CAMERON PLATT '12 

NAMED VALEDICTORIAN OF 

PRINCETON’S CLASS OF 2016

 

Cameron Platt has been incredibly busy since leaving Laguna, 

and it appears she plans to stay that way! Cameron studied 

at Laguna from seventh to twelfth grade and went on to 

study both English and theater at Princeton University. This 

past spring, she was named valedictorian for the Princeton 

University Class of 2016. On May 31, she delivered a moving 

speech at the university’s 269

th

 commencement ceremony 

in which she shared the story of her grandfather who left 

the family because he was gay. He died of AIDS in 1986—

something she did not know about until she was a university 

sophomore. She implored members of her class to keep the 

voices of the marginalized top of mind as they moved on to 

their next chapters. 

“Any conversation about free speech must acknowledge the 

relentless pressures that keep suppressed the voices of those 

already disenfranchised,” she said. “When it comes to free 

speech, we do not start with a level playing field.”

Cameron applauded students who spoke out during recent 

race protests at the school, thanking them for showing her “the 

most urgent purpose of speech: to make audible the inaudible, 

to hold up the hurts that history has left unheard.” 

In fall 2016, Cameron will attend the University of Oxford 

as a Rhodes Scholar, studying English literature and history. 

Only 32 Rhodes Scholarships are offered worldwide each 

year. Before heading to Oxford, Cameron spent the summer 

working on Cyrano: A Love Letter to a Friendship, an original 

play inspired by Cyrano de Bergerac and presented at the 

Hollywood and New York Fringe Festivals.

ALUMNI S

  

  

POTLIGHT

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