2020 Caribbean valedictorian – 1st black at ivy league university
Nicholas Johnson. Princeton University
Caribbean Life, May 22-28, 2020 11
Nicholas Johnson, a 22-yearold
Caribbean student is the
undisputed choice speaker to
deliver the virtual valedictory
address to 2020 Princeton University
graduates on May 31.
The first of his race ever to
be named to this auspiciously
honorary duty at the 274-yearold
Ivy League institution, he
is the son of two doctors —
Bahamas’ Dr. Dexter Johnson
and Jamaica’s Dr. Anita Brown-
Johnson (an alum of Excelsior
High School in Kingston) —
and the first Black to deliver
the final address to senior graduating
students.
Of his unprecedented
accomplishment Johnson said:
“Being Princeton’s first Black
valedictorian holds special significance
to me.”
“I think to my parents and
my grandparents and all of the
many influential Black and
African-American individuals
I’ve had in my life who
have encouraged me to be my
best self, be my truest self,
not feel obliged to conform to
the expectations that the world
has of me, and feel a certain
confidence in carving my own
path.”
“That guidance, those words,
have truly pushed me over my
time at Princeton,” the distinguished
student said.
A resident of Montreal,
Canada, Johnson consistently
achieved excellence throughout
his high school years and
by graduation was accepted to
eight Ivy League universities.
He chose the New Jersey
institution and there he
majored in operations research
and financial engineering.
At the end of this month
along with a bachelors’ degree
Johnson will receive certificates
in statistics and machine
learning, applied and computational
mathematics and applications
of computing.
With regard to the significance
of being the first Princeton
valedictorian he explained:
“It is very empowering to me
especially given its historical ties
to the institution of slavery.”
Although Johnson’s father
contends that 10 or more presidents
of Princeton University
notoriously owned slaves, the
Princeton University’s website
reports that nine did and that
slaves lived in Presidents House
there until 1822.
The portal also noted last
year, that the school’s Princeton
Theological Seminary
pledged 27 million to scholarships
and other initiatives as a
redress to correct slave transgressions
of the past.
Johnson was unaware of
the tainted history prior to his
admittance however, reportedly
recently said “they’ve taken
very deliberate steps to reconcile
things,”
Currently of the 5,328
undergraduates attending the
northeastern learning institution
only 419 are Black. That
figure represents a mere 7.9
percent of the student population.
Despite the disparity, Johnson
excelled and in 2020 is the
most distinguished student to
graduate.
His instructors were not surprised
by his accomplishment.
“He was very, very, outstanding
very personable with a wide
range of interests,” one of his
instructors Professor William
A. Massey said.
“He’s somebody interested
in channeling his skills to serve
humanity.”
Internationally travelled,
during youth exchange programs
Johnson visited Peru in
South America, Hong Kong in
Asia, the United Kingdom in
Europe and Los Angeles, California.
To his credit his past-times
included playing chess, the
saxophone, basketball and in
high school was voted head
prefect at the all-boys school
he attended.
When Princeton made the
announcement on April 27 via
social media cheers reverberated
from the United States,
Canada, The Bahamas and
Jamaica.
Among the cheerleaders,
former Princeton alum
Michelle Obama and America’s
first Black first lady tweeted
“this Princeton alum is so
proud of you, Nick!”
Catch You On The Inside!
Inside Life
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