MEET OUR STUDENTS: Cameron Richer Opts for Path That Isn’t Paved With Ivies

“Our valedictorian applied to Brown, the kid who ranked second applied to Boston University, the kid who ranked fourth chose Harvard, but I decided to bypass the big schools,” he said. “I had gone with my older sister Brittany on her college tours and saw what was out there. I saw how much she loved Rhode Island College. She graduated in the class of 2013 with honors. I knew what I wanted in a college, and I knew what RIC had to offer. I just did the math.” 

Richer entered RIC as an honors student and is captain of RIC’s track and field team. He also works part time for the senior assistant vice president of Amica Mutual Insurance company, after applying for an internship over the summer. He said, “They were looking for someone with a strong math background who had the interpersonal skills to communicate results and lead meetings.”

When Richer’s internship ended, he was kept on for the school year. “I’m assigned special projects focused on loss development,” he said. “I use everything I learned at RIC in math and finance on the job. I recently had a meeting with the CFO and a big auditing firm. Just to be in the same room with that wealth of knowledge and to discuss documents that I helped put together was an unbelievable experience.”

Richer splits his time between work, sports and study. He runs a dedicated 10 miles a day, and as team captain, he said he enjoys leadership of the track and field team. “I see leadership as giving others the opportunity to see what they do well,” he said.

“Overall,” he said, “I think RIC is downplayed by in-state people. People tend to say, ‘Everyone from my high school goes to RIC’ or ‘It’s so close to home, it’s going to be like I’m living at home.’ But RIC is a top-notch school. I always tell people that RIC is one of the best decisions I ever made.”