 
Simon Rodberg
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As honored as he is to be picked by USA Today as one of 20 top students in the nation, Yale College senior Simon Rodberg is even prouder that he was nominated for the distinction.
Rodberg was chosen from 828 students nominated for USA Today's All-USA College Academic Team by their schools. His nomination came with high praise from his dean and master at Davenport College, Susan Wennemyr and Gerald E. Thomas, respectively.
"In some ways, I can say that it is pretty amusing to be called one of the top 20 college students in the nation because it's a rather silly idea," says Rodberg. "On the other hand, it was very gratifying to have been nominated by my dean and master, who know me as a person and who know my work. That meant more to me than being judged by people reading about me on paper."
The 20 members of USA Today's All-USA College Academic First Team were chosen "as representatives" of outstanding undergraduates on the basis of their grades, awards, activities, leadership and "ability to use their academic skills outside the classroom," according to the USA Today announcement of the winners. In calling the distinction "silly," Rodberg doesn't mean to belittle the honor or demean its other winners, he says. Instead, he simply believes that there are hundreds of others equally deserving of the honor that he was "lucky" to receive.
"It is certainly flattering to know that what I've done at Yale has some interest to people outside of the University," admits Rodberg. "And it was a lot of fun to take part in the event held for the winners at the USA Today headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. I got to talk and hang out all night with the other winners, who are really amazing people."
In its article announcing this year's winners, USA Today listed Rodberg's numerous achievements while noting that he has maintained a 3.88 grade-point-average. It also quoted Dean Susan Wennemyr, who said of Rodberg: "To those without clout, he lends not only a voice but also a cutting intellect and a powerful pen."
Rodberg, who is majoring in American studies, founded and is coeditor of Type, a magazine distributed free in the dining halls that aims to encourage students to discuss issues of race, ethnicity and class. It publishes news articles, interviews, personal essays, poetry and art -- or, as Rodberg says, "anything that will get students to talk about those issues."
The Yale senior is also a writer whose articles have been published by Salon, The New York Times, The Village Voice, Culturefront, Student.com and the New Haven Advocate, as well as the Yale Alumni Magazine. His pieces for these publications have ranged from reviews of children's books to feature articles on nursing home workers and community policing to a series of commentaries on student life.
For a short story he wrote called "Bobby Ray; The Love Songs, 1963-1988," Rodberg received the University's Wallace Prize. His story, which he wrote in the Yale fiction class taught by noted author Robert Stone, "follows the development of a woman's emotional life through the songs of her favorite pop singers," says Rodberg, who was selected for the writing prize by a group of professional writers who judged the entries for the competition. As a prize-winner, Rodberg's short story was published in the Yale Daily News Magazine.
Rodberg's other activities include serving as captain of his residential college's intramural basketball, football and softball teams, and as the Davenport College coordinator of the Mellon Forum, a biweekly gathering in which students present their senior essays. "The forum is one of the only opportunities for people to hear about each other's work in a formal setting," says Rodberg of the group.
As a member of the Social Justice Network, Rodberg has been involved in numerous causes, and he is currently working to encourage his classmates to boycott Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, where seniors flock the week after spring semester finals. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People has urged a boycott of South Carolina tourism in protest of the state's flying of the Confederate flag above the state capitol building.
Rodberg's other work at Yale has included serving as a research assistant to Martin Gilens, associate professor of political science, for whom he conducted research on poverty and the media.
The Yale senior says his own interest in civil rights and issues of race stems from his mother, who was active in the civil rights movement. "But I've also come to see just in my daily life how much race can divide people," Rodberg says. "I don't want anything to divide me from anyone."
Rodberg's goals after Yale include becoming a "public service" journalist. "I once wanted to be a politician, but Bill Clinton spoiled that," he says. "I love the act of writing, so I've decided instead to become the kind of journalist where I can write about things that I believe in in a way that shows I believe in them, rather than being bland."
-- By Susan Gonzalez
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