Princeton Has Named Its First Black Valedictorian In The School’s 274-Year History!
Socialites, join us in congratulating Nicholas Johnson who just became Princeton’s first black valedictorian in the school’s 274-year- history!
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Johnson, who is a student from Montreal, Canada, received the exciting news in a press release from Princeton. He is set to participate in the school’s virtual commencement on Sunday, May 31 with a major in operations research and financial engineering, according to CNN.
While speaking with the news site, Johnson called his latest accomplishment “empowering” and gave credit to his two professors William Massey, the Edwin S. Wilsey Professor of Operations Research and Financial Engineering, and Dannelle Gutarra Cordero, a lecturer in African American studies for encouraging him during his journey. “It feels empowering. Being Princeton’s first Black Valedictorian holds special significance to me particularly given Princeton’s historical ties to the institution of slavery,” Johnson told CNN. “I hope that this achievement motivates and inspires younger black students, particularly those interested in STEM fields.”
He also shouted out his friends for the good memories, “My favorite memories of my time at Princeton are memories of time spent with close friends and classmates engaging in stimulating discussions — often late at night — about our beliefs, the cultures and environments in which we were raised, the state of the world, and how we plan on contributing positively to it in our own unique way,” Johnson said in the statement.
During his time at Princeton, Johnson participated in several international internships. Johnson also worked as a software engineer in machine learning at Google’s California headquarters. He also interned at Oxford University’s Integrative Computational Biology and Machine Learning Group, the news site notes.
So what is his plans after graduation? Well, Johnson will intern as a hybrid quantitative researcher and software developer at the D. E. Shaw Group. From there, he will continue his academic career at MIT, beginning Ph.D. studies in operations research.
Congrats!!
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