Faces at Georgia Tech

"If you blink for one second, your whole life will pass you by; therefore, keep your eyes wide open, smile, and live." Claude-Raymond Rene, a senior Chemical Engineering student, lives by this philosophy. Anyone who encounters Raymond can't help being struck by his bright smile and glowing personality.

Raymond, who describes himself as "an oddball," was born to Haitian parents in New York but moved to Haiti when he was four. "All of my life, I've never fit the stereotype," said Raymond. "In high school, I was the intelligent class president, the basketball player, the guy who played the violin and taught literacy."

He lived in Haiti until he was eighteen, often missing a total of four or five months of school a year due to political instability. Because of this unrest, Raymond says he is "self-taught. You couldn't leave the house because of the violence outside." Yet Raymond emphasized that the troubles in his country are not constant, but cyclical.

"Haitians are bright, very sociable people. We love to treat people; we love hosting people," said Raymond. "Haiti is perceived as a poor country with great disorganization," but he insists that "we are a conservative country and we stick to what we know. We might lack technology, but we are a very unique kind."

Raymond was forced to miss his own high school graduation due to political unrest. He and his family had to get out of Haiti before the airport was shut down.

Raymond says Georgia Tech was his "number one choice because they had a competitive basketball team." In Haiti, Raymond played for the Junior and Senior National Basketball teams. He hoped to continue playing the sport he loved in college, but gave up the idea when Coach Cremins told him he would have to change out of ChemE if he wanted to play basketball.

"And that's how my NBA dreams ended," said Raymond, who is grateful to Coach Cremins for helping him decide what was more important to him in life.

For Raymond, life is about "doing whatever it takes to be happy. Living means being wild, being crazy, being focused." In Haiti, Raymond saw violence and watched people die of hunger, something few Americans have ever witnessed. When his aunt died of cancer, Raymond said, "I lost a year of my life. I felt like dying." This period of depression made him realize the fragility of life. "I'm grateful to the Lord for giving me that experience, that loss. It has helped me grow as a person."

Since his time at Tech, Raymond has developed and tested a theory about Tech students and their social skills. "I believe that at Tech we are socially behind our time." He says that Tech students are very intelligent, but we have allowed this intelligence, "our greatest asset, to become a handicap," and that many Tech students act like high schoolers when in comes to relationships. "The majority of us don't date. We claim to have too much work, and we hide behind our social insecurities."

One day Raymond, who describes himself as a "scientist," decided to "run an experiment." He and his friend saw a girl walking on campus with a bouquet of flowers. Raymond got down on his knees and proposed to the girl. Though she was shocked and his friend embarrassed, Raymond says it made his day because he got a good laugh.

"Success in your field of expertise is vitally dependent on your social skills. By social skills I mean the ability to ask a girl out, give her flowers, telling her you like her, and kissing her goodnight."

Besides observing the social behavior of our student body, Raymond has interned in the prestigious research department at 3M in Minnesota, where he hopes to return after graduation. His plan is to "work with 3M for about eight months, and then get a Masters and Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering with an emphasis on Polymers."

Until graduation, Raymond will continue his classes and work on a book he is writing about the effect of sports on economic and social welfare, particularly in Haiti.

Along with writing a book in his spare time, Raymond serves as a spokesperson for a non-profit organization called COGA in Haiti. COGA, or "Combite Grand'Anselaese" in French, is a group that works to bring water, paved roads, food, and electricity to a village in Haiti.

Raymond also looks forward to returning to Haiti, to his big house with its expanse of grass and fruit trees.

Raymond pointed out that he "has been everything." He has made good and bad grades here, been a lab rat, a violinist, and a sports enthusiast. "I've been raised in both one of the richest and one of the poorest countries in the world, with blacks and whites."

He sees no division between human beings, because, "If you look beyond the face, behind the race, beneath the religion, you will always find the same thing-a soul." And so the soul of Claude-Raymond Rene lives on, bringing smiles and happiness to those he meets.