Volume 2: Knocking on Heaven's Door Chapter 68 William Lewis
"Professor Gavin Rudd wants to speak to you and Miss Farrell as well as Dennis and Pam."
In the principal's office, after listening to Tommy Hawke's application not to join the team in subsequent summer camp activities, Principal Mendes did not refuse, but mentioned another thing.
As he spoke, he picked up a card from the table and handed it to Tommy who was about to leave.
Gavin Rudd is the professor at Princeton University's School of Public and International Affairs who is interested in the summer camp.
"I guess he should be able to help answer the only question about this summer camp that still confuses me." Tommy took the phone number and smiled at the principal.
It was a card for the Four Seasons Hotel in Providence. According to the address, Tommy, Ottilia, Dennis, and Pam drove there in Dennis's second-hand muscle car.
The question that puzzled them was why the professors from Princeton University knew about their summer camp and were willing to participate, free of charge.
They had all met the young professor Gavin Rader when they attended classes at Lincoln High School. He was 42 years old, white, and one of the youngest and least experienced professors at the School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University. He had also treated Tommy Hawke, Otilia and others no differently or specially from other students.
As Professor Rad had arranged to meet at the Four Seasons Hotel Café, when the four arrived, they saw Gavin Rad already waiting at the reserved booth with an elderly black man in his sixties who had lost , leaving only a few gray hairs on his temples and back of his head. When they saw the four people appear at the door of the café, Gavin Rad and the elderly black man, who had been paying attention, stood up from a distance.
Otilia looked at the black man and suddenly exclaimed in a low voice: "Oh My God!"
"Do you know him?" Tommy asked after seeing Ottilia's reaction.
Otilia whispered to Tommy, "If I remember correctly, my godfather took me to his lecture. He is..."
The black old man did not give Otilia a chance to finish her words. He walked over briskly and extended his hand to Tommy Hawke with a smile on his face: "Hello, Tommy Hawke."
"Hello, sir?" Tommy shook hands with the other person and looked at Ottilia and Gavin Rader who was smiling beside him. Both of them seemed to know the identity of the old black man.
It was not until he looked at Dennis and Pam beside him who had the same reaction that Tommy felt a little relieved. At least there were people who were as ignorant of the current situation as he was.
The old black man's hands were very strong. He even shook Tommy's hand with one hand and gently patted the back of Tommy's hand with the other hand. He pulled Tommy to sit next to him and said, "Let me introduce myself. My name is William Lewis, a professor of political economy at Princeton University."
Seeing that the three high school students didn't look shocked at all, Professor Gavin Rad couldn't help but introduce the black man: "Sir William Lewis, Professor of Political Economy at Princeton, winner of the 1979 Nobel Prize in Economics, the first black professor at Princeton University, and the first black scholar in the world to win the Nobel Prize in Economics. He is also my mentor and the reason why I am at this summer camp."
Gavin Rad's addition made Tommy Hawke's face reflect the word "shock". Although he had never heard of the name of this old black man, he had heard of the Nobel Prize.
Even Dennis and Pam were a little shocked on the spot. Even though they were uneducated and unskilled students, they had heard of this world-renowned award.
"I had been wanting to finalize a schedule to teach a class for your summer camp, but the handover work after my retirement was too cumbersome. By the time I was done, your first summer camp had already ended." William Lewis looked at Tommy and the other three who were sitting there in a daze with a gentle gaze, and spoke with a smile.
"Mr. Allen Lewis, the Governor of St. Vincent? Is he your relative?" Tommy suddenly had a flash of thought and asked.
The black old man smiled and nodded: "He is my biological brother."
"No wonder Prime Minister Maduf keeps saying that he is not the smartest person in St. Vincent. So you planned all this from the beginning to the end?" Tommy exhaled slowly: "The Governor asked me to say hello to you on his behalf."
With the explanation of this Nobel Prize winner, all the links became clear.
"No, it's not a plan. It's just a coincidence. Maduf and my brother occasionally call me, hoping that I can help St. Vincent get the aid funds that the United States should have delivered and let the United States pay attention to the problem of sugar factories exploiting workers. But politics has no concern and sympathy. I am just an ordinary professor living in the United States and teaching at Princeton University. A non-American scholar living in the United States cannot change anything. My personal social status cannot increase the presence of my motherland in the world." William Lewis said to Tommy:
“At that time, St. Vincent’s only high school received a call from an American high school asking about co-hosting a summer camp. When my brother told me about this, he just thought it was an ordinary game, but I thought it might be an opportunity. At Princeton, we believe that students can promote social development and change faster than adults. Anyway, our country can’t get any worse, so why not let the students give it a try.”
Tommy Hawke thought for a moment and said, "You looked up the information about Lincoln High School and the summer camp and found that we were too bad to be called the Summer Summit. In order to attract truly elite high school students, you gave this summer camp the opportunity to be associated with the name Princeton."
"No, I was just worried that Lincoln High School wouldn't give you much support and your plan would fail, so I asked Gavin to call." William Lewis shook his head and corrected Tommy's statement: "From the moment you came up with this idea for college entrance exams, you are already absolute elite teenagers in my eyes."
Dennis said simply, "Mr. Professor, to thank us for everything we have done for your country, are you going to recommend us to Princeton University? It would be best if we could get a full scholarship, with all tuition and fees waived."
"I can't believe I have the chance to go to Princeton." Pam was also a little excited: "I wonder how difficult it is to crack a TV at Princeton University compared to our high school?"
"No, in fact, I have retired from Princeton. St. Vincent is going to jointly establish a university with Barbados and St. Lucia, and I will go to help that university complete the initial preparations." William Lewis laughed and extinguished the two people's fantasies: "If you want to go to university, I can ask the new university to send you an admission letter, because I will be the first president."
Tommy exhaled, "No thanks, we're not planning on studying abroad for the time being."
"My brother said that you have to write recommendation letters for Tommy, Dennis, Pam and other students and send them to Princeton University. They are the best children in the United States and deserve to go to the best university in the United States. The people of this country owe them. We have to help them realize their wishes." William Lewis said slowly:
"But I don't think so. You are the best high school students, but the best university depends on you. Go to a university you like, instead of letting us, who are already old, help you define what an excellent university is. I will not write recommendation letters for you, but I will sign your names before my name at the end of the last paper of my American teaching career. In this way, when the universities you applied to have doubts about this and call me to inquire about the situation, I can tell them in a more sincere way about everything you have done for my paper and for my country. I can also tell the university that they are the best university in the eyes of a group of the best high school students."
