Hamilton’s Student Activities programming team really is giving students ‘virtually everything’ they could ask for. On Thursday, April 23, Sadove Programming organized a Zoom workout and Q&A session with Tyler Cameron, moderated by Matt James. Cameron captured the hearts of America on the latest season of ABC’s
The Bachelorette
. As the runner-up of the season, Cameron won over audiences with his charm, defense of feminism, and good looks. Since appearing on
The Bachelorette
, Cameron’s modeling career has taken off, and he has become an Instagram “influencer” with 2.3 million followers.
Featured prominently on Cameron’s Instagram account is his best friend, roommate, and Hamilton Zoom session moderator Matt James. James and Cameron met playing football at Wake Forest University together. Now, they co-lead a non-profit organization called ABC Food Tours, based in New York City. ABC Food Tours strives to expose children in underserved areas to a wide array of potential career paths, and spark conversations about health and wellness. Moreover, prior to the outbreak of COVID-19 in the US, James was set to be on the upcoming season of
The Bachelorette
starring Clare Crawley. However, production came to a halt just before filming the first episode. It remains unclear when filming will resume, and if the cast, including James, will remain the same as had been previously announced.
Throughout this quarantine period, Cameron and James, along with Cameron’s brothers and some of Cameron’s friends from his hometown of Jupiter, Florida, have been part of a group known on TikTok as “The Quarantine Crew.” Additionally, for the first three weeks of the group’s quarantine, former bachelorette and Cameron’s ex-girlfriend Hannah Brown appeared in their viral TikToks and Instagram videos. This raised many questions about Cameron and Brown’s relationship that Hamilton students were not afraid to ask Cameron himself. However, Cameron insisted that the two are just friends at the moment.
In addition to asking about Cameron and Brown, in the Q&A portion of the zoom call students inquired about Cameron’s sudden rise to stardom, his fashion choices on
The Bachelorette
, and New York City food suggestions, to name a few of the topics covered. One of the submitted questions that Cameron and James discussed was from Aimee Booth ’22, who asked “what was your favorite part of college?”
Booth reflected on their response to her question, saying, “it was really exciting once they started answering questions and then hearing my full name and class year read out along with my question. I actually didn’t know that Matt and Tyler went to college together so it also made their answer to my question more enjoyable because they talked a lot about the lifelong friends they made and experiences they had much like I experience at Hamilton.”
In addition to taking submitted questions, event organizer and Assistant Director of Student Activities Kaity Stewart randomly selected students at the end of the Zoom session to ask questions via video. One of the lucky selected students was Lily Delle-Levine ’21, who asked Cameron about the lessons he learned through filming
The Bachelorette
. Delle-Levine remarked, “I was struck by how nice and down to earth Tyler and Matt are, and I am so grateful I had the opportunity to talk with them. They were so gracious despite the challenging times we find ourselves in, and it’s amazing that Hamilton provided us this opportunity to take a healthy break from our studies and connect as a community!”
Prior to the Q&A session, Cameron and James led an intense 25 minute workout for the hundreds of Zoom attendees. During the Zoom call, they were sporting Hamilton College workout apparel that event organizers sent them. Overall, the Zoom session was a successful, much needed escape in these difficult times.