Waterloo Native Encouraging Youth to Follow Dreams

WATERLOO --- Waterloo native Lorenzo Creighton encouraged the young people of Waterloo to pursue their dreams as he outlined his journey to being the first black to lead a casino on the Las Vegas strip during KBBG-FM's annual banquet Saturday night.

"Don't be scared of failure. Be scared of not trying," said Creighton, 52, who was a teacher, magistrate judge and gaming regulator before being named president and chief operating officer of MGM Mirage's New York-New York Hotel and Casino.

Success depends on being able to see beyond one's field of study and self interest to learn how to change the larger structure of society for the better. Creighton, an East High graduate, recounted how he witnessed, by chance, the race riots in Detroit in the 1960s at the age of 15 and later similar riots in Waterloo.

"I determined at an early age that if I wanted my life to be different and if I wanted to make a difference in my community, that I would have to step out in a different path," he said.

May 16, 2006
Posted By Michelle Johnson
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