Afia Ohemeng
Nicholas Johnson has become the very first black valedictorian of ivy league school, Princeton University.
A valedictorian is a student with the highest academic ranking as compared to other students of the school. Johnson, a Canadian is the first black valedictorian of the university in its 274 years.
The valedictorian studied operations research and financial engineering.
Nicholas was interviewed by CNN. In the interview, he said being named valedictorian plays a significant role for him in regards to the relationship between the University and slavery.
Johnson’s senior thesis focused on developing algorithms to design a community-based preventative health intervention to decrease obesity in Canada.
A member of the Princeton chapter of Engineers Without Borders, Johnson also worked as a software engineer in machine learning at Google’s California headquarters during his time at Princeton.
Johnson also has a lot to look forward to. This summer, he will intern as a hybrid quantitative researcher and software developer at the D.E. Shaw Group, a global investment and technology development firm.
In the fall, Johnson will begin his PhD. studies in operations research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Although the coronavirus pandemic canceled Princeton’s in-person graduation ceremony, the school is still holding a virtual one on May 31.
SOURCE: CNN
