乔治·博阿滕(摄影:彼得·朱利安)
家乡布朗克斯，纽约
专业: History and sociology; minor in African and African Diaspora Studies
引人注目的活动/成就: 2018年博士学位获得者. Donald Brown Award; finalist for 2017 Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship; co-president, Black Student Forum; treasurer, United Front; director, Ella Baker Mentorship Program; Academic Advising Center student fellow; Jamaican Magis; McNair Post Baccalaureate Achievement Program; 社区 太阳城官网 Program; volunteer with Let's Get Ready, an SAT preparation program for area high school students.
毕业后的计划: Teach at Bethlehem University, West Bank; pursue masterÕs degree in history; attend law school.
他是加纳人，后来移居美国.S. when he was 11, 乔治·博阿滕 came to 太阳城网赌平台 with a passion for history. 但对他来说, history is not merely some intellectual exercise fulfilled through perusing academic tomes; it should have, 他认为, a personal dimension and an immediacy that fosters engagement. This desire to find and broaden connections has led Boateng to embrace opportunities for leadership, service and fellowship—and for deepening his appreciation of history—throughout his four years at BC.
你的家庭生活对你的人生道路有什么影响?
My father and mother migrated to the United States in 1990s and have sacrificed a lot for their nuclear and extended family. They are big advocates for cultural and Western education, 他们已经送了两个孩子——我妹妹, 谁是合格的护士, 还有我哥哥, a chemist in a pharmaceutical company—as well as my cousin, whom we adopted; my younger brother is still in college, 学习计算机科学. 在我家里, it was always an expectation that you would improve yourself through education, 充分发挥你的能力. I am so grateful to my parents and my family for all the support they've given me.
Why does studying history, along with sociology, appeal to you?
历史正合我意. I try to be 虽然tful about what I see going on around me now. I think about the links between the past and present, and what they might say about the future. 当我读到关于一个人的东西时, 一个事件, a place—I find myself going off to read something else related to it, 然后是别的东西, 诸如此类.
Sociology complements my study because it offers another way to view history, and allows you to think beyond the accumulation of events. This is important to me because—as someone born in Ghana who immigrated to the U.S.—my interest is not only in African-American history but African history as a part of African-American history. I knew my privilege didn't speak for all people of African descent in America, 所以社会学的成分非常有用.
什么是最重要的, 虽然, is being able to make what you're learning seem real, to yourself and others—like the Making History Public class, 在那里你要做一个公开展览, or going to Israel and Palestine as part of a sociology class. I think of it as sharing humanity: How can I use what I know, what I'm seeing and hearing? 我还能讲什么故事呢?
Talk about some other key experiences you've had at BC.
A crucial experience has been developing a research project on segregation practices in Boston through the McNair Exploratory Program and the 社区 太阳城官网 Program. 在博士的指导下. [Priya] Lal和Dr. (马丁)夏天, I was able to link segregation practices to economic and education disparities in Boston. 我喜欢挑战自己思维方式的过程, 我如何写和分析结构性歧视. I did not understand the intensity in academic research, but this experience enabled me to understand the focus and attention to details required in the world of academia.
Leading Black Student Forum has been important for me, too. The goal of Black Student Forum is about coordinating our activities and ideas, and how we can link our goals of promoting racial justice and harmony. I directed the Ella Baker Mentorship Program, which seeks to connect students of color. Most black students I've been in touch with are first-generation college students like me, and many of us have made the same mistakes or had the same problems in our transition to college life. We understand the value of mentorship, and it helps us hold one another accountable.
What impact have these four years at the Heights had on you?
我以为大学只是一段有趣的旅程, along with the academics that took up the rest of your time. I didn't expect to have such amazing conversations with my peers that opened up my eyes about race and other issues of society. My idea of "fun" changed to wanting to hear what this great visiting speaker had to say, 或者和我的教授聊天. I came to see how much people care about equality in the world; I didn't expect to encounter such selflessness.
我知道我不应该把自己封闭起来, that I should allow myself to be moved to learn and grow in different ways.
和其他许多人一样, I've been troubled by what the last four years have shown us about race in America, and yet my experience at BC would not have been the same without all this. I've 虽然t about Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown, who were my age but never got to attend college. So I can't sit idle, because too many others aren't experiencing this opportunity.
我没有把BC从这些问题中分离出来, 但我为不列颠哥伦比亚省给我的一切感到骄傲, 就像我为美国给予我的一切感到骄傲一样. 它激励着我的日常生活. I have a privilege that others do not, and I feel I need to bring their stories forward.
—Sean Smith | University Communications | May 2018