BUFFALO, N.Y. — Nine years after daredevil Nik Wallenda walked a high wire over Niagara Falls, he will return to Western New York.
Wallenda is scheduled to walk the high wire at D'Youville College's grand opening for their Health Professions Hub on June 17.
“Nik takes risks to find the limits of how far a person can go. Likewise, the Hub at D’Youville will push boundaries that drive health education and patient care to astonishing new heights. We are honored to have Nik here to share his energy, courage and passion with our neighbors and campus community,” President Lorrie Clemo commented.
Wallenda said, “I am honored to be part of the opening of this important new addition to the D’Youville campus, and also to the City of Buffalo.”
D'Youville's new Heath Professions Hub will help address healthcare needs in the region and provide primary care to residents on living on Buffalo's west side. The hub will also give D'Youville students clinical experience.
D'Youville is ready to have Wallenda help celebrate the new addition to its campus.
"We're really calling it a block party, as well, to really embrace our community and be a part of our community in terms of how we open the building," says Nathan Marton, D'Youville Vice President of Operations. "So we think about community, and being a part of the community, and pushing boundaries, we ended up coming across, just we're doing some brain storming, who could we have join us, or what kind of an element of the ceremony could we have that really speaks to something or someone who pushes boundaries, who goes beyond limits, and has some recognition in Western New York, and we kind of came across the idea of Nik Wallenda."
So they made a connection with Wallenda pushing himself to the next level and the college doing the same with the opening of the new Health Professions Hub that will serve the community.
"We've gotten some questions about, oh my gosh, is he really coming? And, yes, he really will be coming to Western New York and to D'Youville certainly to participate with us next week. So there's some excitement. We held it a little bit of a secret until just this past day, so there's a few people who knew, but the buzz is certainly out there now across the campus," added Marton.
More details on the walk will be released at a later date.