I was fortunate to have many members of my family travel to Swarthmore for graduation. Student Romane Paul, molecular biologist Bonnie Bassler, Quaker activist and organizer John Braxton, Morehouse College President Robert Franklin, and actor Stephen Lang delivered meaningful, thought-provoking, humorous, and reflective speeches. You can watch the whole ceremony here.
Since the Engineering majors are awarded separate BS degrees, we have a history of pulling pranks as our names are read. We wanted to ease President Chopp into this tradition; we had her illuminate light bulbs on our caps by flipping a switch as she handed us our diplomas:
Our Engineering graduation prank: lightbulbs on our caps
After four years, our last hurrah at Swarthmore came in the form of Senior Week. Highlights included a night of bowling at Northbowl, our last bonfire in the Crum Woods, trips to Tom Jones, fireworks, Star Wars viewings, and tours of the college belltower:
After graduating from Swarthmore College in 2010 with a BA in Urban Studies and a BS in Engineering, I am traveling through Latin America and Africa completing a Watson Fellowship project entitled School Bus Migrations.
Follow my travels and sign up for email updates here.
It’s incredible that a month has already passed since Spring Break. I traveled to the UK to visit a friend studying systems engineering at Oxford. I was able to see London, Oxford, Bath, and Sheffield. Highlights included the London Transport Museum, riding the DLR, drinking the spring water at Bath, rooting for Oxford in a national championship football match, and hearing some good news on my last night in London.
I’m now back on campus after a thoroughly relaxing winter break. Highlights included spending time in the Sierra Nevada and San Bernardino National Forests, surfing and enjoying bonfires at the beach, and riding the new Silver Line and Gold Line Eastside Extension.
Time lapse video of fog rolling into the Tule River Valley (Windows Media Player required, go to full post, right click video, and select Play/Pause to start):
MBTA Route 73 Bus to Mt. Auburn in the Harvard Bus Tunnel
I spent the first half of fall break in Boston. Other than a quick overnight earlier this fall, this was my first chance to spend time there since the summer of 2008 when I worked with ACE. Overall, despite the ten hours it took me to travel from Swarthmore to Somerville (thumbs down for Bolt Bus, thumbs up for Megabus), it was a great trip. I got a chance to catch up with ACE and spend time with a number of friends from high school and college. I also had some great Indian food, made it to Kimball’s, watched the undefeated Tufts water polo team play their alumni game, and rode the Silver Line to South Station on its first day of operation. And I hopped on an Amtrak train to head back down south before the snow started. Pictures from my trip to Boston are below:
I am currently attending the 76th General Convention of the Episcopal Church as a member of the Episcopal Peace Fellowship’s Young Adult Presence. You can read about the advocacy work that the seven other young adults and I are doing here.
Photo I shot of Mayor Villaraigosa talking with members of the Bus Riders Union
As part of my work for greenRELAY, I went to a special meeting of the MTA Board today. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa came an hour late and seemed a bit out of it, but he took a couple of minutes after the meeting to chat with members of the Bus Riders Union.
This summer, I am completing a Lang Opportunity Scholarship project. Please help by visiting greenrelay.org, commenting on articles, and sharing the site with your friends.
A few weeks ago, I moved up to Los Angeles to start work on greenRELAY, my Lang Opportunity Scholarship project. On my rainy commute last week, my bus driver was singing “It’s Raining, It’s Pouring” incessantly. It was amusing, but nowhere near as good as the New York MTA’s Christopher Dolan.
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