![\"Ayanna](\"https:\/\/uwm.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2016\/02\/Levarburton3_eh_b.jpg\")
Students Jacob Ebben and Kate Santell nabbed front row seats for the event. As longtime \u201cStar Trek: The Next Generation\u201d fans \u2013 which featured Burton as Lt. Commander Geordi La Forge \u2013 they were \u201cecstatic\u201d to see Burton in person.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m impressed that UWM was able to get someone of this high caliber,\u201d Ebben said.<\/p>\n
Burton approached the podium to a standing ovation from a crowd of students and others of many ages.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a unique and solitary pleasure to be a featured presence at Geek Week,\u201d he said, adding that he was a geek growing up.<\/p>\n
Antonio Loggins and Ayanna Bost, UWM sophomores, said they came to see the man they grew up watching on \u201cReading Rainbow\u201d \u2013 and left feeling a connection with Burton, with his inspirational stories about his mother and her influence on his passion for literacy.<\/p>\n
\u201cUWM is striving to bring in people that help the community and they want students to be impacted by that,\u201d Bost said. One of the first questions she heard was from a student who said Burton inspired her.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously UWM really values education, and they got someone that they know a lot of generations can connect to, to bring everyone together,\u201d Loggins said.<\/p>\n