Sasha Baker ’06
If you ever talk to Sasha Baker ’06 about her four years at Princeton, don’t be surprised if she gets immediately nostalgic, especially when you get to the part about The Princeton Paws, the pom-pom dance squad she co-founded and co-captained for two years.
Baker got a call the other day from the new captain saying the team had been invited to dance at a Philadelphia 76ers game. “A tear came to my eye,” she admits with a laugh. “I really wish I was there.”
Baker now lives in Chicago where she’s interning at Mount Sinai Hospital. The job is funded in part by a fellowship from Princeton Project 55, a program that helps recent Princeton graduates find worthwhile service projects in communities across the country. The fellowship is a perfect mix of community service and on-the-job experience for Baker, a molecular biology major.
Baker recently worked the Princeton booth at a college fair in Chicago, where several prospective students asked her what the “foundation” of her Princeton experience had been. Beyond the classes and the professors and the clubs, Baker boiled it down to one simple thing: her best friend.
Sarah Lyman was Baker’s freshman roommate. On paper, they couldn’t be more different. Baker is the daughter of West Indian immigrants and Lyman can trace her family tree back to the Mayflower. These two bonded quickly and permanently.
When Baker co-founded the Princeton Caribbean Connection, the first student organization for students of Caribbean descent, Lyman came to every event and meeting. When Lyman went out for the crew team, Baker was there for every race.
On top of all the support of her best friend, Baker feels she received just as much encouragement from the Princeton faculty and administration. When she approached the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students with the idea of an annual event to inaugurate the birth of a club for Caribbean students, they gave her a check for $1,200 and said, “Make it happen!” Now the annual Carnival they put on is one of the biggest campus events of the season, lasting three days and drawing revelers from schools all over the Northeast.
“Princeton is full of tradition in many ways, but it’s also an excellent place for growth,” says Baker. “It’s the kind of place where you can really feel free to expand your mind, look for what will enhance everyone else’s experience and just go for it.”
Baker got a call the other day from the new captain saying the team had been invited to dance at a Philadelphia 76ers game. “A tear came to my eye,” she admits with a laugh. “I really wish I was there.”
Baker now lives in Chicago where she’s interning at Mount Sinai Hospital. The job is funded in part by a fellowship from Princeton Project 55, a program that helps recent Princeton graduates find worthwhile service projects in communities across the country. The fellowship is a perfect mix of community service and on-the-job experience for Baker, a molecular biology major.
Baker recently worked the Princeton booth at a college fair in Chicago, where several prospective students asked her what the “foundation” of her Princeton experience had been. Beyond the classes and the professors and the clubs, Baker boiled it down to one simple thing: her best friend.
Sarah Lyman was Baker’s freshman roommate. On paper, they couldn’t be more different. Baker is the daughter of West Indian immigrants and Lyman can trace her family tree back to the Mayflower. These two bonded quickly and permanently.
When Baker co-founded the Princeton Caribbean Connection, the first student organization for students of Caribbean descent, Lyman came to every event and meeting. When Lyman went out for the crew team, Baker was there for every race.
On top of all the support of her best friend, Baker feels she received just as much encouragement from the Princeton faculty and administration. When she approached the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students with the idea of an annual event to inaugurate the birth of a club for Caribbean students, they gave her a check for $1,200 and said, “Make it happen!” Now the annual Carnival they put on is one of the biggest campus events of the season, lasting three days and drawing revelers from schools all over the Northeast.
“Princeton is full of tradition in many ways, but it’s also an excellent place for growth,” says Baker. “It’s the kind of place where you can really feel free to expand your mind, look for what will enhance everyone else’s experience and just go for it.”