Last Friday night, an enthusiastic crowd of Tufts students crowded into Goddard Chapel to watch and listen to the Beezlebubs, the school's all-male a capella group. Jeremy Cramer (LA '00), President of the Bubs Foundation, was also in the audience.
Cramer left the University with one goal in mind: "to help others." He is dedicated to spreading music all over the country through the Bubs Foundation, which provides money to institute music and a capella programs in under-funded schools across the country.
According to Cramer, none of this would have happened without his experience as a Bub and his outstanding mentors here at Tufts.
While at Tufts, Cramer majored in child development and minored in Judaic studies. He cites the Pearson Child Development department as harboring some of the "great pearls of the University." He was especially influenced by Professor Maryanne Wolf: "She gave me the passion and desire to go ahead with a degree in that field," he said.
Cramer was also involved with Hillel, and an internship he had there introduced him to the world of nonprofit giving. But being a Bub was his first true leadership position. Cramer served as president of the Bubs for his sophomore and junior years, and as Bubs historian his senior year.
"The first Bubs set up the pillar for future musical leaders - excellence breeds excellence," Cramer said.
But it's the group dynamics themselves that are the cornerstone of the Bubs, Cramer said. "At the end of the day, it's the brotherhood more than the organization that makes the Bubs special," Cramer said, adding that the greatest moment for him was when the group went all the way to his hometown of Harrisburg, Penn., to sing for his father, who was afflicted with cancer.
"The love that the Bubs represent is so important to me," he said. Cramer's own commitment to this theme earned him the Jim Barrett Spirit of Brotherhood Award during his junior year. Cramer was given the University's Distinguished Service award this year.
Today, Cramer expresses his love of helping others as the Director of Alumni Affairs at the Fay School, the oldest junior boarding school in the country, which he describes as a "microcosm of global society." He is confident in the school's ambition to "lead the world."
Cramer's ambition to lead was apparent when he accepted the role of President of the Bubs Foundation in 2001. "At that point, I took a step back and thought, 'How can we make the most difference in the community?'" Cramer said.
Cramer's mother, also a Tufts grad, was a professional volunteer in addition to being a tutor and a teacher. "My entire life I've been surrounded by people who instilled the value of giving back," he said.
Cramer credits his roles at Tufts with teaching him how to integrate "a mission and a vision." He works with 14 other Bubs alumni on the Foundation Board to work towards this vision, expanding a program created in 1981 called "Be the Music." They have recently implemented the program in two Boston city schools, and are in the process of doing so at a school in Cambridge.
Cramer described the superintendent of Boston schools as "fully endorsing the foundation's mission and implementation." He added that out of about 30 high schools in the Boston area, only four were receiving funding for any kind of music education or program.
Cramer hopes that the program will be replicated in as many geographic regions of the country as possible. Funds are raised through multiple channels, one of which is the yearly Harmony Sweepstakes regional a capella competition, which took place at Tufts this past Saturday.
His interaction with the students affected by this program and the students at his school "embraces what I learned at Tufts," Cramer said. "Everyone learns differently, and everyone will have something that they will become passionate about."
A girl that he interviewed last year as a prospective student for Tufts, who is now attending, told him that the most influential aspect of her high school career was a "great program she was in, 'Be the Music.'"
"Music is so much more than notes on paper," Cramer said. "It fosters teambuilding, compassion, and courage."
Cramer has been singing and performing his entire life. "[In third grade], my choir did the Alvin and the Chipmunks version of 'Christmas Time Is Here,'" he said. "It was ironically in this performance - a little Jewish boy singing the Alvin solo in a Christmas song - that I saw how much joy you can give to an audience through performing."
Cramer first heard the Bubs on CD before even being admitted to Tufts. The CD he heard contained the song "Bridge over Troubled Water," and Cramer said he "listened to [that song] over and over again until the CD was scratched."
During his Tufts orientation, he heard the Bubs sing. "As soon as I heard them, I knew I wanted to be in the group," Cramer said.
Ironically, at callbacks, the boys were requested to sing this very song. "Call it trinity, call it providence ... everything just came full circle," Cramer said.
