Senior Candace Gomez slowly walks to the podium. In front of her classmates, she begins with a poem and then goes on to passionately inform her fellow students about hip hop culture.
At the end of the speech there is a round of applause. Gomez smiles and takes her seat. It is evident that she is one of the best speakers in her public speaking class. "What makes Candace a great speaker is that she knows how to express her thoughts in ways that connect universally to an audience," said junior Eitan Hersh, Gomez's ExCollege public speaking teacher. "When Candace speaks, people want to listen to her; she is composed, her language is beautiful and poetic, and she speaks with undeniable sincerity."
Gomez, the winner of this year's Wendell Phillips Award, will be the only student speaker at today's commencement ceremony. Her speech is a montage of what students themselves want to hear at graduation and her own personal experiences. "I see myself as reflecting the views of my classmates," Gomez said.
Gomez worked with professors and other students to research what they wanted to hear in a speech. Then, with the help of Hersh, she planned a speech that expressed these views - while adding her own flair and personal experiences. Her preliminary speech for the Wendell Phillips board included her frustration with being an American and retaining her African heritage. These experiences have influenced her time at Tufts.
Gomez grew up on Long Island in New York with her parents and her younger brother. Although her parents assimilated to American culture, Gomez and her brother often found it difficult to communicate with their Trinidadian grandmother. Many choices during Gomez's four years of college evolved from this cross-cultural adolescence.
In an effort to reconnect with her heritage, Gomez joined many African-American organizations across campus. A devout Roman Catholic, Gomez became a member of the Capen Bible study group. Still an active member, Gomez meets weekly with other students to study the Bible in an African tradition.
During her sophomore year, Gomez was co-editor for Onyx, Tufts' Black Literary magazine. A poet herself, Gomez said working at Onyx was her favorite Tufts memory. "The people that I worked with were so gifted as far as being artists in all different forms," she said.
The following year, Gomez served as a cultural representative to the TCU Senate for the Pan-African Alliance. "I've always been interested in speaking for people whose voices are not always heard," Gomez said.
In addition to these many activities - while double majoring in political science and English - Gomez is currently an RA in Metcalf Hall, where she enjoys hosting video game competitions with her residents.
Gomez said that her aspirations for the future come from her family's experiences. When Gomez's parents first came to America, they were forced to rely on other people to speak for them. Her parents' struggle sparked Gomez's interest in law. "I never wanted to be anything other than an attorney since I was young," Gomez said.
To get experience, Gomez has participated in various activities associated with law and politics. She volunteered to register voters in the communities surrounding Tufts.
Gomez said that the internships she has had have prepared her the most. During the summer before her junior year, Gomez worked on Capitol Hill for Congressman Jesse Jackson Jr. (D-Ill.). While in Washington, D.C., Gomez went to Congressional hearings, briefings, and met various politicians. The experience interested her so much that she applied for the Tufts-in-Washington program her junior year. After her acceptance, Gomez continued to intern on Capitol Hill during the spring of 2003.
Although Gomez enjoyed her work in politics, she said that her internship sparked an interest in public policy. "I am interested in politics," Gomez said. "I do think that I probably will want to go down that route at one point, but I'm more interested in shaping public policy and deciding on issues that will affect a larger number of people."
After graduation, Gomez plans to attend law school. She is not done with politics, however. After her first year in law school, Gomez hopes to again work for a politician.
On the weekend, when she's not with her friends, Gomez can be found buried in a book. "This is going to sound super boring, but I like to read a lot," she said. She is currently interested in West Indian and Caribbean history. Her goal is to write a novel or a historical text in the future and she wants to do as much research as possible to prepare for that.
In addition, Gomez also wants to enrich her own knowledge to connect to her heritage. "The books help me with things I want to know in order to stay connected to my heritage because distance-wise I feel disconnected," Gomez said. "It's actually been a lot of fun because a lot of the novels are really funny."
With law school just around the corner and a book in the works, one would think that Gomez would be overcome with worry. But that is not the case. "Right now I'm just trying to spend as much time as possible with my friends before we go our separate ways," Gomez said. "I'm not stressing myself out about future plans. I think everything in life falls into place and I'm not worried about it."
