Wagner College alumnus Frantz Placide '10 spoke at this week's Republican National Convention. Placide, who majored in sociology and played Seahawk football, was called "the finest special teams player in school history." New York 1 aired a story about Placide's RNC address on Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012. Watch the New York 1 story below, followed by Judy Randall's story in Saturday's Staten Island Advance:
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Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012
Staten Island college football star takes center stage at Republican National Convention
by JUDY L. RANDALL
A Wagner College graduate and football standout took a star turn at the Republican National Convention Thursday night to praise the Florida education system, and the chance he got at a different kind of life growing up in a tough neighborhood in Miami.
Frantz Placide — a 2010 Wagner graduate regarded as a “true student athlete” — was introduced by former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to discuss that state’s school choice program.
Placide first met Bush when the then-governor visited students during Placide’s sophomore year at Archbishop Curley High School in Miami, Placide recalled Friday. Placide said he and Bush kept in touch ever since. The two even appeared together last spring on Sean Hannity’s talk radio show to discuss education.
So Placide said he “wasn’t too surprised” to hear from Bush requesting he appear with him at the Republican National Convention in Tampa.
“I know he values my thoughts,” said Placide. “I believe education is the key to success and to a life well-lived. Without an education, you don’t have anything to stand on. Without it, you can’t do much in life.”
He said he wasn’t nervous about speaking at the packed venue on the night Mitt Romney formally accepted the Republican nomination for president.
Placide, who was born in Haiti, earned a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Wagner. He said he later took graduate courses in education there before deciding to study to become a state trooper in New Jersey, where he now lives.
During his time on the Grymes Hill campus, Placide was a defensive back for the Seahawks and special teams standout.
Head football coach and athletic director Walt Hameline Friday recalled Placide as an “outstanding, exceptional player.”
He said Placide being tapped to give remarks before a national audience was a “great honor for him and a great credit to him.”
Hameline said Placide called him afterward and quipped, “Coach, it was a lot easier being a player.”
He also said Placide took him up on his invitation to take in the Seahawks’ game Friday night in Boca Raton.
“We’re excited to have him,” said Hameline.
Meanwhile, Wagner vice president for administration David Martin called Placide a “true student athlete.”
Placide took a course in criminal procedure that Martin taught as part of his sociology major class work.
“He is an energetic, fabulous young man,” said Martin. “His is a great ambassador for the college. He epitomizes what Wagner College is all about.”
Here are the remarks Placide made at the RNC:
“I grew up in the inner city of Miami. In a place where your ZIP code determined your chances of success, my only option was an unproductive and failing school. I knew that could lead to an unproductive and failing future. Thanks to Gov. Bush’s school choice program, I got the chance to choose a better school.
“Making my education a priority, I enrolled at one of the toughest private schools in Miami — Archbishop Curley Notre Dame. I’m sure like a lot of us, it was my mother, Carlette, who really pushed for a choice in my education.
“I’m glad she did. Her devotion to my future has given me a chance to succeed. I’ve graduated from Wager College and am looking forward to a life of learning and serving my community.
“Who knows that the future would have held if there hadn’t been a choice in my education?
“But I do know the numbers for failure, and I probably wouldn’t have had a very good chance. Gov. Bush’s school choice program gave me the chance to achieve academic success in the school that was the best fit for me. I took it from there.”