Top Ten: Why Princeton?

Ben Chang
Ben Chang
Sep 6, 2018 · 2 min read

I am excited to join Princeton University as Spokesperson and Director for Media Relations! Why? Here are ten of the top reasons:

10. TIGERS! https://goprincetontigers.com/ (And did you know they — in the wild, not on the playing field — are endangered? Learn more: https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/tiger)

9. TEAM: The opportunity to work with Brent Colburn, VP for Communications and Public Affairs, and his team.

8. GIANT CHINESE ZODIAC HEADS ON CAMPUS: Ai Weiwei, his Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads, and “conversations about repatriation, shared cultural heritage, and contemporary expectations regarding the democratization of art and public space.”

7. VINYL LIVES: Princeton. Record. Exchange. A DJ can dream…

6. SPEAKING OF MUSIC — 6 Bands from New Jersey (that aren’t Bon Jovi or Springsteen): Blues Traveler, Danzig, Fugees, Screaming Females, The Sugarhill Gang, Yo La Tengo.

5. INNOVATION AND PARTNERSHIP IN NEW JERSEY: “Fostering a vibrant innovation ecosystem to benefit the regional economy and attract top talent…”

4. FOUR LETTER ACRONYMS: Princeton supports LEDA (empowering students from under-resourced backgrounds by honing interviewing, job search, and leadership skills) and PUPP (improving the likelihood that low-income and first-generation students will go to college and reversing discouraging trends of low graduation rates; https://twitter.com/Princeton/status/1037378609823076353).

3. ALMA MATERS MATTER: Both Georgetown University and St. Stephen’s/St. Agnes School instilled in me the values of service, dignity, and humility, principles integral to the mission of Princeton University. I may don the Orange and Black, but I will always be a proud Hoya and Saint.

2. “FLI IS FLY”: A campaign educating Princeton students on the resources available to first-generation, low-income (FLI) students. Princeton has a commitment, as underscored by President Eisgruber, “to be a real leader on socio-economic diversity” as part of its mission to make “the right kind of difference in the world” and is striving to ensure “that we have the diversity on our campus to deliver on the kind of education that we care about and that the world needs.” In this piece on “60 Minutes,” Jaylin Lugardo (class of 2020) said, upon arriving on campus, “The school was like Hogwarts — I had never been in an institution that looked so expensive and old in my life. It just seemed like everyone was so much more capable and it made me very small.” As a first-generation, low-income student once upon a time myself, this resonated with me deeply.

1. MOM would be proud.

Ben Chang

Written by

DJ / Photographer / Princeton U. spox. Former career diplomat with public service in his veins. Washington, D.C., native. Twitter & Instagram: @whoisbenchang

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