ride around on our bikes from the time we were ten until we could drive. It was a fun place to live.”
As far as education, Cody attended public school until second grade, and from third grade until graduation he attended a Christian private academy about twenty minutes from his house.
“It was a small school: there were only 32 students in my graduating class, and we were the largest class to come through at that point,” Cody said. “We were all close; we really got frustrated with each other at times, but I think by the end we all genuinely enjoyed each other. A lot of us actually met up over winter break and hung out together.”
When the time came to choose a university, Cody was weighing the pros and cons of two other universities before deciding on Lee.
Cody and friends on a trip to Utah.
Courtesy of Cody Price
“I had friends that went there, and whenever they talked about their schools each one would always say, ‘I really like it. This is why it’s really good, but there’s this one thing that I don’t like.’ However, I had a friend who went to Lee, and when he talked to me about it there was never a ‘but’ to it,” Cody said. “There were only positives. After coming for Frontline I decided I would come here.”
However, there were other reasons Cody decided to become the first and only of his family or even extended family to live outside of Cincinnati.
Cody, a Big Brother in Sigma Nu Sigma, smiles with the girls in the club.
Courtesy of Cody Price
“My entire life I was the youngest Price kid. People would recognize me and tell me they went to high school with my dad without even knowing my name,” Cody said. “All the time I was introduced as the Price kid or my brothers’ sibling, so I wanted to go somewhere else. I definitely don’t resent where I grew up—I love it—but I got to come here and for the first time be someone without a reputation or face and got to build it however I wanted to. It was exciting and fun.”
Cody took full advantage of his time here at Lee and has been involved in various clubs on campus. He was the president of Backyard Ministries and TKO for two years and has worked as a Peer Leader, research assistant, and in the admissions office, among other things.
“I always say that Lee is the happiest place on earth,” Cody said. “Lee has really allowed me to become who I am now. I broke away from everything I was raised with and got to start completely new here and become whatever I wanted to be. Lee has given me more opportunities than I would’ve ever imagined and helped create dreams for me that I don’t think I could’ve ever imagined.”
During his time here at Lee, Cody decided to do an individually arranged trip to Haiti. An organization he was involved with asked him to do research on short-term missions and evaluate the conditions in the community. He traveled there alone, hired a Haitian translator, and lived in an orphanage in Haiti for a month.
“It was absolute culture shock for me because I went without a team or anything,” Cody said. “I did 31 interviews in that community and recorded them. It was cool because I started making friends with the people I was living and working with—very good friendships—and picked up some Haitian Creole. Actually, while I was there a short-term missions team came and stayed in the orphanage I was staying at. At that point I didn’t know any of the American people who were coming, so I identified more with the Haitians that I was living with. They were my friends. So I kind of got to see what a short-term missions trip looks like from a third party perspective.”
Even though the first few days were hard for Cody, by the end he felt like part of the Haitian community and loved the experience.
Courtesy of Cody Price
“I remember getting there, and on my first day I went to get water with some of the Haitian guys. I was so scared and in so much culture shock that I remember just sitting in the truck on a really warm evening—it was so pretty out—and while they all went to load the water up, I just sat there and prayed that by the time the trip was over God would make me not want to leave,” Cody said. “On the second to last day before leaving, I was sitting in that same truck going to get water again, except this time I got out and helped unload everything and fill the bins up with water. Then my friends and I bought food right off the street, sat on a curb, and ate out of the same box with our fingers. Afterwards, I went across the street and played dominoes with a bunch of Haitian guys who were playing on the street. So in the exact same place where I remember thinking how badly I wanted to go home, a month later I was ready to go home but definitely not in the same state I was when I first got there.”
When it came to the interviews he conducted, Cody said his most memorable one did not stick with him because of the interview itself but because of what happened afterwards.
“I went and interviewed this man, and afterwards he showed the quickest way to get to the next house my translator, guide and I were going to,” Cody said. “While we were walking the man was talking to David, my guide, and my translator told me that he was telling David that he wished he could have a visit like this every day and how excited he was that we came to interview him. Later they told me that I was the first American to ever go to any of their homes, so that was really exciting.”
Cody said he loved the experience of living in Haiti for a month and that it really prepared him to travel other places, too, which he is hoping to do in his future.
Aside from Haiti, Cody also got the opportunity to travel to Hawaii with Dr. Arlie Tagayuna and other students. There he got to spend time with Tagayuna’s family, hike around the island, and go to the beach.
“One day we went down and stayed in a little town called Waikiki for one night, rented mopeds for two days and drove all around the east side of the island—that was really cool,” Cody said.
As for the future, Cody is thinking of applying to a couple positions in Florida, but he said that if there is an opportunity to stay on campus he is willing to consider it and start a masters program here at Lee. He also hopes to get more teaching opportunities in the future.
“I love to teach. One of the things that I would love to do is be a professor, but I don’t know if that will happen because I don’t see myself getting a Ph.D. or anything,” he said. “I have been a youth intern at churches for the past three summers, and teaching high school students has been my favorite thing. I have gotten to teach and preach a handful of times, and I really enjoy it. So that’s one of my passions: getting to share thoughts I have had which have shaped me and hope that they will provoke thoughts in others.”
Cody poses with friend Trevor Mullikin on a hiking trip.
Courtesy of Cody Price
Near the end of our talk, Cody provided some words of wisdom for current Lee students on how to spend their time here wisely.
“I’m about to leave and I’m ready to leave,” he said. “I have soaked up every opportunity and experience I could in four years here, and I’m satisfied with it. So my advice to Lee students is to live your college career to the point where, when it’s your time to leave, you will be satisfied with your experience here.”
