A 25-year-old Princeton University valedictorian, who has just gotten her master’s degree at the University of Oxford, has also recently gotten engaged to her 71-year-old former professor.
Cameron Platt, a 25-year-old Princeton University alumna has gotten engaged to her former professor, Lee Clark Mitchell, who will be 72 this June, according to a report by the New York Post, adding that the valedictorian had recently announced her engagement in an impassioned private Facebook post about her new fiancé.
“This is an announcement that will come as a surprise to many, given how private I’ve been about my relationship for the past half year,” wrote Platt, announcing her engagement in an April Facebook post obtained by the New York Post, “I’m engaged! And, much more to the point, I’m in love.”
The former student went on to share how she first met Mitchell during her sophomore year at Princeton, after enrolling in one of his courses in the fall 2013 semester.
“Lee was little more than a stranger to me then, but he captivated me with his brilliance, sensitivity, and passion,” wrote Platt, “his lectures changed forever the way I think.”
“By the time of my graduation, he had become a dear and devoted mentor to me. Then I was off to Oxford and on to a new chapter,” continued the valedictorian, adding that she couldn’t get Mitchell off of her mind while studying abroad in England.
“And so — I asked him out,” said Platt, who is 46 years younger than her fiancé.
Platt went on to describe her “first date” with Mitchell, and how the professor had spent most of the date “trying to figure out whether it was, in fact, a date,” adding that the two had rambled on “like shy teens, unsure of how to test new boundaries with each other.”
“At last, to our amazement, we broke through,” said the Princeton alumna, “Something then sprouted from a seed that neither of us had known that we’d planted, and we realized that the force of feeling that we’d long had for each other — eventually it became impossible to deny how fully we feel meant for each other, and neither of us has looked back since.”
“Now here we are, more enthralled than ever, wanting no life other than one we make together,” said Platt poetically, “Last week, we made it official ❤️”
Mitchell is currently on an academic sabbatical, which the university says was requested before his relationship with Platt, according to the New York Post, adding that a university spokesman said the school does not find it appropriate “to comment on personal relationships that take place outside of the University.”
Princeton students also shared their thoughts with the newspaper, a majority of which reportedly expressed that they were not shocked to hear about Platt and Mitchell’s relationship.
“They’re adults, they can do what they want,” said one student.
“I’m not surprised,” said another student, “it’s happened before.”
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