President Chopp's Introduction of Romane Paul '10
Good morning! I am pleased to introduce Romane Paul, who was chosen by his classmates to be their senior class speaker.
Romane graduates today with a special major in political science and education and a minor in religion. He is determined to forge a career that draws upon the strength of these disciplines and the ways in which they have shaped his intellectual development.
Romane has been a complete citizen of this College and of the larger community of which we are a part. During the last four years, in addition to his academic work, he has sung in the College chorus and in the choir of Trinity Church on College Avenue, been a tutor in the Blueprint Program and Dare to Soar, an active leader in SASS (the Swarthmore African-American Student Society), a founder of the Coalition for a Free Haiti, a Lang Center intern, and an active member of the College Democrats.
Romane has a keen interest in politics, preferring to be an observer and analyst of political behaviors rather than a candidate for public office. One of his brightest memories is participating in the primary campaign for the last presidential election, when he worked for Hillary Clinton, followed by energetic support of the Obama candidacy. He found those experiences, in his word, "Amazing!"
Romane's plan for his future will begin to unfold during the next two years when he will serve as a teacher in New York City while pursuing a master's degree in education at Hunter College. A law degree may be the next step, which he believes will help him to achieve a leadership role in the development of educational policy. Ultimately, it is Romane's goal to enhance the role of public education by supporting democratic policy and creating a more just and inclusive society.
Romane's intellectual accomplishments, warm humanity, joy in community, capacity for building bridges and friendships across difference, and his optimism in facing the world beyond Swarthmore make us proud that today he becomes a Swarthmore alum.
I am delighted to welcome him to the podium as the speaker for the Class of 2010. Romane!
