NJ Senator Cory Booker selected as 2018 Class Day speaker

New Jersey Senator Cory Booker has been selected as the keynote speaker for the University’s Class Day ceremony on Monday, June 4, according to the Office of Communications. The ceremony is organized by members of the graduating class.

Class Day co-chair Miranda Rosen ’18 told the Office of Communications that she and the other organizers believe Booker to truly exemplify the University’s motto: Princeton in the nation’s service and the service of humanity.

“I am proud of all the work accomplished by the Class Day co-chairs and worked with them closely,” wrote president of the senior class Brandon McGhee ’18. “I am confident that Senator Booker will deliver a captivating speech that empowers and inspires us all as we prepare for life after graduation.”

Booker is a Rhodes Scholar who studied United States history at the University of Oxford. Afterwards, he received a J.D. at Yale Law School in 1997. Booker has been in the Senate since his election in 2013 and currently sits on the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, the Committee on the Judiciary, the Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and the Committee on Environment and Public Works.

Prior to his Senate career, Booker served as a member of Newark’s city council. Beginning in 2006 and up until his election to the U.S. Senate, he served as mayor of Newark.

“We are so excited to have our own senator, Cory Booker, as our Class Day speaker,” McGhee told the Office of Communications. “We are thrilled to welcome such a motivated, socially conscious and eloquent individual who has dedicated his career to bettering the lives of Americans as an honorary class member of the Great Class of 2018.”

Class Day will take place the day before Commencement and will be held on Cannon Green unless severe weather necessitates a move into the University Chapel. The ceremony will begin with the class procession at 10 a.m.