Scott Davis (B.A. ’15) spent time with
President Barack Obama during the
Commander-in-Chief’s historic visit to
Lehman College in May.
Here he explains how it changed his life.
importance of being a good father to his daughters. “The president asked us what kind of fathers we wanted to be, and it had a
great impact on me to hear him say how important it is to be good
fathers and to be truly present and consistent for our children,”
explained Davis. “It was wonderful to have our president engaging
us on this personal level. It meant a lot to me.”
Scott Davis
“It just hit me—the honor, the privilege
that I was being given over so many others.
It just made me all the more grateful for
the opportunity.”
there were name placards before each seat indicating the seating
order. Right there, next to the president’s own placard was Davis’s
name. “I was floored when I saw that I would be sitting to the right
of the president,” said Davis. “It just hit me—the honor, the privilege
that I was being given over so many others. It just made me all the
more grateful for the opportunity.”
Over the course of the meeting, President Obama asked the
young men to talk about themselves, their life experiences, and
their goals. He shared his own personal stories of struggle and the
Among the president’s advice to the young men: respect and
honor your wife; hold women in a high esteem; take responsibility for your actions and choices; serve others whenever possible.
He urged them to set good examples, and to be an inspiration for
others. On the topic of service, the president showed particular
interest in Davis’s own tale of transformation through his participation in Lehman’s Community Engagement program and the CUNY
Service Corps.
“It was natural for me to talk about my work as a volunteer because
it is at the core of my experiences as a student and the key to my
personal growth,” said Davis. Through the Community Engagement
Program, Davis worked with Program Director Amanda Dubois
on everything from cleaning up the Bronx to stitching surgical
dolls for children in hospitals to volunteering at the NYC Marathon.
He credits Dubois with playing a pivotal role in helping him build
relationships and gain opportunities.
Those opportunities included serving as vice president of the
Student Government Association (SGA) and working with the
SGA president to create a new minor called Reasoning and
Exposition offered through the Philosophy Department. In 2013,
Davis was accepted into the CUNY Service Corps, where he
signed up with Year Up New York as a teaching assistant, and as
an administrator in 2014. Today he works as a paralegal for Youth
Represent, a youth defense and advocacy nonprofit organization.
Davis graduated this past spring with a degree in political science
and is planning on applying to law school. He has his sights set on
Columbia University, NYU, or CUNY Law.
If there’s anything Davis has learned through the years, it’s that
opportunities come to those who are ready. So when he learned of
the invitation to meet the president, he immediately thought of his
mother, and how he could share this moment with the one person
who had always supported him and first saw his true potential.
With Mother’s Days just six days away, and with his meeting with
the president on the horizon, he had his answer. “With the help of
the president’s aide, I was able to get him to autograph my mom’s
card,” explained Davis. “To see the look on her face when she read
the card, to feel her joy and hear her laughter afterward… It was all
worth it.”
Left: Musician John Legend, who attended
the meeting with President Obama, posed
with Davis (left) and other participants.
Lehman Today/Spring 2015
29