Felix Smith ’22 is from Brooklyn, New York. Although he is undeclared, Felix’s intended majors are political science and law and policy. 

For Felix, the transition to Carlisle was not an easy one, but he has gotten used to the slower pace and smaller population. Felix describes Brooklyn’s large, diverse population. “Amongst other cities it has a large amount of immigrant populations, and I think that is key to how I got there, because both of my parents are immigrants, they came from Panama,” he said.

It was easy for him to learn from diverse perspectives in New York. He admitted “getting used to all those differences really makes you more open as a person, but I feel like it also has made me sort of live in a shell, because this country isn’t as diverse as a city like New York would make it seem… it makes it so that you see a lot of different people equally, and it’s just not the way the country is pictured.”

When I asked him if he believes in the “American Dream” he pointed out that it’s not the same for everyone. “For people like my parents, the American Dream was just coming to a land for more opportunity,” Felix said. 

“My version of the American dream…is equaling out the odds in having those opportunities, putting myself in a position to try to change the way things are… creating policies or influencing government so that all those opportunities, people have the same access to it,” he continued, adding that although his perspective may seem slightly idealistic, it requires a lot of work. 

If Felix could have dinner with anyone from history, dead or alive, he would want to meet with Martin Luther King Jr. and Huey Newton to truly understand who they were and speak to them about the world today. 

If he could talk to any 5 artists, they would be Chance the Rapper, Kendrick Lamar, J. Cole, Joey Badass and Kanye West. “I want all of them in the same room, at the same table, just speaking. And I’ll talk time to time but I’ll just listen to them,” Felix said.