Ex-USG pres. returns with his class

Fifth-graders from P.S. 70 in the Bronx crowded the lobby of Frist Campus Center yesterday during a visit aimed to convince them that, eventually, they might enter through FitzRandolph Gate not as visitors but as students.

Former USG president Leslie-Bernard Joseph '06, who now works for Teach for America in the Bronx, brought his class to Princeton for a field trip in conjunction with the Black Student Union's Leadership and Mentoring Program. During the fifth-graders' stay, students and professors spoke to them about the benefits of a college education.

Religion professor Eddie Glaude GS '97 greeted the middle schoolers with a speech in the Frist Campus Center. "Each of you [possesses] individual qualities to do something great," Glaude said. "You're on the road to changing the world and making your mark in history."

Joseph, who grew up in an environment similar to that of his students and attended a public school in New York City, said he is able to sympathize with their situation. But, he added, their families and communities haven't imposed the same expectations on them as his family did when he was growing up.

"Everything they do, I tell them to do it with a purpose," Joseph said. "I want them to know, with everything they do, that they are excellent. I tell them that they are the best every single day."

He added that he has taught them to aspire to more ambitious life goals, especially in the realm of education.

"If you ask any one of them [now], they will say that they're the best class," he said, "and if you ask them where they want to go to school, they will say either Princeton, Harvard, Georgetown or Columbia."

Because of the students' young age, Joseph and Anna Almore '08, who works closely with Teach for America, chose to focus more on the opportunities available to students and less on the minutiae of the admissions process.

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"We try to inspire and motivate [the students]," Almore said. "We try to show them that they really can come to a place like Princeton. We show them that students from the same neighborhood are here."

The morning began with a scavenger hunt led by University students, which finished at the Frist dining area with a reception that included snacks. Small sessions followed, in which students could ask questions about college life. Finally, a performing arts showcase took place and the fifth-graders participated in a dance competition.

"The kids just jumped right on stage when the music started playing and started just doing their thing," Almore said. "We couldn't get them off the stage."

Yesterday's field trip was not the first time that students from low-income areas have visited the University. Members of student-run service groups regularly host such visits, believing that they positively influence University students as well as the visiting classes. The Pace Center and the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students have supported these trips.

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"The kids' visit will remind Princeton students of the time that they didn't understand college and of how their neighborhoods didn't teach them about college," Almore said. "It's a great way to do self-reflection themselves and give back to their communities."